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Widespread declaration that the theory suggesting that birds evolved from dinosaurs is obsolete.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 coelurosaurians1. 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.)

Incident Log 4041-119

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 Deinocheirus2. 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.

Interview Log 4041-001

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.

Footnotes

1. A subgroup of dinosaurs that includes Archaeopteryx, Struthiomimus, and Tyrannosaurus rex.

2. A large (10m long) ostrich-like dinosaur.