Dinosaur faces and feet may have popped with color
New study traces the probability of color from modern bids to dinosaurs


Date:
December 9, 2021
Source:
University of Texas at Austin
Summary:
A study finds that there is a 50 percent chance that the common
ancestor of birds and dinosaurs had bright colors on its skin,
beaks and scales, but 0 percent chance that it had bright colors
on its feathers or claws.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
Most birds aren't as colorful as parrots or peacocks. But if you look
beyond the feathers, bright colors on birds aren't hard to find: Think
pink pigeon feet, red rooster combs and yellow pelican pouches.


========================================================================== There's a good chance that extinct dinosaurs rocked pops of color on
similar body parts and may have flashed their colors to entice mates,
just as birds do today, according to a study led by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin.

"Living birds use an array of pigments and can be very colorful
on their beaks, legs, and around their eyes," said Sarah Davis, a
doctoral candidate at the UT Jackson School of Geosciences who led the
study. "We could expect that extinct dinosaurs expressed the same colors."
The research was published in the journal Evolution on Dec. 6.

The takeaway on potential dinosaur color schemes comes from broader
findings about skin and tissue color in the common ancestor of living
birds and extinct dinosaurs, an ancient archosaur that lived near the
beginning of the Triassic period. By analyzing whether bright body
color was present in living dinosaur relatives -- including turtles,
crocodiles and over 4,000 bird species -- the researchers determined
that the common ancestor had a 50% chance of having bright colors in
the soft tissues of its body.

The bright colors examined in the study typically come from carotenoids --
a class of colorful red, orange and yellow pigments that birds extract
from their food. Carotenoids do not fossilize as well as brown and black pigments, which means scientists must study color in living animals to
look for clues about color expression in their extinct ancestors.



==========================================================================
The researchers used the data collected from birds and other animals to
make phylogenic reconstructions, a scientific method used to investigate
the evolutionary histories of species. The 50% estimate for bright color applies equally to skin, beaks and scales of the ancient archosaur. In contrast, the research found that there was a 0% chance that claws and
feathers were brightly colored, which is consistent with other research,
Davis said.

The study also examined the connection between color and a diet high in carotenoids, with Davis finding that birds with higher carotenoid diets
(plant- and invertebrate-rich) were more likely to be colorful than meat eaters. What's more, she found that plant-eating birds expressed bright
colors in more places on their bodies than meat eaters or omnivores.

"The earliest dinosaurs were pony-sized and ate large, vertebrate
prey," said study co-author Julia Clarke, a professor at the Jackson
School. "Different groups shifted to plant-dominated or mixed diets. This
shift likely led to changes in coloration of skin and non-feather
tissues." In addition to coloring the past, the research puts living
birds in a new perspective. Davis said that the bird groups examined in
the study have a reputation for being drab -- especially in comparison
to songbirds, which were excluded from the study because they are the
most distantly related to their nonavian dinosaur ancestors.

But aside from their feathers, the birds turned out to be quite
colorful. The study found that about 54% of the 4,022 bird species
studied had bright colors.

Of this group, 86% of species expressed bright color in only non-feathered tissues.

Mary Caswell Stoddard, an associate professor at Princeton University,
said that the study provides important insights on bird color that often
go overlooked.

"There is so much more to birds' color than their plumage -- just think of
the vibrant orange-yellow bill of a toco toucan -- but feathers tend to
get the most attention," she said. "This study unravels the evolutionary history of carotenoid-based coloration not just in plumage but also in
the beaks and skin of birds and their relatives." The study was funded
by the National Science Foundation and the Jackson School.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Texas_at_Austin. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


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Extinct_dinosaurs_may_have_had_bright_color_on_their_skin,_scales_and
beaks_in_a_manner_similar_to_modern_birds.

========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Sarah N. Davis, Julia A. Clarke. Estimating the distribution of
carotenoid coloration in skin and integumentary structures of
birds and extinct dinosaurs. Evolution, 2021; DOI: 10.1111/evo.14393 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/12/211209201651.htm

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