In fossilized feathers looking for colors

2008/07/10 Lakar Iraizoz, Oihane - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Zoologia
• Paleontologia
• Arkeologia

Several hundred thousand year old bird feathers have been able to distinguish between colourful and colourless areas at Yale University in Conneticut. Looking at the electron microscope they looked at some of the singular structures seen in the feathers, observing that the fossil feathers between their hands have dark and light lines.

The structures analyzed are structures in the form of stacked sausages. Until now it was thought that they were remnants of bacteria that fed on feathers, but the Yale University team has realized that these structures do not appear homogeneously throughout the pen, but in layers or stripes. So they have believed that they are not bacteria, but remnants of melanosomes that gave color to the pen, organelles that keep melanin in the cells.

The feathers of the current birds have also been analyzed to verify what they have reached the conclusion, and they have verified that yes, that in the current feathers also appear structures of the same form in zones of colors.

Image courtesy of: Morguefile