In 2010, a team examined numerous points among the feathers of an extremely well-preserved "Anchiornis" specimen to survey the distribution of melanosomes, the pigment cells that give feathers their colour. By studying the melanosomes and comparing them with those of modern birds, the scientists were able to map the colours and patterning present on "Anchiornis" when it was alive. Though this technique had been used before, "Anchiornis" became the first Mesozoic dinosaur for which almost the entire life colouration was known.