• Question: how do we know what dinosaurs look like?

    Asked by whiteleyinnit to Charlie, Eoin, Jemma, Julian, Steve on 25 Mar 2011.
    • Photo: Stephen Moss

      Stephen Moss answered on 22 Mar 2011:

      Hi Whiteley (Gotta be Innit to Winnit)
      The huge numbers of fossils that have been discovered give us a great insight into what dinosaurs looked like. Of course, artists and zoologists and palaeontologists have all had to use their imaginations to come up with ideas about what colours dinosaurs would have been, or what their skins would have looked like.

    • Photo: Julian Rayner

      Julian Rayner answered on 22 Mar 2011:

      You can learn an enormous amount from bones, but there is no question that some of the way dinosaurs are portrayed is guess work! Still, you can learn more than you might think – not just about size and weight, but also about where muscles were attached, where veins emerged from the bones, and so on, which enable you to build up a fairly detailed picure. Obviously not all the details – I am no palentologist, but I am guessing that pigmentation/colour is one detail we will never have!. Still, Jurassic Park wouldn’t be half as much fun in black and white…

    • Photo: Eoin Lettice

      Eoin Lettice answered on 22 Mar 2011:

      Hi whiteley,
      Lots of dinosaur bones have fossilized (become stone) so we can dig them up and stick them back together. We can get a an idea of the size and shape of dinosaurs from their skeleton.
      In some rare cases, remains of fossilized skin and tissue may be left too and that gives a vague idea of what their skin amy have looked like.
      However, much of the colours that we see are a bit of guess work based on what scientists think they would look like.

      Eoin

    • Photo: Charlie Ryan

      Charlie Ryan answered on 25 Mar 2011:

      hi whiteley again! Well i think its because we have fossils of their bones! Sorry i’m sure you know that already, but that would tell us their general appearance, i.e. height, and i guess how they walk, run etc.
      As for what their external appearance is like i think there have been a few cases where the skin of the dinosaur has been fossilised a little (normally it would rot away), which would give a great clue.
      I’m really the wrong person to ask though!

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