Editing Paleontology (section)

===Paleopathology===
{{main|Paleopathology}}
[[File:Dilophosaurus pathologies.PNG|thumb|right|upright=0.9|Paleopathologies in bones of a ''[[Dilophosaurus]]'' specimen, plotted onto a life restoration]]
Paleopathology is the study of ancient [[disease]], with the clarification that "disease" is not limited to [[pathogens]] but also any other impairments that can impact health. Though paleopathology is most often discussed in the context of archaeology and human history, it has also included the study of pathologies in any fossil organism since the word was first introduced by Robert Schufeldt in [[1892 in paleontology|1892]]. It is important to separate pathological conditions from alterations that have arisen due to taphonomy, and from that distinction modern [[diagnostic]] techniques can be used to interpret the causes and impacts of pathologies in fossil organisms.<ref name="buikstra2010"/> Biomolecular studies have been able to isolate genetic material in fossil animals and humans to identify specific pathogens, and questioning the strength of these identifications has led to re-evaluations of the history of disease in humans and a more nuanced approach towards the study of disease in humans. Multiple factors can cause skeletal lesions that preserve well in fossils and it can be difficult to distinguish these causes due to not being able to confidently identify causes of [[cause of death|mortality]] and predispositions for vulnerability.<ref name="grauer2017"/> Most of the focus of paleopathology remains on human disease, though the field of animal paleopathology emerged in 1999 and expanded to cover much of the same scope of studies as human paleopathology.<ref name="buikstra2010"/> Specific studies into the [[stress fractures]] in the bones of dinosaurs have used their presence and distribution to identify the activity levels of the impacted animals such as running, migrating, or restraining prey.<ref name="rothschild2001"/>