What colour were dinosaurs?

1. 1

   Tiny says

   Most fossils are plain stone, so the colours are long gone. But a few feathered dinosaurs left tiny colour clues in their fossil feathers. One called Sinosauropteryx had a stripy tail, in neat bands of ginger and white!

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   Checked against Dinosaur colour (University of Bristol)

2. 2

   Why would a dinosaur need stripes?

   Sinosauropteryx also had a dark back and a pale tummy. Colours like that make an animal look flat and hard to spot, so they help it hide. Its stripy tail may have muddled up hunters too. So its colours probably helped it sneak about and stay safe.

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   Checked against Feathered dinosaur camouflage (University of Bristol)

3. 3

   How can anyone see colour in a fossil?

   Feathers hold tiny grains of colour called melanosomes, far too small to see with your eyes. Scientists look for them with a super-strong microscope. The grains make blacks, greys, browns and gingers, so those colours can be worked out. Other colours fade away in fossils, so some of a dinosaur's colours are still a mystery.

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   Checked against Dinosaur colour (University of Bristol)

In Lil' Phil, reaching the bottom of this wonder earns a sticker for Tiny's collection.

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