Paleontologists face Hurdle Hunting Dinosaur Amber in Myanmar

Paleontologists who profit from Myanmar's amber trade face conflict between the army and the Kachin rebels who are fighting for sovereignty.

Ancient Chinese and Greeks historically popularized amber as a gem. The fossilized tree resin has since been famous for its color and appearance.

In 1990, interest in amber went from pure ornamentation to lucrative collections because of the movie Jurassic Park . In the movie, the dinosaurs were cloned using DNA extracted from mosquitoes kept in amber.

In real life, the amber acquired in Myanmar dates back to the Cretaceous and ancient species dating back 100 million years were found fossilized. tree resins from the region. Paleontologists have discovered unknown species several times

. In recent years, amber found in the area have discovered fossil chicks, bird wings, numerous insects, velvet worms and aquatic spiders. More recently, a tick has been found wrapped in spider silk over the last 100 million years, as well as four species of ancient frogs.

While Ambergrams are found in different parts of the world, those found in Myanmar, especially in Kachin State, are "irreplaceable" according to Lida Xing, paleontologist of the Chinese University of Geosciences, Beijing . While the struggle between the army and the rebels persists in Kachin State, only the extreme amber hunters can now enter the region, reducing the opportunity for paleontologists to important scientific discoveries.

Xing was part of the team that discovered a feathered dinosaur tail of Myanmar in 2015. The fossil was 99 million years old. He shared that the situation in the region had already been difficult for paleontologists since then.

"We could hardly reach the mining area because it was very dangerous, we infiltrated when the situation has greatly decreased, but no scientist has been" In the hope that he could find most of the fossilized dinosaur, Xing returned to Myanmar only to be disappointed. His contacts said that they did not know where the source was, but Xing suspected that they had broken and sold the pieces.

Indeed, amber hunters can earn up to $ 100,000 per piece. Particularly profitable are amber that contain dinosaurs, plants, animals or even insects such as ants and mosquitoes.

The Unlucky Tick

In June, German collector Patrick Muller found a tick trapped in spider silk. . The fossil was about 100 million years old. Paul Selden, professor of geology at the University of Kansas said the few species of ticks found in Myanmar were among the oldest specimens known to science.

The discovery of June was particularly significant as it is the first time that a fossilized species in amber has revealed the old interaction between ticks and spiders.

Ancient Frogs

Also in June, four tiny frogs were found trapped inside the amber in Myanmar. Paleontologists felt that these frogs had the opportunity to live alongside dinosaurs. One of them has been identified as a new frog species called Electrorana limoae.

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