Feathered dinosaur tail preserved in amber

[DinoToyForum]

Cool! I need to read the paper to find out the details!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-38224564

[Lanthanotus]

Thanks for linking,..... if you find/get access to the according paper, I bet some people would really appreciate if you would share it

[suspsy]

Here's NG's article on it as well. What a find!

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/12/feathered-dinosaur-tail-amber-theropod-myanmar-burma-cretaceous/

[Viergacht]

Ouch, poor dinosaur!

[EmperorDinobot]

WOW!!!


Wow wow wow.

[Digibasherx]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/feathered-dinosaur-tail-amber-1.3885813

New post - Dino tail feather found in amber.  This is pretty exciting news.  I'm sure any amber seller will be checking thrice before selling now.

[DinoToyForum]

Topics merged 

[DinoToyForum]

Thanks for linking,..... if you find/get access to the according paper, I bet some people would really appreciate if you would share it

It seems to be freely available: http://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(16)31193-9.pdf

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

I never would have expected anything like this to show up, but it begs the question of how it was preserved to begin with. Was there a dinosaur running around with a chunk of resin on its tail until it died? Or did it get stuck and die from a predator or starvation?

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I would figure it's a discard from a predator or it was stuck and died and was all that preserved...worse case it had a prehistoric leprosy that is now lying dormant waiting to spread again! 


I think we're moving closer to finding a whole dinosaur trapped in amber one day..at least i hope so!

[Derek.McManus]

Sounds fascinating I am again impressed by the amazing finds that are appearing with such frequency nowadays! I wonder did anyone predict this is the appropriate thread?

[Neosodon]

So this kind of stuff doesn't just happen in the movies! It was really mysterious looking at it up close. Like looking directly into the past. Saw an ant and what looked like a creepy spider crawling up the tail but it could of just been a weird clump of feathers.

[Neosodon]

I think we're moving closer to finding a whole dinosaur trapped in amber one day..at least i hope so!

Amber is tree sap right? I have a hard time imagining a tree leaking enough sap to preserve an entire dinosaur but it sure would be cool if we got one of T Rex and finally put the whole feather debate to rest.

[DinoToyForum]

I never would have expected anything like this to show up, but it begs the question of how it was preserved to begin with. Was there a dinosaur running around with a chunk of resin on its tail until it died? Or did it get stuck and die from a predator or starvation?

The paper says:

"The close contact between the skin and surrounding amber, paired with the mummified external appearance of the skin where it has shriveled across the surface of the vertebrae, suggest one of two scenarios. Either the tail bearer was dead and partially desiccated before encapsulation, or else it rapidly dried due to resin interactions. " (p.3)

In other words, they don't know.

[EmperorDinobot]

It's impossible to know the taphonomic details on this fella. All we know is that we're so lucky to be seeing this now!

[Stuckasaurus (Dino Dad Reviews)]

AAAAAGGGGGHHHH   I'M SO EXCITED!!!!! BEST DAY EVER!!!!!

I particularly like the photos provided by this article:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/dinosaur-tail-complete-feathers-trapped-amber-discovered-myanmar-marketplace-1595569?utm_campaign=soficalflowfacebook&utm_source=socialflowfacebook&utm_medium=articles

Look at that beauty!!!!!

[stargatedalek]

It's impossible to know the taphonomic details on this fella. All we know is that we're so lucky to be seeing this now!

Impossible to be sure, but I think it's safe to rule out dromaeosaurs and true birds since the vertebrae aren't fused or supported.

[Stuckasaurus (Dino Dad Reviews)]

I think we're moving closer to finding a whole dinosaur trapped in amber one day..at least i hope so!

Amber is tree sap right? I have a hard time imagining a tree leaking enough sap to preserve an entire dinosaur but it sure would be cool if we got one of T Rex and finally put the whole feather debate to rest.

The articles I've seen say the amber chunk was "about the size of a dried apricot", which is not too uncommon a find. The tail fragment preserved inside was just a juvenile. It sure would be nice if we could find a swimming pool-sized chunk with a larger, complete dinosaur sometime! I can't even imagine how many trees would have to fill that, though, hahaha!

[Stuckasaurus (Dino Dad Reviews)]

Look at that beauty!!!!!

Anybody else fascinated by the weird branching patterns of those feathers?

[DinoToyForum]

It's impossible to know the taphonomic details on this fella. All we know is that we're so lucky to be seeing this now!

Impossible to be sure, but I think it's safe to rule out dromaeosaurs and true birds since the vertebrae aren't fused or supported.

"taphonomic", not taxonomic.