Fatty Tissues Preserved In Fossil for 48 Million Years

Researchers confirmed fatty tissues had been preserved in the preen gland (in box) of a 48-million-year-old bird fossil. (Credit O'Reilly et al 2017, doi:10.1098/rspb.2017.1050) It really is true: fat hangs around a long time whether you want it to or not. Okay, so we're not talking about stubborn love handles and saddlebags, but researchers have confirmed that fatty tissues were still identifiable in the partial fossil of a 48-million-year-old bird. The new research hints that similar soft tissues might be found in fossils sitting in museum archives around the world. Soft tissue preservation in fossils is rare but not unheard of. Earlier this year, researchers revealed a fantastic partial armored dinosaur, for example. Its skin was preserved so perfectly that the animal looked like it was sleeping rather than dead for more than 100 million years (well, the front half, anyway. The back end was missing). Aside from looking cool, ...