Back to Black

mosasaur Platecarpus fossil

Sure, the fossilized remains of ancient creatures showed us their shapes, sizes, and even skin types, but we were never sure about their colors. Now, thanks to mass spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy, we know that the sea reptiles of old ~ we're talking 190 million years ago ~ were very dark brown or black, which makes perfect sense, when you think about it: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2014/01/08/the-colors-of-ancient-sea-reptiles-reconstructed/#.Us2xPPYtfgc