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Scientific societies have a part to play in repatriating fossils

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The Brazilian Society of Palaeontology (BSP) has recently taken steps to become more involved in the repatriation of fossil specimens — a central issue in the global palaeontological community, as interest in combating scientific colonialism grows — both through collaboration with researchers and other Latin American scientific associations. We discuss our experience, including the challenges we have faced and how we have overcome them, in the hope of inspiring other scientific societies to play their part.

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Fig. 1: Timeline of the promulgation of laws related to Brazilian palaeontological heritage.
Fig. 2: Repatriation ceremony of ‘Ubirajara jubatus’ at the MCTI of Brazil.

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Acknowledgements

The BSP board thanks all its associate members. In addition, we thank the Latin American palaeontological associations (of Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Peru) for the joint work we have carried out so far. We are grateful to the several Brazilian and foreign partners involved in the repatriation of Brazilian fossil specimens, especially to A. Ghilardi (UFRN), J. Cisneros (UFPI), R. Costa da Silva (MCT/SGB), L. Troiano (IPHAN), R. Sampaio (Araripe Geopark; URCA), A. Pinheiro (MPPCN, URCA), A. Soares (Anauene Art Law and UnB) and the MCTI, MEC and MRE of Brazil.

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Author notes

  1. Fernando Henrique de Souza Barbosa

    Present address: Escola Normal Superior, Universidade do Estado do Amazonas, Manaus, Brazil

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Board of the Brazilian Society of Paleontology https://sbpbrasil.org/

    Hermínio Ismael de Araújo-Júnior, Renato Pirani Ghilardi, Victor Rodrigues Ribeiro, Ana Maria Ribeiro, Fernando Henrique de Souza Barbosa, Francisco Ricardo Negri & Sandro Marcelo Scheffler

  2. Departamento de Estratigrafia e Paleontologia, Faculdade de Geologia, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Hermínio Ismael de Araújo-Júnior & Fernando Henrique de Souza Barbosa

  3. Laboratório de Paleontologia de Macroinvertebrados, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Bauru, Brazil

    Renato Pirani Ghilardi & Victor Rodrigues Ribeiro

  4. Museu de Ciências Naturais, Secretaria do Meio Ambiente e Infraestrutura, Porto Alegre, Brazil

    Ana Maria Ribeiro

  5. Laboratório de Paleontologia, Campus de Cruzeiro do Sul, Universidade Federal do Acre, Cruzeiro do Sul, Brazil

    Francisco Ricardo Negri

  6. Paleoinvertebrates Laboratory, Department of Geology and Paleontology, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Sandro Marcelo Scheffler

Authors
  1. Hermínio Ismael de Araújo-Júnior
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  2. Renato Pirani Ghilardi
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  3. Victor Rodrigues Ribeiro
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  4. Ana Maria Ribeiro
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  5. Fernando Henrique de Souza Barbosa
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  6. Francisco Ricardo Negri
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  7. Sandro Marcelo Scheffler
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hermínio Ismael de Araújo-Júnior.

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de Araújo-Júnior, H.I., Ghilardi, R.P., Ribeiro, V.R. et al. Scientific societies have a part to play in repatriating fossils. Nat Ecol Evol 8, 355–358 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02296-2

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