Scientists have discovered the first three-dimensional preservation of ancient bird tail feather amber

group of anti-birds were besieging Confucius birds, and a pair of tail feathers were falling in the air. Zhang Zongda Drawings
On December 15th, Chinese and Canadian palaeontologists announced in Beijing that they had discovered the world's first three-dimensionally preserved amber of ancient bird tail feathers, initially revealing the secrets of ancient bird tail feathers 100 million years ago, the results of which were published online in the Journal of Paleontology.
The study was led by Yan Lida, an associate professor at the Chinese University of Geology (Beijing), Professors Ryan McKellar and Dr. Pierre Cox of the Royal Museum of Saskatchewan, Canada, and Yan Jingmei, a researcher at the Institute of Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
the newly discovered specimen comes from the Hugang Valley in Kachin State, northern Myanmar, a well-known amber-producing region. The amber here is about 100 million years old and belongs to the earliest part of the late Cretaceous period. Flora and fauna in the humid tropical environment of northern Myanmar during this period, often wrapped in resin from cypress or southern fir, formed amber over a long geological period and have remained to this day.
Amber around the world is known for its unique preservation of soft tissues, such as feathers, bird's outer ear holes, eyelids, and other details that paleontologists often don't know from other fossil records. As a result, amber provides a more complete record of paleontological morphology, diversity, and behavior.
feathers were once the exclusive of birds, and it wasn't until the emergence of the feathered dinosaurs that the set-up was reversed. Different forms of feathers give dinosaurs and birds different functions. The most subtle feathers in the fossil record are the long tail feathers, most of which appear in primitive birds.
in specific morphological features, these fascinatingly beautiful feathers all have a thick feather shaft, so they are called feather shaft-led feathers, also known as near-end striped feathers.
2015, by chance, he saw a very strange feather in the amber market in Myitthina, Myanmar. He told China Science: "They are so strange that we know that the feather shafts are closed and have myelin cavities filled with sponge tissue in the middle, but the feather shafts in these ambers are open on the back of the feathers and have no myelin cavity." "
lida saw at that time is the first time in the three-dimensional form of preservation of the feather shaft-led feather, its open feather shaft is very confusing. The discovery was all the more surprising to Lida, who discovered dozens of feathers with the same characteristics in the hands of amber markets and some folk collectors.
"The specimens we found this time are highly diverse, " said Lida, "the feather shafts and feathers of individual specimens also have transverse pigmentation bands, dark brown and colorless bands alternately appear, which represents the distribution and concentration of melanin, indicating that the tails of these ancient birds are likely to be spotty, very eye-catching." The
of modern birds is rich in color and plays an important role in courtship and other acts. At least nine of the dozens of feathers that were dominated by feathers were found in pairs, and there were no bird remains near the feathers, and there was no indication of persecured contact between the feathers and the resin surface. "This may indicate that these feathers fall easily, possibly birds fighting and falling, or even as bait for defense." Pierre Cox said. (Source: Cui Xueqin Li Chenyang, China Science Daily)