Fossil Feathers Preserve Evidence of Color

[Andrew Taylor <>]

"The traces of organic material found in fossil feathers are remnants
of pigments that once gave birds their color, according to Yale
scientists whose paper in Biology Letters opens up the potential to
depict the original coloration of fossilized birds and their ancestors,
the dinosaurs.

Closer study of a number of fossilized bird feathers by Yale PhD student
Jakob Vinther revealed that organic imprints in the fossils previously
thought to be carbon traces from bacteria are fossilized melanosomes,
the organelles that contain melanin pigment."

More and pictures at:
http://opa.yale.edu/news/article.aspx?id=5898

Andrew