British paleontologists discover fossilized dinosaur blood cells for first time

LONDON (MEDIA GENERAL) – Before you read further: No, Jurassic Park still is impossible. But a breakthrough by a group of British paleontologists bring the concept closer to possibility than ever before.

A team of paleontologists, led by Susannah Maidment of the Imperial College London, made the discovery last year after analyzing eight fossils received from the Natural History Museum in London. Per the museum, the fossils had so little scientific utility, they didn’t mind if the paleontologists broke them, which they did to analyze interior tissues with an advanced electron microscope.

The scientists, whose findings were published in the journal Nature Communications on Tuesday, June 9, 2015, reportedly found fossilized collagen and red blood cells within the bones.

“It was a total surprise,” Maidment told Popular Mechanics. “As a paleontologist, my first thought was, ‘This is silly, there is absolutely no way this could be dinosaur blood.’”

The blood cells were found in the claw of an unidentified theropod – a suborder which includes raptors and tyrannosaurs.

Maidment made it adamantly clear her team’s discovery will not directly lead to a real version of Jurassic Park.

Said Maidment: “We did not find any genetic material in the dinosaur fossils we studied, so to be clear: No, Jurassic Park has not happened.”