Here's What Dinosaurs Really Looked Like

[Judi Lynn]

What did dinosaurs really look like? These latest scientific findings reveal unique physical features and uncover mysteries about their behaviors.

By Sean MowbrayMar 16, 2023 8:00 AM



Depiction of a feathered velociraptor (Credit: Noiel/Shutterstock)

If you were to meet a velociraptor, you wouldn’t be confronted with the tall, sleek and lizard-skinned beast from the hit Jurassic Park franchise. Instead, you would likely face off against a much smaller, feathery and colorful creature. Over the last few decades, scientists have learned a lot about what dinosaurs looked like — and that’s changing long-held beliefs.

Did Dinosaurs Have Feathers?
One of the biggest recent changes, says Paul Barrett, a researcher with the Natural History Museum in London, concerns the feathery coat of species such as the velociraptor.

“We now know from lots of fossils, in particular from China, that the relatives of velociraptor, and by extension velociraptor itself, was coated with feathers,” Barrett says. “They had very long, bird-like feathers on their forearms and downy feathers covering most of the rest of the body.”

The variety of plumage these meat-eaters sported was large. Caudipteryx, a diminutive theropod from the Early Cretaceous, had a tail fan full of feathers.

Meanwhile, researchers believe that the Caihong — from the Jurassic period — likely had shiny, iridescent feathers, possibly not too dissimilar from what we might see today on a hummingbird, says Sarah Davis, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Texas.

More:
https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/heres-what-dinosaurs-really-looked-like