# 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:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/61 "2019-05-14T13:06:16Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > As I understand it, there are four lineages of imaging eye: Lensed eyes in the vertebrates, cephalopods, and (of all things) box jellyfish (who wouldn’t seem to have enough of a nervous system to make any use of images, but who knows), plus the compound eyes of arthropods. While these might have had some sort of common ancestry from a primitive light-sensitive organ, that organ would not have been imaging. The trilobites had yet another eye structure, which of course people aren’t as familiar with what with trilobites being extinct so long. Among other things, the lenses were formed of calcite crystals unlike any other eyes on the planet. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/62 "2019-05-14T13:10:55Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > The trilobites had yet another eye structure, which of course people aren’t as familiar with what with trilobites being extinct so long. Among other things, the lenses were formed of calcite crystals unlike any other eyes on the planet. This has always fascinated me, and I want to look into it further. There are a lot of weird and interesting animal eyes out there, including some that use reflective mirror structures in place of refractive lenses ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/63 "2019-05-14T14:16:16Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > The trilobites had yet another eye structure Strictly speaking, two different structures - holochroal and schizochroal. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/64 "2019-05-14T14:48:35Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Time travelers. > It was time travelers. > I’m waiting for a water bottle cap to be found in amber. Pepsi. It’s always Pepsi. ---
**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:** [May 14, 2019, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/65 "2019-05-14T18:05:20Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Strictly speaking, two different structures - holochroal and schizochroal. [Three](https://www.trilobites.info/eyes.htm). ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/66 "2019-05-14T22:42:10Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > By the way, isn’t this how the monster got started in the 1961 Danish-American film **Reptilicus**? With a preserved dinosaur tail being dug up, which the scientists then used to recover the original animal by regenerating it from its tail? > > [» Reptilicus (1961)»Monster Shack Movie Reviews](http://www.monstershack.net/sp/index.php/reptilicus-1961/) > [https://horrornews.net/98880/film-review-reptilicus-1961/](https://horrornews.net/98880/film-review-reptilicus-1961/) > > Does anyone know where that amber-preserved tail is now? I hope it’s not soaking in a nutrient bath. Call Ray Harryhausen! He’ll know what to do! \<_What’s that? Dead? Six years ago? Crap._\> ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/67 "2019-05-14T22:46:36Z")
OK, so we just need to first soak Harryhausen in a nutrient bath. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/68 "2019-05-15T05:42:00Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [Three](https://www.trilobites.info/eyes.htm). Fair enough, although I was taught that abathochroal eyes were just an intermediary form between the other two. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/69 "2019-05-15T21:58:22Z")
Note that a tree on a shoreline is not necessarily all that stable. The whole, oozing, tree can fall over into the shallows, landing on whatever “lucky” future fossil happens to be there. ---
**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:** [May 16, 2019, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/70 "2019-05-16T01:57:42Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Note that a tree on a shoreline is not necessarily all that stable. The whole, oozing, tree can fall over into the shallows, landing on whatever “lucky” future fossil happens to be there. Why am I thinking of trilobites? “20 quatloos on tree number three!” “30 quatloos on…” SMACK! ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/71 "2019-05-16T02:07:46Z")
Quote: Originally Posted by China Guy 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. Originally Posted by Broomstick: 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. Yeah. Let me just say I’m glad my pet parrots are all under a foot tall and weigh ounces instead of being 6-8 feet tall and weighing a lot. Instead of them calling me for food they’d be hunting me for food. Birds: Small. Cute. Feathery. Horny. Vicious. They didn’t survive 100 million years by being nice… heh wanna see the modern day equivalent of being chased by compys? run out of bread while feeding the local ducks at the park… especially during laying/hatching season … back east they had to tell people not to feed the ducks/geese at certain times of the year as they’ed get too aggressive and knock and trample some little kid (who may or may ot of been me …)in the park after he ran out of bread … ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/72 "2019-05-16T02:47:09Z")
I’m just going to ask the dumb question here: Did T-Rex look like a big chicken? Is that where we are going with this? I, for one, love the idea that the dinosaurs had plumage. But how much are we talking here? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/73 "2019-05-16T05:16:46Z")
I’m thinking a _fabulous_ feather boa effect. ---
**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:** [May 16, 2019, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/74 "2019-05-16T05:45:23Z")
The current evidence is that feathers or filiments that were the evolutionary precursors of feathers go down [pretty well to the base of the dinosaur family tree](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feathered_dinosaur#Phylogeny_and_the_inference_of_feathers_in_other_dinosaurs). That doesn’t mean that they all had to keep them, though, just as humans, elephants, and mole rats share a common ancestor that almost certainly was hairer than we/they are. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279/75 "2019-05-16T12:01:41Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > I’m just going to ask the dumb question here: > > Did T-Rex look like a big chicken? Is that where we are going with this? Look at p. 51 of Tom Weller’s **Science Made Stupid** : [Tom Weller's Science Made Stupid and Culture Made Stupid (Cvltvre Made Stvpid)](http://www.chrispennello.com/tweller/) [http://www.besse.at/sms/evolutn.html](http://www.besse.at/sms/evolutn.html) [https://www.google.com/search?q=Weller+"Science+made+Stupid"+T.+Rex&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiEl62sgKDiAhVwkeAKHWztAYIQ\_AUIDygC&biw=1440&bih=708#imgrc=t4AVA8Lm6deIsM:&spf=1558008071916](https://www.google.com/search?q=Weller+%22Science+made+Stupid%22+T.+Rex&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiEl62sgKDiAhVwkeAKHWztAYIQ_AUIDygC&biw=1440&bih=708#imgrc=t4AVA8Lm6deIsM:&spf=1558008071916) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-tail-discovered-trapped-in-amber/774279.md?page=3)