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First Dinosaur Tail Found Preserved in Amber

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2016 10:15 pm
by Nutso
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016 ... retaceous/

Image

A segment from the feathered tail of a dinosaur that lived 99 million years ago is preserved in amber. A Cretaceous-era ant and plant debris were also trapped in the resin.

The semitranslucent mid-Cretaceous amber sample, roughly the size and shape of a dried apricot, captures one of the earliest moments of differentiation between the feathers of birds of flight and the feathers of dinosaurs. (Learn more about the evolutionary relationship between dinosaurs and birds.)

Inside the lump of resin is a 1.4-inch appendage covered in delicate feathers, described as chestnut brown with a pale or white underside.

Re: First Dinosaur Tail Found Preserved in Amber

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2016 4:30 am
by Teaos
Very cool.

Re: First Dinosaur Tail Found Preserved in Amber

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2016 7:22 pm
by Mikey
That is very cool. This could lead to a delineation of when endothermic dinosaurs appeared. I am forced to wonder, though - if dromaeosaurs like three species of microraptors and one or two species of sinornithosaurs were actively flying 30 million years prior to the age of this fossil, how do they justify calling it the point of divergence between flight and insulating feathers?

Re: First Dinosaur Tail Found Preserved in Amber

Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 9:15 am
by Teaos
Imagin if they found this a hundred years ago. Our image of dinosaures would be so different.

Re: First Dinosaur Tail Found Preserved in Amber

Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 9:20 pm
by RK_Striker_JK_5
A piece of time, frozen in amber. Cool is the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Re: First Dinosaur Tail Found Preserved in Amber

Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 10:49 pm
by Nutso
Teaos wrote:Imagin if they found this a hundred years ago. Our image of dinosaures would be so different.
The Chinese probably found things like this in the past (before science) but, probably chipped it out and ground the animal remains to make some aphrodisiac tea.