'Incredibly important' dinosaur remains found with chilling similarity to Jurassic Park

In a twist straight out of Jurassic Park, a fluffy "feathered" dinosaur tail has been found perfectly preserved in a globule of amber.

This tiny dinosaur would have ruled the earth for nearly 160 million years before the mass extinction event.

The specimen's examination suggests the tail was chestnut brown on top and white on its underside, according to the journal Current Biology.

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It was discovered in Kachin State, north-eastern Myanmar, an area that has been producing amber for 2,000 years.

The 99-million year old amber had been polished for jewellery, and the seller believed the debris inside was merely plant material, reports the Express.

However, it turned out to be the tail of a feathered dinosaur about the size of a sparrow.

"This is the first time we've found dinosaur material preserved in amber," co-author Ryan McKellar, of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada, told the BBC.

The study's author, Lida Xing from the China University of Geosciences in Beijing, unearthed the Hollywood-worthy fossil at an amber market in Myitkina.

Xing determined its origin by tracking down the amber miner who had initially dug out the specimen. Dr McKellar said the tail belonged to a feathered dinosaur, not an ancient bird, because "the vertebrae are not fused into a rod or pygostyle as in modern birds and their closest relatives," he explained.

"Instead, the tail is long and flexible, with keels of feathers running down each side."

Dr McKellar revealed there are indications the dinosaur still held fluids when it became embedded in the tree resin that ultimately formed the amber.

This suggests it may have been ensnared in the substance whilst still living.

Co-author Prof Mike Benton, from the University of Bristol, said: "It's amazing to see all the details of a dinosaur tail - the bones, flesh, skin, and feathers - and to imagine how this little fellow got his tail caught in the resin, and then presumably died because he could not wrestle free."

More detailed analysis of the tail reveals traces of ferrous iron, a remnant of the blood that was formerly present in the specimen.

The discoveries also illuminate how feathers were positioned on these dinosaurs.

The feathers are missing the well-developed central shaft - a rachis - recognised from contemporary birds.

However, due to the vast number of insects preserved in the deposits, over the past 20 years it has become a focal point for scientists studying ancient arthropods.

"The larger amber pieces often get broken up in the mining process. By the time we see them they have often been turned into things like jewellery. We never know how much of the specimen has been missed," Dr McKellar explained.

Dr McKellar added: "If you had a complete specimen, for example, you could look at how feathers were arranged across the whole body. Or you could look at other soft tissue features that don't usually get preserved. There have been other, anecdotal reports of similar specimens coming from the region. But if they disappear into private collections, then they're lost to science."

Dr Paul Barrett, from London's Natural History Museum, described the specimen as a "beautiful fossil", and a "really rare occurrence of vertebrate material in amber". Speaking to BBC News, he said: "Feathers have been recovered in amber before, so that aspect isn't new, but what this new specimen shows is the 3D arrangement of feathers in a Mesozoic dinosaur/bird for the first time, as almost all of the other feathered dinosaur fossils and Mesozoic bird skeletons that we have are flattened and 2D only, which has obscured some important features of their anatomy.

"The new amber specimen confirms ideas from developmental biologists about the order in which some of the detailed features of modern feathers, such as barbs and barbules (the little hooks that hold the barbs together so that the feather can form a nice neat vane), would have appeared also."