How could scientists know the way Dinosaurs really looked?

Question

Dinosaurs lived from about 230 million to about 65 million years ago. What modern people have clues about dinosaurs are fossils and bones found under ground or somewhere else. But how could scientists know that dinosaurs looked like they way we see them on tv, movies or internet? Fossils and bones do not represent look. Is it just imagination?

It is not possible at all to figure out the shape and look from fossils. They existed millions of years ago, in this long time we are not supposed to have strong clue about the look. Someone said "combining all bones", who found all the bones of a single dinosaur body? only parts of the bones were found, still extremely decayed because of millions of years.

Answer 1

Exactly. It is our imagination and fossils found in which we create the being of dinosaurs in movies like Jurrasic Park.
When a forensic scientist discovers a skull of a murdered victim with no clue of their identity, sculpting and molding of what the person might have looked like is mapped by professionals with study in bone structure and facial structure. These professionals use science to tell details such as possible size of individual, gender, race, approximate age, etc.
The ending result of the molded facial features of the victim would be revealed for public media. Many of the times, the model would help connect a name to the face.

So the same development occurs when conjuring up designs and images on how dinosaurs might've looked like when they were alive and running around. The images are, more likely than not, the way dinosaurs appeared in the past.

Answer 2

You need to learn a bit more about fossils and the science of comparative anatomy.

There have been many complete skeletons found. You don't need one complete skeleton to figure out what a complete skeleton looked like, several partial skeletons that were recognizable as being the same kind of creature would do.

Just look at reconstructive forensics. A skilled reconstruction artist can take a fleshless skull and reconstruct a likeness good enough for people to be able to recognize the individual.

Someone with a good knowlage of how internal anatomy afects external appearance can work wonders.

More than bones have been found. Footprints, Skin impressions, fossilized dinosaur mummies (it can occur naturally), impressions of internal organs and more recently soft tissue prezerved by some kind of geological equivalent to home canning.

Answer 3

The same way a forensic Scientist can reconstruct a face. They know by where the ligaments & muscles attach to the bone. The size & shape of the bone can show how much weight it can carry.

Yes, colour is conjecture but some Dino have been found with feather impressions around the bones. The same sort of impressions that fossil leaves leave.

Answer 4

Besides using the fossils to reconstruct their muscular structure, better fossils also include imprints of their internal organs in the rock and often remains of their last meals, etc. These remains gives scientists many clues about how the dinosaurs looked and lived. Perhaps the only thing that is quite open to debate is the coloration of dinosaurs, since fossils are simply preserved in rock.

Answer 5

scientists dont know how a dinosaur looks like exactly, but they have a pretty good idea based on the fossils and bones.
they use other animals as reference....like by using the bones of a lion, they formulate a procedure to guess what the animal would look like if it were real and then compare it to a living lion.
now unless dinosaurs have huge saggy skin or completely covered in fur, then no our depictions of dinosaurs arent close.

Answer 6

Overall dimension is correct ,,

BUT , u are right ,, there's a lot of things wrong with the "look".

If it is cold blooded and cold cored it has the blank stare of a crocodile.(or a bird)(most birds are blank-stares)(but they are hot) And cannot move to express itself OR show emotion ,, (a crocodile can die very fast from lactic toxidity // tiredness.)

Reptiles are very low rev motors without radiators. Lactic dissipation takes a long time
and remaining motionless accounts for most of it's life.


Hollywood is taking creative license.

,, Peat and acid bogs(swamps) change soft tissue to wax. German acid bogs are famous. for human remains like a museam piece.

Solidifying coastal mud and ash lava captures an imprint of the feather size , texture , margins ,, a lot of details are lost.

Answer 7

I've often wondered the same. Like, why do they assume there was a membrane here or there, feathers coming out somewhere based only on fossil (bone) evidence, or why they were a certain colour. I think it's just a case of them deciding on one thing, and then everyone else being too lazy to change it....

Answer 8

Skeletal remains and fossils .Have a look at Johnny Bs answer. According to your additional info its not possible to figure out size and shape from fossils. Well i'm sorry but it is with the forensic capabilities they have now days and if you combine skeletal remains with fossils there is no doubt size and shape can be determined. So get your head out of your butt and have a look at the facts behind it.

Answer 9

I agree with you.
Afterall, the bones arrangement could have been wrong.
I am just saying, there is a chance for this to happen.

I had once raised this question in class when I was 9 yrs old. The whole class + teacher laughed off my remarks.
;P

Answer 10

comparison with similar animals today. lizards are scaly. and since dinosaurs are lizards, they would also be scaly. we know they are lizards because they share the same bone structures (especially the hip bones) the skeleton can also tell quite a bit. for example. large bones on the rear legs and thinner bones on the front would indicate that it would stand on two legs rather than all four (like a T-rex)