Page 174 - The Dinosaur Book and Other Wonders of the Prehistoric World (DK-Smithsonian)
P. 174
Trapped in amber
Praying mantis
Looking exactly as it
would when alive, this
mantis seems to have caught
an ant before it was trapped.
The big claws of this
scorpion are just like those
of modern scorpions, which
use them to seize prey.
Bird
The
oldest
known animals
trapped in amber died
230 million
years ago.
The claws of a
baby bird are visible
in this piece of amber;
the bird lived 100
million years ago,
during the age of
giant dinosaurs.
Most of our knowledge of prehistoric life But one natural process retains every detail
comes from fossils—the remains or traces of even the smallest animals—preservation
of animals, plants, and other living things in amber. A glasslike, golden-yellow material,
that have turned to stone. Usually, only the amber is the hardened form of sticky resin that
toughest materials such as bones get fossilized oozes from wounds in the bark of trees like
172 this way, and all the softer tissues are lost. pines. Any insect that lands on it may get stuck,
US_172-173_Trapped_in_amber.indd 172 10/04/18 3:35 PM
