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Well-preserved fossil remains of a dinosaur show evidence that it sported darker and lighter colors as camouflage.
Photograph by Jakob Vinther, University of Bristol
By Traci Watson
PUBLISHED September 14, 2016
Surrounded by hungry predators, a little plant-eating dinosaur from the early Cretaceous did the only sensible thing. It donned camouflage.
Analysis of the exquisitely preserved fossil remains has revealed one of the most elaborate dinosaur paint jobs ever seen, including a brown back and a lighter belly. Modern-day antelope, fish and other animals have similar dark-and-light zones, which confuse predators, but this is the first discovery of such markings on a dinosaur.
“This one is unique,” says paleontologist Jakob Vinther of Britain’s University of Bristol, co-author of a study describing the fossil published in the journal Current Biology. “We can very clearly see that there are color patterns … stripes, spots.”
The fossil is also memorable for a more embarrassing reason: It appears to be pooping. Protruding from its bottom is a rounded object much like a dog dropping. The researchers say the object could be a bone, but its composition suggests fecal material.
Even so, the animal “probably didn’t die while defecating,” Vinther says via email. Gases from the animal’s decay may have pushed out the waste, he says, or perhaps the dinosaur’s guts continued to churn after death.
Dinosaur Camouflage