Feathered dinosaur tail encased in amber

99 Million year old amber with the feathered tail of a dinosaur trapped inside – amber appears to have been shaped by a jeweller
Credit: Ryan McKellar/Royal Saskatchewan Museum/The Age

Fossilisation typically preserves the shape of the hard parts of an organism. Bones are not preserved as such. The process of fossilisation replaces the bones with minerals, atom-by-atom, so that the structure of the bones is preserved in stone. This is what we see in the image below – the fossilised skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex.


Fossilised skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex
Credit: bnps.co.uk/Daily Mail

Rarely, a softer structure, such as this sample of Triceratops skin, is fossilised – but because, once again, the original is replaced atom-by-atom, no colour information is retained.


Fossilised Triceratops skin
Credit: Fossils ourprehistoricworld/Pinterest

Shown in the image at the top of this post, & below, is the tail of a dinosaur which was engulfed by tree sap 99 million years ago. Subsequently, the tree sap hardened into amber, preserving bones, skin & feathers, almost wholly intact, without mineralisation. As a result, colour information has been preserved. It appears that the dinosaur was brown above & white below.


Detail from the piece of amber. Notice that the four tips in the top left & middle left all branch from the same shaft
Credit: Ryan McKellar/Royal Saskatchewan Museum/New York Times

Australian Broadcasting Corporation – Feathered dinosaur tail discovered in lump of amber from a market in Myanmar
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-09/99-million-year-old-amber-fossil-holds-dinosaur-bones-feathers/8092526

Sydney Morning Herald – Dinosaur tail feathers encased in amber found at a market in Myanmar
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/dinosaur-tail-found-encased-in-amber-found-at-a-market-in-myanmar-20161208-gt7bia.html / feathered dinosaur tail discovered lump of amber from market Myanmar amber piece chestnut brown feathers sprout fossilised tail dinosaur Royal Saskatchewan Museum RSM/R.C. McKellar preserved bones feathers tip dinosaur tail amber piece chestnut brown feathers sprout fossilised tail dinosaur Royal Saskatchewan Museum R.C. McKellar exquisitely preserved bones feathers tip dinosaur tail discovered piece 99-million-year-old amber found palaeontologist hunting fossils Myanmar market piece dinosaur tail preserved 99-million-year-old amber 99 million year old amber first time dinosaur skeleton material found in amber help scientists understand development feathers dinosaurs birds astonishing fossil contains first skeletal remains dinosaur ever found preserved amber international team scientists journal Current Biology spotted amber market last year palaeontologist Dr Lida Xing tail fragment young dinosaur about size sparrow lived mid-Cretaceous period amber was originally assumed contain some sort plant material destined to become jewellery Dr Xing China University of Beijing scientific significance colleague Dr Ryan McKellar co-author research paper private collection gone entirely unnoticed Dr McKellar Royal Saskatchewan Museum Canada close inspection fossil microscope CT scanning revealed stunning 3D detail feathers sprouting from either side central rod preserved traces pigmentation reveal top feathers light chestnut brown underside pale white colour feathers tail 3.5 centimetres long eight to nine tiny vertebrae fossil contains remnants soft tissue muscles analysis tissue revealed molecules iron may indicate traces haemoglobin protein trapped fossil once-in-a-lifetime project dinosaur visually stunning level of detail specimen amber dinosaur bone digs Alberta Saskatchewan fragment of a feather part of the animal skeletal remains too fossil dinosaur not bird wispy-tailed juvenile dinosaur theropod group of largely carnivorous animals included creatures Tyrannosaurus rex ancestors modern birds dinosaur bird bones within tail aren't fused together into rod modern birds shows more similarity dinosaurs velociraptor tyrannosaurus modern birds specimen help scientists better understand how feathers developed dinosaurs evolved into birds feather and amber feathers intermediate form modern bird feathers have barbs central shaft well developed central shaft particular pathway development of feathers dinosaurs leading to birds feathers developed barbules and barbs before developing entral shaft /