Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- Thanks. I'll have to get back to that later since my computer sound is broken. The visuals certain do grab attention and get to the education points quickly.
In addition to learning about how the creepy critters act now, though encased in amber they may also shed some light going back in time.
FOSSIL STUDY for curious minds
Ticks, seem to have been around long before humans as we know ourselves these days ever were.
No mention here of scientists' ability or plan to try to identify any pathogens but I'm hoping they will be able to take a good look with powerful microscopes / other tools.
Note that "feathered dinosaurs" are not the huge green creatures, but rather bird-like.
Amber-Trapped Tick Suggests Ancient Bloodsuckers Feasted On Feathered Dinosaurs
By Rebecca Hersher - NPR - December 12, 2017
[STUNNING PHOTO with full article]
Excerpt:
Ticks sucked the blood of feathered dinosaurs some 99 million years ago, a new study suggests.
Modern ticks are infamous for biting humans and other mammals.
But ticks are very ancient, and scientists who study their evolution have long wondered what (or who) the little vampires ate before there were mammals to feed on. Feathered dinosaurs apparently were among the possible creatures on the menu.
The findings rely partially on amber specimens from Myanmar. In one of them, a tick is trapped in the hardened resin alongside a feather from a dinosaur that lived during the Cretaceous Period.
"Amber is fossilized resin, so it's able to capture small bits of the ecosystem almost instantly," says Ricardo Pérez-de la Fuente, a research fellow at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and an author of the study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.
"Amber can actually preserve interactions between organisms. This is the case with the feather and the grasping tick." . . . .
Finally, You Can See Dinosaurs in All Their Feathered Glory
A new exhibit in New York challenges the popular view of dinos as green, scaly beasts and showcases their links to today's birds.
By Knvul Sheikh - National Geographic - April 4, 2016
. . . Norell has curated the new exhibit Dinosaurs Among Us, which opened on March 18, that maps out the evolutionary history of birds while challenging the popular perception of dinosaurs as green, scaly lizards.
Following the latest evidence, all the dinosaurs on display are covered in feathers. . . . -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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Brussels
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 13480
posted
So ticks were doing their blood sucking business before mammals existed?!!
They still bite birds.
Just imagine how perfect vectors for transmission of stuff from so many animal species (including humans)!!!
Well, one thing is right: they are very resilient. Dinosaurs came and went, mammals came, ticks were there the whole time!!!
Whether the planet climate is changing or not, it doesn't matter:
.... ticks will survive, as they have survived then glaciations and nasty weather conditions for millions of years.
amazing info, thanks!!!
Posts: 6199 | From Brussels | Registered: Oct 2007
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