Government presents fossil Ubirajara jubatus – 06/12/2023 – Science

Symbol of the fight of Brazilian scientists against the international trafficking of fossils, the dinosaur Ubirajara jubatus –who spent almost three decades in Germany after being illegally removed from Brazil– won a special ceremony to mark his repatriation and return to his region of origin.

The return to Brazil took place after an unprecedented mobilization of national paleontologists, who used social networks as an instrument of pressure. The #UbirajaraBelongsToBR campaign also had great repercussions abroad and gave visibility to the damage caused by irregular trade in Brazilian fossil heritage.

Although this was not the first repatriation of a Brazilian fossil illegally taken to another country, the case of Ubirajara jubatus was treated differently.

Not by chance, his devolution ceremony also took on unusual proportions.

Held in Brasília this Monday afternoon (12), the event was led by the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Luciana Santos, and was attended by representatives of the German government, the governor of Ceará, Elmano de Freitas, as well as other authorities. The event was broadcast on the internet and through official government channels.

Several paleontologists also accompanied the site, such as some of the main names behind the campaign for repatriation, such as Juan Cisneros, professor at UFPI (Federal University of Piauí), and Aline Ghilardi, professor at UFRN (Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte).

“I am very happy to be able to participate in this ceremony. It was a very hard fight and it means a lot to be here to see this little Brazilian up close. May many Brazilians be able to see and study him from now on, and may he be our flag for a greater struggle, which transcends all that, which is the struggle for a more just and humane, decolonized science”, said Ghilardi.

“Today makes official a great achievement for Brazilian paleontology. We managed to make the fight for a fossil become a matter of State and that the importance of fossils was better understood by many people. Brazilian fossils and now we have support from the institutions”, added the paleontologist.

Among Brazilian scientists, the atmosphere at the event was one of great celebration. The party for the dinosaur –which arrived in Brazil on the 4th, with a delegation of German authorities that includes the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock— was also followed on social networks.

In an interview with Sheet Before the ceremony, the Secretary of Science and Technology for Social Development at the MCTI, Inácio Arruda, highlighted the commitment of the scientists.

“It was fundamental [a campanha], because it allowed Germany to recognize that it had a heritage that belonged to another nation. The movement of researchers from Brazil and abroad was very important,” he said.

According to him, the mobilization of researchers has already allowed “the identification of a considerable amount of fossils that will also be repatriated”.

The secretary also highlighted the importance of returning the dinosaur fossil to the Crato region, in the Northeast, where the animal lived some 110 million years ago. “The region where Ubirajara lived is a very important paleontological site, which has enormous development potential also through research by Urca (Regional University of Cariri)”, he highlighted.

The institution chosen to receive the dinosaur was the Plácido Cidade Nuvens Paleontology Museum, which belongs to Urca, Ceará, which will gain a special space to house the valuable material.

In addition to mobilizing itself to guarantee the return of other Brazilian fossils abroad, the national paleontological community is also preparing to carry out its own studies on the dinosaur.

Given the irregular origin of the material, the scientific publication in which the species was described and named ended up being “unpublished”. This means that researchers now have the green light to present new academic works and even to choose a new name for the animal, which should no longer be called Ubirajara jubatusnomenclature proposed by foreign researchers.

Although Brazilian legislation prohibits the sale of fossils and determines several restrictions for them to leave the country, it is common to find specimens of national prehistory deposited in collections in Europe and the United States.

Irregularly taken from Brazil in the 1990s, the fossil of Ubirajara jubatus it was in the possession of the Museum of Natural History in Karlsruhe, Germany, which refused to return it, despite pressure from scientists and Brazilian diplomacy.

Director of the museum until January 2022, paleontologist Eberhard “Dino” Frey was one of the authors of the article describing the Brazilian dinosaur. He was succeeded in office by Norbert Lenz, who also co-authored the work.

The return of traces of the animal to Brazil only went ahead after determination by authorities in the Baden-Württemberg region in July 2022. The then Minister of Science of the German region pointed out scientific misconduct in obtaining the fossil, in line with the complaints of paleontologists Brazilians and with statements by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office.