Germany returns rare dinosaur fossil to Brazil

Germany returns rare dinosaur fossil to Brazil
Credit: Belga

The 110-million-year-old fossil of a rare species of dinosaur, discovered in Brazil before being smuggled to Germany, has been returned to the South American country, the Brazilian government announced on Monday.

“The Ubirajara jubatus fossil, the first non-avian dinosaur with feather-like structures found in South America, returned to Brazil on Sunday,” the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology announced.

The specimen arrived in Brasilia with a German government delegation on an official visit, led by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

It is the fossil of a chicken-sized, feather-covered dinosaur that lived in the northeastern Brazilian state of Ceara. It was discovered by foreign researchers in the 1990s, then transferred to Germany for study.

Hitherto kept at the Karlsruhe Museum of Natural History in southwest Germany, it will now form part of the collection of the Placido Cidade Nuvens Museum of Palaeontology in Ceara.

A controversy had surrounded the fossil since December 2020 and the publication of an article in a scientific journal describing the new species. The article had revealed that no Brazilian scientist had been involved in its study, suggesting that it had left Brazil irregularly.

Since 1942, Brazilian law has stipulated that fossils are part of the national heritage and official permission is required before they can leave the country.

“Without the mobilisation of the Brazilian scientific community, we would not have succeeded,” Brazil’s Secretary of State for Science and Technology, Inacio Arruda, said in a press release. “The German government was sensitive to our struggle and, together, we have achieved this victory.”.


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