Life in herds
Dinosaurs • behaviour
A bone assemblage can reveal more than a succession of individuals: it can also shed light on their relationships.
The Angeac ornithomimosaurs
At least 70 ornithomimosaur individuals have been identified at the site. These animals, often called ostrich dinosaurs, are central to our research on growth, group living and the circumstances of their death.
The concentration of twenty right tibiae within about 50 m² is particularly striking. We are investigating whether these animals belonged to the same group.
Reconstructing a collective history
A bone accumulation alone cannot establish the presence of a herd. We compare the number and ages of individuals, bone positions and depositional processes. This investigation tests the hypothesis of mass mortality and helps explain how the deposit formed.
From footprints to animal groups
At various fossil sites, parallel trackways and skeletal concentrations provide evidence of gregarious behaviour in several dinosaur groups. At Angeac, bones and activity traces contribute to this investigation across the ecosystem.
Scientific research on this topic
- 2023 · Femoral variation and the hypothesis of sexual dimorphism (article)
- 2021 · Formation of the deposit: a taphonomic synthesis (article)
- 2017 · Gregarious behaviour in dinosaurs (chapter)
- 2017 · Carnage at Angeac: how did the ornithomimosaurs die? (chapter)
- 2014 · Taphonomy of the ornithomimosaur assemblage (conference contribution)
- 2014 · An ornithomimosaur herd at Angeac (conference contribution)
- 2011 · An assemblage dominated by ornithomimosaurs (conference contribution)
