The study suggests the animal had a light underside and darker colouring on the top of its body to help it blend in with a forest environment and keep its safe from predators.
Advertisement
The specimen is part of what’s known as the Jehol Biota – animals which flourished in north-eastern China from 133 million – 120 million years ago. But according to a new study in Current Biology, our friend the parrot lizard had a defense mechanism never before seen in a dinosaur.
Researchers believe Psittacosaurus’ coloring kept it from being easily spotted by predators who use the contrast of light and shadows to make out shapes and spot prey. In doing so, the researchers discovered that Psittacosaurus used a form of camouflage, called countershading, that is still widely used by many animals today.
With doe eyes and a parrot-like beak, Psittacosaurus may have been the most adorable dinosaur of its day. Paleoartist Bob Nicholls based his reconstruction of Psittacosaurus on an incredibly well-preserved fossil from China (image below) studied by University of Bristol paleontologist Jakob Vinther and colleagues. It also was the first time researchers were able to hypothesize the environment a dinosaur inhabited based on its coloration.
Dr Vinther realised that structures previously thought to be artifacts or dead bacteria in fossilized feathers were actually “melanosomes”, small structures that carry melanin pigments found in the feathers and skin of many animals.
The truth behind the protruding object that is located in the dinosaur’s bottom could have been pushed by gasses from the animal’s decay.
It is possible to make out the patterns of preserved melanin without the aid of a microscope when fossils such as the Psittacosaurus’ are well preserved.
The research team scanned the specimen with specialized laser equipment to reveal its detailed skin pigmentation, which they used to create a lifelike replica. There are thousands of scales, all different shapes and sizes, and many of them are only partially pigmented.
Researchers placed the gray 3D model in the Cretaceous plant section of the Bristol Botanic Garden and photographed it under the open sky and underneath trees to see how the shadow reacted on the dinosaurs’ skin. “This demonstrates that fossil color patterns can provide not only a better picture of what extinct animals looked like, but they can also give new clues about extinct ecologies and habitats”.
Psittacosaurus countershading suggests that the ancient reptile lived in an environment where it had to hide from predators, such as a forest with diffused light.
By comparing the shadow to the pattern in the fossil they could then predict what environment the psittacosaur lived in.
“We were amazed to see how well these color patterns actually worked to camouflage this little dinosaur”, Vinther said in a statement.
Advertisement
From this, they concluded the parrot lizard – so-called because of its bird-like beak – lived in a closed habitat such as a forest with a relatively dense canopy.
