A fossil illegally taken from Brazil to Europe in the mid-1990s is set to be returned to the country in June after two years of diplomatic negotiations. The announcement was made by the Guimarães Rosa Institute, linked to Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The fossil was found at a site in the Araripe basin, on the border between the states of Ceará, Piauí, and Pernambuco, and was taken to become part of the collection of the State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe in Germany. After years of studies, the fossil was found to be the only known record of a dinosaur about the size of a chicken that lived 120 million years ago in what is now the Brazilian Northeast. It walked on two legs, was covered with long, fine hair, and fed on insects and small vertebrates. The case first drew attention two years ago when paleontologists from the UK and Germany published an article on the fossil, classifying it as a new species of dinosaur called Ubirajara jubatus. Based on evidence that the fossil was removed from Brazil illegally by traffickers, the journal that published the finding (Cretaceous Research) removed the article from its website. The fossil will be transferred to the Plácido Cidade Nuvens Paleontology Museum in Santana do Cariri, Ceará.
RepublishPaleontology
Dinosaur fossil to be returned to Brazil
Artistic representation of Ubirajara jubatus
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