Feathers in Amber

John Noble Wilford:

For more than a decade, hardly a season has passed without more discoveries of dinosaur and bird fossils in China bearing impressions of feathers and traces of chemical coloring agents. Now, in Canada, paleontologists have found 70-million-year-old amber preserving 11 specimens showing a wide diversity of feather types at that time.

One specimen of so-called proto-feathers had a single bristlelike filament and some simple clusters. Others were complex structures with hooklike barbules that act like Velcro; in modern birds, this keeps feathers in place during dives. Still other specimens revealed feather patterns for flight and underwater diving.

Preserved pigment cells encased in the amber, along with other evidence, suggested that the feathered animals had an array of mottled patterns and diffuse colors like modern birds, scientists at the University of Alberta, led by Ryan C. McKellar, said in a report published Thursday in the journal Science.

Dr. McKellar’s team said the amber pieces, though small, “provide novel insights regarding feather formation.” The preserved filaments “display a wide range of pigmentation from nearly transparent to dark.”

I find amber to be one of the most weirdly wonderful things on the earth. That hundred million year old stuff should be preserved in glass for us to see is another one of those lucky breaks we don't really deserve.