In 1940, scientists found a dinosaur backbone in the mountains of Colombia. They wanted to dig there again. They hoped to discover more about the dinosaur. But a civil war raged for many years. No one was allowed to go into the mountains where the fighting was happening.

In 2022, scientists finally returned to the mountains. They discovered that the backbone belonged to a new kind of dinosaur. It hadn’t been identified before. The dinosaur was a long-necked sauropod.

Scientists say that this discovery is all thanks to a 2016 peace treaty. The deal ended the fighting between the Colombian government and the rebels in the mountains. The new peace allowed science to continue.

In honor of the peace deal, scientists named the sauropod Perijasaurus lapaz. The first part of the name refers to the mountains. The second part of the name is the Spanish word for peace.

The Perijasaurus lapaz lived 175 million years ago. It grew to 39 feet long. It is a bigger version of other long-necked sauropods found on other continents.

It is unusual to find dinosaur fossils in the north of South America. These Colombian mountains are the furthest north that a dinosaur has been found. Without the peace deal, the discovery might not have been made. Scientists say that peace and cooperation are important ingredients for progress.