If you travel in the Cretaceous or Jurassic period over 120 million years ago, you may see dinosaurs Striped tail and crude emblema primitive bird Rainbow feathersand the forest controls Giant wooden fern. The one you are unlikely to notice is your closest relative. Early mammals were small, technically nocturne, completely flashy and, as favored, became indeed monotonous the study It was published in the journal on March 13th Science.
The new study is the first to look back at early mammals in full color. Using advanced fossil imaging methods and thorough testing of pigment-producing cells present in living mammals, the team has revealed what our long-lost relatives’ fur looks like. Over six different specimens representing five different near-range (mammalian format) or mammalian groups, researchers found significant uniformity. All early mammal fossils investigated indicate that extinct animals had unsuspected dark brown coats.
While perhaps not the most immediate exciting news, this discovery is worth noting to explain what science could have previously speculated. These new discoveries make sense in understanding mammalian evolution, suggesting a future where we can reconstruct any era of Technicolor’s distant past.
“When I was growing up, I said that every book on fossils would never know the colour of an extinct species.” Steve Brusattea paleontologist and evolutionary biologist at the University of Edinburgh who is not involved in the research talks Popular science. “So I’m amazed at research like these that seem to always do impossible things. This is a great job,” he adds.
The first mammal-like animals appeared alongside dinosaurs during the Mesozoic Era and are appropriately known as the “Age of Reptiles.” Based on the impression of fossilized bone and skeletal structures, paleontologists have long theorized that these early premammals (and subsequent true mammals) are rather small. Most were not larger than rodents and were primarily active at night to avoid predation. For decades, Isocket measurement It was only some of the tangible evidence of a nocturnal lifestyle. Well, this adds evidence by getting a glimpse into some of the true colors of the first mammal.
Our mammals may not be as colorful as the bird counterparts, but modern species still show tints From purple In orangealong with various patterns. It’s not just the colour of the fur. It is a multifunctional adaptation that can be used for a variety of purposes, such as temperature regulation, camouflage, spousal attraction, communication, defense, and more. Understanding what early mammals look like will help you understand how they live and how all of the diversity today has evolved, says Matthew Shokey, a collaborative research author and evolutionary biologist at the University of Ghent in Belgium.
The survey results include “Please check us out [thought] About early mammals – they lived in the shadows of dinosaurs. Not only did the dinosaurs have been constrained by their size and diversity, but their colours have also been suppressed,” says Shawkey. Popular science. “They are basically small dinosaur food.”
To reach that conclusion, Shawkey and his colleagues built a database of living mammals. They used spectrophotometric measurements to quantify the colours of 116 modern species and used electron microscopes to closely examine the melanosomes (melanin production and melanin production and storage capsules) of each of those animals. The team found correlations between hair color and melanosome shape and size and used those trends to construct predictive models.
Scientists then took the same extreme close-up view of six very well-preserved fossils excavated from northeastern China. Fossils were selected as they were detailed enough to include complex impressions of fur and individual fur, and represent a wide range of early mammalian and mammalian forms. The fossils included two flying squirrel-like gliders, mole-like burrbuls, tree dense people, and two different terrestrial creatures. One of the extinct taxa Small tree residents with congenital claws and wide furry membranes for voyages between branches, Arrivesfirst described and named in this new study.
They discovered that fossilized melanosomes resemble each other very similar. It has an oval shape and medium size and is extremely lacking, commonly found in some living mammals. Overall, extinct species have shown that they are far less diverse than modern species. Using their mammalian models, scientists predicted that these melanosome measurements corresponded to the grey brown tint of mice. There were several small variations between the specimens. “It’s biology after all,” says Shawkey, but it’s not enough to call them different colors. Perhaps their universal dull dark colors helped these early mammals to make nighttime camouflage better and keep them warm. “We came from such a humble beginning,” he says.
Luke WeaverPaleontologists studying mammal evolution at the University of Michigan, who are not part of this study, are excited about the new study. “This gives us a glimpse into the ecology of mammals that would otherwise be hidden from sight,” he says.
[ Related: This extinct tree-dwelling mammal may be among humans’ closer relatives.]
However, Weaver points out that the study has limitations. The sample size of the six fossils is small, encapsulating only certain periods, regions and subsets of all early mammals, he says, but adds that it is not abnormal for paleontology. He also warns that this dataset does not allow broader inferences about mammals after the Cretaceous period.
The study authors suggest that early mammals are stuck in narrow ecological and evolutionary lanes until dinosaur extinction. However, Weaver has seen recent research Previous Diversification Events30 million years ago before the dinosaurs died. Some early mammals exhibited high social behavior, as documented in His own researchand some were even Dino predators – just not prey.
“We often tend to think of Mesozoic mammals as poor creatures of this type running around in hiding,” Weaver says. That may also apply to many people, especially early groups, but “I would be hesitant to draw that conclusion about all early mammals,” he adds. “I think there’s a lot of interesting things going on, especially during the late Cretaceous period.”
Additional studies examining a wider range of specimens are necessary to assess how far the trends of brown boring mammals are, and precisely when mammals begin to acquire stripes, spots, patches, and bright colors. The graduate students at Shawkey’s Lab have already launched a project to uncover exactly that to build a detailed timeline of the evolution of fur.
In addition to illuminating our own long evolutionary journey, Weaver and others hope that similar works will highlight the value of museums and preserving fossil artefacts. When these fossils were first collected, “there was no technique to interrogate these types of questions,” he says. “We never know what new insights we can get from old fossils.”
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