Photos: Mummified Bird Wings Preserved in Amber

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Stuck wing

Mummified Bird Wings

(Image credit: Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM | R.C. McKellar))

Sticky trap

Mummified Bird Wings

(Image credit: Chung-tat Cheung)

An ancient, hummingbird-size bird got its wing stuck in sticky tree resin and likely struggled for its life about 99 million years ago. Researchers nicknamed this specimen "Angel Wing."

Elephant transportation

Mummified Bird Wings

(Image credit: Mo Li)

In Myanmar, some locals use elephants for transportation, including for moving amber.

Amber mine

Mummified Bird Wings

(Image credit: Mo Li)

A young man goes into an amber mine in Myanmar.

Mummified wing

Mummified Bird Wings

(Image credit: Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM | R.C. McKellar))

The other bird wing, nicknamed "Rose" by scientists, can be seen here encased in amber. It's possible that Rose was a severed limb that was torn off by a predator before that animal got stuck in amber. Or perhaps the wing floated free from the rest of the corpse due to resin flows, the researchers said. [Read the Full Story on the Mummified Bird Feathers]

CT scan

Mummified Bird Wings

(Image credit: Lida Xing)

The researchers were able to merge data about the bone and soft tissue together in this digital reconstruction.

Magnified wing

Mummified Bird Wings

(Image credit: Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM | R.C. McKellar))

A close-up of Rose's wing shows the claw and a pale spot on the plumage.

Ancient feather

Mummified Bird Wings

(Image credit: Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM | R.C. McKellar))

A magnified look at Rose's feathers shows where the feathers insert into the bird's skin.

Downy feathers

Mummified Bird Wings

(Image credit: Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM | R.C. McKellar))

Rose's downy feathers are shown here inserting into the skin.

Wing feathers

Mummified Bird Wings

(Image credit: Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM | R.C. McKellar))

Rose's overlapping flight feathers are shown here. Amber polishing gave the researchers a clearer view of the specimen.[Read the Full Story on the Mummified Bird Feathers]

Two scientists

Mummified Bird Wings

(Image credit: Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM | R.C. McKellar))

Study researchers Lida Xing (right) and Ryan McKellar (left) hold amber samples from Myanmar (also know as Burma) from the study.

Laura Geggel
Laura Geggel
Managing Editor

Laura is the managing editor at Live Science. She also runs the archaeology section and the Life's Little Mysteries series. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Scholastic, Popular Science and Spectrum, a site on autism research. She has won multiple awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association for her reporting at a weekly newspaper near Seattle. Laura holds a bachelor's degree in English literature and psychology from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in science writing from NYU.