X-rays Reveal What the Link Between Birds and Dinosaurs Looked Like: 'Dinobird' Plumage

Archaeopteryx is known as the "link" between dinosaurs and birds. With its feathery wings and sharp, dinosaur-like teeth, this creature roamed the Earth about 150 million years ago. Now, researchers have found a little bit more about the prehistoric creature. They've conducted the first complete chemical analysis of feathers from the species in order to find out exactly what Archaeopteryx might have looked like.

Only 11 specimens of Archaeopteryx  have been found so far. In fact, the first one only consisted of a single feather. While researchers believed that minerals would have replaced all of the bones and tissues of the original animal during fossilization, though, two recently developed methods have shown otherwise.

The first method involves the discovery of melanosomes, microscopic "biological paint pot" structures in which pigment was once made but are still visible in some rare fossil feathers. The second method involves rapidly scanning entire fossils and analyzing their chemistry with an X-ray beam. Using the two together, the researchers have been able to identify exactly what this "dinobird" might have looked like while still alive.

"This is a big leap forward in our understanding of the evolution of plumage and also the preservation of feathers," said Phil Manning, one of the researchers, in a news release.

In fact, the scientists found trace-metals in the fossil that have been shown to be associated with pigment. They also found organic sulphur compounds that could only have come from the animal's original feathers.

"The fact that these compounds have been preserved in place for 150 million years is extraordinary," said Manning in a news release. "Together, these chemical traces show that the feather was light in color with areas of darker pigment along one edge and on the tip."

The findings show researchers a little bit more about this ancient bird, and could reveal more about the evolution of feathers in general.

The findings are published in the Journal of Analytic Atomic Spectrometry.