@article{c10cff51afe843caa020ce6c686027bb,
title = "Bite and tooth marks on sauropod dinosaurs from the Morrison Formation",
abstract = "Tooth-marked bones provide important evidence for feeding choices made by extinct carnivorous animals. In the case of the dinosaurs, most bite traces are attributed to the large and robust osteophagous tyrannosaurs, but those of other large carnivores remain underreported. Here we report on an extensive survey of the literature and some fossil collections cataloging a large number of sauropod bones (68) from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of the USA that bear bite traces that can be attributed to theropods. We find that such bites on large sauropods, although less common than in tyrannosaur-dominated faunas, are known in large numbers from the Morrison Formation, and that none of the observed traces showed evidence of healing. The presence of tooth wear in non-tyrannosaur theropods further shows that they were biting into bone, but it remains difficult to assign individual bite traces to theropod taxa in the presence of multiple credible candidate biters. The widespread occurrence of bite traces without evidence of perimortem bites or healed bite traces, and of theropod tooth wear in Morrison Formation taxa suggests preferential feeding by theropods on juvenile sauropods, and likely scavenging of large-sized sauropod carcasses.",
keywords = "Dinosauria, Ichnology, Predator-Prey, Sauropoda, Theropoda",
author = "Roberto Lei and Emanuel Tschopp and Christophe Hendrickx and Wedel, {Mathew J.} and Mark Norell and Hone, {David W. E.}",
note = "Funding Information: Christophe Hendrickx was funded by the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cient{\'i}ficas y T{\'e}cnicas (CONICET) and Agencia Nacional de Promoci{\'o}n Cient{\'i}fica y Tecnol{\'o}gica, Argentina to Christophe Hendrickx (Beca Pos-doctoral CONICET Legajo 181417). Emanuel Tschopp held a Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Fund and Division of Paleontology Postdoctoral Fellowship provided by Richard Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History, New York, during the course of this work at AMNH, and currently holds a Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship for Experienced Researchers. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Funding Information: The following grant information was disclosed by the authors: The Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cient{\'i}ficas y T{\'e}cnicas (CONICET). Agencia Nacional de Promoci{\'o}n Cient{\'i}fica y Tecnol{\'o}gica, Argentina to Christophe Hendrickx (Beca Pos-doctoral CONICET Legajo ): 181417. Emanuel Tschopp held a Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Fund and Division of Paleontology Postdoctoral Fellowship provided by Richard Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History, New York. Publisher Copyright: Copyright 2023 Lei et al.",
year = "2023",
month = nov,
day = "14",
doi = "10.7717/peerj.16327",
language = "English",
volume = "11",
journal = "PeerJ",
issn = "2167-8359",
publisher = "PeerJ Inc.",
}