‘Fluffy’ dinosaur past is revealed

IN THE movie Jurassic Park, amber preserved the DNA that allowed the rebirth of dinosaurs.

In real life, amber preserved feathers that provide a new image of what dinosaurs looked like.

“Now, instead of scaly animals portrayed as usually drab creatures, we have solid evidence for a fluffy coloured past,” reports Mark A Norell of the American Museum of Natural History.

Examples of ancient feathers are now being studied. They were preserved in amber found in western Canada. Amber, hardened tree resin, preserved a mixture of feathers from 70 million years ago.

Other feathers dating to 90 million years ago are less diverse.

Specimens include simple filament structures similar to the earliest feathers of non-flying dinosaurs — a form unknown in modern birds — and more complicated bird feathers “displaying pigmentation and adaptations for flight and diving,” researchers from the University of Alberta reported.

Norell said the new discoveries indicate feathers continued to develop into modern form before the extinction of dinosaurs.