Prehistoric animals, in living color

Abstract

Paleontologists are looking beyond bones to reveal the hues of prehistoric animals that vanished millions of years ago. But the young field has its share of disagreements. Michael Benton used to tell his paleontology students that they would never know the true color of a dinosaur. After all, even fossils that sport light or dark patches may not indicate the creature’s original hue. But in recent years, the vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom has had to revise those lectures. Researchers reconstructed the plumage color of a Jurassic birdlike dinosaur called A. huxleyi using color-imparting melanosomes, the morphology of which had been preserved in fossil feathers. Image courtesy of Michael DiGiorgio (artist). In 2010, Benton and colleagues found evidence that the feathered dinosaur Sinosauropteryx prima had reddish-brown stripes on its tail (1). The same year, another group claimed that birdlike Anchiornis huxleyi bore a red crest on its head (2). Since then, others have discovered that a marine ichthyosaur was dark-colored, and that the early bird Confuciusornis sanctus possessed dark feathers with light wing tips (3, 4) (Table 1). Suddenly, the color of prehistoric animals has become an active topic for research rather than speculation, turning Benton into an optimist: “If you’re a scientist, never say anything is impossible,” he now tells students. Most of these colorful revelations have emerged from fossils that contain evidence of melanin pigments—responsible for earth tones, such as red, black, brown, and buff—or the tiny cellular bags, called melanosomes, which produce and store melanins. But some scientists are already identifying the brighter hues of ancient snakes and insects. “Probably all of the colors can eventually be identified,” predicts Benton. The work is not only helping to repaint the colorful pictures of dinosaurs that charm schoolchildren and museum-goers. Color can …