Okay, I was trying to come up with a snappy-sounding subject name, and this was the best I could do. I really wanted to say that scientists have found evidence that dinosaurs were colorful, but I'm talking about colors all the time anyway, so I wanted to use another word here.

Anyway, back to the dinos! I'm sure you know that some dinosaurs had feathers, and scientists have found some very well-preserved fossils of some of those feathery now-extinct saurians, which were, in fact, the ancestors of birds! Scientists now believe that the feathery dinosaurs got their colors in the same way as birds do. This is what New York Times said about the color of birds:

and

So by studying the pigment-loaded sacs of feathers of birds, a scientist has been able to accurately predict the color of birds. Now that well-preserved fossils of feathery dinosaurs have been found, the sacs of their feathers have been studied as well, and their colors have been revealed. One species, Anchiornis huxleyi, probably looked like this.

Honestly, people, isn't it handsome? It would be a sensation on the catwalk, wouldn't it? Could this dino offer a glimpse of next year's haute couture?

Ann

Oh, and... just one more comment from New York Times:

Whilst the dinosaur may not be strutting it's stuff down the catwalk, I am sure a few designers out there might go with the idea at some point to adorn human models in homage given how weird a lot of the shows are becoming.

I had the chance last year to see a few specimens of feathered dinosaur fossils (obviously without colour) and have to say I found them amazing.

I'm a theropod kind of girl so a lot of the revelations that have unfolded over the last few years have been of intense interest to me. Kinda makes me wish I had gone with paleontology more than the geographic field I ended up in...

Thanks for posting, I am looking forward to incorporating this information into the dinosaur-themed summer camp that I am writing the curriculum for.

Unfortunately, I live in the Bible Belt of the U.S. and a number of people in this area, while they are willing to accept the fact that dinosaurs existed, do not "believe" in evolution, because they believe that the earth is only 6,000 years old. My daughter has even had classmates tell her that evolution is a religion. So I don't know if they will accept the idea of feathered dinosaurs that eventually evolved into birds, which will make it difficult to discuss the colors of those dinosaurs.

Excuse me, I am in danger of starting on one of my favorite rants . . .

Wow, that's really neat, Ann. Reminds me that we are used to Greek and Roman statues as colorless marble when in fact most were brightly painted. There are a few specimens left with some faint paint, which gives us a hint at what was. We've been to Knossos and that shows you life was very colorful back in the day.

Artemis

cookiesmom

Sounds like you are certainly going to have a challenge ahead of you.
I remember paleontology 101 at University and about 1/4 of the class getting up and leaving when we had to discuss evolution because of their religious beliefs. They also never returned...
Given evolution is such an integrated part of paleontology I wondered why they even took the class in the first place. It was a little sad in some ways they couldn't at least be slightly open minded about it even if it meant they had the knowledge to try and counter it with their religious beliefs.
I guess instead of slanting on evolution, perhaps you would be better inclined to just say some dinosaurs had feathers and skip the bird part all together?

Back to dinosaurs, I was wandering past some antique stores here in HK the other day and they had fossilised dinosaur eggs for sale. I was salivating at the prospect of such an awesome fossil for my collection although the pricetag and eventual need to try and get it back to Australia (who are strict on such things being brought in) may end up restricting me. Ah well..