The shimmering forehead of a long-tailed Sylph, along with other brightly plumed birds, may offer clues about how dinosaurs wore feathers and what they saw when looking at each others' plumage.
Georg Oleschinski/University of Bonn
Dinosaurs may have seen the world in brilliant ultraviolet light and turquoises, along with the standard blues, greens and reds we can see.
In a perspective in the Oct. 24 Science, researchers review recent findings about feathered dinosaurs and speculate on what the creatures could see and how their extraordinary vision may have been a main driver in the evolution of birds’ flashy feather frocks.
The team also proposes a detailed way to test the idea with fossil evidence of dinosaur feathers.
