Ancient reptiles in living black

The LA Times has the scoop on a new study from Nature on the coloration of ancient reptiles:

Ancient leatherback turtles, ichthyosaurs and mosasaurs were a rather staid and formal black, maybe with some gray, according to a study published online Wednesday in the journal Nature. The study offers the first direct chemical evidence of pigmentation in the three species, and illustrates an example of convergent evolution, when animals separately develop the same adaptive features.

Read the rest here. Artist's rendering: Stefan Solberg/LA Times