Pelage coloration, which serves numerous functions, is crucial to the evolution of behavior, physiology, and habitat preferences of mammals. However, little is known about the coloration of Mesozoic mammals that coevolved with dinosaurs. In a new study, scientists from China, Belgium, Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States used a dataset of melanosome (melanin-containing organelle) morphology and quantitatively measured hair colors from 116 living mammals to reconstruct the coloration of six Mesozoic mammals, including a previously undescribed species of euharamiyidan mammal.
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