Pigments reveal extinct reptiles’ dark side
(PhysOrg) - What did Tyrannosaurus rex really look like? Depending on which artist’s impression you look at, the carnivorous king of the Cretaceous was a dull grey, an earthy brown, maybe a dark green… perhaps it was ochre, or even the colour of a bright lime.
New insights into prehistoric fossils, published on Wednesday, may one day help determine what the great dinosaurs looked like in real life.
Scientists said they had uncovered the first-ever traces of pigment in reptile fossils—a dark hue found in three extinct deep-sea beasts distantly related to today’s leatherback turtle.
"This is the first time that… remains of original pigments have been detected in any (extinct) reptile, including dinosaurs," Johan Lindgren of Sweden’s Lund University told AFP…
Illustration by Stefan Sølberg