Insects in amber
Amber, in another way alatyr, amber, has long been used for the manufacture of jewelry, various crafts. Vases, boxes, decorative amber panels adorned the houses of wealthy merchants and royal halls, amber beads were a favorite gift of peasant girls and noble women, everyone liked the semi-precious stone. What attracted the attention of the "tears of the sea"? What stones were valued the most?
The very origin of amber is surprising, according to some assumptions of scientists, the mineral was formed only in those places where huge tracts of coniferous forest bordered on the seas and lakes. These areas in prehistoric times were characterized by a tropical and subtropical climate.
Only the resin instantly cooled by the waters turned into sunny amber "drops". It is believed that if viscous pine sap fell on dry stones under a tree, it spread, dried, cracked and turned into dust over time. Only those tar influxes that immediately fell into the sea reached us.
How and when did insects get into amber
The imagination is striking that, judging by the size of some resin secretions, conifers were much taller and stronger than those of today. The increased amount of oxygen in the air characteristic of those times proves this assumption.
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How was it established that there was more oxygen in the Paleogene period? It turns out that, falling into drops of amber resin, insects and plants captured a piece of the atmosphere. Millions of years later, scientists were able to perform a spectral analysis of amber bubbles and find out the exact composition of the components of prehistoric air.
How did insects, plants, animals get inside the amber captivity? It is noticed that if an insect is grouped in a stone, legs with wings are close to each other - it has fallen into the mineral already dead. Resisting butterflies, spiders, dragonflies, captured by resin, have spread wings, legs spread to the sides.
Who is usually found inside amber drops
Most of the organisms found in amber belong to the flying representatives of the fauna, which is an argument in favor of the version that insects and other animals accidentally got into the falling resin drops. Amber captives have been stored in stones since ancient times; there are finds from 30 to 230 million years old and older.
It is impressive that under a microscope you can see a prehistoric animal in its full entourage, without any changes, as it was millions of years ago. Who went to prison from amber:
Mosquitoes. Apparently the pleasant resinous aroma attracted these dipterans, their number in the stones already found is very large. At the same time, the fact that they are located freely in the resin, straightening the legs and wings, suggests that the resin was quite liquid, but sticky and did not leave a chance to get out.
Butterflies. Incredibly, the wings of insects have not changed their structure, preserved in amber in their original form, including color. Amber fossils are delightful precisely because they contain very accurate detailing of prehistoric organisms.
Ants. Whole colonies of small insects are found in the stone, thanks to amber storage, scientists were able to identify more than three thousand species of prehistoric insects, about two hundred new plant species previously unknown.
Snails. The size of most of the small animals captured by the resin does not exceed 4 mm, among them it is quite rare, but there are representatives of gastropods.
Scorpions and other arthropods. Such finds are especially in demand on the amber market; collectors are ready to pay thousands of dollars for a prehistoric scorpion that has survived in amber resin.
Many spiders, dragonflies, praying mantises, stick insects were inadvertently stuck in the viscous and sticky coniferous resin, and even fleas were found, which allowed the researchers to assume that warm-blooded mammals already existed in these places at that time.
The most unexpected find of recent years has been amber from Burma. Traders assured Chinese scientists that the feathers of an unknown bird were imprinted in the resin. Upon a detailed study of the acquired mineral, it turned out that the tail of a dinosaur fell into the tar dungeon. Rarely, but small vertebrates are found in resin: lizards, frogs.
Where amber with inclusions (inclusions) is most often found
Currently, the largest open field on earth is the Baltic, about 80% of the world's reserves. Most of the northern stone inclusions are small insects, plant debris, air bubbles.
The most interesting finds are surprising amber from Myanmar (Burma). Inclusions from small insects, arthropods, arachnids of Burmese origin adorn the amber of many collectors. However, in fairness, we note that you can find the remains of fossil animals in any amber. The most ancient ones are found near the Austrian city of Lunts, their approximate age is 225-231 million years. The Cretaceous period is studied for minerals from Lebanon - 125 million years. Canadian amber from Lake Cedar near Manitoba has been stored in the waters for 75 million years. The most beautiful butterfly in amber was found in the Dominican Republic.
Who is interested in animals trapped in amber
Curiosities made of amber have attracted humanity at all times, the historical fact is known that a Phoenician merchant paid for the Baltic amber with an inclusion in the form of a whole fly with 120 swords and 60 daggers. In ancient times, special magical and healing properties were attributed to amber, otherwise how would amber from the Baltic have got to the tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs? He was appreciated, he was hunted.
At the beginning of the 19th century, amber with inclusions became especially popular among the nobility of France and Russia. It was popular and prestigious to be the owner of interesting curiosities.
In our times, priorities have changed somewhat, of course, collectors are still willing to pay thousands of dollars for a frog in amber. But the main value is the scientific side of the findings. With the help of modern high-tech equipment, paleontologists, archaeologists have a unique opportunity to study the events that took place on Earth millions of years ago:
- find out the composition of the biosphere in prehistoric times;
- discover unexplored species of animals, plants;
- compose an accurate description of evolutionary changes;
- determine the climatic features of different parts of the planet during the Mesozoic.
How to distinguish a fake from a real stone
There is a whole industry that skillfully counterfeits amber mineral with inclusions. The fashion for unusual stones has provoked a stream of fraud.
Ways to distinguish a fake from a real natural formation:
- in a real stone the insect is in an “uncomfortable” position, a beautiful scorpion in a mineral that is transparent as a tear is rather a fake, a real one is usually crooked, broken and not so elegant;
- irradiation with UV rays will immediately give out artificial plastic, it will not change, and natural amber will shimmer with multi-colored rays.
What prehistoric animals frozen in amber look like: praying mantis, bird and dinosaur and others
Praying mantis, 30 million years old
This piece of amber, measuring at least 3 cm in size, was sold in 2016 by Heritage Auctions for $ 6,000. The stone was found on the coast in the Dominican Republic, and the value of this artifact was great due to the miniature mantis frozen inside the stone.
This piece of amber is the resin of Hymenaea protera, a tree that no longer exists. It grew in Central and South America, and the resin amber of this tree is distinguished by its light shades and transparent structure.
Auction specialists estimated the age of this amber at about 30 million years. Interestingly, even then, praying mantises looked exactly the same as now. Of course, we cannot know about the diversity of species at that time (now, for example, there are more than 2400 species of praying mantis), but we do know for sure that their appearance was very, very similar to their modern relatives.
Chick, 100 million years old
In a piece of amber from Myanmar, a chick that is already 100 million years old has forever frozen.
This animal is not visible as well as the insect, but you can still guess the outlines of the head, neck, wings, tail and paws. Apparently, this chick was only a couple of days from birth when it fell into the resin of a tree.
Burmese amber, or Burmite, is famous for the fact that it is often found there individual traces of animals, mainly geckos and chameleons. However, this piece of amber with a frozen 5-centimeter chick was the first of its kind. It is believed to be the chick of an enanciornis bird that lived about 99-100 million years ago and is the most complete specimen ever found.
Dinosaur, 99 million years ago
Due to the size of the dinosaurs, of course, you should not expect to find a whole carcass of one or another dinosaur species in amber.
But three years ago, scientists managed to get a very valuable from the point of view of science specimen - amber the size of an apricot, in which you can see a part of a dinosaur's tail.
The most interesting thing about this find is that this tail was not covered with scales, but. feathers! The theory that dinosaurs could have been covered with feathers originated in the scientific community back in the 1990s, but this amber, found in Myanmar, was the first physical confirmation of this theory.
Of course, the presence of feathers does not mean that dinosaurs could fly. Moreover, this particular group of dinosaurs in question is the Celurosaurs, the most numerous group of theropod dinosaurs, that is, predators that move on two legs, such as tyrannosaurus. Apparently, at that time, the feather cover was optimal for the thermoregulation of these animals.
Speaking of amber, one cannot but recall the famous Amber Room. In our article on this attraction, we consider 10 suggested places where it might be.
