Dino-pecker?For the first time, scientists have decoded the full-body color patterns of adinosaur—the 155-million-year-old Anchiornis huxleyi (pictured)—a new study in the journal Science says. (Read in-depth coverage.) That may sound familiar, given last week's announcement of the first scientifically verified dinosaur color scheme. But the previous research, published in Nature, had found pigments only on a few isolated parts of dinosaurs (see pictures)—and had used less rigorous methods for assigning colors to the fossilized, filament-like "protofeathers" found on some dinosaur specimens, say authors of the new report. (See a new 3-D National Geographic animation of Anchiornis.) —Chris Sloan, National Geographic magazine senior editor

Illustration by National Geographic

True-Color Dinosaur Pictures: First Full-Body Rendering

See the woodpecker-like dinosaur that's made history as the first to be fully and scientifically colored—and the feathery fossil that spawned the new view.

February 4, 2010