Welcome to the IKCEST
Baby bird found in amber after 100 million years

We've found bugs, poisonous flowers and even feathery dinosaur bits trapped in prehistoric amber, but now scientists say they have a nearly complete baby bird in the stuff.

Around 100 million years ago, the little hatchling in what is now Myanmar met an unfortunate fate when it fell into a pool of sap from a conifer tree. It was forever immortalized in the midst of its final struggles, while the world continued to undergo dramatic geological and climatic changes.

According to a paper published Tuesday in the journal Gondwana Research, most of the bird's skull, its neck, a partial wing and a hind limb are encased in the amber, making it the most complete bird discovered this way so far. It also has some soft tissue on its tail and feathers.

The researchers report that the chick would be pretty weird by modern standards because it appears to have had brown feathers on its feet, legs and tail, but nothing much on the body where we'd expect to see some down on today's birds.

Too bad the little creature never had much of a chance, but if we get it into the hands of resurrection proponents like George Church, we just might be able to see how it might have turned out.

Original Text (This is the original text for your reference.)

We've found bugs, poisonous flowers and even feathery dinosaur bits trapped in prehistoric amber, but now scientists say they have a nearly complete baby bird in the stuff.

Around 100 million years ago, the little hatchling in what is now Myanmar met an unfortunate fate when it fell into a pool of sap from a conifer tree. It was forever immortalized in the midst of its final struggles, while the world continued to undergo dramatic geological and climatic changes.

According to a paper published Tuesday in the journal Gondwana Research, most of the bird's skull, its neck, a partial wing and a hind limb are encased in the amber, making it the most complete bird discovered this way so far. It also has some soft tissue on its tail and feathers.

The researchers report that the chick would be pretty weird by modern standards because it appears to have had brown feathers on its feet, legs and tail, but nothing much on the body where we'd expect to see some down on today's birds.

Too bad the little creature never had much of a chance, but if we get it into the hands of resurrection proponents like George Church, we just might be able to see how it might have turned out.

Comments

    Something to say?

    Log in or Sign up for free

    Disclaimer: The translated content is provided by third-party translation service providers, and IKCEST shall not assume any responsibility for the accuracy and legality of the content.
    Translate engine
    Article's language
    English
    中文
    Pусск
    Français
    Español
    العربية
    Português
    Kikongo
    Dutch
    kiswahili
    هَوُسَ
    IsiZulu
    Action
    Related

    Report

    Select your report category*



    Reason*



    By pressing send, your feedback will be used to improve IKCEST. Your privacy will be protected.

    Submit
    Cancel