A fossilized dinosaur brain believed to be the first ever discovered sat on a shelf for more than decade because scientists didn't know what they had.
The fossilized brain was found by fossil hunter Jamie Hiscocks in 2004 on a beach in Bexhill-on-Sea in England, Sky News reported, but researchers have only recently come to realize what a find Hiscocks made.
"The chances of preserving brain tissue are incredibly small, so the discovery of this specimen is astonishing," said Alex Liu, of Cambridge University's Department of Earth Sciences and co-author of a study on the fossilized brain.
Researchers believe the brain matter came from a larger plant-eater dinosaur like the Iguanodon, which lived about 133 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous Period, said Sky News. An analysis of the brain found similarities with that of birds and crocodile, both dinosaur relatives.
Meninges, the tough tissues surrounding the actual brain, along with tiny capillaries and portions of adjacent cortical tissues, were all preserved as mineralized 'ghosts,' said the study.
"What we think happened is that this particular dinosaur died in or near a body of water, and its head ended up partially buried in the sediment at the bottom," said David Norman, of Cambridge.
"Since the water had little oxygen and was very acidic, the soft tissues of the brain were likely preserved and cast before the rest of its body was buried in the sediment."
The Cambridge researchers, who worked with a team from the University of Western Australia, used scanning electron microscope techniques to identify the meninges as well as strands of collagen and blood vessels.
"As we can't see the lobes of the brain itself, we can't say for sure how big this dinosaur's brain was," Norman said. "Of course, it’s entirely possible that dinosaurs had bigger brains than we give them credit for, but we can’t tell from this specimen alone. What's truly remarkable is that conditions were just right in order to allow preservation of the brain tissue – hopefully this is the first of many such discoveries."
Amy Balanoff of Johns Hopkins University, who wasn't involved in the study, said more was needed to confirm the Cambridge findings, noted The Guardian.
"If correct, this discovery would provide important insights into our understanding of the evolution of the dinosaur brain, and consequently the evolution of the avian brain," said Balanoff.
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