Fossils, now available in color
A closer look at fossilized feathers suggests pigment may have been preserved
Researchers have found what appear to be remnants of pigment in fossilized feathers, opening the possibility of reconstructing the colors of many long-extinct animals.
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Dark stripes in a 100-million-year-old fossilized feather — coming from an early bird or a dinosaur — contain particles that closely resemble, in size and arrangement, black melanin particles in modern bird feathers, paleobiologist Jakob Vinther of YaleUniversity and colleagues report in an upcoming Biology Letters. The team also found the particles in a bird fossil dating back to 50 million years ago.