Gingers have been around for 10 MILLION years, scientists say

Nowadays it is a rarity to be a natural redhead.

But ginger has actually been around for ten million years, scientists say.

Experts have discovered fragments of phaeomelanin – the pigment that produces ginger color – in fossilized frogs.

And they say their findings will help paleontologists reconstruct the original colors of species that have long been extinct.

The team, led by researchers from University College Cork, carried out laboratory experiments on black, ginger and white bird feathers to investigate how phaeomelanin pigments break down during the fossilization process.

They then applied their results to the fossils of Pelophylax pueyoi, an extinct species of large frog, confirming that high concentrations of the pigment were present.

Dr. Tiffany Slater said: ‘This finding is so exciting because it puts paleontologists in a better position to detect different melanin pigments in many more fossils.

‘This will provide a more accurate picture of the color of ancient animals and answer important questions about the evolution of color in animals.’

Professor Maria McNamara, senior author of the study, added: ‘Fossils are invariably altered by the devastating heat and pressure of burial, but that does not mean we lose all the original biomolecular information.

‘Our fossil experiments were key to understanding the chemistry of the fossils and proving that trace amounts of biomolecules can survive when cooked during the fossilization process.’

Phaeomelanin is one of two forms of melanin found in mammals, birds and reptiles. The other form is called eumelanin.

In humans, less than two percent of the world’s population has red hair.

It is the result of a genetic variant that causes the body’s skin and hair cells to produce more pheomelanin.

Meanwhile, people with more eumelanin tend to have brown or black hair and skin that tans easily.

The findings have been published in the journal Nature Communications.