An international research team has identified fossilised dinosaur red blood cells and haemoglobin-related molecules in 115-million-year-old bones, offering new insights into the preservation of biological material over millions of years.
The study, led by Curtin University in Australia, also reports the detection of collagen amino acids. Its findings have been published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
The fossilised limb bones belonged to Aratasaurus museunacionali, a theropod dinosaur discovered in northeastern Brazil. Researchers found numerous red blood cells preserved inside vascular pores within the bones.
Previous studies had reported structures resembling red blood cells in fossils. However, the researchers say this is the first study to chemically confirm the presence of haemoglobin-derived molecules inside these cells.
The samples contained haem, the component of haemoglobin responsible for binding and transporting oxygen.
How were the cells preserved?
Researchers believe the cells survived because the dinosaur was buried rapidly after its death in an environment with low oxygen levels and a high concentration of microorganisms.
“Finding intact haem-derived molecules inside 115-million-year-old red blood cells is astonishing. It is truly a landmark discovery,” said study leader Kliti Grice, founding director of the Western Australian Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre at Curtin University.
She explained that the findings expand the fossil record of blood and provide a “molecular window” into the physiology of extinct animals and the environments in which they lived.
Martin Van Kranendonk, head of Curtin University’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the research challenges existing understanding of how molecular structures can survive over long periods and under particularly harsh conditions.
He added that the findings could also have implications for astrobiology and the search for ancient life elsewhere in the Universe.
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