Dino-pecker?
Illustration by National Geographic
For the first time, scientists have decoded the full-body color patterns of a dinosaur—the 155-million-year-old Anchiornis huxleyi (pictured)—a new study in the journal Science says. (Read in-depth coverage.)
That may sound familiar, given last week's announcement of the first scientifically verified dinosaur color scheme.
But the previous research, published in Nature, had found pigments only on a few isolated parts of dinosaurs (see pictures)—and had used less rigorous methods for assigning colors to the fossilized, filament-like "protofeathers" found on some dinosaur specimens, say authors of the new report.
—Chris Sloan, National Geographic magazine senior editor
