On the open savannas of East Africa, a flock of vulturine guinea fowl looks almost unreal. Bodies are patterned with crisp ...

Where do birds get their red feathers from? According to a new article, the red carotenoids that give the common crossbill its red coloration are produced in the liver, not the skin, as previously ...

The discovery of microscopic color-making structures in fossilized feathers has recently made it possible for scientists to picture dinosaurs and ancient birds in their natural hues. But a group of ...

What color was a Velociraptor? A little over 5 years ago, many thought paleontologists just could not answer that question. After all, there may be amazing fossils of carbonized feathers, but they don ...

The traces of organic material found in fossil feathers are remnants of pigments that once gave birds their color, according to Yale scientists whose paper in Biology Letters opens up the potential to ...

Exposure to sulfur-rich volcanic soil may increase production of pheomelanin, a pigment that gives a reddish tint to the feathers of barn owls living on remote volcanic islands Barn owls (Tyto alba) ...

The color of some feathers on dinosaurs and early birds has been identified for the first time. The research found that the theropod dinosaur Sinosauropteryx had simple bristles -- precursors of ...

The news that many dinosaurs were likely covered in a thick layer of feathers may make them seem a little less imposing — but it also means they may have been intensely colorful. Now scientists have ...