The bird belonged to an ancient group of toothed birds called Enantiornithes, which went extinct along with the dinosaurs. This reconstruction captures the hatchling's pose as preserved in the amber.
Posted on 07/14/2017 12:18:02 PM PDT by ETL
The 99-million-year-old hatchling from the Cretaceous Period is the best preserved of its kind
The remains of a baby bird from the time of the dinosaurs have been discovered in a specimen of 99-million-year-old amber, according to scientists writing in the journal Gondwana Research.
The hatchling belonged to a major group of birds known as enantiornithes, which went extinct along with dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period, about 65 million years ago. Funded in part by the National Geographic Society's Expeditions Council, this discovery is providing critical new information about these ancient, toothed birds and how they differed from modern birds.
This is also the most complete fossil yet to be discovered in Burmese amber. Mined in the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar, Burmese amber deposits contain possibly the largest variety of animal and plant life from the Cretaceous period, which lasted from 145.5 to 65.5 million years ago.
The bird belonged to an ancient group of toothed birds called Enantiornithes, which went extinct along with the dinosaurs. This reconstruction captures the hatchling's pose as preserved in the amber.
Based on its molting pattern, researchers could determine that the bird was only in its first days or weeks of life when it was enveloped in sticky tree resin and literally frozen in time. Nearly half of the body is preserved in the three-inch sample, including its head, wings, skin, feathers and a clawed foot clearly visible to the naked eye. Its 99-million-year-old feathers range from white and brown to dark grey in color, and the researchers have nicknamed the young enantiornithine 'Belone', after a Burmese name for the amber-hued Oriental skylark.
The find was reported by several of the same researchers who discovered a feathered theropod dinosaur tail preserved in amber last December. The structure of the dinosaur feathers suggested that it would be incapable of flight. On the other hand, an earlier find of enantiornithine wings in amber revealed a feather structure remarkably similar to flight feathers of modern birds.
In this specimen, scientists observed that while the baby enantiornithine already possessed a full set of flight feathers on its wings, the rest of the plumage was sparse and more similar to the theropod dinosaur feathers, which lack a well-defined central shaft, or rachis.
The presence of flight feathers on such a young bird is reinforcing the idea that enantiornithes hatched with the ability to fly, making them less dependent on parental care than most modern birds.
This independence came at a cost, however. The researchers point out that a slow growth rate made these ancient birds more vulnerable for a longer amount of time, as evidenced by the high number of juvenile enantiornithes found in the fossil record. (No juvenile fossil remains from any other bird lineage are known from the Cretaceous).
My question is, would it break my windshield if I hit it at speed.
You are more than entitled to your bag of hammers opinion. Point out the scripture that says the Earth is only a few thousand years old please.
I believe all birds, and definitely some, have genes for growing teeth. They're just "turned off". In fact, they've successfully grown birds with teeth in the lab by manipulating these existing genes.
That is true. It is believed birds and dinos have a common ancestor that dates back to the Jurassic Period, about 140-180 million years ago. Dinos first appeared on the stage roughly 225 million years ago. They went extinct 65 mya.
What a way to go. One minute you’re basking in the sun on the trunk of a tree the next a big glob of sun-softened tree sap plops down and envelopes you entirely. Too thick to even exhale your last breath.
Not to mention that there were “non bird” dinosaurs with beaks. Thus, a common adaptation to specialized feeding.
First thing I thought of.
LOL. Seriously, even tumors grow teeth.
"The bird belonged to an ancient group of toothed birds called Enantiornithes, which went extinct along with the dinosaurs. This reconstruction captures the hatchling’s pose as preserved in the amber."
From Wikipedia...
“Enantiornithes is a group of extinct avialans (”birds” in the broad sense), the most abundant and diverse group known from the Mesozoic era.[4][5][6]
Almost all retained teeth and clawed fingers on each wing, but otherwise looked much like modern birds externally.
Over 80 species of enantiornitheans have been named, but some names represent only single bones, so it is likely that not all are valid.
Enantiornitheans became extinct at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, along with hesperornithids and all other non-avian dinosaurs.
Enantiornitheans are thought to have left no living descendants.”
Why would a tumor grow teeth?
Search “teratomas” for your answer.
Some sort of weird mutation I guess.
More on the subject here:
https://www.google.com/search?q=teeth+tumor&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
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The “Time of the Dinosaurs” is not yet over.
.
Archaeologists excavating a gothic church graveyard in Lisbon, Portugal, made a discovery for the annals of medical history: an ovarian tumor that had started forming teeth.
Today, doctors know that this type of cyst, called a teratoma, is the most common tumor that occurs in the ovaries. But scientists are just starting to learn about past teratoma cases thanks to new evidence from the archaeological record.
A teratoma, which essentially translates as “monstrous swelling” from Greek, can occur when cells that should become eggs start multiplying abnormally and form mature tissues like hair, teeth and bones. [25 Grisly Archaeological Discoveries]...”
https://www.livescience.com/59293-tumor-with-teeth-in-gothic-graveyard.html
Sounds like the title of a low-budget ‘70s sci-fi flick.
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