Fossilised red blood cells found in 115-million-year-old dinosaur bone

Summarised from 3 outlets · Updated 3 Nov, 14:55 · Archive

Scientists have identified fossilised red blood cells in the leg bones of a 115-million-year-old meat-eating dinosaur called Aratasaurus found in Brazil.

Scientists have identified what appear to be fossilised red blood cells in the leg bones of a small, meat-eating dinosaur called Aratasaurus that lived in what is now north-eastern Brazil 115 million years ago. The fossil was discovered in a gypsum mine in Ceará state in 2008 and has been held at the National Museum of Brazil, where researchers continue to study it.

Electron microscope images of the dinosaur's hind leg bones revealed small, round structures in fine channels where blood vessels once ran that resemble red blood cells. Chemical tests identified the presence of heme, the organic compound that allows haemoglobin in blood to carry oxygen around the body. The research team was led by Prof Kliti Grice at Curtin University in Western Australia.

Such claims are controversial because biological tissues and molecules typically break down fast, leaving little or no trace in ancient fossils. Grice said: "Fossilised red blood cells with distinct chemistry related to heme have never been found in situ in any fossil, let alone a dinosaur. This is a world first." She added that the team is seeing "a mineral and molecular echo of the dinosaur's original biology" rather than actual blood.

Researchers theorise that the Aratasaurus was quickly buried in an environment high in microbes but low in oxygen. A complex manganese oxide called hausmannite may have helped stabilise the delicate cell structures during fossilisation. Grice said further research could help advance understanding of blood's evolution, dinosaur metabolism and activity levels in ancient animals.

The finding challenges longstanding assumptions that certain biomolecules such as haemoglobin cannot survive deep time. Grice noted that knowing this type of preservation was possible could mean similar traces of life may exist elsewhere in the universe.

How it is being reported

• ‘Landmark discovery:’ Dinosaur blood found in fossils for the first time — and it could advance search for life in the cosmos'This really is a landmark discovery."New York Post · 3 Nov, 14:42
• Evidence of red bloods cells found in 115 million years old dinosaur’s bonesResearchers say fossilised red blood cells were previously considered to be an ‘impossible’ discoveryIndependent World · 3 Nov, 04:44
• Fossilised red blood cells found in 115m-year-old dinosaur’s bone, say scientistsChemical tests on Aratasaurus bone identify presence of heme, the organic compound that allows haemoglobin in blood to carry oxygen around body It could be the opening of a Jurassic Park rip-off: scientists examining ancient dinosaur bones find what appear to be fossilised red blood cells, and traces of the molecule that gives the beast’s blood its distinctive crimson hue. But that is what researchers are claiming to have discovered after analysing the hind leg bones of a small, meat-eating dinosaur called an Aratasaurus that lived and died in what is now north-eastern Brazil 115m years ago.…The Guardian · 2 Nov, 20:00

In this story: Aratasaurus · Kliti Grice · Curtin University · Brazil · National Museum of Brazil

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