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Researchers Uncover Red Blood Cells in 115-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Bone
· Confirmed
In Short: Researchers studying a 115 million-year-old dinosaur bone say they've found the strongest evidence yet of red blood cells in a fossil.
Dinosaur bones (small).
Dinosaur 🦖 Blood Found in 115 Million Year Old Fossil?. USAMYSTICA
Researchers studying a 115 million-year-old dinosaur bone say they've found the strongest evidence yet of red blood cells in a fossil, according to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The leg bone was dug up in 2008 at the geological site Mina Pedra Branca in northeastern Brazil within the Romualdo Formation, a rocky area known for its exceptionally preserved fossils.
The fossils suggest a dinosaur measuring over 10 feet long and weighing about 75 pounds, but given its young age, Aratasaurus museunacionali likely grew even larger. The international team led by Curtin University found fossilized red blood cells and chemical evidence of blood molecules in the remains of Aratasaurus museunacionali, a meat-eating theropod dinosaur discovered in northeastern Brazil.
Paleontologists have long debated whether certain microscopic structures in dinosaur bones represent remnants of blood cells or formations produced during fossilization. While structures resembling these corpuscles have been reported before, their shape alone cannot establish that they came from blood; minerals and microbial activity associated with fossils can complicate the interpretation of cell-like structures in fossils.
The researchers used a combination of fossilization experiments, molecular chemistry, and advanced imaging to investigate not simply what has survived, but how and why it survived, according to a statement from The Scientist. The surrounding rock showed different chemical signatures, strengthening evidence that the material inside the bone came from a distinct source.
The discovery challenges the conventional wisdom in paleontology that all endogenous organics would disappear in a million years or less. This finding is part of a series of recent discoveries that have identified a succession of different dinosaurs, including the bulbous-nosed Brighstoneus in 2021, Comptonatus in 2024, and the sail-backed Istiorachis in 2025.
The fossil was discovered on England’s Isle of Wight in 1924, but it took modern scans for researchers to uncover its surprising significance. A dinosaur fossil that sat in a museum collection for nearly 100 years has turned out to belong to a species scientists never knew existed. Researchers estimate that Invictibellatrix amberina measured approximately 10 to 13 feet long and stood around 5 feet tall.
The 'Dueling Dinosaurs' discovery became crucial to the research published by Lindsay Zanno and James Napoli that classified Nanotyrannus as separate from T. Rex. The mounted skeleton of a newly-identified dinosaur once mistaken for a young Tyrannosaurus rex has sold at auction for a colossal $47.3m (£35.5m).
What this adds
The researchers' findings suggest that small dinosaurs were running about north and south by 230 million years, according to a quote from Wpr.
Background
Researchers studying a 115 million-year-old dinosaur bone say they've found the strongest evidence yet of red blood cells in a fossil, according to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
What's confirmed
- Researchers studying a 115 million-year-old dinosaur bone say they've found the strongest evidence yet of red blood cells in a fossil, according to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The leg bone was dug up in 2008 at the geological site Mina Pedra Branca in northeastern Brazil within the Romualdo Formation, a rocky area known for its exceptionally preserved fossils.
- The fossils suggest a dinosaur measuring over 10 feet long and weighing about 75 pounds, but given its young age, Aratasaurus museunacionali likely grew even larger. The international team led by Curtin University found fossilized red blood cells and chemical evidence of blood molecules in the remains of Aratasaurus museunacionali, a meat-eating theropod dinosaur discovered in northeastern Brazil.
- Paleontologists have long debated whether certain microscopic structures in dinosaur bones represent remnants of blood cells or formations produced during fossilization. While structures resembling these corpuscles have been reported before, their shape alone cannot establish that they came from blood; minerals and microbial activity associated with fossils can complicate the interpretation of cell-like structures in fossils.
- The researchers used a combination of fossilization experiments, molecular chemistry, and advanced imaging to investigate not simply what has survived, but how and why it survived, according to a statement from The Scientist. The surrounding rock showed different chemical signatures, strengthening evidence that the material inside the bone came from a distinct source.
- The discovery challenges the conventional wisdom in paleontology that all endogenous organics would disappear in a million years or less. This finding is part of a series of recent discoveries that have identified a succession of different dinosaurs, including the bulbous-nosed Brighstoneus in 2021, Comptonatus in 2024, and the sail-backed Istiorachis in 2025.
- The fossil was discovered on England’s Isle of Wight in 1924, but it took modern scans for researchers to uncover its surprising significance. A dinosaur fossil that sat in a museum collection for nearly 100 years has turned out to belong to a species scientists never knew existed. Researchers estimate that Invictibellatrix amberina measured approximately 10 to 13 feet long and stood around 5 feet tall.
- The 'Dueling Dinosaurs' discovery became crucial to the research published by Lindsay Zanno and James Napoli that classified Nanotyrannus as separate from T. Rex. The mounted skeleton of a newly-identified dinosaur once mistaken for a young Tyrannosaurus rex has sold at auction for a colossal $47.3m (£35.5m).
What's still developing
- On rare occasions, researchers have even identified the ancient indentations of a dinosaur’s skin or feathers.
- Genetic analysis suggests the family emerged roughly 65 million years ago, shortly after the extinction of the dinosaurs, although estimates range from 50 to 80 million years.
- Researchers say D-rex represents not only a new species, but also a new genus and family, Dianjunaceae.
- Norellraptor belongs to the microraptorines, a group of small, feathered dromaeosaurid dinosaurs known for long feathers on both their arms and legs, which is why they are often called four-winged dinosaurs.
- The researchers found that about 30% of the anatomical changes along the microraptorine family tree also appeared in the lineage leading to birds, but the two groups acquired those shared traits in a different sequence.
- By studying this feather, researchers have found clues that help explain why birds are the only group of dinosaurs that survived the mass extinction By studying this feather, researchers have found clues that help explain why birds are the only group of dinosaurs that survived the mass extinction The feather of a bird eaten by a dinosaur 66 million years ago could provide the answer to one of science ’s great mysteries.
- A newly identified dinosaur from Patagonia is giving scientists fresh insight into how some raptor relatives lived during the final chapter of the age of dinosaurs.
- By comparing the new species with Neuquenraptor argentinus, a related dinosaur that lived in northern Patagonia around 90 million years ago, scientists estimate that adult Kank individuals reached lengths of about 2.5 to 3 meters (8 to 10 feet).
- Exquisitely preserved feathers, the first ever found in fossilized dinosaur poop, are providing a peek into how some ancient birds lived — and possibly went extinct.
- “That’s something we’re seeing for the first time in the Age of the Dinosaurs,” says vertebrate paleontologist Jingmai O’Connor of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.