Laser image of the Bipolar Scapula showing the umbilical cord and scales. Photo by Bell et al., BMC Biology, 2022
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An “extremely” well-preserved dinosaur fossil has revealed the soft belly of a horned dinosaur from China. In particular, paleontologists using high-tech laser imaging technology have found evidence of a dinosaur that lived 125 million years ago and wore a navel.
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“We call this type of scar the navel and it is smaller in humans. “This is the first dinosaur fossil to survive on a navel, due to its excellent conservation status,” said Michael Pittman, one of the study’s authors and a paleontologist at the University of Hong Kong in China. The size, smoothness and location of the umbilical cord rule out trauma or infection as the cause, the study says. The plan of the abdominal scale was uninterrupted, while a healing injury would have a “smooth connective tissue without scales over the open wound”, the authors note. The Pittacosaurus (name meaning “parrot lizard”) was a herbivore with a two-meter long beak that lived in the early Cretaceous period. The fossil used in this study was published in 2002 and led to great discoveries due to its extremely well-preserved condition, with scales, horn and “long tail hairs”, the researchers write.
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“This Psittacosaurus specimen is perhaps the most important fossil we have for studying dinosaur skin. “But it continues to bring surprises that we can bring to life with new technology such as laser imaging,” study lead author Phil R. Bell of the University of New England at Armidale in Australia told Phys.org. Paleontologists compared the length of the sample’s femur with other Pythagoras to estimate its age as merely shy sexual maturity, about 6 or 7 years. It is not clear whether the umbilical cord scarring of dinosaurs lasts until adulthood. The award-winning specimen is on display at the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt, Germany.
