Mystery of flying dinosaur cousins’ huge headcrest solved by scientists

The flying cousins of dinosaurs were able to change the colours of their feathers, researchers have found. The feathers in our specimen close off that debate for good as they are very clearly branched all the way along their length, just like birds today.” When the team studied the feathers with high-powered electron microscopes they found preserved melanosomes – granules of the pigment melanin. open image in gallery Maria McNamara says colouration was a critical feature of even the very earliest feathers “In birds today, feather colour is strongly linked to melanosome shape.” said Maria McNamara, also of UCC. “Since the pterosaur feather types had different melanosome shapes, these animals must have had the genetic machinery to control the colours of their feathers. “This feature is essential for colour patterning and shows that colouration was a critical feature of even the very earliest feathers.” It was only in 2018 that scientists were able to prove that pterosaurs had primitive feathers to help keep them warm, just like many dinosaurs.