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Fine structure of bone in dinosaurs, birds and mammals

Nature volume 406, pages 619–622 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

After observation of detailed structural evidence for the origin of birds from dinosaurs1, and in light of evidence that dinosaur bone tissue resembles the histology in mammals2, the histology of bone has become one of the focal points in discussions of the physiology of dinosaurs and Mesozoic birds3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. Most of this microstructural information has focused on features related to the vascular organization and the amount of remodelled bone around vascular canals. However, the finer structures have received less attention, although differences in such structures have been observed among modern vertebrates10,11. Here we present evidence that canaliculi—the submicrometre-sized channels that interconnect bone cells and vascular canals—and the collagen fibre bundles in bone are differently organized among certain dinosaur lineages. Ornithomimid dinosaurs12 are more like birds than mammals in these features. In canalicular structure, and to some extent in fibre bundle arrangement, ornithischian dinosaurs are more like mammals. These differences in both canalicular and lamellar structure are probably linked to differences in the process and rate13 of bone formation.

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Figure 1: Relationships of certain dinosaur taxa.
Figure 2: Canalicular organization in transverse thin sections of various bone types.
Figure 3: Percentage frequency distributions of canalicular directions in samples of birds, ornithomimids, mammals and ornithischians.
Figure 4: Lamellar organization as seen with crossed polars in transverse thin sections of various bones.
Figure 5: Degree of variability of lamellar thicknesses in samples of mammals, birds, coelurosaurs and lizard.

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Acknowledgements

We thank J. Ostrom for identifying two ornithomimid specimens; S. Herring, A. de Ricqlés, M. Smith and N. Wolf for assistance with the manuscript; and B. Evans, S. McCallum, D. McDougall, S. Ott-Ralph and D. Sherrard for helpful discussion. A. Busbey, P. Currie, G. Erickson, J. Joslin, A. Kemp, O. Rieflin, S. Rohwer, H.-D. Sues, C. Wood and the Woodland Park Zoo kindly made specimens available. B. Witte collected and prepared dinosaur specimens; S. Andres, D. Bennett, G. Bergsma, V. Carr, C. Chihara, J. Cyrus, M. Dyakanoff, J. Haag, H. Heller, M. Hoffman, N. Huston, D. Jacobson, K. Jensen, J. Johnston, J. Kim, K. Krigbaum, T. Lee, B. Leu, M. Mielkey, B. Moorthy, J. Morton, E. Moye, H. Mull, J. Nguyen, B. Olsen, C. Pardo, L. Rende, O. Rieflin, L. Ruhwedel, T. Schommer, M. Shields, A. Smith, B. Summers, T. Ting, H. Wada, J. Weber and H. Witt ground thin sections or helped in other aspects of the study. We are grateful to the Burke Museum, the Hayashibara Museum, the University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences, and Departments of Geological Sciences and Orthodontics for support.

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  1. Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture & Department of Geological Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195, Washington, USA

    John M. Rensberger

  2. Hayashibara Museum of Natural Sciences, Shimoishii 1-2-3, Okayama, 700-0907, Japan

    Mahito Watabe

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Correspondence to John M. Rensberger.

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Rensberger, J., Watabe, M. Fine structure of bone in dinosaurs, birds and mammals. Nature 406, 619–622 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35020550

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