Fossilized Red Blood Cells Found in 115-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Bones

Scientists have discovered what appear to be fossilised red blood cells inside the 115-million-year-old bones of a juvenile meat-eating dinosaur called an Aratasaurus, marking what researchers call a landmark discovery previously thought impossible. The international team identified the microscopic structures while analysing limb bones unearthed in a gypsum mine in northeastern Brazil in 2008 and held at the National Museum of Brazil. Co-author Kliti Grice said the finding of intact heme-derived molecules in the ancient cells is astonishing, offering a direct molecular window into dinosaur physiology. Researchers said the preservation challenges assumptions that biomolecules like haemoglobin cannot survive deep time, and similar traces of life may exist elsewhere in the universe. The four-year-old dinosaur measured over 10ft long and weighed about 75lbs.