More than 2,000 researchers have signed an open letter requesting the repatriation of a dinosaur fossil to Brazil. Some say the case highlights a pattern of scientific colonialism in paleontology

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In 1995, British paleontologist David Martill and his German colleague Eberhard “Dino” Frey looked closely at the skull of a 110-million-year-old dinosaur fossil found in northern Brazil. They noticed something curious. A computerized tomography (CT) scan revealed the animal’s snout had been elongated by fossil dealers, presumably to fetch a better price.

Irritated with the situation, Martill and Frey named the new species Irritator challengeri.

But frustration with the fossil, now part of the collection of Germany’s State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, didn’t stop there.

Today, more than 2,000 paleontologists and other supporters have signed an open letter requesting the fossil’s repatriation to Brazil. This week, they sent the letter to Petra Olschowski, the minister of science, research and arts for the state of Baden-Württemberg, where the museum is located.

“The Irritator is one of the most important fossils from Brazil because it is the best-preserved skeleton of a rare group of dinosaurs worldwide,” said Aline Ghilardi, a paleontologist at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, who is helping to lead the repatriation effort.

The repatriation request is based on Brazilian legislation enacted in 1942 declaring that fossils found in the country are the state’s property and cannot be traded or exported without authorization. A 1990 law also mandates that any holotype (a fossil representing a new species) remain in the country.

“Basically, we want the Brazilian law to be respected,” Ghilardi said. “Unfortunately, there is this general impression that the countries from the Global South are some sort of an amusement park for researchers from the North who can come here, take our fossils, and put them in their museums to get academic prestige. This is neocolonialism.”

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