Amber Preserves Dinosaur Era Bird's Wings

Published: 29th Jun 2016

Two wings from ancient birds that lived at the same time as the dinosaurs have been found preserved in amber. The incredible finds from Myanmar, once known as Burma, are from two young birds that got trapped in the sticky sap. The fossils are tiny only 2 or 3 centimetres long but have preserved the tiny wings in incredible detail including claws and possible traces of colour spots. The finds date from 99 million years ago during the Cretaceous period and could help to add further knowledge to the evolution of birds from dinosaurs.

Up until now most of the fossil feathers have been known from impressions so to actually discover real feathers preserved in amber is very special. Even these ancient birds had already developed wing arrangements very close to modern birds.