Paleontologist launches definitive guide to Brazilian dinosaurs

If the entire history of the last 4.5 billion lifespans on Earth were told on a 24-hour scale—or 1 day—we humans would have appeared in the last 6 seconds before the stroke of midnight. The dinosaurs appear for the first time in the “clock of life” at 22:46 – or just over an hour before the end of the day.

From this perspective of relative time, we humans are very small compared to the evolution of tens of thousands of other species that lived on the planet before us.

Our history, however, is intertwined with that of other species by changes on Earth, including those that have shaped the climate and oceans over the past 65 million years, since the last great extinction.

It is with this vision that the paleontologist and professor at the Institute of Geosciences of the University of São Paulo, Luiz Anelli, wrote the “New Complete Guide to the Dinosaurs of Brazil”. Despite bringing the theme of dinosaurs, the book tells, in 364 pages, the history of life on Earth, through the different geological eras, until the present time.

With illustrations by paleoartist Julio Lacerda, the work contemporizes each of the 54 species of dinosaurs described for Brazil, with detailed information on where and by whom they were found and where the fossils are currently kept —in scientific collections, most in the country, but some, contradictorily, outside, like the dinosaur with feathers Ubirajara jubatus🇧🇷

According to the author, the idea of ​​the book was precisely to fill a gap in scientific dissemination and didactic material in the country. “This guide tells the Earth’s history from its emergence to the Anthropocene, a new epoch that understands human actions as a geological force. Dinosaurs lived in the period that brings together the greatest number of geological and biological events. It is no exaggeration to say that the most of the world today is a legacy of everything that was sown during the time of the dinosaurs”, he says.

The purpose of the new complete guide is to gather the 54 dinosaurs discovered in Brazilian lands in the last 50 years, but it is not limited to them, says the author.

Anelli also makes a brief description of the groups that evolved from and also in the shadow of dinosaurs —such as birds, direct descendants of carnivorous dinosaurs, the most successful group of vertebrates today, and mammals, whose evolutionary success was only possible after the extinction of large reptiles.

With a preface by geologist and also professor at the Institute of Geosciences at USP, Renato Almeida, the work proposes to be a support material for all those interested and lovers of dinosaurs and future paleontologists, but also for the teaching of biology in schools.

“The dinosaurs [no livro] they are a lure to discuss other topics, such as the science of geology and the study of the Earth in deep time. As there are many people interested in dinosaurs, but a smaller number interested in science, the great role of this book is to open the range of subjects for the reader who is also interested in paleontology”, he says.

For Almeida, Anelli knew how to do something very difficult, which is to balance language and conceptual rigor with a more accessible reading, which makes the book captivating for dinosaur lovers, but not only.

The book also brings information about the evolution of ancient human populations, including the arrival —still debated as to the exact date— of Homo sapiens in the Americas, somewhere between 23,000 and 16,000 years ago, and the deep marks that our ancestors left in culture and archaeological remains, such as the paintings in Serra da Capivara, in Piauí.

“We have here the oldest dinosaurs ever found in the world, and that puts Brazil in a perspective of importance when talking about paleontology. The book brings this in a very elegant way”, says Almeida.

The official launch of the book with an autograph session will take place at the exhibition “Dinosaurs – Patagotitan, the biggest in the world”, at Ibirapuera Park, south of São Paulo, this Saturday (19) and Sunday (20) from 9 am to 4 pm.