A kind of dinosaur reaction, removed from Brazil, initiates an investigation

In 1995, a museum in southwestern Germany found an unusual fossil from a cream-colored limestone in northeastern Brazil: a 120-million-year-old dinosaur that a curious scientist believed could be algae.

Now, 25 years later, scientists have confirmed that the predator is one of a kind, the first feathered, non-avian dinosaur found in the Southern Hemisphere. Scientists in Brazil and Brazil have asked the fossil to return from Germany. Dinosaurs, as named Ubirajara Jubtus, The journal was unveiled on December 13th Cretaceous Research, Protests from the hashtag days of online protests #Ubirajarabelongstobr Scientifically invaluable fossils have been questioned as to whether they were legally exported.

“This doesn’t have to be, because this relic should never have left Brazil,” says Flaviana Lima, a paleontologist at the Regional University of Kerry in Crete, Brazil.

The Brazilian Society of Paleontology (SBP) announced on December 21 that it would work with the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development to investigate the legality. Ubirajara Export to Germany. In addition, Cretaceous Research SBP said it would consider removing it temporarily Ubirajara A study of his website, the results of the investigation are pending. “The fight is not over yet,” the SBP said in a statement.

Study co-author Eberhard Frey, paleonologist at the State Museum of Natural History Carlsruh, where Ubirajara Being held, say the samples were transported after obtaining approval from a Brazilian official. He added that he is discussing Ubirajara Situation with colleagues in Brazil. “I’m sure we [will] Find a solution, ”he wrote in an email National Geographic.

Ubirajara Brazil is far from the first sample to raise concerns about the potential illegal export of relics. Some countries, such as the United States, allow the sale of fossil fuels in some cases. But Brazilian law has been in place since 1942 that the remains of the country belong to the state, prohibiting their commercial sale. However, the spotty implementation allowed the development of a black market of fossil sales from the 1970s to the mid-1990s. Even today samples from the country are bought and sold openly all over the world.

Frey observed many Brazilian fossils at the Karlsruhe Museum, which he studied with paleontologist David Martil at the University of Portsmouth in England, another co-author of the new paper. These include the first known fossils of Tyrosaurus Unwindia And Arthurdactylus, Related to the ancient crocodile Susisuchas, And dinosaurs Mirishchia, A relative Ubirajara.

Over the years, Martel has advocated for the legalization of fossil collections as a practical way to find scientifically valuable fossils. Martil said in a special case in Brazil National Geographic In an email he said he would be “happy if all the Brazilian remains from all the museums in the world went back to Brazil,” but added that in his view, Brazil’s laws on fossil ownership are unnecessarily strict and hostile.

He wrote, “Because the trade in relics was illegal and because he was going to make a lot of money from trading them, he became very corrupt.”

Brazilian paleontologists have long argued that it is unethical to make excuses for the illegal fossil trade and to drain Brazil of its scientific resources.

“One sentence that comes to mind: Oh no, not again,” says Tiago Simez, a Brazilian paleontologist who is a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard and specializes in South American fossils of snakes and lizards. “Unfortunately, that’s a guess.”

The fate of the fossils is of particular concern because of the specialty Ubirajara, Predatory dinosaur which probably. From sn sn to tail about an. Spread feet, it stands 13 to 14 inches tall on the shoulder, and weighs as much as a turkey or a large chicken. Ubirajara During the Cretaceous period, the first dinosaur to be discovered on the wreckage of Brazil 120 million years ago today was a dinosaur with spear-like feathers extending from its shoulders.

Fossils include dinosaur neck and back bones, some of its ribs and full form, as well as lumps of “grave wax” taken from animal body fat. Ubirajara The whiskey on the back of the dinosaur also has feather prints, including “believers”.

The only other well-known South American feathered dinosaurs are early-looking, flight-ready feathered birds – no. UbirajaraMore ancient hair and wider, ribbon-like shoulder feathers. Only a few fossil dinosaurs with similar broad feathers have been found, and they are all from China or North America.

“In terms of the evolution of feathers, we’ve lost half the world so far,” says Robert Smith, lead author of the research, who did research as a master’s student at the University of Portsmouth under Martil’s supervision. “It’s really been an empty space.”

The dinosaur’s shoulder feathers were used to woo a mate or a jockey for social status, much like the shoulder feathers on a modern Indonesian standard bird – f-pa dise rdis. “You don’t have to develop complex, modern, bird-like feathers to adapt to extended display structures,” says Smith.

In approval of these unusual feathers, the scientists who described the dinosaurs Ubirajara, Which means “lord of spears” in the indigenous Tupi language of Brazil.

Like other global fossil hotspots such as Mongolia and the Canadian province of Alberta, Brazil has laws that determine the legal status of fossils and control how they leave the country.

Under a 1942 presidential decree, Brazil’s remains belong to the state and any “exploration and exploitation of fossil deposits” by national museums, state museums or “similar official establishments” must be approved by Brazil’s mining regulators.

The set of rules issued by the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology in 1990 paves the way for global sampling, for legal purposes to leave Brazil for research purposes, even though the samples are still state-owned.

In order to leave Brazil legally for samples, foreign scientists must obtain prior approval from the Brazilian National Scientific and Technological Development (CNPQ). The rules also require foreign scientists to return samples exported to Brazil if they are later classified as typewriters or samples that define new species. Ubirajara Fossil does now.

“The issue of the kind of content going back to Brazil is interesting, and I can see the reason why it shouldn’t happen, even if it’s deposited in a safe institution,” Martil wrote.

Frey has said he is moving fossils out of Brazil with the country’s approval. “We have a document that allows us to take Creto samples to integrate into the cartridge collection,” he wrote in his email.

It was signed by Jose Bettimer Melo Figigira of the Brazilian Department of Mineral Production (DNPM), an export document, an online fossil encyclopedia, acquired by Prehistoric Wiki. The 1942 law is cited to authorize the transport of two busses of Frey’s remains to the Karlruh Museum, but it does not refer to the 1990 regulations, which require CNPQ approval. (Bettymar didn’t answer Of National Geographic Requests for comment.)

The Brazilian Society of Paleontology notes that the new rules would have applied to 1995 exports. Ubirajara, I.e. the permission of both agencies will be required to move the fossil.

Frey said he and his allies are in discussions with Brazilian officials over Ubirajara’s condition, including whether he will return. “This is an open issue to date,” he says.

Controversy over Ubirajara Highlights how government officials and international scientists have begun to pay more attention to the legal status of Brazilian remains. This has led to increased enforcement of fossil rules in Brazil and other countries.

In October, Brazilian federal police conducted 19 search warrants in “Operation Santa’s Raptor”, a multi-year investigation into fossil smuggling in the Arripe Basin – in the area where Ubirajara Was found. And last year, a French court ruled that 45 Brazilian remains in the possession of a French company must be returned to Brazil.

The Araripe Basin, also named a “Global Geopark” by UNESCO in 2006, was designed to promote tourism in the area’s sites and museums. “The remains of the Araripe Basin are important not only for science, but also for the development of the region,” Crito Paleontologist Lima wrote in a WhatsApp message. National Geographic.

This Ubirajara Fossil Arrhythmias came from stone quarries in the fossil-rich Creto formation of the basin, according to a study conducted in its description. In his email, Frey said researchers did not know exactly where the fossil was discovered.

Frey answered the list of questions from the beginning National Geographic, But did not answer follow-up questions, including one on this Ubirajara Fossils were purchased. Other remains are kept at the Karlsruhe Museum, as are the first known remains Unwindia And Susisuchas, Purchased from commercial dealers, according to their descriptive study.

Frey argued in his email that the Karlsruhe Museum was built improperly. “Why not other German organizations, or American organizations? What about Japan, Portugal, UK? What if other countries want the same? What if Germany claims the London model Archeology? ”He wrote. (Learn more about Archeology, Iconic feathered dinosaurs were found in Germany in the 1860s.)

In initial responses to criticism about Ubirajara, Frey and Martil suggested that Brazil does not take adequate care of its remains, pointing to the 2018 fire that destroyed part of the Museo Nacional in Rio de Janeiro as an example of neglect. In a recent email to a Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao PauloMartil said those lucky remains did not return to Brazil two years ago “because now it will all fall to ashes after a tragic fire.”

This line of argument offends the line hilardi, a paleontologist at Rio Grande de Norte, a federal university in Natal. He notes that many museums in Brazil safely preserve fossil collections. “Brazil doesn’t care about its remains because the Museo Nacional has burned down? Ok [what about] Notre Dame? “She said.” They’re trying to neutralize very sick behavior – to normalize it. “

In her email National Geographic, Martil admitted his latest comment Folha Were “a little insensitive” and said he had “no problem” with Brazilian remains returning to Brazil, especially to rebuild the damaged collection of Museo Nacional.

“I realize that the following things seem irritating, but the inevitable fact is that a lot of the remains were removed from Brazil in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.” “Extremely important storage is available to replace it from the arrears basin destroyed in the fire.”

Maybe Ubiajara It will be one of the remnants to replace what was lost. All three were contacted by Brazilian paleontologists National Geographic Expressed such hope Ubirajara Will return so that scientists in his country can study its significant plumage up-close. “Brazilian law is very clear, about its paleontological patriotism – about protecting its palaeontological heritage,” says Gillardi.