China’s rapid city building has churned up a motherlode of dinosaur fossils. The energetic researcher has named more dinosaur species than any living paleontologist, racing between dig sites to collect specimens and further scientists’ understanding of how birds evolved from dinosaurs. Born in 1969 in China’s western Xinjiang region, Xu did not choose to study dinosaurs. Two decades ago, rare dinosaur fossils that preserved traces of feathers were found in ancient lakebeds of northeastern China. He co-authored a 2010 paper that examined fossilized melanosomes — pigment packets that give rise to colour in modern bird feathers — to deduce the likely colours of dinosaur feathers.

Source: National Post October 25, 2018 05:45 UTC