Paleontologist: Broken bones at Utah site show dinosaurs were trampled by own kind after death

Scientist: Dinos trampled after death by own kind

SALT LAKE CITY — Paleontologists say analysis of a vast collection of broken dinosaur bones unearthed in southeast Utah indicates they were trampled by other dinosaurs shortly after they died.

Brigham Young University scientists have spent years analyzing more than 4,000 bones from a quarry just west of Arches National Park.

They say the bone collection — which includes at least 67 dinosaurs representing eight species — suggests a mass die-off, likely from drought.

BYU professor Brooks Britt, lead author of a recently published study of the bones, says that after the die-offs, other plant-eating dinosaurs stomped through the carcasses as they passed through, snapping most of the bones at the site. Some were crushed multiple times.

The bones are now housed at BYU’s Earth Science Museum.