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[Mistel]

Sinosauropteryx shows a variation of differing feather colors.

Colorful feathers and pelts exploded on the scene soon after early birds and mammals evolved feathers and fur more than 150 million years ago, suggest researchers in a study of both fossils and living creatures.

Scientists have known since the 1990s that some dinosaurs bore feathers, and more recent research has provided clues to the feathers' true colors. The new study broadens the palette of colors of this ancient world, and perhaps points to surprising metabolic changes occurring in early birds and mammals. (Read "Evolution of Feathers" in National Geographic magazine.)

In the Nature journal study led by Quanguo Li of the China University of Geosciences in Beijing, an international team sampled ancient and modern "melanosomes," pigment-containing structures found inside skin, feather, and hair cells that impart different colors, depending on their shape. The team found a sudden rise in the diversity of melanosomes around 150 million years ago, around the same time that the dinosaur lineage leading to birds developed birdlike feathers with barbs branching off from a central shaft. The melanosomes in the study contained the brown, black, and gray pigments that make feathers iridescent.

In the study, the researchers looked on a microscopic level for melanosomes from 181 living creatures and 13 fossilized lizards, turtles, dinosaurs, and pterosaurs, the iconic flying reptiles of the dinosaur era. The skin, fur, and feather samples of modern-day creatures came from museums, and the fossil samples were studied with scanning electron microscopes at Li's university.

The early mammals and first feathered dinosaurs, ones belonging to a group called maniraptors that gave rise to birds, seem to have possessed the same skinny-shaped melanosomes seen in their modern-day descendents. Reptiles and other dinosaurs didn't.

That points to a rapid proliferation of different dark hues among both early feathered dinosaurs and early mammals. The maniraptor feathered dinosaurs were the first ones with long "pinnate" feathers, and the early mammals were the first ones with hair.

More at the link, including a part about the possible relationship between the metabolic rate and the colors produced.

 

[Ekdrm2d1]

 

[Red Mage]

Cool. Maybe I'll start liking the idea of feathered dinosaurs better if they stop putting them in those neon yellows, greens, etc.

 

[Sapiens]

However god laid out the feathers in his dino designs a few thousand years ago, I'm sure it looked awesome.

 

[SJRB]

Feathers on dinosaurs, is this a joke?

 

[jiggle]

Something to grab onto when our ancestors rode then

 

[Slayven]

Cool. Maybe I'll start liking the idea of feathered dinosaurs better if they stop putting them in those neon yellows, greens, etc.

They might have been.

 

[soul creator]

The feathers on dinosaurs thing always amuses me, because it really does kinda completely blow my mind whenever I see a regular ass bird, and start connecting the dots to dinosaurs.

I grew up on Dino Riders and Jurassic Park like everyone, but now I see birds and I'm like "of course dinosaurs were related and probably had feathers. Look at it!"

 

[Mistel]

They might have been.

Further in the article has this:

"These are the pigments that would make feathers look iridescent, or glossy," Clarke says. The pigments wouldn't have made mammal fur glossy, she says, but would have affected darker shadings of their hair.

Knowing exactly what ancient creatures looked like will remain difficult, Clarke adds, because pigments for brighter colors, such as yellow, don't seem to be preserved in the same way as the dark ones investigated in the study.

So it's not currently know if lighter color's can be preserved in the same way as the darker ones. So brighter colors aren't really known at this point.

 

[Mumei]

The feathers on dinosaurs thing always amuses me, because it really does kinda completely blow my mind whenever I see a regular ass bird, and start connecting the dots to dinosaurs.

I grew up on Dino Riders and Jurassic Park like everyone, but now I see birds and I'm like "of course dinosaurs were related and probably had feathers. Look at it!"

 

[Slayven]

Further in the article has this:


So it's not currently know if lighter color's can be preserved in the same way as the darker ones. So brighter colors aren't really known at this point.

Like I said they might have been because they don't know.

 

[Red Mage]

They might have been.

I don't care. A bright blue and green T-rex looks awful and kills my childhood. = (

 

[And_Gignac]

I would love to see them dinofeathers with my own eyes but Stephen Hawking says we can't go back in time

 

[Wilsongt]

Were they there?

 

[Cow Mengde]

Microraptor was suppose to have black feathers too.

 

[Xane]

Microraptor was suppose to have black feathers too.

And so did Archaeopteryx.

One of the more interesting color studies is the one in 2010 by Quanguo Li and colleagues (including Jakob Vinther) of the pigeon-sized troodontid dinosaur Anchiornis huxleyi (Li et al. 2010 - Plumage Color Patterns of an Extinct Dinosaur ).

Spoiler

If you're interested in the full paper, feel free to PM me.

 

[The Silver]

And so did Archaeopteryx.

One of the more interesting color studies is the one in 2010 by Quanguo Li and colleagues (including Jakob Vinther) of the pigeon-sized troodontid dinosaur Anchiornis huxleyi (Li et al. 2010 - Plumage Color Patterns of an Extinct Dinosaur ).

Spoiler

If you're interested in the full paper, feel free to PM me.

would love to fry that up

 

[God Dayumm]

parrot-colored t-rex would be the most awesome thing ever

 

[Axiology]

And so did Archaeopteryx.

One of the more interesting color studies is the one in 2010 by Quanguo Li and colleagues (including Jakob Vinther) of the pigeon-sized troodontid dinosaur Anchiornis huxleyi (Li et al. 2010 - Plumage Color Patterns of an Extinct Dinosaur ).

Spoiler

If you're interested in the full paper, feel free to PM me.

Kind of makes you wonder how weird it would be if there were any dinosaurs without feathers. Like you have this thing covered in em next to a completely naked T-Rex, doesn't make sense.

 

[TCRS]

reminds me of this amazing footage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ5oaNdJKx8

 

[davepoobond]

so dinosaurs were large, scrumptious birds?

i think we need to get some genetic testing done and bring the stegosaurus back to life. we can finally eat something new.

 

[Xane]

so dinosaurs were large, scrumptious birds?

i think we need to get some genetic testing done and bring the stegosaurus back to life. we can finally eat something new.

I think you're mixing something up. The bird-lineage in dinosaurs is within the clade Theropoda, which do not include dinosaurs like Stegosaurus sp. which are nested within the order of Ornithischia.

Birds are extant avian theropod dinosaurs, but Dinosaurs aren't birds. That's why the term "non-avian dinosaur" exists to help distinguish between extinct and extant theropod dinosaurs.

To help visualize this, here's a diagram made by a friend of mine showcasing the major groups within the Dinosauria:

 

[Asbel]

I think you're mixing something up. The bird-lineage in dinosaurs is within the clade Theropoda, which do not include dinosaurs like Stegosaurus sp. which are nested within the order of Ornithischia.

Birds are extant avian theropod dinosaurs, but Dinosaurs aren't birds. That's why the term "non-avian dinosaur" exists to help distinguish between extinct and extant theropod dinosaurs.

To help visualize this, here's a diagram made by a friend of mine showcasing the major groups within the Dinosauria:

This is awesome. Thanks.