With an estimated 25,000 recovered dino fossils (currently) from approximately 8,000 sites globally, dinosaur hunting has become a lucrative business for many which explains why so many of these deep time remains are not checked for soft tissue materials. The more complete the fossils are, the bigger the pay-cheque. A recent T-Rex skeleton was sold to a collector for $6.2m (US) in April 2023 while another was sold for a staggering $31.8m in 2020. At the other end of the scale, even a single skull, a femur or a collection of ribs can still amount to a reasonable income so hunters and collectors alike are not likely to want parts of their precious finds/purchases dissolved away.
This is why it is so important to have any new fossil that has undergone decalcification, and showing soft tissue matter, brought to our attention along with new discoveries in the laboratory that contribute to the growing evidence by scientific analysis.
For examples of New Discoveries, see our News page and additions to peer-reviewed journal articles.
There are now more than 120 papers in peer-reviewed journal articles reporting soft tissues in dinosaur and other deep-time organic remains. These scientific papers describe biological material, including tissue and DNA, remaining inside fossils. A full list, which is being continually updated, is provided here: *List of Biomaterial Fossil Papers
*This list of biomaterial papers can provide useful information for research and posting on topics within the Dinosaur Project Community. Thanks to researchgate.net for making this list freely available.