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The most likely reading of a newly reported fossil is that a small, raptor-like dinosaur, a dromaeosaurid, left tooth marks on the lower jaw of a young Albertosaurus, probably while feeding on or scavenging the body. The marks do not prove the raptor killed the animal, and they do not show that a raptor was the only possible biter. The report, published online in the Journal of Paleontology on 7 October 2026, presents this as an interpretation of trace evidence rather than a direct observation.
What the fossil shows
The specimen is a partial skull of an immature Albertosaurus, a large tyrannosaurid from Late Cretaceous Alberta. Two sets of tooth marks on the lower jaw show no sign of healing, which means the bone was marked either at death or after it, not while the animal was alive and recovering. That timing is the central point. The marks tell us something happened to the carcass, but they cannot say what caused the death.
No feeding animal was preserved alongside the bone. Every conclusion about the biter therefore rests on the shape and spacing of the marks, not on a body or a second skeleton.
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According to the University of Alberta account as relayed by NewsJaws, a member of the public found and reported scattered skull fragments near Drumheller in 2022. The Royal Tyrrell Museum collected and prepared the material. Museum technicians noticed suspected tooth marks, and the fragments were then sent to the University of Alberta for detailed analysis. The skull material comes from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation.
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The report describes the specimen as the smallest associated Albertosaurus skull found to date. Histology of an associated limb bone indicates the animal was at least eight years old at death. Because that is a minimum, the animal was not a hatchling or a very young juvenile; it was an immature adult that had not yet reached full size.
How researchers identified the likely biter
The analysis compared two features of the marks with those expected from different possible biters: the spacing between individual tooth marks and the fine denticle marks left by the serrated edges of the teeth. The reported method also accounts for the angle at which a tooth was raked across the bone, because a skewed drag produces spacing that looks different from a straight bite. Without that correction, a tooth track could be mistaken for a different-sized animal.
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On this evidence the authors favor a dromaeosaurid, a group of small, feathered theropods that includes the animals popularly called raptors. The identification is a best fit, not a match to a known tooth or a preserved individual.
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The report also weighs a less likely explanation: a young Albertosaurus made the marks while feeding on a larger member of its own species. The table below sets the two candidates against each other using only the values the report gives.
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| Candidate biter | Evidence cited in the report | Reported size | Standing in the report |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dromaeosaurid (small raptor) | Tooth-mark spacing and denticle marks, corrected for rake angle | Not stated | Favored interpretation |
| Young Albertosaurus | Same mark-spacing comparison; no separate test reported for this candidate | About 2 m, hypothetical young animal (University of Alberta, 2026, as reported by NewsJaws) | Less likely alternative |
| Marked subadult Albertosaurus (the victim or carcass) | Skull and limb-bone material, including histology | About 6 m and 530 kg (University of Alberta, 2026, as reported by NewsJaws) | Animal that bears the marks; at least eight years old |
The size figures are relayed by NewsJaws from the University of Alberta account. I could not confirm them against the institutional text, so treat the metres and kilograms as reported values rather than checked measurements.
What the find can and cannot establish
- It establishes that tooth marks on this young Albertosaurus jaw were made by an animal feeding on or scavenging the carcass after death, and that the best-fitting biter is a dromaeosaurid.
- It does not establish that the raptor killed the Albertosaurus, that the marks were made while the animal was alive, or that cannibalism occurred.
- It does not establish whether the feeder was predator or scavenger. The marks are consistent with either.
- It does not identify a particular individual dinosaur as the mark-maker.
The report calls this the first evidence of a small raptor feeding on an apex predator. Priority claims like that are difficult to confirm from press coverage, so the wording above reflects what the study describes rather than an independent check of the literature.
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Broader ecological hypothesis
The authors say the specimen adds evidence about dromaeosaurid diet and about interactions among carnivorous dinosaurs. They propose that young tyrannosaurids and dromaeosaurs may have taken part in reciprocal predation or scavenging, with each group occasionally preying on or feeding from the other. That is a hypothesis built on a single jaw. It fits the trace, but one specimen cannot show how common such interactions were.
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If you want to see fossils like this in context, the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller is the institution that collected and prepared this specimen. Visitor arrangements for any display of this fossil are not stated in the material available here, so check the museum directly before planning a trip around it.
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