'Striking' feathered dinosaur resembled 'exotic chicken', scientists reveal following fossil discovery

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:57 PM on 05th February 2010

Brightly-coloured feathers adorned a 'striking' dinosaur that resembled an exotic chicken, scientists have determined.

Anchiornis huxleyi, extinct for 150 million years, had a grey body with bold black and white feathers, a reddish-brown head crest and freckles.

It is the first time scientists have uncovered the colours of a complete dinosaur.

'Exotic chicken': An artist's impression of how the 'four-winged' dinosaur Anchiornis huxleyi would have looked

'Exotic chicken': An artist's impression of how the 'four-winged' dinosaur Anchiornis huxleyi would have looked

Earlier this month another team of researchers revealed that a feathered dinosaur called Sinosauropteryx had an orange and white striped tail.

Prior to the new discoveries experts had only been able to guess dinosaur colouring.

A team of US and Chinese scientists examined 29 feather samples from the fossil and identified microscopic colour pigment cell bodies called melanosomes.

Different colours can be determined from their shape. In modern birds and mammals, long and narrow melanosomes produce  black and grey shades while short and wide versions are responsible for rusty red and brown tones.

Enlarge   Discovery: Scientists unearthed this fossil of the dinosaur Sinosauropteryx in China's Liaoning Province earlier this month

Discovery: Scientists unearthed this fossil of the dinosaur Sinosauropteryx in China's Liaoning Province earlier this month

The latest fossil, like the previous one, was unearthed in Liaoning Province, north-east China, which has proven to be a gold mine for dinosaur hunters.

Anchiornis is known as the 'four winged' dinosaur because of the bird-like feathers it sported on its legs and arms.

Colourful: Earlier this month another team of researchers revealed that a feathered dinosaur called Sinosauropteryx had an orange and white striped tail.

Colourful: Earlier this month researchers revealed that feathered dinosaur Sinosauropteryx had an orange and white striped tail

Anchiornis had colour patterns similar to those of the modern Spangled Hamburg chicken, said the researchers writing in the journal Science.

Professor Richard Prum, from Yale University in Connecticut, said: 'This was no crow or sparrow, but a creature with a very notable plumage. This would be a very striking animal if it was alive today.'

The small dinosaur, which stood on two legs and measured less than 20 inches, was first described last year.

Its unusual appearance fuelled the debate about whether dinosaurs evolved into birds. Anchiornis pre-dated the first known flying bird, Archaeopteryx, by around 10 million years.

Professor Prum believes the creature's colours may have been used for communication or to attract mates.

The research lends support to the theory that dinosaurs first evolved feathers for purposes other than flight.

Co-author Julia Clarke, from the University of Texas, said: 'This means a colour-patterning function - for example, camouflage or display - must have had a key role in the early evolution of feathers in dinosaurs, and was just as important as evolving flight or improved aerodynamic function.'

National Geographic Society

Anchiornis huxleyi, in flying colors, which may have been used to attract mates


 

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not debate this issue live on our message boards.

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Eg I gave a relevant quote of Einstein and even the words of Einstein himself get the red arrow treatment here.

- Billy H, Manchester, 8/2/2010 9:49

You misrepresented Einstein. Yet again. Cherry-picking a quote that appears to support belief in God. Not creationism, just God. I have pointed out to you many times that Einstein was inconsistent - that he privately usually referred to himself as atheist or agnostic. He can be used to support arguments either way. Why keep quoting him. Don't you understand that quoting him proves nothing? Is a quote from Einstein your idea of evidence? What does that have to do with science in general and evolution in particular?

'I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it. (Albert Einstein, 1954)'. No personal God then - Einstein said so.

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The moral is, that closed minds hold back scientific progress, and they always have.

- Billy H, Manchester, 08/2/2010 09:16

And you think that arguing for creationism is a massive step forward for scientifc progress? Has nothing been learnt in the last 2,000 years?

'Eg I gave a relevant quote of Einstein and even the words of Einstein himself get the red arrow treatment here.
.....as well as your style, is amazingly similar to Bob,Derby's. Practically identical in fact.

- Billy H, Manchester, 08/2/2010 09:49

So here we are, showing once again how your mind works. Someone else posts in a style that looks similar to mine, using similar language (since we are discussing the same topic, in English........!), so it must be me. Grow up. For goodness sake, just grow up.

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Uncle Terry - you seem to think that Steve Yarm cares about his red arrows. I doubt it, as we all know that on this blog the red/green are nothing to do with how good your arguments are. Eg I gave a relevant quote of Einstein and even the words of Einstein himself get the red arrow treatment here.
No, red arrows are just a head count of Darwinists, and so all the best comments have red ticks, including Einstein's words.

Wellwisher says "Extinctions vacate evolutionary niches, and therefore seem to provide an opprtunity for new species to evolve." and then suggests that I don't understand how evolution is supposed to work! Your understanding of evolution, as well as your style, is amazingly similar to Bob,Derby's. Practically identical in fact.

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Tom Chichester -says "The scientific method questions everything and falsifies all that can be falsified, leading towards a truth, supported by evidence, and corrobarated via independent enquiry."

Certainly doctors adhere to these fine principles more than some other groups. AGW scientists do not apply them at all, and neither do Darwinism zealots. In these cases the believers seek to defend their weak theories from proper scrutiny.

And even doctors lapse. The dentist who demonstrated laughing gas as an anaesthetic to the medical establishment of the time, consisting of a panel of doctors, was sent packing, his claims that he used the gas successfully in his work were ignored, and as a result thousands had to suffer agony for decades until eventually laughing gas became the established anaesthetic.

The moral is, that closed minds hold back scientific progress, and they always have.

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Stuart ... what are you rattling on about lad? Are you suggesting that by jumping all over the gospels you make Darwinism more credible?? Good luck with that.
- steve, yarm, 7/2/2010 18:29

Steve...are you suggesting that by saying the evidence for evolution is poor and inconclusive, any theory with no evidence at all - like mud model theory - is somehow credible at all?

Why won't you answer the request for evidence? I think it's because you would feel squirmingly embarrassed trying to do so.

The childish squawking you subject these boards to is probably some kind of juvenile defense mechanism. Cute.

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Belief is not proof, it is the result of being fooled, a 419 victim believes that they have won the Nigerian lottery, same religion v scientific proof. Intelligence knows, foolishness believes.

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