29/06/2025
Did dinosaurs have cancer? Researchers say yes—and their discovery could help us fight cancer today.
In a new study, scientists from the UK and Romania examined the fossil of a 70-million-year-old Telmatosaurus, a small plant-eating dinosaur.
Inside its jawbone, they found signs of a tumor—specifically, an ameloblastoma, which still occurs in humans today. Using powerful microscopes, the team also found structures that look like red blood cells, suggesting that small pieces of soft tissue can survive inside fossils.
That’s important because soft tissues contain proteins that can reveal how diseases like cancer developed and changed over time. Dinosaurs were large, long-lived animals, much like whales and elephants, which have natural ways of resisting cancer. Studying ancient tissue could show how these defenses evolved and possibly lead to new treatments. But scientists need to carefully preserve fossils with soft tissue, or future research won’t be possible. While cancer did affect dinosaurs, there’s no clear evidence it was a major cause of death. In the Telmatosaurus studied, the tumor found in its jaw likely caused discomfort or made it more vulnerable to predators, but it probably wasn’t fatal on its own. Like in modern animals, cancer may have been common but not always deadly. Since many dinosaurs lived long lives and grew to large sizes, they likely developed ways to manage or resist cancer, similar to elephants and whales today. Still, without more fossil evidence, it’s hard to know how often cancer actually killed dinosaurs.
learn more https://www.the-independent.com/news/science/archaeology/dinosaur-fossil-cancer-treatment-discovery-b2760721.html
learn more https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/05/250529124851.htm