"Many of the close relatives of Velociraptor — you know, that was chasing the kids around in the kitchen [in "Jurassic Park"]?" Vinther said. "First of all, that was covered in feathers. It was really bird-like,
Posted on 04/25/2022 12:04:12 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Once you know the shape of the melanosomes in a fossil, you can learn all sorts of things about the animal. For example, some dinosaurs with fearsome reputations were incredibly showy.
"Many of the close relatives of Velociraptor — you know, that was chasing the kids around in the kitchen [in "Jurassic Park"]?" Vinther said. "First of all, that was covered in feathers. It was really bird-like, not like this naked thing that we see there. But furthermore, most of the relatives that we looked at that were close to it, they were iridescent. So they would have had a metallic sheen, like hummingbirds or peacocks."
Other dinosaurs had complex camouflage. The first dinosaur Vinther ever studied was a small, bird-like animal called Anchiornis. Based on the melanosomes, Vinther and his team concluded that it had a gray body, white wing feathers with black splotches at the tips and a red crown like a woodpecker's.
Another dinosaur called Sinosauropteryx — the first dinosaur to be discovered with feathers — had a striped tail and a bandit mask, sort of like a raccoon. It also had countershading, a kind of natural camouflage in which the parts of an animal that would usually be in shadow have a lighter pigment than the parts that would usually be in sunlight. A classic example of this is the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), which has a white belly and a brown backside.
This coloring tells scientists about the creatures' habitat; if the countershading is sharp and high on the body, as it was in Sinosauropteryx, the animal probably lives out in the open. Countershading that's more gradual and low on the body suggests a forest environment where the light is more diffuse.
Camouflage also distinguishes predators from prey.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
I’m sure they could do it, and people would watch again in large numbers.
Trivia - At one point, Michael Crichton had the number one movie, tv show, and book at the same time...
"Many of the close relatives of Velociraptor — you know, that was chasing the kids around in the kitchen [in "Jurassic Park"]?" Vinther said. "First of all, that was covered in feathers. It was really bird-like,
Isn’t even asking what colour dinosaurs were rayciss?
FWIW, the colors of the University of Calgary DINOSAURS are red, black, and white, just like the CFL Calgary Stampeders and the NHL Calgary Flames. (Must be rsyciss!)
Neopolitan.
Some related (I didn't check any of 'em today) topics (sorted) from the Dinosaurs keyword:
Until 1939, ALL dinosaurs were black and white and gray..................
Faaabulous! So now we are gaying up dinosaurs too!
They were camel flodged.
That’s my story and I’m sticken to it.
5.56mm
Whatever color the artists render them in. Mostly they copy modern day reptiles.
Ii’m with you on the pink. But pink scales. At least the girl dinosaurs were pink. That’s how the males knew who to flirt with.
Dewey knew something before the scientists figured it out.
;^)
I’m with Hobbes!
Theropod dinosaurs (’’beast-footed’’) were more closely related to birds and fossil evidence has been found to show these animals did have feathers. No doubt they saw in color, just as modern birds do to tell each other apart.
With the surischian dinosaurs (lizard hipped’’) no doubt saw
in color. Gotta be able to tell the boy dinos from the girl dinos.
Wonder if dinosaurs had 67 genders?
If the parrots I’ve owned were as big as a Trex it would be a truly frightening creature!
“Wonder if dinosaurs had 67 genders?”
That is a question worth millions of tax payer dollars.
We should submit a proposal. I figure $250 million over 10 years...
I concur. We’ll establish a department , have studies, hold lectures and establish a chair ( held by a non-binary, gender fluid, questioning cizgender)to over see it all.
The money will just roll in....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
