That's kind of interesting because this dinosaur that was the size of a car and sported armour plating on half its body felt the evolutionary pressure to develop camouflage on top of all that. Maybe some truly bad-ass larger things that could routinely chomp through that defense were walking around.Discovered by accident in 2011, scientists have since been working to analyze the creature, teasing out details about its physical looks and life. As Davis reports, scientists discovered that the black film contained traces of elements that are associated with red pigmentation. "We could see that the organic compounds [in the film] were something that contained carbon, nitrogen and sulfur—that is something that we know is typical for [the pigment] red melanin," University of Bristol molecular paleobiologist Jakob Vinther tells Davis.
Or not.
Not everyone is convinced that the nodosaur sported this red coloration—or what the coloring could imply about its . Alison Moyer who studies fossilized tissue at Drexel University tells Michael Greshko at National Geographic that the organic film found on the sleeping dragon could have come from bacteria that grew on the decaying corpse after death. She also notes that the preserved dinosaur hide doesn’t reach the animal’s belly, meaning the underside could have been the same color.
Even if the creature was two toned, Moyer cautions against drawing too many conclusions based on these looks. “[T]he study relating to the pigmentation and coloration—and, therefore, conclusions about predator-prey relationships—is kind of flooded with issues,” Moyer tells Greshko. “There are endless possibilities that aren’t considered that would be more parsimonious than jumping to this countershading.”