How Do We Know What Color Dinosaurs Were?
All animals have feathers, fur, scales, or skin that’s a specific color or set of colors, which often relates to the species’ evolution. For instance, female cardinals are brown because it helps them blend in with the trees as they sit on their nest.
Similar to today’s animals, dinosaurs were also specific colors, and this varied for each species. Even more interesting is that despite previous hypotheses, it’s highly unlikely that dinosaurs were all brown, gray, or green. Most of them were probably a range of colors. Let’s get into how we know what color dinosaurs were.
Fossil Records and Melanosomes
Fossil records are one of the largest pieces of evidence on the colors of these prehistoric animals. Paleontologists can determine pigment by studying melanosome cells in fossilized skin or feathers. A melanosome is an organelle within an animal’s cells that produces pigment. The more melanosomes, the darker the color.
Melanosomes have slightly different shapes for each color. For example, melanosomes producing blue or gray pigment are large and rounded. By evaluating the look of this cellular structure under a microscope, scientists can make evidence-backed theories on a species’ color.
Combating Old Assumptions About Dinosaurs
Most scientists believed dinosaurs were all green or brown for a long time. Experts assumed this because most of today’s reptiles have dull-colored skin that blends in with their environment. In 2010, things changed as researchers studied a Sinosauropteryx’s feathers under a microscope and found melanosome cells, which meant that the species must have had color.
Using computer modeling software, scientists can now input their findings to recreate estimates of how dinosaurs may have looked.
What We’ve Learned So Far
It’s hard to say the exact color of dinosaurs, and we don’t know that about every species. After all, there are hundreds of dinosaur species. Fossil records indicate that beasts such as the Sinosauropteryx were reddish-brown and had a ringed tail that was likely ginger and white.
We can also base how we know what color dinosaurs were on the environment they lived in. Many species had to camouflage to hide from predators and prey. For instance, the Velociraptors lived in what is now the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, so they likely had a brownish-red appearance. It’s also possible that the Velociraptor had black and gray feathers to further blend in with its surroundings.
Some dinosaurs may have been vibrantly colored to help attract a mate, similar to specific bird species such as the peacock.
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