I read a while back that there are likely still hundreds of dinosaur species out there waiting to be found.
Something about that was oddly comforting to me; maybe a world without mysterious discoveries just isn’t one I want to live in just yet.
This fossil of intact skin was definitely a unique find that delighted dinosaur lovers and scientists alike.
It’s from a Psittacosaurus, a dinosaur that had both bird-like feathers and reptile-like scales. The fossil gives researchers new insights into the evolution from scales to feathers.
They now think they exhibited “zoned development” in their skin during this process.
The first Psittacosaurus fossil was discovered in 1922. The animal dates back to the early Cretaceous, between 135 and 120 million years ago, which places it squarely during the period when dinosaurs were evolving into birds.
Psittacosaurus only had feathers on its tail, and this new find seems to confirm it had different types of skin on different parts of its body. There appear to be bald patches that were scaly, demonstrating that keeping the reptilian skin during the evolution to feathers could have improved the skin’s function.
The team of researchers used ultraviolet light to study the skin, then used X-rays and infrared light to see every detail of the preserved cellular structure.
Paleontologist Dr. Zixiao Yang could hardly contain his excitement about the find.
“The fossil truly is a hidden gem. The fossil skin is not visible to the naked eye, and it remained hidden when the specimen was donated to Nanjing University in 2021. Only under UV light is the skin visible, in a striking orange-yellow glow.”
It was the skin’s preservation that allowed them to learn so much.
“What is really surprising is the chemistry of the fossil skin. It is composed of silica – the same as glass. This type of preservation has never been found in vertebrate fossils. There are potentially many more fossils with hidden soft tissue awaiting discovery.”
Skin is the largest organ of most animals, and carries out many different functions.Still, learning that these dinosaurs had different types of skin that performed different functions is something pretty interesting and cool.
Dinosaurs are the gift that never stops giving.
Not even hundreds of millions of years after their demise.
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