Signs of red pigment were spotted in a fossil for the first time
The 3-million-year-old mouse was reddish-brown on its back and sides
The 3-million-year-old mouse wore red.
For the first time, chemical traces of red pigment have been detected in a fossil, scientists say.
Using a technique called X-ray spectroscopy, researchers led by paleontologist Phillip Manning at the University of Manchester in England searched the fossil for a chemical signature associated with pheomelanin, the pigment responsible for reddish-brown fur or feathers. The team had already worked out which unique combination of chemical components stand for pheomelanin and for eumelanin, a dark brown or black pigment, by mapping out where trace metals such as zinc and copper bonded to organic molecules in the pigments of modern bird feathers. Pheomelanin, they determined, occurs where zinc binds to organic sulfur molecules.