Dinosaur Blood Discovered in 115-Million-Year-Old Fossil: Scientists
Summary
Researchers reported mineralized structures resembling red blood cells and heme-related molecular traces in a 115-million-year-old dinosaur fossil from Brazil. The study did not find liquid blood, intact hemoglobin or preserved DNA; the authors say the methods could help researchers examine other fossils and museum collections.Key Facts
- The fossil came from a hind leg bone of Aratasaurus museunacionali, a meat-eating dinosaur from the Cretaceous period.
- The fossil was found in a mine in northeastern Brazil in 2008 and was examined by the research team in 2024.
- Researchers saw structures resembling red blood cells in fossil slices under a high-resolution microscope.
- The team detected heme-related molecular evidence; heme is an iron-rich component of hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein in red blood cells.
- The study described the structures as mineralized and extensively altered, not as cells preserved in their original biological state.
- The paper appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
- The lead author said similar evidence may be present in museum fossils and could be identified using modern analytical methods.
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