The skull of a genus of tyrannosaur called Daspletosaurus showed signs of an epic dinosaur battle.
Marks on the ancient skull suggest the dinosaur fought with other Daspletosaurus', and may have also been scavenged on after death PeerJ reported.
The Daspletosaurus Individual looked at in the study was found in Canada; it was a "sub-adult" at the time of death and was about 20 feet long and weighed around 1,100 pounds. One particular bite mark to the back of the skull left a circular-shaped puncture in the bone. This mark showed signs of healing, suggesting it did not kill the animal.
"This animal clearly had a tough life suffering numerous injuries across the head including some that must have been quite nasty. The most likely candidate to have done this is another member of the same species, suggesting some serious fights between these animals during their lives," said lead author David Hone from Queen Mary, University of London.
While there is no solid evidence on how the dinosaur died, damage to the jaw bones shows a large tyrannosaur bit into it after it had already died and started to decay. These marks provide evidence of scavenging and cannibalistic behaviors in the believed-to-be ferocious genus of dinosaurs.
Scientists already have evidence of combat and cannibalism between large dinosaurs such as tyrannosaurs, but this fossil is unique because it is the only to show evidence of both pre and post-mortem damage.
The recent project was made possible through the crowdsourcing site Experiment.com. The findings were published in a recent edition of the open access journal PeerJ.
