That Thing With Feathers Trapped in Amber? It Was a Dinosaur Tail. The New York Times.

Sarah Whitney

Mr. Ippolito

Biology D-Even

11 December, 2016

St, Nicholas. "That Thing With Feathers Trapped in Amber? It Was a Dinosaur Tail." The New York Times. The New York Times, 08 Dec. 2016. Web. 11 Dec. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/science/dinosaur-feathers-amber.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront>.

    In 2015, Lida Xing found a remarkable artifact. He found a feathered tail of a dinosaur in what looked like golden glass. Turns out it was trapped in amber which preserved the soft tissue and eight vertebrae. The bones are what indicated that the feathered tail belonged to a dinosaur and not a bird. This also helped in the research in the evolution of feathers. Dr. Xing and his colleagues performed a CT scan which revealed that the vertebrae were not merged into a rod unlike modern birds. Due to this discovery, these scientists infer that the tail belonged to dinosaur that was similar to a T-rex but think that it was only the size of a sparrow. The reason the tissue, bones, and feathers were preserved for so long is because the dinosaur’s body was most likely covered in tree resin after death which can harden into a plastic-like substance(amber) that can last for millions of years. Dr. McKellar, an amber expert was puzzled after looking at the feather structure under a microscope. Modern birds have something called a rachis which can be compared to a stem of a plant. Branching out from the rachis are barbs, and off barbs, barbules. What left Dr. McKellar confused is that the feathers of the dinosaur did not have a rachis. Dr. McKellar stated, “It shapes our view of how feathers came to develop in modern birds, and it gives us a rare glimpse of what dinosaurs looked like and potentially what feathers were being used for in the mid-Cretaceous.” These findings propose that barbs and barbules evolved before the rachis. This also leads scientists to believe that this species of dinosaur could not fly since the rachis aids in flight. Mark Norell, a paleontologist stated that there is no question that the feathers belonged to a nonavian theropod dinosaur which cannot fly as opposed to a prehistoric bird.

    This article is relevant because it helps scientists study the evolution of feathers and also gives people more insight into the study of dinosaurs. “The feathers most likely belonged to a baby nonavian theropod, meaning it looked more similar to a velociraptor or Tyrannosaurus rex than to a modern bird. That said, it was probably only about the size of a sparrow.” This statement may lead readers to believe that sparrows or other birds evolved from this species. Also the realization that rachis came after barbs and barbules can open multiple other studies on the structure of feathers and how they emerged.

    This article had many strengths, first, it gave a clear and consistent summary that clearly explained the importance of this discovery. Also it was different from other articles because it described the role of each scientist to help differentiate them. Though there were strengths, there were also a couple weaknesses. First, the article did not explain what some things were. For example, Mark Norell mentioned a “nonavian theropod dinosaur” which many people may not know what it is. Also the article says “central shaft called a rachis; think of the ink rod in a quill pen.” This can be an unclear example for people who do not know what a quill pen looks like and can leave them confused on what a rachis is. Improvements that can be added to strengthen this article are to give clear definitions of words that many people may not know and to maybe find a way to connect the topic with modern day research or discoveries.