By: Tiffany Han

Fossils are the remains of living organisms after they die. They are a key part in helping us figure out the history of the Earth. Scientists and paleontologists team up on examining fossils to get clues about our planet’s past. Recently, paleontologists in Brazil discovered a really old fossil. Upon closer inspections it was the oldest dinosaur fossil that scientists across the world had ever found!

The fossil was from the Triassic period. Back then, there was only one continent, called Pangea. During that time, dinosaurs were just introduced. The entire period lasted 50.5 million years! It beat the current record dinosaur, Nyasasaurus parringtoni, by about only 1 million years!

The almost fully preserved fossil was a fossil of one of the earliest dinosaurs, it was classified as a member of the Herrerasauridae family, which means Herrera’s lizard, according to researchers. It was named after the rancher that found it in 1958. The dinosaur was 2.5 meters long, weighed about 350 kilograms, and had two legs according to the BBC.

Recently, in the evacuation zone, there was a lot of rain in the Rio Grande Do Sul, so the evacuation needs to hurry up, or else all the bones will be washed away. The site received three months worth of rain in only two weeks! The paleontologists are already rushing the delicate process of evacuating fragile bones for the incoming heavy rain. They already lost a pelvis and leg bone. We wish them good luck in safely evacuating the rest of the bones!