UCC palaeontologists have discovered 125 million-year-old dandruff preserved among the plumage of feathered dinosaurs and early birds – offering the first evidence of how dinosaurs shed their skin. Dr Maria McNamara and her team studied the fossil cells which originated in China, and compared them to dandruff from modern birds using powerful electron microscopes. Microraptor, one of the feathered dinosaurs studied by the UCC palaeontologists. File illustration: Getty ImagesFeathers are extraordinary evolutionary innovations that are associated with complex adaptations of the skin in modern birds. Just like human dandruff, the fossil dandruff is made of tough cells called corneocytes, which in life are dry and full of the protein keratin, she added.

Source: The Irish Times May 25, 2018 16:03 UTC