Microscopic feather features reveal fossil birds' colors and explain why cassowaries shine
Thursday, May 14, 2020 - 13:30
in Biology & Nature
Some birds are iridescent because of the physical make-up of their feathers, but scientists had never found evidence of this structural color in the group of birds containing ostriches and cassowaries -- until now. Researchers have discovered both what gives cassowary feathers their glossy black shine and what the feathers of birds that lived 52 million years ago looked like.