‘Rainbow dinosaur’ fossil discovered!
Scientists have made a bright discovery – a rainbow-coloured dinosaur!
The fossilised remains, unearthed in north-east China, show a bird-like dinosaur that roamed the Earth in the Jurassic Period, 161 million years ago – woah!
Scientists have named the duck-sized dinosaur Caihong juji, which means ‘rainbow with the big crest’ in Mandarin.
What Caihong juji may have looked like!
Credit: Velizar Simeonovski, the Field Museum, for UT Austin Jackson School of Geosciences
The dinosaur had a bony crest on its head and long, ribbon-like feathers in a rainbow of colours, which scientists believe would have shimmered in the light.
After studying the feathers under powerful microscopes, they found that the dinosaur’s melanosomes (microscopic granules that give cells their colour) were similar to those in modern-day hummingbirds!
These images show how the pre-historic animal was preserved.
Credit: Nature Communications, ISSN 2041-1723
Despite its feathers, it’s thought that Caihong juji wasn’t built for flight. Instead, the bright plumage may have been a way of attracting a mate, like the tail-feathers of the modern-day peacock.
It certainly would have been an eye-catching display!
What’s your favourite dinosaur? Let us know by leaving a comment, below!
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COMMENTS1
I LOVE ANIMALS 2010
I like the Prestosuchous because its like a crocodile that was 1000 times more deadly it would be cool if you could do something on it NAT GEO KIDS!
S
Cool facts!
Shreyas Banerjee
I like giganotosaurus because of its skull
flameflyer
WHAT IF THE DINOSAURS DIDNT DIE?
SO AWESOME
Grace
Interesting to learn about dinosaurs
Intresting
Ok
Kaitlyn
Amazing
CUSTOMIZE YOUR AVATAR