Forget Jurassic Park’s mesquites in amber, because this Discovery News article brings us something that I think if far cooler. Preserved feathers dating back to the time of the dinosaurs. The reason why this is particularly interesting is because recent paleontology discoveries and studies very strongly suggest that feathers were probably quite common among certain types of non-avian dinosaurs. As such the feathers found in this French amber may either be from a dino or a prehistoric bird.
I love the feathered dinosaur look, especially on theropods of the Dromaeosauridae family (dinos like velociraptor and deinonychus). I think that this is because probably one of my all time favorite dinosaur books, Gregory S. Paul’s Predatory Dinosaurs of the World: A Complete Illustrated Guide, had pictures of these kinds of dinosaurs covered with feathers. I, myself, have always enjoyed drawing dinosaurs, and recently I have been putting a lot of attention to drawing feathered dromaeosaurids. They are just incredible animals in my opinion and so bird-like that it seems more absurd to me to think of them without feathers.
