By: Rachel Chen

Recently, torrential rain revealed a 233-million-year-old dinosaur fossil in Brazil and it has been said to be the oldest fossil ever to be discovered.

The heavy rain of Brazil revealed the dinosaur fossils by eroding parts of a fossil site, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, which is in Southern Brazil, in a reservoir.

Most researchers think that the dinosaur lived during the time period called the Triassic period. The Triassic period, which lasted about 50.5 million years, happened when the Earth was just a single mass of land called Pangea.

Scientists also believe that the fossil belonged to a member of the Herrerasauridae family of carnivorous dinosaurs. The Herrerasauridae family included dinosaurs that grew up to about 2.5m in length and had two legs as well.

This family of dinosaurs is one of the oldest in the world. Rodrigo Müller from the Federal University of Santa Maria told Brazilian media, “It’s already important because of the role it’s likely to play in helping us understand the origin of the dinosaurs.”

The reservoir where the fossil was uncovered has been receiving a lot of rain recently, getting three months worth of rain in just a matter of two months.

Scientists are working quickly against time to uncover more bones remaining in the area. This heavy rain could reveal more bones, but could destroy already uncovered bones, such as a leg and pelvis bone that has already been destroyed by floods.