Feathers in amber

Now we get to look at a dinosaur’s tail with feathers.

It’s a tiny dinosaur, the size of a sparrow.

Researchers described the remarkable specimen in a new study, identifying it as the first evidence in amber from a nonavian theropod — a meat-eating and feathered dinosaur that doesn’t belong to the lineage that led to modern birds. The remarkable preservation provides a snapshot of dinosaur biology that can’t be retrieved from the fossil record, and offers a rare glimpse of feather structures in extinct dinosaurs, which could help scientists better understand how feathers evolved across the dinosaur family tree. [Photos: Amber Trap Nabs Feathered Dinosaur Tail]

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Feathers!

The findings were published online Dec. 8 in the journal Current Biology.

Original article on Live Science.

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