Palaeoart & Speculation

Question 1

Maya is looking at a museum model of a Triceratops and wonders which features scientists can be sure about from fossils and which features are imagined. Which statement most accurately reflects this?

Accepted Answer

Scientists are certain about the shape of its skull and horns because those are seen in fossils, but the exact colour of its skin and whether it had spots are guesses.

Answer

Scientists know the dinosaur's exact skin colour because pigment cells are preserved in the fossils, but they are unsure about the size of its horns.

Answer

The dinosaur's diet can be told from its teeth, but we cannot tell anything about its bones.

Answer

Scientists have found complete skin and feather fossils for this dinosaur, so both its skeleton and coat are known.

Question 2

When Maya visits the natural history museum, she reads the sign about the dinosaur Sinoceratops. Which statement best explains what scientists can be certain about from its fossils?

Accepted Answer

They can describe the shape of its skeleton and the kind of teeth it had, but they cannot tell exactly what color its skin was or how its soft tissues looked.

Answer

They can determine the precise size of its brain and the texture of its feathers just by looking at the fossilized bones.

Answer

They can know the dinosaur’s exact skin color because pigment cells are always preserved in the bones.

Answer

They can figure out the dinosaur’s favorite food and the pattern of its skin from the footprints left behind.

Question 3

A museum team is building a life‑size model of the dinosaur Edmontosaurus. They have a complete skeleton, a few tiny skin impressions that show a rough texture, and a chemical hint that a distant relative might have had reddish pigment. Which statement about the model’s features is most scientifically sound?

Accepted Answer

We can base the model’s size, bone shape, and the rough skin texture on the fossils we have, but we must treat the dinosaur’s exact color or pattern as a guess because the evidence only hints at possible pigments.

Answer

Because the fossils show smooth bones, the dinosaur’s skin must have been smooth and shiny.

Answer

The tiny skin impressions tell us exactly what colors the dinosaur had, so we can paint the model with bright purple stripes.

Answer

Since a modern crocodile is green, the Edmontosaurus must have been bright green all over.

Try three questions

Maya is looking at a museum model of a Triceratops and wonders which features scientists can be sure about from fossils and which features are imagined. Which statement most accurately reflects this?

When Maya visits the natural history museum, she reads the sign about the dinosaur Sinoceratops. Which statement best explains what scientists can be certain about from its fossils?

Keep going on this shelf