By: Summer Lin
In May 2024, a team of paleontologists discovered a nearly complete dinosaur fossil after heavy rains caused erosion in São João do Polêsine, Brazil, partly exposing the skeleton. This dinosaur is a member of the Herrerasauridae family of dinosaurs and was estimated to be 233 million years old.
Herrerasaurus is a primitive carnivorous dinosaur, a close relative of dinosaurs found as fossils in Argentine deposits from the Late Triassic Period (252-201 million years ago). Scientists think the animal lived during a time known as the Triassic period – when all of Earth’s continents were a single mass of land called Pangea. This period lasted 50.5 million years, and it was during this time that dinosaurs emerged. Herrerasaurus can reach about 3 meters (10 feet) and weigh about 180 kg (400 pounds). [2]
Rodrigo Müller is a paleontologist at the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria
“It’s among the oldest in the world,” Müller told Brazilian media.[1]
The floods destroyed a leg bone and a pelvis bone discovered at the site, but the rest of the fossil, the paleontologists hope, is unharmed.
Heavy rains have caused major flooding over parts of Brazil. For example, the northeastern coastal city of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Northern Uruguay received over 10 inches of rain on the 29th of January alone, and the flooding and mudslides caused by rains killed at least 66 people. The rains were triggered by cold fronts pushing up from the south and leaving behind boundaries that provide space for warm air flowing in from the tropical Atlantic to generate showers and thunderstorms. These heavy rains eroded the rock so the fossils could be discovered.[3]
This huge discovery could help scientists change their understanding of dinosaurs. This near-full skeleton may be the biggest fossil discovered yet, all thanks to Mother Nature.
[1]’Oldest EVER’ dinosaur fossil found in Brazil
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/articles/c3vxkq05vzgo
[2]Herrerasaurus
https://www.britannica.com/animal/Herrerasaurus
[3]Heavy Rains Bring Floods to Brazil
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/12657/heavy-rains-bring-floods-to-brazil