WEBVTT - How Do We Know What Dinosaurs Looked Like?

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, I'm Chuck and I'm Josh and we're the host

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<v Speaker 1>Google Play Music, anywhere you get podcasts. Welcome to brain

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff from how Stuff Works. Hey, I'm Christian Saga and

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<v Speaker 1>this is brain Stuff. Dinosaurs are super old and they

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<v Speaker 1>are also super popular. We see them in movies, museums,

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<v Speaker 1>children's toys, cartoons, and more. But how do we know

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<v Speaker 1>what they actually looked like? It all comes down to fossils.

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<v Speaker 1>Think of reconstructing a dinosaur's appearance like putting together a

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<v Speaker 1>jigsaw puzzle. The fossils are the pieces on the edge

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<v Speaker 1>of the puzzle, but most of the other pieces are missing.

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<v Speaker 1>So while they don't tell us everything, fossils are the

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<v Speaker 1>best starting point for figuring out a dinosaurs appearance. The

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<v Speaker 1>way the bones fit together can give us a basic

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<v Speaker 1>understanding of a dinosaur's shape and posture. We can learn

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<v Speaker 1>a lot from the teeth to flat leaf shaped teeth

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<v Speaker 1>indicate herbivores, while sharp pointed teeth suggests a carnivore. Cavities

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<v Speaker 1>in the skull can help us figure out how well

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<v Speaker 1>a dinosaur could see or hear. We also use CT

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<v Speaker 1>scans to build three D images of the skeletons. From there,

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<v Speaker 1>we can add virtual layers of tissue, muscle and skin.

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<v Speaker 1>Under very rare conditions, a dinosaurs soft tissue can fossilize too.

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<v Speaker 1>In paleontologist Tyler License found in Edmonton Soaurus in North Dakota,

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<v Speaker 1>the skin and muscle tissue of its fossil remained intact.

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<v Speaker 1>CT scans of the body have revealed a treasure trove

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<v Speaker 1>of new information about dinosaurs. And here's the weirdest thing.

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<v Speaker 1>Dinosaurs weren't all scaly creatures like crocodiles or Godzilla. Some

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<v Speaker 1>had weird filaments all over their bodies, which dinosaur expert

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<v Speaker 1>Brian Switte calls dino fuzz. And some dinosaurs even had feathers.

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<v Speaker 1>We can tell by quill barbed marks little bumps where

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<v Speaker 1>feathers connect to bone. These marks aren't just one or

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<v Speaker 1>two obscure species either. We're talking about famous dinos like velociraptors.

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<v Speaker 1>It turns out quite a few dinosaurs had these feathers,

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<v Speaker 1>or technically something like feathers. Not every paleontologist is comfortable

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<v Speaker 1>with the name, preferring to describe these markings as into

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<v Speaker 1>gumentary structures or proto feathers instead, but these feathers and

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<v Speaker 1>feather like structures may have been pretty colorful too. In

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<v Speaker 1>scientists analyzed a micro raptor fossil with a scanning electron

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<v Speaker 1>microscope and found evidence of melanosomes. These are the organelles

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<v Speaker 1>inside a cell that store melanin or pigment. Different types

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<v Speaker 1>of melanosomes store different colors. This is the same stuff

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<v Speaker 1>that determines your hair color. The researchers found that this

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<v Speaker 1>microraptor had an irridescent glossy coat. As scientists look for

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<v Speaker 1>more fossilized melanosomes, they're reconstructing the appearance of Earth's ancient

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<v Speaker 1>dinosaurs with increasing and impressive accuracy. Not a bad job

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<v Speaker 1>considering they're literally working with a pile of bones. Check

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<v Speaker 1>out the Brainstuff channel on YouTube, and for more on

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<v Speaker 1>this and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works

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