Tens of millions of years ago, a tropical forest existed on
what today is the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean. In a
matter of seconds but repeated thousands of times over, a wide
variety of animals and plants became trapped in resin produced
by a single tree of that forest, a canopy species known as the
algarrobo. Over the ensuing eons, some of that resin became
amber, preserving a representative sample of the primeval
forest's denizens. While virtually all of those organisms are
now extinct, close relatives living today provide behavioral
and ecological clues that help tell stories in the amber.
Here, take a look at a striking sample of flora and fauna
discovered in amber from the Dominican Republic, dated to
between 15 and 40 million years ago. To launch the
slide show, click on the image at left.—Peter Tyson
Note: All images and information were drawn from
The Amber Forest: A Reconstruction of a Vanished World,
by George Poinar, Jr. and Roberta Poinar (Princeton University
Press, 1999).
