Paleontologists discovered an exquisite 66-million-year-old bird feather preserved inside a fossilized dinosaur dropping (coprolite) from Montana's Hell Creek Formation.
Key Details
▫️The Location & Discovery: Found in 2016 by researcher David DeMar, Jr. in northeastern Montana and analyzed using micro-CT scanning.
▫️The Creator of the Poop: The fossilized dung likely came from a large carnivorous dinosaur like a Tyrannosaurus rex or Nanotyrannus.
▫️The Bird & Its Last Meal: The feather belonged to an extinct, flightless, aquatic diving bird called a Hesperornithiform (similar to a modern loon), which also contained tiny scales from a gar fish in its stomach.
▫️Clue to Mass Extinction: The feather revealed a mix of modern waterproof traits and primitive fuzzy body traits. Scientists suggest this weaker insulation may explain why this lineage went extinct while modern bird ancestors (Neornithes) survived the asteroid-induced "impact winter".
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