A large-scale study suggests the common ancestor of all modern birds around 80 million years ago likely had iridescent feathers.
Nowadays, tropic birds are more colorful than ones farther from the Equator.
The study indicates that modern colorful bird species likely originated outside the tropics and later moved to tropical regions, where they evolved into different species.
Colors in birds are produced by pigments like melanin and carotenoids, as well as through structural color like iridescence, which is a result of how light bounces off different feather structures, creating a shimmering effect that changes with the viewing angle.
The researchers created a database of 9,409 bird species, combining data on their colors, distribution, and DNA-based pedigrees, to track the development and spread of bright colors over time.
The study was published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.
Sources: PopSci, cnbeta , forskning , La Provincial, Tomorrow Sci, Sindonews, Cosmos Magazine, Knowridge, Earth.com, SciTechDaily, Mirage News, Phys.org, EurekAlert.
This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.
