A new study of fossilized bird feathers from 100 million years ago has determined that the broad stripes visible on the feathers do indicate the color of that ancient bird's plumage. Researchers say the discovery may allow them to reconstruct the colors of other prehistoric birds and even feathered dinosaurs.
The fossil feathers had an obvious striped pattern but its origin had long been debated, according to Professor [Mike] Benton. "The banding looks so life-like that it can't be geological in origin - it has to be biological," he said. "But then how do you square that with the well-known fact that the majority of organic molecules decay in thousands of years?" [BBC News].
For the study, which was published in Biology Letters [subscription required], researchers examined the dark bands with an electron microscope and saw sausage-shaped structures that had previously been interpreted as fossilized remains of bacteria. However, researchers ...
