Buenos Aires, June 5, (dpa/GNA) – A dinosaur fossil that was likely brought to Germany illegally was returned to Brazil, the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation said Monday.
The ministry confirmed the fossil of the dinosaur, called Ubirajara jubatus, arrived in Brazil on Sunday. Representatives of Brazilian ministries, the German Embassy and the University of Cariri inspected the materials.
“The Ministry of Science has spared no effort to make the return of Ubirajara possible. However, we would not have been successful without the mobilization of the Brazilian scientific community,” Secretary for Science and Technology and Social Development Inácio Arruda said.
“The German government listened to our pleas and together we achieved this victory.”
Ubirajara jubatus dates back to the Cretaceous period and lived about 110 to 115 million years ago. The carnivore, which is only about one metre tall, is believed to be the first feathered but flightless dinosaur in the Southern Hemisphere.
The fossil was found in a quarry in the state of Ceará in north-eastern Brazil and brought to Germany in 1995. Most recently, it belonged to the collection of the Natural History Museum in Karlsruhe, in south-western Germany.
Experts in Brazil claimed that the fossil had been taken out of the country illegally.
At first, the Ministry of Science of the German state of Baden-Württenberg said that there was no evidence that the Karlsruhe Natural History Museum had acquired the fossilized remains illegally. In July last year, however, it said that the museum had given false information about how the fossil was imported.
The ministry said the museum was not able to present any documents from Brazilian authorities proving that the fossil had been declared and cleared through customs when it was exported. In particular, there was no export license from Brazil.
GNA