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Scientists are calling it a once in a lifetime discovery.
A tiny piece of dinosaur tail trapped in a piece of amber was discovered by people in Myanmar.
It was reportedly discovered in 2015 by Chinese researcher Lida Xing who noticed it being sold at a market as a decorative item.
He and a team ended up analyzing the piece and describing the results in a recently published study; co-author Ryan McKellar of Canada has said that the artifact “…preserves a tail consisting of eight vertebrae from a juvenile; these are surrounded by feathers that are preserved in 3D and with microscopic detail.”
The paper also notes that, as a result of this clarity, they have been able to observe the “…spatial arrangement of follicles and feathers on the body, and micrometer-scale features of the plumage.”
The researchers ultimately concluded that the dinosaur was likely a small coelurosaur which became trapped in the sticky sap and eventually died.
McKellar has indicated that the specimen could give scientists a better understanding of how modern feathers evolved.
Beautiful #dinofuzz found in amber! “A Feathered Dinosaur Tail,” 99 million years old—via @arstechnica by @Annaleen https://t.co/mPCgSUgCtY pic.twitter.com/gxf1gXC7ub
— Lorena Barba @labarba@fosstodon.org (@LorenaABarba) December 8, 2016
Agencies/Canadajournal
