Dinosaurs

[Unabashed]

How do we actually know that dinosaurs had scales when the only proof of the we have are fossils, maybe a T Rex was covered in fur......Wheres the proof?

[M.T.Vessel]

I totally agree with you unabashed, does anyone else have a view on this subject? Are you Jonny Vegas?

[Hamish]

That reminds me of wondering how they know that they were reptiles and not just egg laying mammals.

[Hamish]

What about their bones and teeth are different from mamles etc and the same as reptiles? Although I agree if we assume they were reptiles that a scaled skin would make sence as (for the benifit of M.T.Vessel) a fur would slow the waming required on a morning for a reptile to raise its body temperature as they are cold blooded. Ta Hamish

[snaykz]

I believe that in some (perhaps rare) cases, fossilized dinosaur skin imprints have been found and this was scaled, although we can't tell what colour the skin was from fossils. Even though the skin hadn't survived in fossilized form, the imprint of the scaled skin in the surrounding rock has. Many dinosaurs developed feathers and have evolved into modern day birds, so a sort of downy fur is not out of the question, particularly on these feathered species, such as archeopterix, the earliest feathered dinosaur so far discovered. I was a dinosaur fanatic as a kid.