--- title: Feathered Dinosaur Tail Preserved in Amber Found in Asia description: Palaeontologists have discovered a 1.4-inch dinosaur's tail, complete with delicate feathers, bones and soft tissue, preserved in amber. canonical: https://time.com/4596412/dinosaur-tail-feathers-amber/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-09T13:36:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-15T00:15:39.000Z article:section: Science og:title: Here's More Proof that Dinosaurs Had Feathers og:description: "It's a once in a lifetime find" og:url: https://time.com/4596412/dinosaur-tail-feathers-amber/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcaf08153cfb003da/6988b26ee20a870097a937fe/dinosaur-tail-amber.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: A chunk of amber - fossilized resin - spotted by a Chinese scientist in a market in Myitkyina, Myanmar last year shows the tip of a preserved dinosaur tail section og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's More Proof that Dinosaurs Had Feathers twitter:description: "It's a once in a lifetime find" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcaf08153cfb003da/6988b26ee20a870097a937fe/dinosaur-tail-amber.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's More Proof that Dinosaurs Had Feathers > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=c230a484-ce2a-4942-9123-9b61a6bb061e&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Updated: Dec 15, 2023 12:15 AM UTCPublished: Dec 9, 2016 1:36 PM UTC  A chunk of amber - fossilized resin - shows the tip of a preserved dinosaur tail section in this image released by the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada on Dec. 8, 2016. A chunk of amber - fossilized resin - shows the tip of a preserved dinosaur tail section in this image released by the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada on Dec. 8, 2016. R.C. McKellar—Saskatchewan Museum/Reuters by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Updated: Dec 15, 2023 12:15 AM UTCPublished: Dec 9, 2016 1:36 PM UTC [Palaeontologists](http://time.com/4404545/dinosaur-extinctions-fossil-fuels/) have discovered a 1.4-inch [dinosaur’s](http://time.com/4581545/asteroid-dinosaurs-liquid-surface/) tail, complete with delicate feathers, bones and soft tissue, preserved in amber. The lump of resin was recovered at an amber market in northern Burma near the Chinese border, where it was destined to become jewelry. It originally came from a mine in the Hukawng Valley in Kachin state. According to [_CNN_](http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/08/health/dinosaur-tail-trapped-in-amber-trnd/index.html?sr=twCNN120916dinosaur-tail-trapped-in-amber-trnd1117AMVODtopLink&linkId=32135180), Burmese traders selling the plum-sized piece believed a plant fragment was trapped inside. But research into the specimen, led by paleontologists Lida Xing of the China University of Geosciences, revealed that it contained a 99-million-year-old feathered dinosaur tail. The findings, which have been documented in the December issue of [_Current Biology_](http://www.cell.com/current-biology/home), are expected to help scientists gain a better understanding of the evolution and structure of dinosaur feathers. “The more we see these feathered dinosaurs and how widespread the feathers are, things like a scaly velociraptor seem less and less likely and they’ve become a lot more bird like in the overall view,” Ryan McKellar, a paleontologist at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada and co-author of the paper, told _CNN_. 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