A dinosaur that roamed what's now New Jersey about 70 million years ago is believed to have suffered from a crippling form of arthritis.

The first dinosaur discovered to have arthritis lived in what's now New Jersey, according to a report.

Likely a duck-billed dinosaur, or hadrosaur, it's the first-known dinosaur to suffer from septic arthritis, LATimes.com said.

The news was first reported by Royal Society Open Science.

Scientists came to the conclusion after analyzing two forearm bones -- the radius and ulna -- with the help of Harvard University's microCT scanning facilities. The bones had a cauliflower-like growth on them.

One of the researchers told the Los Angeles Times that the afflicted dinosaur probably walked with a limp and had a "partially bent arm with little or no movement in the elbow." The animal probably experienced a good deal of pain once it came down with arthritis, the report said.

The fossils examined are extremely fragile and can disintegrate into dust if they're touched, the report said. That's largely because a part of New Jersey was beneath the ocean 70 million years ago.

Both bones were collected from the Navesink Formation, which stretches from Monmouth to Salem counties, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

A herbivore, the hadrosaur is estimated to have been about 25 feet long, 10 feet tall and weighed between seven and eight tons, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection said. It fed on twigs and leaves in forests and swamps along the coast.

The hadrosaur has been New Jersey's state dinosaur since 1991.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.