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If you’ve ever seen a movie from the classic Jurassic Park saga, you may have a very distinct impression in your mind of what dinosaurs looked like. You might picture a T. Rex as a behemoth scaly creature with tiny arms and long teeth, and you might picture dinosaurs from the Velociraptor genus as lithe, man-sized reptilians with jutting claws on their feet. While some key features of the corresponding fossils were preserved in the Jurassic Park movies, the films were fueled by early artistic interpretations that lacked a great deal of nuance. Within the last decade, we have come to understand more about dinosaurs and their appearances than we might have ever thought possible—and that increased understanding has done a great deal to subvert the classic depictions many of us remember from childhood dinosaur media.
Moving from the more widely understood to the obscure, we can begin disassembling those initial dinosaur depictions by discussing what actually adorned the hides of dinosaurs. Though scaly dinosaurs are still quite common in media, fossil evidence has clearly demonstrated that many dinosaurs were, in fact, covered in feathers—if not entirely, than at least partially. The aforementioned T. Rexes and Velociraptors are no exception; if you search out modern depictions of these creatures, you will often find the tiny arms of a T. Rex covered in feathers and the whole body of a Velociraptor adorned in striking plumage. This shift in depiction occurred on account of new fossil discoveries and better equipment allowing paleontologists to discern minute feather imprints on many fossilized dinosaurs. Over time, the paleoartists who bring fossils to life have adopted a more avian design for those dinosaurs whose fossils show evidence of feathering—though this change has yet to really catch on outside of scientific spheres.
Beyond the more obvious anatomical features that can be gleaned from fossils, paleoartists also have a deeper understanding of dinosaur coloration and patterning to inspire their work. Once thought impossible, scientists are now able to make highly educated guesses about the colors sported by dinosaurs in the past. The reason this is possible is due to the presence of fossilized melanosomes, which are small cellular units that contain the pigment melanin. Fossilized melanosomes are not entirely new discoveries; rather, they are something many paleontologists had simply overlooked at first glance. Since they are so small and similar in shape to microorganisms, scientists had initially passed them off as bacteria that had been fossilized alongside the decaying organism they were feeding on. Only when a university student discovered high concentrations of them in the ink sac of a fossilized squid did scientists begin to realize that they were, in fact, preserved packets of pigment. Now that this discovery has been made, scientists are able to draw more conclusions about the appearance of fossilized creatures than ever before. The width of melanosomes determines the wavelength of light they bounce back; by measuring fossilized melanosomes, scientists can roughly determine the color of a dinosaur's feathers, scales, or skin—given that these structures were preserved well in a given fossil. Concentrations of differently-sized melanosomes can even help scientists discern what patterns may have been present on an organism—the dinosaur Sinosauropteryx, a popular example for this sort of research, was discovered to have a pale belly and a banded tail due to the width and distribution of its melanosomes.
While the discovery of fossilized melanosomes in and of itself was a huge achievement for paleontology and the related field of paleoart, our deeper understanding of dinosaur appearances also allows us to make better hypotheses as to how dinosaurs lived. The banded tail and pale underbelly discovered on Sinosauropteryx, for example, indicate that it may have inhabited open areas and used its striking tail to distract predator attention away from vital organs, as do many animals with striped tails today. Dinosaurs with striated plumage may have inhabited tall grass or shade-dappled forests, where those stripes would help protect it from predators. A particularly vibrant specimen may indicate that a species used its coloration to help it attract mates, as do many birds today. When it comes to such an intractable effort as unveiling the distant past, every little bit of information helps paint a more vibrant picture in the minds of researchers and artists alike. Understanding a dinosaur’s appearance gives us a tremendous insight into the life it may have lived, making this sort of research valuable on more than just the aesthetic front.
Of course, it is worthwhile to note that this field is still very much in its infancy. A decade is all too short a timespan for such monumental research as this, and many paleontologists worry that the exciting discovery of melanosomes has caused researchers to make overly hasty decisions. Not all pigments fossilize as well as melanin, after all, so we cannot be one-hundred percent certain that the colors and patterns we observe through melanosome analysis reflect the full appearance of an animal. It is possible that new techniques in the future will overturn everything we think we know about dinosaur appearances today—just as our current understanding has overturned the depictions of the past. But, for now, it can certainly be said that we understand more about dinosaurs than ever before. With each new fossil analyzed, we come closer to capturing the real nature and appearance of creatures from the distant past. We may never know with certainty if we’ve gotten it right, but we can still share in the joy of scientific discovery as we delve deeper into the mysteries of our planet.
Sources & Further Reading
This article does a great job of expanding on the facts presented here; it goes into depth about the research surrounding paleocolor (the study of color in prehistoric organisms) and some of the discoveries that have been made concerning other pigments than melanin. If you'd like to know more, this is a good place to start!
This interview-style video showcases the design process of a paleoartist and features some of his work, including pieces which take into account things like feathering and the discovery of color in dinosaur fossils. His art is highly science-focused and a great starting point for those of you who are interested in "updating" your mental picture of dinosaurs.
This article offers a simple and straightforward description of current understanding on dinosaur colors, focusing on melanosomes just as this article did. It is recently updated contains some great demonstrative pictures, alongside a few sources of its own for you to browse.
This video, while less recent then some of the other sources on this list, does a great job of explaining melanosomes and relating them to the process of inferring the color of a dinosaur. It also contains high-quality animations that are great for visual learners!
This is another video that explains the history of dinosaur color, focusing specifically on the dinosaur mentioned in this article--Sinosauropteryx. Its humorous tone makes it a great, bite-sized way to explore the topic, and you can reference the extensive list of sources in the video description for more information.
This highly-detailed article summarizes a totally different side to the study of color in ancient animals, going into depth about some of the difficulties facing the field and the recent research being launched to accommodate those difficulties. It takes the style of a Q and A and is full of rich information for those of you who take interest in more technical terminology.
Countershading and Stripes in the Theropod Dinosaur Sinosauropteryx Reveal Heterogeneous Habitats in the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota
This exhaustive research report showcases how understanding a dinosaur's colors can give us an insight into the life it may have lived. It focuses on none other than the aforementioned Sinosauropteryx and is a great read for those of you who enjoy browsing pure research. An informative video abstract is also included, offering an abbreviated version of the research for those of you who are less inclined to reading the full document.
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