Photo: Dinosaur Soft Tissue Sequenced; Similar to Chicken Proteins

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Collagen from a 68-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex leg bone (top) has been confirmed by two independent studies, both of which also show the ancient material is similar to protein in modern chicken bones.

For one of the papers, scientists used a refined molecular analysis technique to sequence protein from the dino fossil and from a mastodon thought to be between 160,000 and 600,000 years old (bottom).

Fossil photograph © Science; illustration courtesy Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation

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