New X-ray technique reveals traces of color in feathered dinosaurs

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory reported today that they have developed new techniques which show chemical traces of pigments in the feathers of 100-million-year-old birds who lived at the same time as dinosaurs.

The pigment, called eumelanin, is what gives color to hair and eyes in most animals, including humans.

The new technique shows features not apparent in the recent discoveries of melanosomes-- pigment producing structures which implied certain coloration patterns. These new findings are based on X-ray evidence of the pigments themselves, not just the pigment-producing structures.

This is exciting news for dinosaur watchers. So much of our identification of modern birds is based on the way they are colored. It’s as if a few pages of our Field Guide to the Dinosaurs suddenly morphed from x-rays to full-color plates.

X-Rays Reveal Patterns in the Plumage of the First Birds (SLAC press release)
X-Rays Illuminate Fossil Pigment (Nature News)