News Release

133 million-year-old dinosaur brain fossil found in England

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

Surface Scanned Image

image: Surface scanned image of the unassuming 'pebble' recently revealed to be a roughly 133 million-year-old fossil dinosaur brain, discovered in Sussex, England. view more 

Credit: Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

SALT LAKE CITY, UT (Oct. 2016) - Soft tissues such as hearts and muscles are very rarely preserved in the fossil record. For that reason, nearly all study of dinosaur soft tissue has to be reconstructed from fossil bones. However, researchers in the United Kingdom recently identified a genuine fossilized brain from a roughly 133 million-year-old dinosaur in Sussex, England. The brain likely belonged to a close relative of the Iguanodon, a spike-handed herbivorous dinosaur. According to the researchers, this is the first example of a natural endocast (in-filling) of the braincase that preserves fossilized brain tissue from any dinosaur.

The unassuming small fossil was originally discovered in 2004 on a beach in the town of Bexhill, but without the rest of the skeleton to help identify it. Only recently was a team of researchers, including Dr David Norman of the University of Cambridge, able to determine it was a fossilized dinosaur brain. Martin Brasier, of the University of Oxford, led the early work on this fossil, before his untimely death in 2014. In order to visualize very small features of the fossil brain Professor Brasier brought in researchers from the University of Western Australia to obtain high resolution images of parts of the brain, revealing its outer layers (meninges) as well as remnants of capillaries (tiny blood vessels) within the cortex of the brain itself. The brain structure and in particular the arrangement of meninges, shows remarkable similarity to modern birds and crocodilians, and likely functioned in fairly similar ways.

In regard to the truly rare preservation of the fossilized dinosaur brain, Dr Norman said "Brain tissues are incredibly fragile and it is quite incredible that the animal died in circumstances that uniquely led to their preservation - through a process of 'pickling' and then mineral replacement". Dr Norman continued, "What we think happened is that this particular dinosaur died in or near a body of stagnant water, and its head ended up partially buried in the sediment at the bottom. Since the water had so little oxygen and was so acidic, the soft tissues of the brain were likely preserved and cast before the rest of its body was buried in the sediment." Circumstances such as these are astonishingly rare in fossilization, meaning this discovery can provide unique insight into the mind of this 133 million-year-old dinosaur.

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Dr Norman and colleagues presented their research at the international meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Salt Lake City, Utah. More details of their work will be released in an upcoming article to be published in a Special Publication of the Geological Society of London*. *Earth System Evolution and Early Life: a Celebration of the Work of Martin Brasier.

Images

Image 1: Surface scanned image of the unassuming 'pebble' recently revealed to be a roughly 133 million-year-old fossil dinosaur brain, discovered in Sussex, England.

Image 2: High resolution magnifications of surface texture from the fossil dinosaur brain, showing the remarkable preservation of the fine network of blood vessels preserved.

About the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

Founded in 1940 by thirty-four paleontologists, the Society now has more than 2,300 members representing professionals, students, artists, preparators, and others interested in VP. It is organized exclusively for educational and scientific purposes, with the object of advancing the science of vertebrate paleontology.

Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

The Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology (JVP) is the leading journal of professional vertebrate paleontology and the flagship publication of the Society. It was founded in 1980 by Dr. Jiri Zidek and publishes contributions on all aspects of vertebrate paleontology.

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR CONTACT INFORMATION

David Norman (at the SVP in SLC 26-29 October)
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
dn102@cam.ac.uk

OTHER EXPERTS NOT DIRECTLY INVOLVED WITH THE STUDY

Ashley Morhardt
Washington University in St. Louis
amorhardt@wustl.edu

Ariana Paulina-Carabajal
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas &
Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente
a.paulinacarabajal@conicet.gov.ar


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