Police Raid on Fossil Traders Found an Amazing Prehistoric Flying Reptile Skeleton (cnet.com) 27
CNET reports:
A fossil discovered during a police raid in Brazil has turned out to be one of the best-preserved flying reptiles found yet, researchers say.
The remains belong to a tapejarid, a toothless pterosaur from the early Cretaceous period known for its huge cranial crest composed partly of bone and partly of soft tissue. Skulls and partial skeletons of Brazilian tapejarids have turned up before, but this fossil was found with more than 90% of its skeleton intact, along with some soft tissue in place around the bones.
"This fossil is special because it is the most complete pterosaur from Brazil and it brings new information about the anatomy and ecology of this animal," says Victor Beccari, co-author of a study on the find published Wednesday in the open-access journal PLOS One.
Brazilian federal police found the tapejarid fossil while investigating an illegal fossil trade operation in 2013. They recovered 3,000 specimens kept in storage units in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro and transferred them to the Geosciences Institute of the University of São Paulo for study. Since 1942, Brazilian law has categorized fossils as state property, as they're considered part of the country's geological heritage and forbidden from being sold commercially.
The tapejarid had a wingspan of more than 8 feet (2.5 meters) and stood 3.2 feet (1 meter) tall. Its head crest accounted for 40% of its height.
The remains belong to a tapejarid, a toothless pterosaur from the early Cretaceous period known for its huge cranial crest composed partly of bone and partly of soft tissue. Skulls and partial skeletons of Brazilian tapejarids have turned up before, but this fossil was found with more than 90% of its skeleton intact, along with some soft tissue in place around the bones.
"This fossil is special because it is the most complete pterosaur from Brazil and it brings new information about the anatomy and ecology of this animal," says Victor Beccari, co-author of a study on the find published Wednesday in the open-access journal PLOS One.
Brazilian federal police found the tapejarid fossil while investigating an illegal fossil trade operation in 2013. They recovered 3,000 specimens kept in storage units in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro and transferred them to the Geosciences Institute of the University of São Paulo for study. Since 1942, Brazilian law has categorized fossils as state property, as they're considered part of the country's geological heritage and forbidden from being sold commercially.
The tapejarid had a wingspan of more than 8 feet (2.5 meters) and stood 3.2 feet (1 meter) tall. Its head crest accounted for 40% of its height.
Free Market (Score:1, Flamebait)
This fossil is special because it is the most complete pterosaur from Brazil and it brings new information about the anatomy and ecology of this animal
Just goes to show, try as you might, you can't beat the free market for efficiency.
Re: Free Market (Score:3)
Re: Free Market (Score:5, Informative)
Just curious. Is owning one illegal? Why the police raid? If you find fossils in your backyard or in your property, are they not yours?
Owning a fossil is not illegal if you acquire them legally. However, in this case, the police were doing a raid because of illegal fossil trading [cnn.com]. People will find a bevy of fossils and dig them up for sale without any consideration for where the fossils are found, how they are positioned, any other fossils they may have destroyed, etc. As the more in-depth article from CNN points out:
"Fossils in Brazil are protected by law, as they are part of the geological heritage of the country. Therefore, collecting fossils requires permission, and the trade and private collections of fossils are illegal in Brazil."
As to you keeping a fossil found on your property, check your local laws. In most parts of the U.S. the answer is yes [smithsonianmag.com], though out west, in places such as Montana, it depends [paleontologyworld.com].
Re: Free Market (Score:1)
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It’s so morons like you don’t hoard important or rare artifacts.
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So Brazil has created a black market for fossils and is now surprised that it has the repercussions that are always concomitant with black markets.
Rather than prohibiting fossil trading, it would be much better to allow it to happen in the open. Fossils with a paper trail to their origin will then have a higher value. A black market incentivizes the exact opposite.
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What is your take on recreational drugs?
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What is your take on recreational drugs?
I don't use them, but I don't care if you do.
I voted Yes on the ballot proposal to legalize marijuana in California.
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What is your take on recreational drugs?
I don't use them, but I don't care if you do.
I voted Yes on the ballot proposal to legalize marijuana in California.
I bit off topic, but my answer is "it depends". If your actions take away my rights and freedoms (including the right to clean air) or put me at risk (eg. people act irrationally while under the influence), then it needs to be regulated. If you use drugs on your property (or other designated space) and don't pose a risk to me or the public, it's harder to justify an all out ban. I think regulation is the answer most of the time (like how we regulate tobacco, alcohol, and prescription drugs).
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Why? Detailed information about the context in which they were found makes them more valuable to scientists, but wouldn't private collectors care primarily or solely about the completeness and condition of the skeleton and which species it is? And if I'm right in supposing that, there's still an incentive for black market trading of fossils without a paper trail, with the benefit to the diggers of keeping the origin a secret in the hop
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Nope. Property rights are always conditional. It's not "your" land in almost all countries. You are granted a right to own the land but it comes with conditions. Remember, nobody lives in isolation. Also underneath your backward is water, but you cannot suck it all up either because then your neighbors run out of water.
The US has relatively lax rules in this regard and some people seem to think it's an innate right to own everything on their land down to the core. Remember, that land is only yours bec
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In many countries there are laws around historically significant finds even on land you own. Turn the question around. If the thing of value in the ground predates your ownership of the land, do you really have a claim over it?
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Efficiency in what, destroying scientifically valuable context? Efficiency in smashing up less-valuable but possibly more-significant fossils in the same bed? Or simply more efficient at demonstrating what a herd of greedy short sighted self centered misanthropes Libertardians are?
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Hardly, we "tards" have 10,000 years of history that Libertardianism doesn't work. Every single time that society removes controls on the rich and powerful they then abuse that power. Every single time, without exception. And now you idiots want to try it again, because surely this time it will work for some reason. Sorry, but no.
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Wow, what a great comeback. Can you show one single time in all of the history of civilization when Libertarianism actually worked, even for a short time? Anywhere? Hell, it doesn't even work in Somalia, where there's no central government to get in the way. Anything larger than a small tribal group or extremely tiny village needs government controls to protect the majority from the more powerful, and every time those controls are relaxed the more powerful run roughshod over everyone else. This has bee
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Yeah, I didn't think you could find a successful Libertardian society, because in half a century of studying history, and two decades making that same challenge, I have never seen one. It's like any other Utopian movement, nice in theory but falls apart on exposure to reality (although some of the Utopian groups did last a few decades.)
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The fossil had been crudely hacked into six pieces before it was recovered. Exact location of discovery had never been recorded. Statigraphy was destroyed during excavation. Fine detail had been destroyed during the cleaning and preparation for sale. Can we ask the Magical Mystical Free Market Fairy to restore its full scientific value?
Your grasp on paleontology is as poor as your understanding of economics.
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Appropriate cartoon (Score:2)
https://marswillsendnomore.wor... [wordpress.com]