Perfectly Preserved Creature Answers Burning Questions About Ancient Life On Earth
Once upon a time, roughly 100 million years ago, a prehistoric beast emerged from the water for a quick foray on dry land. Our critter encountered a tree, and began to scale its trunk: a huge mistake, and its last. Before it could react, a giant glob of tree resin engulfed our ancient hero, costing the creature its life. Yet that wasn’t quite the end of its tale…
Endurance
Rather than decay and disintegrate like most other dead animals, this creature’s remains endured — and for a long, long time. The resin in which it had become entombed meant the normal processes of decomposition couldn’t take place. Instead, the beast remained perfectly preserved for millions and millions of years.
An epic journey
Here’s where things get hazy. In 2015 the hardened tree resin containing this prehistoric animal was extracted from its resting place in the modern country of Myanmar. It then went on a journey, passed along from one place to another, until it showed up at a marketplace in the Chinese city of Tengchong.
In the hands of humans
Representatives from the Longyin Amber Museum in the Chinese province of Yunnan then bought this encased creature. They brought it back to their facility, where the specimen remains today. After a remarkable journey spanning millions of years, this animal was now in the hands of a curious species that hadn’t even existed during its own lifetime. Yep, that’s us!
A fantastical tale
As fantastical and unlikely as all this sounds, the story — in so far as we can reasonably speculate — is essentially true. This beast is real, and it really did live millions of years ago. And thanks to the tree resin which spelled its doom, scientists are now poring over its remains and are trying to learn all about it. And it has plenty to teach us.
