An SCP-4041 event in progress.
Item #: SCP-4041
Object Class: Keter
Special Containment Procedures: The DYNASTY Protocol is currently in effect, and is to be maintained indefinitely. Birds injured by SCP-4041-1 are to be explained under the cover story of predatory birds consuming toxic materials. Civilians witnessing or interacting with SCP-4041-1 are to be amnesticized.
The DYNASTY Protocol is as follows:
- Complete infiltration of the paleontology field by Foundation personnel.
- Surrounding planned and current paleontological dig sites, both anomalous and nonanomalous, with anti-avian measures prior to excavation.
- Widespread declaration that the theory suggesting that birds evolved from dinosaurs is obsolete.
- Use of memetic agents embedded in educational media to reinforce that birds and dinosaurs are unrelated, and that no dinosaurs ever possessed feathers.
Description: SCP-4041 is a phenomenon involving anomalous coordinated behavior among various species of birds.
SCP-4041 events begin as ordinary flocks. The flock will stay close to the ground, often generating large clouds of dust or dirt. High-speed cameras trained on SCP-4041 events have detected small groups of birds within the flock attaching their wingtips together to form rings before dispersing again in a very short burst of light. Observation of SCP-4041 events has not shown any inherent pattern in these lights.
Excavation of the ground beneath SCP-4041 events will often (~70%) uncover various dinosaur fossils. Rarely, this will occur even in locations previously shown to have been completely excavated for fossils. Fossils discovered after SCP-4041 events are always of theropod dinosaurs, often coelurosaurians. The variety and quantity of the fossils increase with the number of birds in the SCP-4041 flock.
Fossils located via SCP-4041 appear nonanomalous. They exhibit a high degree of preservation and detail, with feather imprints and skulls often intact; all fossils match generally accepted taxonomic timelines. Eleven new species and seventeen new subspecies have been tentatively accepted by Foundation paleontologists.
SCP-4041-1 instances are translucent Class III Incorporeal Entities, and resemble theropod dinosaurs in various states of decomposition. All instances with visible skin lack feathers.
Timeline of SCP-4041 Incidents
Date
Notes
1861
Friedrich Witte and Karl Häberlein discover the first Archaeopteryx skeleton unearthed in Germany. Later suspected to be an occurence of SCP-4041 due to the mentions made in Häberlein's journal of the "great and peculiar flocks of birds" seen that day.
1859-1863
British biologist Thomas Huxley learns of the recently discovered Archaeopteryx and becomes an ardent proponent of the possibility of an evolutionary relationship between dinosaurs and birds.
04/16/1944
Collateral damage during bombing of Munich in World War II destroys rare Spinosaurus fossils suspected to be compromised by SCP-4041. Surviving photographs and journals edited.
02/17/1971
Birds involved in most recent SCP-4041 event sustain severe, often fatal injuries during event; usually bite marks, dismemberment, blunt trauma, or complete crushing.
08/26/1996
SCP-4041 event leads to civilian discovery and publishing of Sinosauropteryx, the first publicly documented feathered dinosaur. First instance of birds sustaining injuries outside of the duration of the event.
01/19/2002
Dr. Pascal Godefroit, a Belgian paleontologist, sustains similar bite injuries after publishing an article describing dinosaur-bird phylogeny. He is hospitalized and claims to have seen incorporeal, dinosaur-like entities. After Godefroit's recovery, he is amnesticized and the cover story of a car accident is disseminated.
09/15/2004
SCP-4041 event ends prematurely due to death of all birds present during event. Cameras detect a translucent silhouette resembling a Tyrannosaurus rex, designated SCP-4041-1.
02/13/2006
SCP-4041-1 instances destroy several museum displays and theropod fossils.
07/01/2009
SCP-4041-1 instances manifest within a Foundation paleontology conference, injuring 22 before MTF Phi-2 ("Clever Girls") and MTF Mu-13 ("Ghostbusters") arrive on the scene. (See Incident Log 4041-119 for details.)
ACCESS GRANTED
16:14 Four MTF Phi-2 agents arrive on the scene, and enter from the back of the conference room. Three instances of SCP-4041-1 are present; two indistinct raptors and one Deinocheirus. The raptors have bitten five researchers already, while the Deinocheirus stands over one attendee.
16:15 Phi-2 agents fire at the raptors, to no effect.
16:17 Phi-2 leader charges the raptors, flanked by her teammates, and vocally imitates tyrannosaur roars to challenge them. The raptors retreat. Site-wide evacuation commences.
16:20 The raptors call to the Deinocheirus. It crouches over the prone attendee (identified as Dr. Karina Barrera), then joins the raptors.
16:22 The Deinocheirus charges, knocks over one agent, and swats another with its tail. Several attendees are trampled.
16:27 One raptor solidifies to bite on an attendee's leg; an agent shoots it in the head. The raptor screeches and disintegrates in a cloud of purple smoke.
16:31: The Deinocheirus attempts to flee, picking up Dr. Barrera and carrying her on its back.
16:33 Mu-13 agents arrive and neutralize the remaining raptor instance using spectral weaponry. Phi-2 leader recommends capture of the Deinocheirus.
16:36 Following setup by Mu-13 agents, Phi-2 agents use dinosaur calls to herd the Deinocheirus into the CHALICE-class spectral containment ring, which activates and successfully contains the instance.
Following treatment of all injuries and subsequent moving of the SCP-4041-1 Deinocheirus to a permanent containment cell, Dr. Barrera was interviewed.
ACCESS GRANTED
Interviewer: Phi-2 Agent Angelica Iglesias
Interviewee: Dr. Karina Barrera[BEGIN LOG]
Iglesias: State your name, for the record.
Barrera: Doctor Karina Maria Barrera Campaña.
(Iglesias places a large file folder on the table.)
Barrera: How's your arm?
Iglesias: Just a scratch. Look, Karina, let's just get through this. Right now I want to know exactly what went down at the conference.
Barrera: Ghost dinosaurs. Not the weirdest thing in our world.
Iglesias: Come on. I've read the 4041 documentation, I know there's ghost dinosaurs. What I want to know is how you got through without a scratch while 16 other people have Jurassic Park scars.
Barrera: Jig's up, I guess.
Iglesias: What the hell did you do?
Barrera: Right, so remember that paper I published in '07? The one about ornithomimoids and striations on their arms and wing anchoring bones.
Iglesias: Yeah, of course. Read all your stuff.
Barrera: Yeah… okay so, that wasn't all me.
Iglesias: I know you're not a plagiarist, Karina. Get to the point.
Barrera: Okay okay. Three weeks before the submission deadline I had a dream. I dreamed of a Deinocheirus and a Gallimimus and a couple others. They showed up in my room, but they weren't ghostly at all. They were fully fleshed out, most vibrant colored scales I'd ever seen. Not a single feather on 'em.
Iglesias: Right. And this… fever dream inspired you to crank out that paper?
Barrera: Sí. They stood different, looked different — nothing about them fit the standard model. I went back into our database and cross-referenced the records, but ignored all fossils associated with SCP-4041. What I ended up with didn't look like the standard model at all. They looked like the things in my dream.
Iglesias: Wait, so what are you saying —
Barrera: Doesn't it strike you as just a little suspicious how perfect the 4041 fossils are? They're too well-preserved. You got feather imprints on a Troodon in the same formation as a single fragmented Triceratops foot. It's like a murder scene with the fingerprinted gun left behind with a confession note.
Iglesias: I mean, there's plenty of other ways to explain it.
Barrera: Yeah, that's what I thought, too. So I decided to test it: I got to work publishing articles critical of the standard model. And you know what happened? Every time I exposed a flaw, someone found an answer. Sternum not the right shape to support a transition? Next 4041 fossil, there it is.
Iglesias: But… why? Why would anyone do something like this? Who would want to create an entirely false fossil record?
Barrera: (sighs) You're gonna think I'm crazy.
Iglesias: At this point, I don't think anything is too crazy.
Barrera: (whispers) I think it's the birds.
[END LOG]
Dr. Barrera died two days later in a car accident, when she collided head-on with a semi-trailer truck. Investigation of the scene found a Velociraptor skull in the car's trunk.