Australian Study Discovers 115-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Blood Cells

An international research team led by Australia’s Curtin University has identified the first confirmed evidence of fossilised red blood cells and collagen amino acids, potentially transforming scientific understanding of how fossils and molecular structures survive over geological time.

Published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the study describes the discovery of fossilised red blood cells and intact haem-based biomolecules in the limb bones of a 115-million-year-old theropod dinosaur, Aratasaurus museunacionali. Researchers recovered the fossilised bones in northeastern Brazil.

The team identified numerous red blood cells inside the bones, preserved within vascular channels. Previous studies had reported possible red blood cell-like structures in fossils. However, the researchers say their study provides the first chemical confirmation of haemoglobin-derived molecules inside the cells.

The researchers believe the exceptional preservation occurred because the dinosaur was rapidly buried after death in an oxygen-poor environment rich in microorganisms.

“The identification of intact haem-derived molecules inside 115-million-year-old red blood cells is astonishing. This is truly a landmark discovery,” said study leader Kliti Grice, founding director of the WA-OIGC at Curtin University.

She explained that the discovery not only expands the known fossil record of blood but also provides a direct molecular window into the physiology of animals that disappeared millions of years ago. It allows scientists to better understand both the animals themselves and the environments in which they lived.

Martin Van Kranendonk, head of Curtin University’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the research redefines how molecular structures can survive over immense periods or under particularly harsh conditions.

He added that the findings could also have implications for astrobiology and the search for evidence of ancient life elsewhere in the universe.

Scientific publication: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)

(Source: AMNA)

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