PeteByrdie
Privateer in the service of Princess Frideswide
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2014
- Messages
- 3,241
A dinosaur has been diagnosed with severe arthritis 70 million years after its death.
Typical NHS!
A dinosaur has been diagnosed with severe arthritis 70 million years after its death.
It's cute! I want one.Ultra-realistic recreation of Psittacosaur, from an astonishingly well-preserved fossil:
https://www.theguardian.com/science...accurate-depiction-of-a-dinosaur-ever-created
Thanks for posting that. I have a bit of an interest in dinosaur sculpture.Ultra-realistic recreation of Psittacosaur, from an astonishingly well-preserved fossil:
https://www.theguardian.com/science...accurate-depiction-of-a-dinosaur-ever-created
That carcass simply doesn't look over 100 million years old!
Thanks for posting that. I have a bit of an interest in dinosaur sculpture.
No, but I do take an interest in what other people are doing.Sounds interesting, do you partake?
The first fossil dino brain found, in Bexhill of Sussex County, England
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart...t-fossilized-dinosaur-brain-180960941/?no-ist
'Beautiful' dinosaur tail found preserved in amber
By Paul RinconScience editor, BBC News website
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- 2 hours ago
- From the sectionScience & Environment
Image copyrightCURRENT BIOLOGY
Image captionThe feathered tail was preserved in amber from north-eastern Myanmar
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.
The tail is described in the journal Current Biology.
The study's first author, Lida Xing from the China University of Geosciences in Beijing, discovered the remarkable fossil at an amber market in Myitkina, Myanmar.
The 99-million-year-old amber had already been polished for jewellery and the seller had thought it was plant material. On closer inspection by the scientists, it turned out to be the tail of a feathered dinosaur about the size of a sparrow.
Co-author Ryan McKellar, of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada, said examination of the tail's anatomy showed it definitely belonged to a feathered dinosaur and not an ancient bird.
Image copyrightCHEUNG CHUNG-TAT
Image captionArtist's impression: the dinosaur was about the size of a sparrow
Image copyrightCURRENT BIOLOGY
Image captionThe dinosaur's plumage is preserved in exquisite detail
Image copyrightCURRENT BIOLOGY
Image captionThe specimen sheds new light on feather evolution
"We can be sure of the source because the vertebrae are not fused into a rod or pygostyle as in modern birds and their closest relatives," he explained.
"Instead, the tail is long and flexible, with keels of feathers running down each side."
Dr McKellar told BBC News that there were signs that the dinosaur was still full of fluid when it was incorporated into the tree resin that eventually formed the amber. This indicates that it could even have become trapped in the sticky substance while it was still alive.
Examination of the chemistry of the tail where it was exposed at the surface of the amber even shows up traces of ferrous iron, a relic of the blood that was once in the sample.
The findings also shed light on how feathers were arranged on these dinosaurs, because 3D features are often lost due to the compression that occurs when corpses become fossilised in sedimentary rocks.
The feathers lack the well-developed central shaft - a rachis - known from modern birds. Their structure suggests that the two finest tiers of branching in modern feathers, known as barbs and barbules, arose before the rachis formed.
Image copyrightCURRENT BIOLOGY
Image captionThe feathered tail was originally thought to be the remains of plant matter
Image copyrightCURRENT BIOLOGY
Image captionThe small dinosaur might have been alive when it was trapped in the amber
Image copyrightCURRENT BIOLOGY
Image captionThis CT scan reveals how feathers were inserted along the tail
Dr Paul Barrett, from London's Natural History Museum, called the specimen a "beautiful fossil", describing it as a "really rare occurrence of vertebrate material in amber".
He told BBC News: "Feathers have been recovered in amber before, so that aspect isn't new, but what this new specimen shows is the 3D arrangement of feathers in a Mesozoic dinosaur/bird for the first time, as almost all of the other feathered dinosaur fossils and Mesozoic bird skeletons that we have are flattened and 2D only, which has obscured some important features of their anatomy.
"The new amber specimen confirms ideas from developmental biologists about the order in which some of the detailed features of modern feathers, such as barbs and barbules (the little hooks that hold the barbs together so that the feather can form a nice neat vane), would have appeared also."
Earlier this year, scientists also described ancient bird wings that had been discovered in amber deposits from the same area of Myanmar.
You beat me to it Dr Jones .. here's another pic of it anyway
That is really good.