Palaeontology

Fossilized red blood cells from a dinosaur potentially discovered

By T.K. Randall
November 3, 2026

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) In the movie Jurassic Park, scientists were able to clone dinosaurs by retrieving their DNA from prehistoric mosquitos trapped in amber, then combining it with the DNA of modern frogs.

In reality, while it is certainly possible to find insects trapped in amber from the time of the dinosaurs, nobody has ever been able to retrieve DNA from them.

Nonetheless, a potential new discovery could take us one step closer to obtaining DNA - actual red blood cells found fossilized inside the bones of a 115 million-year-old dinosaur unearthed in Brazil.

The red blood cells showed up as small round structures visible on electron microscope imagery.Such a find was never thought likely in dinosaur fossils due to how quickly biological tissue breaks down.

"We are seeing a mineral and molecular echo of the dinosaur's original biology," said research leader Prof Kliti Grice of South Australia's Curtin University.

"Fossilised red blood cells with distinct chemistry related to heme have never been found in situ in any fossil, let alone a dinosaur. This is a world first."

While work still needs to be done to confirm the discovery, if true it will be one of the most significant palaeontological finds in years.

Source: The Guardian

Tags: Dinosaur