Colorful Dinosaur Discovered in China

BOB DOUGHTY: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I’m Bob Doughty.

BARBARA KLEIN: And I’m Barbara Klein. Today, we will tell about two kinds of dinosaurs. Scientists say one of the creatures was brightly colored. Evidence shows the other was able to fly. We will also tell about a new drug treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. And we will tell about Washington’s famous cherry trees.

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Colorful Dinosaurs

BOB DOUGHTY: Many scientists have long thought that dinosaurs were brown or gray in color. But scientists examining the remains of a dinosaur say they have found evidence it had brightl -colored feathers. The findings were published in Science magazine.

American and Chinese researchers rebuilt the feathers of a flightless dinosaur called Anchiornis huxleyi. The small, two-legged creature lived about one hundred-fifty million year ago. It would have weighed only about one hundred ten grams. 

BARBARA KLEIN: The researchers used an electron microscope and fossilized remains of thirty feathers that once covered the animal. The remains were discovered in Liaoning Province in China.

Researchers studied melanosomes in the feathers. These small, color-producing structures formed as the dinosaur was developing. The researchers compared the structures to the melanosomes that control the color of feathers on modern birds. They were then able to identify the colors of the dinosaur feathers.

The researchers say Anchiornis huxleyi appeared to have a dark gray or black body. They found that the top of the ancient creature was light brown in color. And, it had bright white wings. Each of the feathers had black on the end.

BOB DOUGHTY: Richard Prum is an evolutionary biologist at Yale University in Connecticut. He says the melanosomes were in very good condition. He says the dinosaur would be a beautiful creature if it were still alive. It would be similar to a bird called a Spangled Hamburg Chicken.

The discovery is useful to scientists in another way. It helps them better understand not only how dinosaurs looked but also how they behaved. Professor Prum says the colorful feathers were probably useful in getting the attention of a mate.

BARBARA KLEIN: Researchers believe they were about ninety percent successful in recreating the appearance of the dinosaur. They plan to use this method to identify the colors of other feathered dinosaurs. But the professor says it is difficult to find enough feathers from a single dinosaur to recreate all its colors.

Another team of researchers recently reported on the existence of two colors from different dinosaurs. They used the method developed by Professor Prum and his team.

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BOB DOUGHTY: Other scientists may have learned how a dinosaur with four wings was able to fly. American and Chinese scientists say the Microraptor gui probably was not equipped to fly from the ground. Instead, their work suggests that the cat-sized animal started flying from trees.

Researchers from the University of Kansas in the United States and China’s Northeastern University reported their findings earlier this year. A report about the study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

BARBARA KLEIN: The researchers used the fossils of a dinosaur that lived one hundred twenty-five million years ago. But its bones were in very good condition. The researchers made a hardened reproduction of the bones, without changing their positions. Then they added clay to create a model of the dinosaur. Next, they added real feathers cut to the correct size. The result was a re-creation of an ancient Microraptor.