They found preserved melanosomes. It was previously thought these were the remains of bacteria.
You can find details here, but I highly recommend reading Dinosaurs: New Visions of a Lost World by Michael J. Benton, who was one of the ones doing the research. The book is very fun to read (he’s got that typical dry british humour), does a great job of describing the history and current status of paleontology (which is apparently exploding in new discoveries right now) and it has absolutely lovely illustrations, including the one I linked above. And also this anurognathus that is the cutest thing ever:
I just ordered it. I had a girlfriend a few years ago and she was cleaning out some stuff. She found her old dinosaur stuff and asked me if i wanted it for my nephew. I asked her how outdated the things were. She looked at me pretty shocked and said: they are millions of years old, nothing has changed. I found that pretty funny
We even have ways to figure out their colouring in some cases now! Like this sinosauropteryx:
That’s cool. How did they figure out the colouring?
They found preserved melanosomes. It was previously thought these were the remains of bacteria.
You can find details here, but I highly recommend reading Dinosaurs: New Visions of a Lost World by Michael J. Benton, who was one of the ones doing the research. The book is very fun to read (he’s got that typical dry british humour), does a great job of describing the history and current status of paleontology (which is apparently exploding in new discoveries right now) and it has absolutely lovely illustrations, including the one I linked above. And also this anurognathus that is the cutest thing ever:
That’s cool. We’re going to look back at present views of dinosaurs with laughter it sounds like. Thanks for the answer. I’ll check out the book.
I just ordered it. I had a girlfriend a few years ago and she was cleaning out some stuff. She found her old dinosaur stuff and asked me if i wanted it for my nephew. I asked her how outdated the things were. She looked at me pretty shocked and said: they are millions of years old, nothing has changed. I found that pretty funny
omg look at it, it’s like a ferret with giant legs
That guy sounds snotty.