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British paleontologists have come across the first sample of fossilised dinosaur blood in recorded history, according to a report published today in the journal Nature Communications. The fossilised red blood cells are roughly 75 million years old and were found in the claws of a therapod dinosaur – the family of dinosaurs that includes T. rex and velociraptor.
“We really went into this project with a high degree of skepticism,” lead paleontologist Susannah Maidment told Popular Mechanics, “but at this point [our research team] is happy to say we have found fossilised red blood-cells in which some of the original blood components are preserved.”
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Unfortunately, the blood does not contain any genetic material, so a Jurassic Park-style cloning is out of the question. At the time of publishing, there doesn’t seem to be any proof that this discovery is an elaborate viral marketing scheme to promote the June 12 release of Jurassic World, though the coincidence does seem suspicious.
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