Heavy Rains Expose One of the Oldest Dinosaur Skeletons Ever Discovered, Researchers Claim
Heavy rains in southern Brazil have led to the remarkable discovery of one of the world's oldest dinosaur skeletons, according to researchers. Paleontologists stumbled upon the fossils near a reservoir in the municipality of São João do Polêsine in May, as reported by The Associated Press on July 17. The team asserts that the dinosaur, which remains unnamed, is approximately 233 million years old and belonged to a family of Triassic predators known as Herrerasauridae.
The scientific community is abuzz with debates over the earliest-known dinosaur evidence. The oldest undisputed dinosaur fossils date back around 231 million years and include bones from various groups, such as Herrerasauridae. However, older fossils from a disputed dinosaur called Nyasasaurus, which lived around 240 million years ago, also exist.
The newly discovered skeleton is almost entirely preserved, according to Agência Brasil, a public news agency in Brazil. If the specimen indeed proves to be a 233-million-year-old Herrerasaurid, it will significantly aid researchers in deciphering the base of the dinosaur family tree. "It's among the oldest in the world" and will likely play a crucial role in "helping us understand the origin of the dinosaurs," said Rodrigo Temp Müller, a paleontologist at the Federal University of Santa Maria in Brazil, who led the excavation.
The fossils are expected to provide valuable insights into the first wave of predatory dinosaurs that occupied the top of the food chain. Müller explained that the individual dinosaur was around 8.2 feet (2.5 meters) long, but its species might have grown even larger. "It's a carnivorous, bipedal animal, so it walked on its hind legs and probably had its hands free to handle prey," Müller noted. "We can't say it had reached its maximum size. Although he was 2.5m long, some individuals in this group could reach five or six meters [16.5 to 19.5 feet]."
Müller and his colleagues uncovered the fossils after heavy rains accelerated natural erosion in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. This region experienced a record amount of rainfall earlier this year, resulting in floods that claimed at least 182 lives, according to The Associated Press. The site where Müller and his team work is part of the Quarta Colônia Geopark, renowned for its dinosaur fossils. The heavy rains have prompted the researchers to race against time to recover exposed fossils before they are lost or destroyed.
"If there's a lot of rain, small materials are sometimes lost before we can get to them, so now we are rushing to rescue all the materials that have been uncovered," Müller said.
This discovery underscores the critical role that natural phenomena can play in uncovering historical treasures and the importance of timely intervention to preserve such invaluable finds.