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Palaeontology

Scientists reveal color of prehistoric bats

By T.K. Randall
September 29, 2015 · Comment icon 7 comments

Prehistoric bats would have looked very similar to today's bats. Image Credit: PD - Jim Conrad
Samples of fossilized fur have made it possible to determine what color bats were 49 million years ago.
While there is much we can learn about dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures from their fossil remains, one of the most difficult things to determine is what color they all were.

Most of the artwork that exists of dinosaurs and other ancient beasts leaves the coloration up to the interpretation of the artist, but now scientists have been able to use the fossil remains of a prehistoric species of bat to determine what color its fur actually was.

"Well, the bats are brown," said paleobiologist Jakob Vinther. "It might not be a big surprise, but that's what these 49-million-year-old bats are. So they looked perfectly like modern bats."
The revelation isn't exactly surprising, however similar techniques could be used in the future to reveal the coloration of species that are no longer around such as the dinosaurs.

"Biologists know a lot about living animals because of color: what sort of environment they live in, how they protect themselves or how they attract mates," said paleobiologist Caitlin Colleary.

"But since so little is preserved in the fossil record, the color of extinct animals has always been left up to artists' interpretations, and important information regarding behavior has been inaccessible."

For all we know dinosaurs were multicolored with bright stripes - right now we simply can't tell.

Source: Yahoo! News | Comments (7)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #1 Posted by Timonthy 9 years ago
From OP article: '"Well, the bats are brown. It might not be a big surprise, but that's what these 49-million-year-old bats are. So they looked perfectly like modern bats," Oh nice, old bats, new bats, same colour. 'Well, the bats are brown' made me lol.
Comment icon #2 Posted by Lilly 9 years ago
And this is important how? I mean did they seriously think the ancient bats were purple or orange or chartreuse?
Comment icon #3 Posted by Wickian 9 years ago
And this is important how? I mean did they seriously think the ancient bats were purple or orange or chartreuse? Well, it's another footnote to add to the biology books I guess.
Comment icon #4 Posted by Athena1979 9 years ago
Nanananananaba....brown batman!
Comment icon #5 Posted by Sundew 9 years ago
Considering nearly all bats are shades of brown, exactly what were they expecting, kelly green?
Comment icon #6 Posted by Taun 9 years ago
I was hoping for a nice subtle neon green and orange, tiger stripe effect maybe also with large shiney silver polka dots...
Comment icon #7 Posted by Thorvir Hrothgaard 9 years ago
I was hoping for a nice subtle neon green and orange, tiger stripe effect maybe also with large shiney silver polka dots... If they're not, then this isn't a news story.


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