Scientists complete color palette of a dinosaur for the first time

[shichahn]

Anchiornis huxleyi, a troodontid (big brained little theropod, cousins of the dromaeosaurs like Velociraptor), is our first full-color dinosaur! For those who haven't been keeping up, recent studies of dinosaur feathers on a microscopic level have revealed that melanosomes, the part of a cell that produces melanin, which gives things color, have different structures depending on which color they produce. Based on that discovery, we can now identify what colors dinosaur feathers had if the melanosomes were preserved in the fossil. So exciting!



Okay guys, I'm seriously thrilled by this. I know some of you probably realize how much I love dinosaurs. I used to draw them a lot - even before we knew they had feathers, but especially since then. And now we get to learn how pretty they really were! omg I love biology.

Comments

[zolac-no-miko.livejournal.com]

EEEEEEEEEE~!! Ohmigod, that is so cool!! *hugs it* So cute! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <'}}}}>< <3

It's kind of rocking an African grey parrot look, crossed with a cockatoo. I love it's pantaloons! And lol, its doofy teeth! :E

BIOLOGY KICKS ASS.

[shichahn.livejournal.com]

It's very cockatoo. I was thinking it looked like a black cockatoo myself, with Andean condor wings. XD Also, I'd venture that knowing the thing looked like this, feathers probably evolved for display purposes before they were for flight. Insulation still probably comes first though.