• Question: Why do we asume that dinosaurs were brown, earthy colours? Why do we not think they were the same colour as us or the same as a chameleon?

    Asked by fi97 to Jo, Mark, timcraggs on 24 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Joanna Buckley

      Joanna Buckley answered on 24 Jun 2010:

      Hi again, Fi 🙂

      Well, the honest answer is that we really have assumed what colour they were, you’re exactly right.

      There are some preserved dinosaur skin imprints but this only tells us the skin’s texture and had nothing about colour. We use more modern animals which exhibit similar features and use them to assume that the dinos were the same.

      It’s wrong to assume but that’s all we’ve got to go on. There was no one around back then to tell us. 🙂

    • Photo: Tim Craggs

      Tim Craggs answered on 24 Jun 2010:

      I am no expert on dinosaurs, but……..

      I think we assume that they were quite well camouflaged, so if they lived in the forest, or muddy land they would probably be brown / green. It is possible that some had the ability to change their skin colour, bti we do not have any evidence for that.

      Basically, science works by assuming the simplest model that explains all the available data and evidence.

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