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Feb. 05, 2010
Finding Dino Color In Fossil Feathers

Forget those drab grays and greens, dinosaurs might have been more colorful, according to a new study in Science. Yale graduate student Jakob Vinther and colleagues looked at the fossilized feathers of 150-million-year-old Anchiornis huxleyi and found melanosomes--the organelles that hold melanin. Vinther's analysis suggests the dinosaur had surprisingly flashy plumage. En Español.
Photos: Jakob Vinther/courtesy of National Geographic; Michael DiGiorgio/courtesy of Yale; Natasha Vitek; aussiegall, mccun934, waka jawaka/flickr


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