Dinosaur tail found preserved in amber

[Raggedy Man]

"The tail of a feathered dinosaur has been found perfectly preserved in amber from Myanmar.

The stunning discovery helps put flesh on the bones of these extinct creatures, opening a new window on the biology of a group that dominated Earth for more than 160 million years.

Examination of the specimen suggests the tail was chestnut brown on top and white on its underside."

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38224564

[DPS Ammonite]

A feathered non-avian theropod dinosaur tail has been found in mid-Cretaceous amber from Myanmar. A Chinese paleontologist recognized the importance of the tail inside of a piece of amber sold in a Myanmar market. The seller priced the piece as ordinary amber and not as a spectacular scientific find. The last time I asked about what a fossil was in a piece of amber the dealer raised the price. See this article from the current issue of Current Biology and from CNN. 

 

“A Feathered Dinosaur Tail with Primitive Plumage Trapped in Mid-Cretaceous Amber” by Lida Xing. Preprint in Current Biology: http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(16)31193-9

 

"Once in a lifetime find': Dinosaur tail discovered trapped in amber" By Katie Hunt, CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/08/health/dinosaur-tail-trapped-in-amber-trnd/?iid=ob_lockedrail_bottommedium

[FossilDudeCO]

Wow, this is amazing!

Almost sounds too good to be true!

[Raggedy Man]

4 minutes ago, FossilDudeCO said:

Wow, this is amazing!

Almost sounds too good to be true!

That's what I thought! lol

[Scylla]

I saw this, here come the Jurassic Park references. Amazing find. 

[TyrannosaurusRex]

And to think it was nearly lost to the world! I am so grateful those scientists happened to pass through the amber market!

[Fossildude19]

Topics merged.  

[Raggedy Man]

52 minutes ago, TyrannosaurusRex said:

And to think it was nearly lost to the world! I am so grateful those scientists happened to pass through the amber market!

It's all about the right place and time. With a heaping spoon full of luck...lol

[Gizmo]

Amazing! 

[sseth]

Truly Amazing!!!

[LordTrilobite]

Wow.

[Bguild]

Very cool! I just read this article and went to share it, but you had beaten me to it! A truly amazing find.

[Raggedy Man]

55 minutes ago, Bguild said:

Very cool! I just read this article and went to share it, but you had beaten me to it! A truly amazing find.

I think a few others had the same thought and they merged the topics. It's amazing what we find in amber. I knew this was one story that would be shared and enjoyed by all once I read it. A dinosaur the size of a sparrow?!? I mean come on!! lol

[abctriplets]

How much sap would be needed to preserve a T. rex?

[Trilobiting]

What an amazing find! 

[DPS Ammonite]

Interesting question: "How much sap would be needed to preserve a T. rex?"

 

I would think that the T. rex would have to be mummified or frozen first in order to be covered by the proper resin. (Amber is formed from resin and not sap.) Otherwise, the gasses from the decomposition of the body would explode through the coating of resin. Yuk! Some other questions need to be answered. How much is the surface area that needs to be covered? How thick of a coating of amber is needed: 6, 12 inches, 2 feet or more? How many inches of fresh resin is needed to produce a 1 inch coating of amber; I assume the resin shrinks over millions of years.

 

Here's my suggestion for solving this. What size rectangular container can a frozen or mummified T. rex fit in? What is the volume of sap needing to coat the box in 1, 2 or 3 feet of resin which may be enough to also coat the nooks and crannies of the animal inside the box? Enough smart people working together might be able to come up with an answer within an order of magnitude difference either way from the actual answer. Anyone good at math willing to guess how many thousands of gallons of resin is needed to fully encase and preserve a T. rex?

 

 

 

OK, I’ll give it a try: a back of the envelope calculation. See the diagram of the size of a  T.rex: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/dinos/Trex.shtml

 

 A T. rex is 40 feet long, 20 feet high and by my guess about 10 feet wide. I visualize that if you tuck the head, tail and legs under the whole animal would fit in a box 20x15x10 feet on each side with a volume of 3,000 cubic feet (cf.). If you have a coating 3 feet thick on each side of the box, the volume of the entire animal plus coating is 23x18x13 feet = 5382 cf. To figure the volume of the 3 foot coating subtract the volume of the box containing the animal from the volume of the animal plus the coating. 5,382cf - 3,000cf =2,382cf. Since each cubic foot equals 7.48 gallons, 17,817 gallons of resin is needed. 2,382cf x 7.48g./cf. = 17,817 gallons.

 

Your answer is 17,817 gallons of resin is needed to cover a T. rex in a sufficient coating of amber to preserve it. 

 

Anyone else care to come up with a better answer?

 

 

[britishcanuk]

6 hours ago, TyrannosaurusRex said:

And to think it was nearly lost to the world! I am so grateful those scientists happened to pass through the amber market!

I am so thankful for the amber market, otherwise it would never have been found in the first place. It must be a goldmine in one of these markets, would love to visit one sometime.

[sandgroper]

What an amazing story, just fantastic!

[tmaier]

Well, that must have been a terrible death, getting your butt stuck in resin. I'm not seeing a lot of sympathy here for the critter. Let's have a moment of silence for the poor critter.





OK! That's enough! You may resume your normal demeanor.

If I had found this in a market, I would have assumed it was fake. I'm much the skeptic.

[RJB]

Amazing what mother nature can do.

 

RB

[aerogrower]

What a fantastic article. My wife and I raise and breed Emus and the resemblance to the fine plumage of the Emu is almost spot on! Wonder how close a relative it could be? Thanks for posting.

[tmaier]

It looks like down feathers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_feather

[Ptychodus04]

I would like to remind everyone of Archaeoraptor, the fabricated hoax that fooled the entire scientific community. While this is very cool and an amazing discovery, I am cautious to get too excited about world shattering discoveries that come from a Burmese flea market.

[tmaier]

You aren't suggesting that there are people putting all kinds of things in amber and selling them on the internet, are you?

https://www.google.com/search?q=fake+fossil+in+amber&btnG=Search&hl=en&gbv=1&tbm=isch

[Anchiornis]

Love this sooo much!

 

Hopefully, I don't think this is a hoax due to the random insects in the amber. Unique fossils come from unexpected places!