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November 1 (UPI) – A new study suggests that the color spectrum observed on modern bird eggs has probably evolved from dinosaurs.
According to a new study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, dinosaurs other than birds have laid eggs in open or partially open nests. Modern bird eggs, even those that are spotted or speckled, rely primarily on two color pigments: red and blue.
Research suggests that with the open nesting practices of dinosaurs, white eggs were more likely to be predator victims. Eggs that are so colorful could blend better in the nest, giving them a better chance of survival.
"This completely changes our understanding of how egg colors have evolved," said Jasmina Wiemann, Yale paleontologist and lead author of the study. "For two centuries, ornithologists have assumed that the color of the egg appeared in the eggs of modern birds repeatedly, independently."
Using a non-destructive laser microspectroscopy, Wiemann and a team of researchers inspected 18 fossilized dinosaur egg shells to detect the presence of two shell pigments in order to determine the presence of the skin. state of the story of colored eggs.
"Colorful eggs are considered a unique feature of birds for over a century.As feathers and triangles, we now know that egg color has evolved in their dinosaur predecessors long before the appearance birds, "said Mark Norell, curator of palaeontology at Macaulay at the American Museum. natural history and co-author of the study.
Although the team did not find pigment in two modern bird ancestors, the triceratops and the long-necked diplodocus, she found them in Eumaniraptoran dinosaur eggs shells , reported NPR News. They were members of the small meat-eating group that included the velociraptor, made famous in the Jurassic Park movies.
"We infer that the color of the egg has co-evolved with open nesting habits among dinosaurs," said Wiemann. "Once the dinosaurs began to build open nests, the exposure of their eggs to visual hunter predators and even to nesting pests favored the changing colors of the camouflaging egg and creating individually recognizable stain patterns and stains. "
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