How do we know that T. Rex's are green?

Question

My 7 year old noticed in all books and movies on dinosaurs the T. Rex is green. She asked how we know it's green and I honestly don't know. Any clue?

Answer 1

The answers above are correct - it is just a guess. We have absolutely no idea what colour dinosaurs were and paleontologists are no nearer to solving this question than they have been in the past.

However, an interesting point to note is that the tendency to assume dinosaurs were drably coloured (as the others said, based on our knowledge of currently existing lizards) is rapidly disappearing.

The reason for this is that birds evolved from dinosaurs. Not only that they developed from theropod dinosaurs - which is the group that includes T.rex.

There is increasing scientific evidence that not just birds but also a LOT of theropod dinosaurs had feathers. It is possible even that the larger ones, such as T.rex did (although there is no proof for T.rex).

So a lot of more recent representations of two-legged carnivorous dinosaurs (theropods) have them portrayed with feathers. Also, there is a tendency now to assume that the behaviour of these animals was much more like modern day birds than other reptiles and often they are portrayed very brightly coloured, as birds are, for mating signals etc.

So - the bottom line is, we know very little - but it seems a fair bet that T. rex and its relatives actually WEREN'T green.

Answer 2

t-rexes are commonly pictured in the uniform drab coloring of dark greens and browns, in reality, though, the t-rex could have been pink with orange stripes, or blue polka-dots for all we know.
scince we cant be sure what color the dinosaurs were, we may never know. but some people have hazarded guesses at the predominant coloring of dinosaurs based on where we found them and how they attracted mates. you see, its very possible that t-rexes had camoflauge coloring, we can estimate the colors and patterns based on what type of environment the t-rex lived in, because its camoflauge would match. dinosaurs are also considered to be closley related to birds, and birds usually have bright coloring in order to attreact mates, some dinosaurs may have been like this too, many may have even had feathers. some dinosaurs could have been brightly colred if they were poisonous. but these methods arent for sure, remember, they are only guesses.

Answer 3

We figured they probably weren't red, orange, yellow, blue or purple, and green is much better a color for children's books than brown or black, hence we picked green?

Maybe because crocodiles are greenish, and so since they exsisted during the time of the dinosaurs, we transferred their color to that of the t-rex.

Because otherwise, I really don't know why and never even thought of how strange it is to make them all green. Kids come up with the best questions sometimes.

Answer 4

Well, we know that T Rex's are green because, yours truly, me, time traveled in the time machine I build for the government about 4 and a half years ago.. Any way... I was truly curious about the colors or dinosaurs.. So I went back into the dinosaur era and I saw, indeed the books and movies WERE right... At least about the T Rex's.. They are IN FACT green.

I am NOT kidding.. I REALLY did ALL those things..

Answer 5

scientist are not certain what the color was of many dinosaurs because no living specimens exist but it would make since for them to be a color which helped camoflauge them from potential prey items or predators.

Answer 6

It is just a guess based on all the other reptiles now living.

Answer 7

Simply a guess I say and may based on the idea of best camouflage

Answer 8

It's a fair guess, based on modern day reptiles.

Answer 9

WE DON'T----JUST A GUESS---THE WORD SAUR-MEANS LIZZARD----THEY COME IN ALL COLORS-----DINO----TERRIBLE---WE ARE FRIGHTENED BECAUSE THEY ARE MOSTLY SO BIG....NO HUMANS LIVED DURING THIS PERIOD.....WE'RE AFRAID OF THE BONES.....IF JURASIC PARK ACTUALLY COMES ALIVE....WE'LL BE REALLY AFRAID....TERRIBLE--LIZZARD