Journal
ACTA PALAEONTOLOGICA POLONICA
Volume 59, Issue 4, Pages 827-833Publisher
INST PALEOBIOLOGII PAN
DOI: 10.4202/app.2012.0128
Keywords
Dinosauria; Ceratopsia; juvenile-only; mixed-age; bone histology; Cretaceous
Categories
Funding
- BIS (Department for Business Innovation Skills)
- CSC (China Scholarship Council)
- Bob Savage Memorial Fund
- LESV (Key Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
- Chinese National Infrastructure for Science and Technology-National Infrastructure of Mineral, Rock and Fossil Specimen Resources
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- German Research Foundation
- Natural Environment Research Council [NE/I027630/1] Funding Source: researchfish
- NERC [NE/I027630/1] Funding Source: UKRI
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It has hitherto been hard to prove that any association of juvenile dinosaurs represents original behaviour rather than sedimentary accumulation, and it has been hard also to determine the ages of such juveniles. A previously described specimen, which consists of an adult Psittacosaurus with 34 fully articulated juveniles, turns out to be a composite: the adult skull probably has been added, and in any case it is below breeding age. Other juvenile-only clusters have been reported, but the best examples that likely reflect behaviour rather than sedimentary accumulation are specimens from the Early Cretaceous Lujiatun beds in NE China, which were entombed beneath pyroclastic flow deposits. A remarkable juvenile-only cluster of Psittacosaurus shows clear evidence of different ages (five 2-year olds and one 3-year old) based on bone histological analysis. These juveniles may have associated together as a close-knit, mixed-age herd either for protection, to enhance their foraging, or as putative helpers at the parental nest.
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