Abnormalities in fossil bones may show evidence of arthritis, cancer, nutritional stress, fractures and more.
Disease and Injury
Flattened and reduced incisors in a fossil P. atrox lower jaw from Alaska is perhaps a result of old age (Whitmore & Foster 1967) or is a regional genetic difference from lions further south (Beebe & Hulland 1988)
Trauma from fights may have caused bone remodeling seen in two jaw specimens from Alaska (Beebe & Hulland 1988)
Tooth breakage (from possible fights with other predators) three times more common than in lions today (Van Valkenburg & Hertel 1993)
A P. atrox from natural Trap Cave in Wyoming had extensive abnormal bone growth on its left knee and unusually heavy wear on its canine and incisor teeth (Rothschild & Martin 2003)
Probably this animal was forced to scavenge as a result of its disabling pathology.
Page Citations
Beebe and Hulland (1988) Van Valkenburgh and Hertel (1993) Whitmore and Foster (1967)
