The Colors of Dinosaurs Open a New Window to Study the Past Old fossils and new technology are coloring in life's prehistoric palette. By Riley Black What colors were dinosaurs? For decades spanning almost the entire history of paleontology, we didn't have an answer to that question. Dinosaur fossils came to us as tracks, bones, and the rare skin impression that revealed the texture of dinosaur scales but not their hues. But a little more than a decade ago, that picture began to change. The secrets to dinosaur color were.
Scientists know some dinosaur colors by examining preserved melanosomes—the pigment-carrying organelles—in feathered fossils. Sinosauropteryx had rusty stripes, Anchiornis was black-white-red, Microraptor iridescent black.. Dinosaur coloration is generally one of the unknowns in the field of paleontology, as skin pigmentation is nearly always lost during the fossilization process. However, studies of feathered dinosaurs and skin impressions have shown the colour of some species can be inferred through the analysis of colour-determining organelles known as.