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Dinosaurs Had Cancer, Too, According to a Staggering New Study

created: June 3, 2025, 1 p.m. | updated: June 9, 2025, 11:53 p.m.

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:Over the years, scientists have found examples of cancerous tumors within the fossilized bones of ancient dinosaurs. A new study analyzes the fossil of the duck-billed hadrosaurid Telmatosaurus transsylvanicus and found proteins that help pinpoint molecular marks of disease in ancient species. In 2016, a team of U.S. and Romanian scientists belonging to a 70-million-year-old duck-billed hadrosaurid (Telmatosaurus transsylvanicus) that once roamed the Hateg Basin in present-day Romania. By analyzing how cancers impacted extinct species, the authors hypothesize that they might be able to uncover new methods of cancer suppression. “Dinosaurs, as long-lived, large-bodied organisms, present a compelling case for investigating how species managed cancer susceptibility and resistance over millions of years,” the authors wrote.

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