Allosaurs possessed an immune response which allowed them to live with microbial infection in their bones, probably by keeping it localized. A comprehensive analysis of a large sample of allosaur bones may reveal that certain abnormalities characterize A. fragilis , and are diagnostic of specific behaviors, environmental influences, and physiology. Hence, the significance of this sub-adult allosaur's 19 abnormal bones will be better understood once a comprehensive study of allosaur pathology is completed. This bone in the right hand of Big Al was fractured along its length and affected by a bone marrow infection called osteomyelitis. Scale for pathological phalanx only.
Scale applies to bones in foreground only.
Scale applies to bones in foreground only. A revised osteology. Mann, R. W., and S. P. Murphy. Moodie, R. L. 1918. Paleontological evidences of the antiquity of disease.