Scientists Discover Beautiful Feathered Dinosaur Tail Trapped in Amber

[Dittohead not!]

Scientists Discover Beautiful Feathered Dinosaur Tail Trapped in Amber

To scientists' delight, the incredible appendage from 99 million years ago is covered in feathers.

Some 99 million years ago, a juvenile dinosaur got its feathery tail stuck in tree resin, a death trap for the small creature. But its misfortune is now giving scientists unique insight into feathered dinosaurs that prospered during the Cretaceous Period.


Researchers said on Thursday a chunk of amber - fossilized resin - spotted by a Chinese scientist in a market in Myitkyina, Myanmar, last year contained 1.4 inches (36 mm) of the tail of the dinosaur, complete with bones, flesh, skin and feathers. The dinosaur itself was no more than 6 inches (15 cm) long, about the size of a sparrow.

A dinosaur, the size of a sparrow, and with feathers. Nature just keeps getting more and more fascinating all the time.

 

[Mr Person]

Things like this are why I have such utter contempt for people who deny whole sections of science.

They're constantly testing, modifying, creating theories. New evidence results in new approaches. We've gone from scaled lizards to lizard->bird transformation in theory, then it was proven. The people who do this work know they anything the science says is right at any given time might be wrong, or might be right but not completely right in light of a greater theory/truth. Yet in multiple contexts - those tied to politics - they are called liars, hoaxers; they devoted their lives to helping a political party through fraud, it is alleged.

Absurd.




Anyway, I'm glad to know we know more. At least someone or someones will continue to be sane and rationally improve our knowledge, despite the rabble. I can only hope the rest of society doesn't revert to Gallileo-era dogma.

 

[Dittohead not!]

Things like this are why I have such utter contempt for people who deny whole sections of science.

They're constantly testing, modifying, creating theories. New evidence results in new approaches. We've gone from scaled lizards to lizard->bird transformation in theory, then it was proven. The people who do this work know they anything the science says is right at any given time might be wrong, or might be right but not completely right in light of a greater theory/truth. Yet in multiple contexts - those tied to politics - they are called liars, hoaxers; they devoted their lives to helping a political party through fraud, it is alleged.

Absurd.




Anyway, I'm glad to know we know more. At least someone or someones will continue to be sane and rationally improve our knowledge, despite the rabble. I can only hope the rest of society doesn't revert to Gallileo-era dogma.

Exactly. The idea that birds evolved from dinosaurs was once considered a fringe concept. Now, it's mainstream. Why did it change? More evidence, more data, new finds, and not someone's unsupported political notions or some blogger with an agenda.

 

[Mr Person]

Exactly. The idea that birds evolved from dinosaurs was once considered a fringe concept. Now, it's mainstream. Why did it change? More evidence, more data, new finds, and not someone's unsupported political notions or some blogger with an agenda.

I cannot express how pissed it makes me that even today X% of people think science makes absolute declarations, and thus that if a theory is wrong that means science is somehow misguided.

I suppose I could swallow it more easily if X was smaller, but it's not small.

 

[Dittohead not!]

I cannot express how pissed it makes me that even today X% of people think science makes absolute declarations, and thus that if a theory is wrong that means science is somehow misguided.

I suppose I could swallow it more easily if X was smaller, but it's not small.

It is definitely not small. If science makes a discovery or two that goes against their world view, then they want to reject science. How can anyone reject modern science in the 21st. century? It must take some real mental gymnastics to do so.

 

[Hicup]

It is definitely not small. If science makes a discovery or two that goes against their world view, then they want to reject science. How can anyone reject modern science in the 21st. century? It must take some real mental gymnastics to do so.

Pretty fascinating stuff, thanks for posting. It would be interesting to see how the DNA of this creature resembles modern birds.. A direct link would be exciting.

Tim-

 

[JacksinPA]

I was a teen when I discovered Archaeopteryx, the first fossil bird, found in southern Germany. If the impression of real flight feathers hadn't been preserved, it would have been classified as a primitive dinosaur. It had a reptilian skeleton & sharp teeth in its jaws. But more importantly its flight feathers were asymmetric: the feathers were longer aft of the main quill. This is a unique property of flying birds & does not occur by accident. It had to evolve because flying ability gave the animal an advantage in life.

Archaeopteryx was later found to not be the first true bird but an offshoot from the main line of bird's evolution from primitive theropod dinosaurs. Since its discovery in the mid-19th century, large numbers of fossil birds & feathered dinosaurs have been found, mainly in China.