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Bird caught in amber 100 million
years ago is best ever found

Insects are not the only creatures that got stuck in amber during the time of the dinosaurs. Bits of ancient birds and dinosaurs have been found too – and now the most complete bird yet has been found.
A 100-million-year-old chunk of amber found in Myanmar contains the head, neck, wing, tail and feet of a hatchling. It was just a few days old when it fell into a pool of sap oozing from a conifer tree.

“It’s the most complete and detailed view we’ve ever had,” says Ryan McKellar of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, Regina, in Canada, a member of the team that described the find. “Seeing something this complete is amazing. It’s just stunning.”

While it looks as if the actual skin and flesh of the bird are preserved in the amber, it’s basically a very detailed impression of the animal, McKellar says. Studies of similar finds show the flesh has broken down into carbon – and there’s no usable DNA, fans of Jurassic Park will be disappointed to learn.

The amber does preserve some of the feather colours – but in this case they are not terribly exciting, McKellar admits. “They were little brown jobbies.”

The unfortunate youngster belonged to a group of birds known as the ‘opposite birds’ that lived alongside the ancestors of modern birds and appear to have been more diverse and successful – until they died out with the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.