Blood traces discovered in 115-million-year-old dinosaur fossils: A remarkable scientific breakthrough

For years, the scientific community has held the belief that only bones or hard materials can survive in millions-of-years-old fossils, and that soft tissues or traces of blood perish over time. However, a recent study has strongly challenged this belief. Scientists have discovered traces of blood in a 115-million-year-old dinosaur fossil found in a mine in the northeastern part of Brazil. This discovery has been published in the prestigious journal 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences' (PNAS). This research has the potential to completely change our understanding of the physical structure and lifestyle of dinosaurs.

This research was led by Professor Kliti Grice of Curtin University in Australia. Her team analyzed the hind leg bones of a dinosaur named 'Aratasaurus museunacionali'. This dinosaur lived approximately 115 million years ago. During the research, scientists observed oval shapes within the extremely minute tubes inside the bones, known as vascular canals. These shapes are presumed to be mineralized red blood cells. This discovery is significant because it demonstrates that under the right conditions, biological molecules can survive for millions of years.

The most important discovery in these fossils is a molecule called 'heme'. Heme is a key component of haemoglobin. Haemoglobin is a protein found in red blood cells that works to transport oxygen throughout the body. According to Professor Grice, the samples they tested contained approximately 80 percent heme. This discovery provides a new type of evidence for the study of dinosaur physiology. It will help determine how oxygen was transported in these creatures and what their metabolism, or metabolic rate, was like.

Some interesting information has also emerged about the 'Aratasaurus', the dinosaur from whose bones these traces were found. According to scientists' estimates, the dinosaur was only 4 years old when it died. It weighed approximately 34 kilograms and measured 3.1 meters from head to tail. This dinosaur possessed feathers and was likely carnivorous. Its bones were discovered in a Brazilian mine in 2008, but they have only now been tested using state-of-the-art technology.

Generally, biological materials do not last for such a long time, so how did this happen in this case? Scientists believe that this dinosaur died on 'microbial mats'. A microbial mat is a thick layer of bacteria and other microorganisms, which is usually found in coastal areas. When the dinosaur's body fell onto this layer, the microorganisms must have surrounded it from all sides. During this process, oxidation and mineralisation occurred simultaneously, which caused the soft tissues to become as hard as stone and prevented them from being destroyed.

For this research, scientists used several state-of-the-art methods. They examined the internal structure of the bones using light scanning electron microscopy. In addition, chemical analysis methods such as pyrolysis and mass spectrometry were used to identify the molecules. However, the scientists also attempted to find ancient DNA in these samples, but they were not successful. Therefore, cloning a dinosaur as shown in movies is not possible at this time.

There are also some disagreements in the scientific community regarding this discovery. Professor Mary Schweitzer of North Carolina State University, who is herself an expert in dinosaur soft tissues, is not prepared to accept these oval shapes as red blood cells. She states that the size of these shapes is approximately 15 microns. Red blood cells of birds and other reptiles are generally larger than this because they contain a nucleus. However, she does acknowledge the presence of heme and collagen proteins in the bones. Despite this controversy, most scientists agree that such chemical evidence is extremely valuable for gaining new information about dinosaurs.

This discovery is also important for the general public in India and around the world because it enhances our understanding of Earth's history and evolution. Until now, we only viewed dinosaurs as fossilized bones, but now we are reaching their blood and cells. This will make it possible in the future to know whether dinosaurs were warm-blooded or cold-blooded animals. Professor Mauricio Barbi of the University of Regina says that instead of just asking what fossils look like, we are now moving towards understanding how those animals lived.

Following this research, there is now a need to re-examine old fossils housed in museums around the world. Professor Grice is optimistic that if museums allow such state-of-the-art tests to be conducted on the fossils in their collections, we could uncover a great deal of information about dinosaurs that has been hidden in plain sight for decades. Currently, researchers at Curtin University are conducting experiments on the mineralization of human blood on samples of microbial mats found in Shark Bay, Western Australia, in order to better understand this complex natural process.