Discovery forces us to rethink totally how we determine the color of dinosaurs

A breakthrough study suggests that a popular method for deciding the color of ancient dinosaurs might be completely different.

In trying to imagine what dinosaurs looked like millions of years ago, paleontologists had a limited set of "

Fortunately, from these samples, researchers were able to collecting fossil melanin granules (melanosomes) from the skin, which allowed us to reconstruct a better idea. However, an international research team led by Dr. Maria McNamara of University College Cork (UCC) and Valentina Rossi, PhD student, now suggests that much of this work is fundamentally flawed, which is why requires a complete reorganization. think of how we are going to try to determine the color of the dinosaurs.

In an article published in Nature Communications the team shows evidence that other ti disorders such as liver, lungs and spleen may also contain melanosomes.

This means that if melanosomes are present in the remains of a dinosaur, they do not definitely prove the skin color of the dinosaur

"It is absolutely essential that we understand the origin of the dinosaurs melanosomes in fossils if we want to produce accurate reconstructions of the colors of ancient animals, "said McNamara.

To reach this conclusion, the team of researchers studied modern frog tissues using powerful telescopes and chemical techniques to show that internal melanosomes are very abundant, potentially constituting the majority of those found on the Dinosaur dig sites.

The team also used disintegration experiments. can actually flow into other parts of the body during fossilization, "like snowflakes inside a globe," according to Dr. Patrick Orr of University College D

But rather than abandoning all previous research, the study helps find a way to tell the difference between melanosomes of internal organs and skin, as McNamara

explained. and the shape of skin melanosomes is usually distinct from that of internal organs, "she said. "This will enable us to produce more accurate reconstructions of the original colors of ancient vertebrates."