Indeed, seriously, the color of the dinosaurs in the movie is just speculation and imagination. So can we scientifically restore the colors of the dinosaurs?
What color are the dinosaurs? This is certainly something that many people want to know, but unfortunately, the dinosaur fossils we find are all just skeletons and have no external color.
The color of the dinosaurs in the movie is just speculation and fantasy.
To restore the color of dinosaurs, paleontologists have had to think and study for generations. They had to analyze and study many modern day reptiles closely related to the dinosaurs to find the answer.
From those studies it has been speculated that the large herbivorous dinosaurs were always gray and green, while the large carnivorous dinosaurs were mostly taupe – a dark brown between brown and green. grey.
In 1996, paleontologists studied a dinosaur fossil from Liaoning province, China, and discovered that this dinosaur had feathers.
Fossils of the Chinese Dragonfly.
More and more long-haired dinosaurs were discovered, and paleontologists began to pay attention and study their colors and make a completely different assumption from the previous one, they had a variety of colors. color like birds today.
Not long after, paleontologists found the key to restoring the dinosaur’s coloration, the melanosome .
Different arrangement and arrangement of melanosomes will produce different colors.
So what is melanosome? They are specialized pigment cells , in which the melanin – skin pigment – is synthesized and stored, moved in the body, a pigment granule in melanocytes and melanocytes, the distribution of these cells is arranged to form colors.
Melanosomes are ubiquitous in the melanocytes of today’s birds and mammals.
Since the color of feathers is determined by melanosomes, the coloration of dinosaurs also depends on the density of the distribution of melanosomes.
According to this idea, we just need to find a well-preserved dinosaur feather fossil, then study the melanosome to restore the dinosaur’s original color.
The first dinosaur to be restored to color was the first long-haired dinosaur from China, the Chinese Dragonfly – Sinosauropteryx.
Feathers found in Chinese bird fossils.
The Chinese dragonfly is not actually a bird, they are small dinosaurs. The fossil of the Chinese Dragonfly was discovered in 1996 and it is the first long-haired dinosaur found by mankind.
It will not be an exaggeration to say that the discovery of the Chinese Dragonfly is a breakthrough that changes humanity’s perception of dinosaurs in the past, instead of the hard scales like today’s reptiles, dinosaurs. Primitives may also have had an outer coat.
The Chinese dragonfly is a small dinosaur with a body length of about 1 m and a body weight of about 3 kg. Feathers on the fossils show that the Chinese dragon bird had fluff and soft feathers on the outside.
In early 2010, scientists from China, the United Kingdom and Ireland first discovered melanosomes on fossil feathers of the Chinese Dragonfly.
After comparisons with melanosomes in modern bird feathers, paleontologists have determined that the color of the Chinese Dragonfly is brown or sepia, while the tail is orange and white, like a bird’s. squirrel today.
As a small dinosaur that moved mainly on the ground, the Chinese dragonbird’s body color helped them camouflage, avoid large predators, and ambush their prey. That made the Chinese Dragonfly the first colored dinosaur known to man.
Restoration image of the Chinese Dragonfly.
The Chinese dragonfly is very similar in color to the present-day Eurasian red squirrel.
Fossil specimen of the Near bird dragon.
The fossil of this species was discovered in 2009. It has a body length of only 34 cm and a body weight of about 100 grams, about the same size as a modern pigeon. The discovery of this perfect fossil proves that this is a feathered species with a small crest on the head.
Image recovered from fossil samples.
In 2010, paleontologists in China and the United States discovered melanosomes in fossil specimen BMNHC PH828. After comparing them with the melanosomes in modern bird feathers, paleontologists demonstrated that their facial feathers were black.
The body is surrounded by brown feathers, the crest on the head is reddish brown, the wing feathers on the front and hind limbs are mostly black and white, the feathers on the hind legs are gray, and the soles and toes black in color.
A 2015 study showed that their gender and age will also possess certain differences in coat color.
The close bird is a type of arboreal dinosaur. Its body color can blend better with the forest floor, and its light-colored crest can be used for courtship and attraction during mating season.
Reconstructed image of the feather color of the close bird.
Microraptor fossils are preserved in the Beijing Museum of Nature.
This is a small dinosaur with a body length of 0.45 to 1 m and a body weight of about 1 kg. In particular, this dinosaur possesses a strange wing structure when both the forelimbs and the lower limbs have feathers and have separate functions when flying.
In 2012, Chinese and US paleontologists found melanosomes on a Microraptor fossil collected in the Beijing Museum of Nature.
After contrast restoration, Microraptor was identified as having a black covering all over the body. The black color of the Microraptor is not black in general, the surface of the black feathers has a rainbow texture, similar to the color of the crow’s feathers.
Microraptor has a rainbow-black plumage similar to crows.
Fossils of parrot-mouthed dragons.
This was a small, herbivorous dinosaur widely distributed in eastern and northeastern Asia. In addition to China, fossils of this species have been found in Mongolia, Russia and elsewhere in Siberia.
Different species of parrot mouth dragons will have different body sizes depending on where they live. Mongolian parrot mouth dragons have the largest size, they can be up to 2 m tall and weigh about 20 kg.
In 2016, when British paleontologists studied the fossils of this species, they found that the fossils also had melanosomes in the almost perfectly preserved soft tissues.
Using three-dimensional models, paleontologists reconstructed their colors and discovered that their backs were dark brown, while their faces were darker, and their abdomens were gradually pigmented. gradually brighter.
The color distribution of parrot-mouthed dragons is somewhat similar to that of wild donkeys.