PALAEONTOLOGISTS CAN USE FOSSILS such as teeth and bones to predict the size, shape and even the internal physiology of dinosaurs, but what about their external appearance? Until recent years, what a dinosaur looked like was largely an educated guess, but now new discoveries and technology are revealing that dinosaurs were in fact colourful and feathered.
Were all dinosaurs colourful?
Some were, but we may never know how many. Dinosaurs were once depicted in dull greys and greens because it was assumed they looked like living reptiles, with scales (made of the transparent protein keratin) and bony plates (osteoderms – as seen on crocodiles). By contrast, the extinct reptiles presented to kids are often brightly-coloured. As one children’s book says, “The truth is no one knows what colours dinosaurs were.”…
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Bbc Wildlife (Digital) - 1 Issue, August 2024