The notion that some dinosaurs may be in fact feathered, or at least partially feathered, was a revelation in the world of palaeontology. So, sorry to disappoint, folks, Jurassic Park and more recently, Jurassic World, ain’t showing the real picture of what dinosaurs might have looked like. In other words, not all dinosaurs were leathery like they were portrayed in movies or current hordes of literatures and a piece of amber, uncovered by palaeontologist Lida Xing in Myanmar last year, is a further prove that dinosaurs (or at least some of them) indeed had feathers.
The excavated amber dates back to the mid-cretaceous period, which is about 99 million years ago, contains a 1.4-inch appendage of 8 vertebrae covered in primitive feathers. According to scientists, the feathered vertebrae couldn’t have been from an ancient avian creature as the structure is believe to be that of a juvenile coelurosaur, a group of dinosaurs that includes tyrannosaurs. The findings was published last week in a report co-authored by Ryan McKellar in Current Biology. If you are keen to know more, you can dive into the details on National Geographic.
Before you go, it is worthy to note that, up till this point, Lida Xing’s discovery is the clearest (like literally) prove of all that dinosaurs might had been feathered. While previous discoveries, such as amber with hint of feathered dinosaurs as well as fossil impressions, point towards the possibility, they were never as well-preserved as this example. To be fair though, what mankind sought to know beyond anything other than recorded, would be theory based on findings. It is an interesting discovery nonetheless.
Images: Featured image – Photo by R. C. McKellar, Royal Saskatchewan Museum via National Geographic.
via Colossal
