Scientists get closer to establishing colours of fossil bird feathers

Birdwatch News Archive

Posted on: 23 Sep 2016

An international team of scientists led by the University of Manchester is uncovering the true colours of extinct birds and dinosaurs.

The team is using state-of-the-art x-ray methods to analyse the chemistry of bird feathers in order to get a clearer idea of what they looked like in life. The pioneering research at The University’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Ancient Life has studied the feathers of modern birds in order to find long-lived chemical markers for different pigments present in living birds' feathers, so that traces may be reconstructed in good quality fossil specimens.

Melanin is the dominant pigment in mammals and birds that gives them either a black or dark brown colour such as in Raven, or a reddish or yellow hue, as in Fox. This black pigment is more specifically called eumelanin, while the reddish type is pheomelanin.

In collaboration with the UK’s Diamond Light Source x-ray laboratories and Stanford University in the USA, the scientists analysed feathers shed by birds housed in animal sanctuaries. Their research has been able to show that the trace metal zinc is a reliable and sensitive indicator for the presence of pheomelanin within the distinct feathers of birds of prey, when it is bonded to sulphur compounds in a specific way.

This discovery means that scientists are getting closer to portraying true colours based upon chemical evidence, building on work by palaeontologists at China's Institute for Vertebrate Paleontology, who first published evidence that they had identified melanosomes (melanin-bearing cells) in fossil bird feathers in 2010.

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Maybe birds can have it all: Dazzling colors and pretty songs

Date:

June 18, 2014

Source:

Cornell University

Summary:

A study of one of the world’s largest and most colorful bird families has dispelled a long-held notion, first proposed by Charles Darwin, that animals are limited in their options to evolve showiness. "Animals have limited resources, and they have to spend those in order to develop showy plumage or precision singing that help them attract mates and defend territories," said the paper's lead author. "So it seems to make sense that you can't have both. But our study took a more detailed look and suggests that actually, some species can."

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Paint that never fades? Bird feathers hold the answer

By MIKAEL ANGELO FRANCISCOMarch 21, 2014 11:27am

Pick up any old photograph at home. It could be that photo your father always pulls out of his wallet whenever he tries to convince you that you look so much like your mother, or a snapshot taken at the beach or the zoo, back when you were still a toddler. Take a good look at the photo. Chances are, the colors are already faded—or at least beginning to.

Fading happens because paints absorb light energy.

“Most color you get in paints, coatings or cosmetics, even, comes from the selective absorption and reflection of light,” explained Vinothan N. Manoharan, a Gordon McKay Professor of Chemical Engineering and Professor of Physics at Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Science. “What that means is that the material is absorbing some energy, and that means that over time, the material will fade.”

Interestingly, though, bird feathers don’t seem to have that problem: they can maintain their bright hues for centuries with virtually no difference in color quality. Unlike photographs, posters, or paintings, bird feathers don’t rely on energy-absorbing pigments that degrade over time; rather, they contain nanostructures with tiny pores arranged in such a way as to amplify specific wavelengths of light. The resulting hues are known as structural color.

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