For a long time, people thought dinosaurs looked like giant, scaly lizards, but new discoveries show that’s not entirely true! Scientists have found evidence that many dinosaurs actually had feathers, even some of the big ones. Instead of the dull, greenish colors we imagined, they probably came in all sorts of bright colors and patterns. Their skin textures were more varied too, with some being scaly, but others having smooth or even fluffy skin. Fossils have also revealed that dinosaurs may have looked less bulky and more bird-like than we used to think. Basically, the picture we had of dinosaurs has changed a lot! Animation is created by Bright Side.
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FunTranscript
00:00Well, it seems we got dinosaurs completely wrong.
00:04Plus, the movies created an image of them that's hard to get out of the head now.
00:10You know what I'm talking about?
00:13Dinosaurs as giant lizards.
00:15I mean, lizards are cool.
00:17There's a type of lizard found in the streams of Costa Rica that can stay under the water
00:21for up to 16 minutes.
00:24They create a pocket of air at the top of their snout and breathe exhaled air while
00:29submerged.
00:31So-called horned lizards can spout blood out of their eyes, shooting it up to 6 feet.
00:36Poor lizard has to do it when it gets closer to the mouth of its attacker, since this bad
00:41taste makes a predator change their mind and go after some more delicious bites.
00:47Then there's the basculus lizard that can run over water while making its escape from
00:52bigger animals in the rainforests of Central America.
00:55They can do that for short distances, but still, it gets to rear up and rely on flaps
01:00of skin on the toes of its hind legs to have more surface area.
01:06Many types of lizards have had to develop such unusual adaptations, so they didn't
01:11become an easy quick snack for snakes, coyotes, hawks, foxes, and other big animals going
01:17after them.
01:19They wouldn't have to do it if they had some giant cousins that would protect them.
01:23Like dinosaurs.
01:24But even though they look like gigantic scary lizards in the movies, it's not what you
01:30would see if you had the chance to go back to the dino age.
01:34You'd have to be aware and run if you saw feathery creatures instead.
01:39Feathers don't sound that scary because birds are the only animals alive today that
01:43have them.
01:45But millions of years ago, it was a different story.
01:49Some of the most fearsome dinosaurs were covered in feathers, too.
01:53Of different shapes, sizes, and colors.
01:55For example, check this fella, a cousin of the famous T. rex.
02:00It was a scary predator that weighed 1.5 tons and was covered in a shaggy coat of filaments
02:06known as protofeathers.
02:09These feathers were not used for flying, but to stay warm or attract mates.
02:15Or take a velociraptor, for example.
02:17For so long, we've believed it's a sleek predator with the skin of a lizard.
02:22But it turns out it was a much smaller, colorful creature covered in feathers, like some sort
02:27of bird.
02:28Many of their dino-relatives had pretty long feathers all over their forearms, together
02:33with downy feathers that were spread across the rest of the body.
02:38This works for most of the meat-eating dinosaurs or so-called theropods.
02:43There were tiny ones, with a tail fan full of feathers, or those with shiny feathers
02:48in a mix of colors.
02:50It was similar to a hummingbird.
02:53Maybe it wouldn't be that scary to face dinosaurs after all.
02:56Some of the fossils researchers found are well-preserved.
03:00In combination with modern techniques they used to study these fascinating creatures,
03:05they found out dinosaurs came in different colors.
03:09Archaeologists found some fossilized feathers together with fossils of melanosome structures.
03:14Those are pigments that gave them gray, brown, and black colors, like Anchiornis, whose body
03:19was almost entirely black.
03:22It's reminiscent of a bird with wings and fluffy tail feathers on its hind legs, together
03:27with a pretty long tail that could fan out.
03:31This fella had white stripes along its wings, too.
03:34It also had a brown head crest.
03:37This one was perhaps there as a display or used to communicate with other Anchiornis
03:41dinosaurs.
03:44And check out this one!
03:46It also had a bristly tail and different markings on its body.
03:51Thanks to the fossils they found, researchers have been able to reconstruct the appearance
03:55of this dinosaur, giving it so many details.
03:59Not only did dinos look like birds, but they also behaved similarly to them.
04:05For example, they sat on their nests to protect their eggs and most likely used their feathers
04:10for displays.
04:12There was a discovery in Canada that revealed one type of dinosaur had a fleshy crest on
04:17its head, like a rooster's comb.
04:20Scientists think this crest was likely used as a way to attract a mate or show off to
04:25other dinosaurs.
04:28Then there's the scariest of them all in the dinosaur kingdom – the T. rex.
04:34Can you imagine this one in a birdie version?
04:37Also, you may have seen pictures of T. rex with its big sharp teeth and its jaws wide
04:42open, kind of always ready to bite into its prey.
04:46But these images might be completely wrong.
04:50Some recent research tells us these top predators might've had something that we take for
04:54granted in almost all land animals today – lips.
05:01Think about it.
05:02When you look at a crocodile or an alligator, you don't see any lips covering their teeth.
05:07So everyone has always assumed that their prehistoric relatives, theropod dinosaurs,
05:12were the same way.
05:14Well, not quite.
05:17Researchers looked at fossilized dinosaur skulls and compared them to modern reptiles,
05:23and found out these dinosaurs likely had soft tissue around their mouths that functioned
05:28like lips.
05:30Scientists learned this while studying small passageways in the upper jaws of dinosaur
05:34skulls – something called foramina.
05:38Foramina allows blood vessels and nerves to reach the soft tissues around the mouth.
05:43In lipped reptiles, like lizards, these foramina are arranged in a line along the edge of the
05:48jaw near the teeth.
05:51Let's examine the enamel of the teeth too.
05:53When enamel dries out, it wears down more easily.
05:57The researchers found that the side of alligator teeth that is continuously exposed erodes
06:02more like the wetter side facing the inside of the mouth.
06:06However, in theropods like T. rex, the teeth have an even-wear pattern.
06:11This tells us teeth were kept covered and moist.
06:17Based on this, scientists believe theropods with long sharp teeth, like T. rex, could
06:22also close their mouths with their teeth inside.
06:25The teeth of theropods and monitor lizards are similar in size, and monitor lizards can
06:31close their mouths completely.
06:33Therefore, it's likely that theropods also had lips that allowed them to fully close
06:38their mouths.
06:39However, it's not known if they wore lipstick.
06:45Interestingly, the study also revealed a neat row of jaw foramina in a pretty cool extinct
06:52early cousin of crocodilians.
06:54Also, lips may have been present in the earliest archosaurs, a group of reptiles that gave
07:00rise to dinosaurs and crocodilians.
07:03Now, this might not seem like a big deal, but it truly changes how we think about how
07:08these dinosaurs ate.
07:11If they had lips, it's possible that they could have controlled their bites more precisely,
07:16and maybe even chewed their food instead of just tearing it apart.
07:21Some still believe differently, saying T. rex and other theropods had flat scales like
07:26crocodiles all the way down to the edges of their jaws.
07:30So I guess the mystery of dinosaur lips continues.
07:35You might be wondering, did sauropod dinosaurs like the titanosaur have feathers too?
07:42Some scientists believe all dinosaurs, including sauropods, had feathers.
07:48Just as you can see, all mammals have at least some hair.
07:52But big mammals like elephants have limited hair.
07:55So it's possible that sauropods didn't have many feathers.
07:59Since feathers are something you'll stumble upon in a fossilized shape, the chances of
08:04finding those of sauropods or similar dinosaurs are definitely lower.
08:10Plus there's a chance big dinosaurs that lived in warm weather didn't have feathers at all.
08:17Many of these feathered dinosaur fossils have been found in China.
08:21These fossils have helped us understand the transition from feathered dinosaurs to birds.
08:28Because birds could be the only animals that survived and are around today that are directly
08:32related to dinosaurs.
08:34I wonder what happened here?
08:37It could be that some kinds of theropods started hiding in trees more while searching for food
08:43and protection, so their bodies evolved to become even smaller to survive harsh conditions
08:49and dangerous predators lurking after them.
08:53But still, it's a transition from the most incredible predator the animal kingdom has
08:57seen to squawking chickens.
09:00Talk about how evolution mostly moves animals forward!
09:04Hey, stop it!
09:05I didn't mean it!
09:09That's it for today!
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