Finding a dinosaur fossil is pretty cool, but most of the time they are just rock prints. When scientists are lucky, it is possible to find some tissue, such as pieces of skin, for example. Now whole organs are much rarer. Therefore, the discovery of the first brain deserves to be celebrated with a lottery prize.

The lucky one who made the find outside Sussex, England, 10 years ago. It appeared to be just a dark pebble, but studies have pointed to the remains of the brain of an iguanodon, a herbivorous dinosaur that inhabited the earth for over 133 million years!

Brain can be recreated by computer

Of course the brain is not intact: the original biological tissue no longer existed, but it left the marks of its complex structure on the rock. Several analyzes have shown remnants of blood vessels and collagen, as well as neurological tissues. All of this preserved with unbelievable detail.

These structures are the most difficult to imprint on a fossil. The iguanodon in question died in a region that was swampy and extremely acidic. So it was like dipping the animal into a huge canning jar that was enough for these soft tissues to leave their mark before they deteriorated.

Iguanodon lived in the early Cretaceous period