By Susan Milius
A fossil giant penguin with feathers reveals the first glimpse of what the well-dressed diving bird was wearing before tuxedos.
The 36-million-year-old fossils of the new species include a good portion of a skeleton with a skull and flipper, researchers report online September 30 in Science. Perhaps most exciting, though, are the fossilized feathers. They are so well preserved that scientists have been able to study the microscopic pigment-bearing nubbins called melanosomes that give the plumes their color.
“This is our first look at feathers in a fossil penguin,” says study coauthor Julia Clarke of the University of Texas at Austin.