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Drawing a Dinosaur: Facts and Guesses

Science · Dinosaurs & Paleontology · ages 9-11

Name ______________________ Date ____________

Palaeoartists know the exact skin colour of every dinosaur.
Circle one: True False
Which parts of a dinosaur do fossils usually show clearly?
- Bones and teeth
- Skin colour
- Soft organs
What helps artists guess what a dinosaur's soft parts looked like?
- Guessing randomly
- Comparing to living relatives like birds and reptiles
- Copying old drawings
A new fossil is found with a clear skin impression on a well-known dinosaur. What does this most likely do to old drawings of it?
- It may make the old drawings need updating
- It proves every old drawing was completely wrong
- It has no effect on any drawings
Why do we now draw many dinosaurs with feathers?
- Artists just prefer how feathers look
- Feathers are easier to draw than scales
- New fossils show feather impressions
Look at the sequence. What happened right after new fossil evidence was found?
- Scientists ignored it
- Artists made a new drawing
- The scaly guess stayed the official picture forever
Scientists find a new fossil with feather impressions on a dinosaur once drawn as scaly. What should a careful artist do next?
- Update the picture to match the new feather evidence
- Assume the fossil is fake because it changes the old picture
- Ignore the new fossil since the old picture is popular
A book claims every part of a dinosaur picture comes straight from fossil proof. What is wrong with this claim?
- Dinosaur bones are guessed too
- Fossils never show any real evidence
- Soft parts like skin colour are usually guessed, not proven

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Drawing a Dinosaur: Facts and Guesses W1-mt_M8UQTURODF-s1

False · Skin colour rarely survives as a fossil, so artists make an informed guess.
Bones and teeth · Hard parts like bone and teeth turn to fossil easily. Soft parts usually break down first.
Comparing to living relatives like birds and reptiles · Scientists look at close living relatives to make an informed guess about soft parts.
It may make the old drawings need updating · New evidence lets artists update the picture rather than throw it away completely.
New fossils show feather impressions · Fossils with preserved feather impressions gave real evidence for feathers.
Artists made a new drawing · New fossil evidence led directly to an updated drawing, just like with Velociraptor.
Update the picture to match the new feather evidence · Good palaeoart changes to fit new evidence, the same way Velociraptor pictures changed over time.
Soft parts like skin colour are usually guessed, not proven · Bones give real evidence, but soft parts like colour are informed guesses, not direct proof.