First Dinosaur Tail Fossil With Feathers Still Attached Found: Discovery Is a 'Once in a Lifetime Find!'
Scientists have recently discovered a fossilized dinosaur tail with feathers still attached in an amber. A scientist found the said fossil in Myanmar near the Chinese border.
Paleontologist Xing Lida discovered the fossil in an amber market in Myanmar. The trader thought that the amber sports some sort of plant inside of it. Upon closer inspection, Xing Lida noticed some sort of bone structure instead of a plant. She told the CNN that "the content was a vertebrate, probably theropod, rather than any plant."
The fossil finally managed to shed light onto what the dinosaurs really are. The amber fossil supported the claims that dinosaurs sport feathers than scales in their bodies. According to Ryan McKellar, a paleontologist at the Royal Saskatchwan Museum, "the finest details are visible in three dimensions", shedding light on the research on what dinosaurs looked like millions of years ago. Scientists speculate that the recovered fossilized tail may come from a Coelurosaur. The Coelurosaurian dinosaurs are relatively small and can fit the palm of a human hand. Regardless of their size, they belong to the family of the Velociraptors and Tyrannosaurus.
The amber fossil weighs around 6.5 grams. The fossil inside hosts 1.4 inches long dinosaur tail and contains bone fragments and feathers, which are still attached to the tail bone. The feathers may serve as a plumage of these creatures. Scientists aren't ruling the fact that some dinosaurs have the ability to fly. McKellar also mentioned that amber serves as an important factor in fossil studies because they can pick up features and new information from amber-encased fossils that they couldn't see in sedimentary fossils.
It is highly likely that the fossil sports an even bigger picture of what was preserved in there. Unfortunately, since it was discovered in an amber trading market, the fossil have undergone amber cutting from amber miners, making whatever was attached to the discovered fossil destroyed or lost. Nevertheless, it's a big break in fossil study and a "once in a lifetime find" to discover such preserved fossil that may shed light to what dinosaurs really looked back in the day.
