違法持ち出しの恐竜化石、独からブラジルに返還

【ブラジリアＡＦＰ＝時事】ブラジルからドイツに違法に持ち出されていた新種の恐竜の化石が５日、返還された。ほぼ３年にわたり両国間で外交問題にも発展していたが、終止符が打たれた。（写真はドイツからブラジルに返還された「ウビラヤラ・ジュバトゥス」の化石。ブラジル・ブラジリアにて。ブラジル科学技術省提供）
　返還されたのは１億１０００万年前に南米大陸に生息していた、原始的な羽毛と肩から飛び出る棒状の構造物を持つ小型恐竜の化石。重さは１１．５キロ。恐竜は新種で、「ウビラヤラ・ジュバトゥス」と名付けられている。
　化石は１９９０年に北東部セアラ州で発見され、研究のためドイツに運ばれていた。
　２０２０年になってブラジルの研究者が、ドイツへの持ち出しは違法だと声を上げ、ソーシャルメディアで返還を求める運動を展開するなどしていた。
　ブラジルの法律では、国内で見つかった化石は国の所有物となる。外国人研究者が国外に持ち出せるのは、ブラジルの研究機関との共同研究によるものに限られる。
　化石はこの日、首都ブラジリアを訪れたアナレーナ・ベーアボック外相率いるドイツ外交団によって返還された。今後、セアラ州内の大学の古生物学博物館に収蔵される。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/06/06-16:12）

A fossil from a rare dinosaur that roamed South America 110 million years ago has been returned to Brazil from Germany, ending a diplomatic spat triggered by charges that researchers stole it.
The small dino, called Ubirajara jubatus, which had an early form of feathers and spearlike rods jutting from its shoulders, fascinated scientists, who identified it as previously unknown species in a paper published in 2020.
But it soon sparked a scientific and ethical scandal, when Brazilian researchers accused the German team behind the paper of illegally removing the fossil from Brazil.
After a nearly three-year standoff, a delegation led by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock returned the fossil Sunday during a visit to Brasilia, officials said.
The Ubirajara jubatus fossil, the first non-avian dinosaur with feather-like structures found in South America, has been returned to Brazil, the Brazilian science and technology ministry said in a statement Monday.
The fossil was found in 1990 by a team of paleontologists in the northeastern state of Ceara. They took it to Germany to study it, housing it in the State Museum of Natural History in Karlsruhe.
But Brazilian scientists cried foul after the publication of the December 2020 paper identifying the fossil as a new species, saying the specimen had been removed from the country irregularly.
Local legislation establishes that fossils found in Brazil belong to the state, and that foreign researchers must collaborate with a Brazilian institution if they want to export them.
Scientists launched an online campaign calling for the fossil to be returned, under the hashtag #UbirajarabelongstoBR.
Without the mobilization of the Brazilian scientific community, we would not have been successful, Science and Technology Minister Inacio Arruda said.
The 11.5-kilo (25-pound) specimen will now be housed at a university paleontology museum in Ceara.