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The "powerful mouse", affectionately named by its researchers for its similarity to the current mouse, traveled the meadows of the present village of Willerhausen in Germany, three million years ago.
As published Tuesday in Nature Communications, this incredibly well-preserved mouse fossil has a reddish brown fur on its main body and a snow-white belly.
RELATED: A BEAUTIFUL DISCOVERY OF FOSSIL CAPTURE THAT DINOSAURS OF THE MOMENT WERE DELETED
Researchers know this through a study conducted by British scientists from the University of Manchester, who used an X-ray technique called spectroscopy as well as various imaging techniques.
This is the first time that researchers have been able to discern the chemical signature of red fur or feathers in an ancient fossil. Chemical components for black pigments such as black or brown, known as eumelanin, had already been discovered.
However, this most recent article has brought a breakthrough in the ability to reconcile the colors of reddish or yellow fossilized pigments in the form of pheomelanin.
A colorful past
Until now, techniques for representing the pigment of fossilized animals, integrated during the reconstruction of extinct species, were not able to identify a different pigmentation such as than the red color.
Phil Manning, professor at the University of Manchester and co-head of research, saysLife on Earth has littered the fossil record with a wealth of information that has only recently been accessible to science ".
Manning continues, "A series of new imaging techniques can now be deployed, allowing us to take a closer look at the chemical history of a fossil organism and the processes that preserve its tissues. simply minerals, we gently decapitate the biochemical ghosts of species long gone. "
The study is a collaboration between researchers from the University of Manchester and scientists from the SLAC's National Accelerator Laboratory of the US Department of Energy. The team used X-ray streaks from the Stanford synchrotron radiation (SSRL) radiation source and the diamond light source (DLS) in the UK to assist them in their research.
"What we have discovered is that the mouse is preserved in absolutely amazing detail, and almost all the skeleton and most of the soft tissues of the body, head, feet, and feet can be easily recognized. the tail, "said Uwe Bergmann, co-author of the research. and scientist at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
"The radiological maps show that not only are the structures preserved, but that the original biochemical information is solved – it was a wonderful surprise."
The red pigment is incredibly hard to keep. But it's not just about knowing that this mouse had a reddish fur, but "This has implications for the hope of identifying pigments in many other fossils," as Bermann says.
Move back to advance
It is not just a matter of looking back, this revelation could also have a profound impact on the future of fossil research and preservation.
In a combined effort between physics, paleontology, geochemistry and organic chemistry, scientists will now have a clearer idea of what to look for.
As Roy Wogelius, research co-author and geochemist at the University of Manchester, says, "we now understand what to look for in the future and hope that these results will help us build confidence in the reconstruction of missing animals. and, hence, to add: another dimension to the study of evolution ".
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