A 99 million-year-old fossil specimen from Myanmar is to be the highlight of an amber exhibition at the National Museum of Natural Science in Taichung that starts at the end of next month.
Experts believe that the fossil resin exhibit contains dinosaur remains, including skin and feathers.
Yang Tzu-ruei (楊子睿), an assistant researcher in geology at the museum, said that the feathers of modern birds have solid shafts, while hollow feather shafts, such as those found on the fossilized feathers, are more common in dinosaurs.
Photo courtesy of the National Museum of Natural Science via CNA
The piece was uncovered in a location in Myanmar that experts believe was once a lagoon, he added.
Due to the proximity of lagoons to land and the sea, Yang said it is reasonable for such locations to contain ancient fossils from aquatic and land animals.
Two other pieces, which were uncovered in eastern Taiwan, would also be featured in the exhibition.
The two pieces, each only slightly bigger than a NT$1 coin, are encased in rocks that scientists using chemical analysis believe to have formed from resin of an extinct tree of the Dipterocarpaceae family.
The ambers were on Thursday unveiled at a news conference ahead of the exhibition, along with other specimens containing preserved feathers, skin samples or parasites.
The museum also signed a memorandum of understanding with Keelung’s National Taiwan Ocean University on exchanges of artifacts and cooperation between researchers.
The university would assist the museum in setting up a hall for exhibitions focused on minerals, it said.
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