SKIN
Soft tissue generally doesn’t last
underground, but sometimes we
get lucky. For the T. rex, a small
slice of fossilized skin found in
Montana enabled artists to make
a stamp of the texture and apply it
to the rest of the body. Coloring is
trickier: Designers take cues from
the environment more than the
fossil record. T. rex lived in semi-
marshy areas and flood plains,
so it likely had brownish- greenish
dappled skin to blend in.LIMBS
Bones’ structures can indicate
how appendages moved. T. r e x,
for one, used to be shown with
its hands facing down, like it
was playing a piano, but a 2018
analysis of turkey and alligator
shoulders determined their palms
may have turned in. Similarly, the
angle between M. gui’s shoulder
blades and rib cage may have pre-
vented its wings from lifting high
enough to flap; wind-tunnel tests
suggest these dinos glided.
FEATHERS
Tiny cellular structures called
melanosomes vary in color de-
pending on their shape: Black
ones are sausage-like; reds are
round. Thanks to a very well-
preserved M. gui feather, we
know it shone raven. Nano-
structures also suggest it had an
iridescent sheen, like a crow or
magpie. We’ve never dug up a
plumed T. r e x, but its close rela-
tives often have protofeathers on
their heads, backs, and tails, so
we suspect the king did too.