Paleontology Early mammals probably did not have patterned fur
Striped and spotted mammals probably did not exist during the time of dinosaurs. 150 million years ago, mammals were probably mainly dark brown, reports an international research team in the journal "Science".
14.03.2025, 05:06
14.03.2025, 05:07
SDA
While the plumage of dinosaurs was probably often colorful and insects probably already wore many colors on their wings, early mammals probably had a nondescript coat.
The team led by Quanguo Li from the China University of Geosciences in Beijing goes even further: they think that in most cases the fur was uniformly dark in color - so the animals probably did not even have patterns such as stripes or spots.
Such fur is typical of today's nocturnal mammals such as moles, mice, rats and bats, which use it to camouflage themselves, the researchers write. Their findings therefore support hypotheses that early mammals may have been predominantly nocturnal.
