How can Scientists and archaeologists, prove that dinosaurs were the colour they say they were?

Question

wakeylass1

Answer 1

i've never heard of a scientist trying to prove what colour a dinosaur was.  archaeologists aren't really into dinosaurs. they know a lot about skin texture from fossil imprints, but the colours are based on modern animals. if they were all left grey, someone would ask, how come scientists say dinosaurs were grey?

Answer 2

They can't.

Answer 3

They just guess the colour by finding the environment of the specimen and then guess what colour would best adapt to the environment. Just like humans in Europe are whites. And humans in Africa are blacks.

Answer 4

They can't. It's a best guesstimate based on modern relatives of the species. For all we know, T-Rex was purple and spotted. h**l, we just recently discovered that T-Rex isn't a hunter but a scavenger.

Answer 5

Color doesn't fossilize so we do not know what color the dinosaurs were.

The reconstructions and illustrations of dinosaurs are simply good guesses by the scientists and artists.

Answer 6

its a best guess

Answer 7

So far, they can't really prove it.  Organic pigments aren't stable long term to start with and skin pigment won't survive fossilization.

However, we know that all 'life' on this planet as we know it has some very similar characteristics because it's all controlled by essentially the same processes (dinosaurs had DNA).  From that, we can make some defensible assumptions about the color of ancient reptile skin based on color of modern reptiles.

Answer 8

they can't. It's called artistic license, they look at what birds an reptile look like now and imagine what the dinosaurs looked like from that impression.

Answer 9

In fact, they don't have a clue.  They are not even sure which had feathers and if they did, how much and what color.  They might look at modern animals and make a guess.  What they usually do is look at reptiles and base their color scheme on that but using birds might be better since they are more closely related but it is anyone's guess (or best guess).

Answer 10

easy, clone another from viable DNA.

Answer 11

I believe theirs is an educated guess arrived by the climate and ground cover that may have been available in a given area.

There may have been some animals  that did stand out color wise but, that is all speculation on the scientists part.

Answer 12

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Answer 13

There are no sufficient tests, since the skin does not fossilize, is single the imagination

Answer 14

It's an educated guess at best.

Answer 15

Yes.

All science make are totally based on theory like how they look like.

The only fact is the bone they dig from the ground the skin is just fantasy.