Evidence of bloods cells found in 115 million years old dinosaur bones signals a landmark discovery
Fossils examined in Brazil
The bones came from a gypsum mine in northeastern Brazil’s Ceará state, where they were uncovered in 2008. They were kept at the National Museum of Brazil while researchers continued to study them.
An international team believes it has found red blood cell traces in the dinosaur bones. The researchers describe their work as the first discovery of its kind.
Molecular traces, not blood
Study co-author Kliti Grice, a chemist at Curtin University in Australia, cautioned that the team did not recover a sample of dinosaur blood. She said the evidence consists of mineral and molecular traces linked to ancient biology.
Grice said detecting intact heme-derived molecules in material this old was astonishing and called the finding a landmark. The researchers say the results challenge the assumption that molecules such as haemoglobin cannot persist across deep time.
Questions for further research
Grice said further work could improve understanding of blood’s evolution, dinosaur metabolism and activity levels in ancient animals. The research also encourages scientists to keep testing how long molecular evidence can be preserved.
The team said that if this kind of preservation is possible, similar traces of life might exist elsewhere in the universe. Professor Martin Van Kranendonk, head of the school of earth and planetary sciences, said the work changes how scientists think about molecular structures surviving for long periods or in hostile conditions.
Key points
- Researchers say they detected red blood cell traces in dinosaur bones estimated to be 115 million years old.
- Co-author Kliti Grice said the finding involved molecular and mineral traces, not a vial of dinosaur blood.
- The researchers say the results could inform studies of blood evolution, dinosaur metabolism and molecular preservation.