In the first part of this series, we went through bird colours formed by melanosomes and structural properties of their skin and feathers. These mechanisms produce blacks and greys, browns, iridescences, blues and purples. These are also the only colours that can be at the moment partially deciphered from well-preserved fossils.

However, that is not even close to the full rainbow of living birds, and unlikely was that for non-avian dinosaurs either. In this article, we’ll go through other mechanisms living birds use to produce colour, and speculate how likely each of them would be in ancient non-avian species. Continue reading →

At the moment, only a small subset of colour-producing mechanisms present in birds can be detected from fossils. What is a paleoartist to do?

One of the most fascinating aspects of paleoart is the creation of colour palettes for animals long gone. It is an interesting exercise: the end product is almost certainly wrong, as chancing upon the exact right colouration is very much comparable to winning the lottery. The goal of most paleoart is to make reconstructions that are wrong in a way that is plausible, interesting, and aesthetically pleasing.

Even the recent advances in deciphering colours from fossils have not changed everything. At the moment they only apply to a small number of dinosaurian taxa, and even within those, to a small subset of colour-producing pigments.

There are lots of ways to approach the problem of colour. Some paleoartists copy and paste the patterns of living animals on top of ancient ones almost directly. Others study animal colouring and ecology and incorporate ideas and principles to their art. Still others are most concerned with making beautiful art pieces with colours that fit together.

Whichever the approach, everyone benefits from understanding the basics of animal colouring. Where do the colours of living animals come from? What do we know about which pigments and structures were possible for extinct groups? For non-avian dinosaurs, the best point of comparison are living birds, followed by crocodylians. Studying mammals also has something to offer. Continue reading →