# Dinosaur tail discovered trapped in amber **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 8, 2016, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279 "2016-12-08T21:22:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/1 "2016-12-08T21:22:51Z")
Not the first mid-Cretaceous feathers found in amber, but the first to be found associated with bones that prove them to be from a non-avian dinosaur and not an early bird. [NYT link](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/science/dinosaur-feathers-amber.html). ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/2 "2016-12-08T22:55:55Z")
Thank Og for amber or we might still think the world was flat or something… \*I knew the big lizards had feathers all along. But no one would believe me. ::: pout :::: \*😛 ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/3 "2016-12-08T23:08:41Z")
I know quite a few old fogies who prefer their dinos with the tripod gait for “aesthetical” reasons. As someone who saw JP in theaters as a tot lo those many years ago, I figured it was why I prefer the “bent-over” look. But it didn’t take much at all to convince me that feathered dinos are just as majestic, wild and literally awesome as their debunked scaly selves, if not moreso. It’d be disingenuous to say that Jurassic Worlds’ biggest problem was its adherence to that image, especially when the first two films strived for accuracy in spite of the then-popular “tripod” gait and feathers being still only theoretical at the time, but it’s up there. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/4 "2016-12-09T05:26:31Z")
We have a small flock of chickens. 6 actually, it was 7 but one was partly eaten a few days ago by an unknown assailant, but I digress. When they all come running over when I’m throwing them scraps, I sorta kinda imagine them as bigger and dinosaur scary, and it’s pretty disturbing actually. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/5 "2016-12-09T14:46:46Z")
> **[Scientists discover dinosaur trapped in amber in unprecedented find | CNN](https://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/08/health/dinosaur-tail-trapped-in-amber-trnd/index.html)** > > The tail of a 99-million-year-old dinosaur has been found entombed in amber, an unprecedented discovery that has blown away scientists. > [@](#): > > (CNN)The tail of a 99-million-year-old dinosaur has been found entombed in amber, an unprecedented discovery that has blown away scientists. > Xing Lida, a Chinese paleontologist found the specimen, the size of a dried apricot, at an amber market in northern Myanmar near the Chinese border. > > The remarkable piece was destined to end up as a curiosity or piece of jewelry, with Burmese traders believing a plant fragment was trapped inside. > … > The tail section belongs to a young coelurosaurian – from the same group of dinosaurs as the predatory velociraptors and the tyrannosaurus. There is a picture of the fossil showing what are obviously feathers (scroll down to the third picture). Very cool. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/6 "2016-12-09T15:23:49Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Very cool. Yes, very. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/7 "2016-12-09T15:49:16Z")
Break out the clonamajig! ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/8 "2016-12-09T15:56:01Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Break out the clonamajig! I was hoping the same thing, but alas. [QUOTE=OP’s link] McKellar said that soft tissue and decayed blood from the tail were found in the amber but no genetic material was preserved. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/9 "2016-12-09T15:59:43Z")
Agreed that this would be an extemely cromulent use of the clonamajig, but as **Crotalus** points out it’s not possible. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/10 "2016-12-09T16:01:45Z")
I wonder how the pigments stood the test of time. Imagine the exploding heads if we discovered that T-Rex was a disgusting purple with a green belly. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/11 "2016-12-09T16:05:23Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > I wonder how the pigments stood the test of time. > > Imagine the exploding heads if we discovered that T-Rex was a disgusting purple with a green belly. According to the article, the preserved pigments suggest that it was chestnut brown and white (and this isn’t T-Rex). ---
**Author:** ![gregorio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@gregorio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gregorio)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/12 "2016-12-09T16:19:18Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > According to the article, the preserved pigments suggest that it was chestnut brown and white (and this isn’t T-Rex). The size of a robin. Oops, my cats caused a mass extinction. (My cats are indoors cats and one was sitting beside me when I read the article. They do have fun watching the dinosaurs outside through the window.) ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/13 "2016-12-09T16:21:25Z")
> [@gregorio](#): > > The size of a robin. Oops, my cats caused a mass extinction. > > (My cats are indoors cats and one was sitting beside me when I read the article. They do have fun watching the dinosaurs outside through the window.) It would have to be pretty small to have any substantial fraction of it trapped in amber. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/14 "2016-12-09T16:21:35Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > According to the article, the preserved pigments suggest that it was chestnut brown and white (and this isn’t T-Rex). You may have missed the “Barney” reference. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/15 "2016-12-09T16:25:37Z")
[We’re already talking about this.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=813256) ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/16 "2016-12-09T16:29:47Z")
Duplicate threads merged. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/17 "2016-12-09T16:45:54Z")
I for one would like to welcome our new cloned dinosaur overlords. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/18 "2016-12-09T16:49:36Z")
Echoing down the aeons: “Billy, I _told_ you if you sat there you’d get stuck forever!” ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/19 "2016-12-09T16:51:11Z")
Amazing! I love this kind of stuff! ---
**Author:** ![Waxwinged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@Waxwinged](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waxwinged)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/20 "2016-12-09T17:17:59Z")
That is so very, very, very cool. Here’s to hoping that other preserved body parts of these tiny buggers will show up eventually! (Guessing that due to their size, there isn’t much in the way of a fossil record for them?) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279.md?page=2)