Pass The Tissues: First Evidence Of Dinosaur Respiratory Infection

Artist's impression of Dolly, a diplodocid herbivorous dinosaur that lived 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic period. Scientists suggest she may have been infected with aspergillosis, which also affects modern birds. The pulmonary disease infecting this animal would not have been externally evident, but the probable pneumonia-like outward symptoms would have included coughing, labored breathing, nasal discharge, fever and weight loss. (Woodruff et al., 2022/Corbin Rainbolt)

Fossils have provided the first evidence of a respiratory infection in dinosaurs that lived 150 million years ago.

In a study published in Scientific Reports, scientists examined the fossilized neck bones of a large, plant-eating diplodocid dinosaur resembling a brontosaurus that lived during the Late Jurassic period, about 163 to 145 million years ago.