This model of Sinosauropteryx was created for National Geographic magazine in 1996, when this dinosaur was announced as the first to have feathers. The artist, Brian Cooley, worked closely with paleontologist Philip Currie to create this reconstruction. Some banding was visible on the fossil specimen's tail, so the team captured that in this artwork. Otherwise, the colors and pattern were based on a guess at what a small forest-dwelling, carnivorous, birdlike animal might have looked like. Based on today's revelation of the true colors of Sinosauropteryx, Cooley and Currie were not far off.© Lou Mazzatenta/Brian Cooley

When I was growing up as a typical dinosaur-loving kid, I was told that we'd never know the real color of dinosaurs. As an adult and as the art director of National Geographic magazine for many years, I encountered the same answer every time I worked with scientists and artists to depict a scene of prehistoric life. We made do by making informed guesses based on what we saw in living animals.

I feel particularly privileged to have been behind the scenes on the story that broke today showing the first scientifically established color on nonavian dinosaurs. I visited China two times last year to meet Chinese scientists working on this study and visited with Mike Benton of the University of Bristol at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology annual meeting there last winter. These scientists were on the brink of doing something once thought impossible. As we talked, the excitement among them was palpable.

For paleontologists, knowing the color and patterns of fossil feathers is likely to prove invaluable in gaining insight into dinosaur behavior. Was feather color used by dinosaurs as it is in living birds, that is, for courtship displays, camouflage, defensive posturing, and to differentiate the sexes? Probably so, but there was simply no way to know until now.

From today on, scientists will be looking for preserved melanosomes in any well-preserved fossils. And paleoartists will have a whole new line of science-based information to work with. Gone are the days when paleoartists had complete "artistic license" when it came to dinosaur color. Scientists will no longer be able to say Who knows? quite so often.

Today, we are hearing about melanosomes found on the tails, backs, and other parts of dinosaurs. Fucheng Zhang, Benton, and their colleagues will soon try to color whole feathered dinosaurs and fossil birds. Other teams are sure to be looking not only at fossil feathers but also at the skin, hair, eyes, and many other structures of animals that preserve melanin, the pigment in melanosomes.

This is just the very first glimpse of the color of the prehistoric world, like sun rays just peeking over the horizon at dawn. Hold on to your seats. There will be much, much more to come!

-Christopher P. Sloan