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Post by ihatefeathers144 on Jan 1, 2012 17:30:06 GMT
I think what most people fail to take into account is the size of the given animal. We can safely assume that dinosaurs had color vision, given their relationships & crests, horns, frills, etc. However, I think artists have gone overboard with this & given us huge, multi-ton animals with a palette of bright blues, reds, purples & such. If you look at large reptiles today-crocodiles, tortoises, & the larger snakes, these are not the most brightly colored animals today. If you believe the birds are their direct descendants, the larger birds alive today are also not exactly the most vibrant animals around either. The smaller theropods & ornithopods I can believe had a more varied color scheme than the larger ones. Large ceratopsians & hadrosaurs with their frills & crests probably had a splash of bright colors in these regions only, not the entire body. I think the notion of animals over 20 feet long & weighing a ton or more with a garish purple or blue color scheme is a fantasy.
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Post by stoneage on Jan 1, 2012 18:50:51 GMT
But the only plausible time when I could imagine a Emerald Boa or Green Python eating insects is when they are hatchlings and thats when they are specifically not green. Then when they are adults (and green) they move on to much larger prey. Is it possible that when they are babies, they get enough insects to keep them green the rest of their lives? The juveniles of both these arboreal snakes can be different colors. Also the adults can be different colors depending on their location. While some insects may be eaten ( none are known as far as I know from their stomach contents) the majority of their diet consist of small mammals. The most likely reason for their colors is camouflage. |
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Post by Griffin on Jan 1, 2012 19:00:46 GMT
But the only plausible time when I could imagine a Emerald Boa or Green Python eating insects is when they are hatchlings and thats when they are specifically not green. Then when they are adults (and green) they move on to much larger prey. Is it possible that when they are babies, they get enough insects to keep them green the rest of their lives? The juveniles of both these arboreal snakes can be different colors. Also the adults can be different colors depending on their location. While some insects may be eaten ( none are known as far as I know from their stomach contents) the majority of their diet consist of small mammals. The most likely reason for their colors is camouflage. I agree. Well Emerald Tree Boas are only born brick red while Green Pythons can be either red or yellow. But absolutely all the colors involved are an adaptation to blend in. And I also agree that they are mostly warm-blooded prey hunters (especially the boa). My question was to dinoguy who said that in order for an animal to be green in the first place it must be either an insect eater or plant eater. |
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Post by dinoguy2 on Jan 1, 2012 19:28:29 GMT
The juveniles of both these arboreal snakes can be different colors. Also the adults can be different colors depending on their location. While some insects may be eaten ( none are known as far as I know from their stomach contents) the majority of their diet consist of small mammals. The most likely reason for their colors is camouflage. I agree. Well Emerald Tree Boas are only born brick red while Green Pythons can be either red or yellow. But absolutely all the colors involved are an adaptation to blend in. And I also agree that they are mostly warm-blooded prey hunters (especially the boa). My question was to dinoguy who said that in order for an animal to be green in the first place it must be either an insect eater or plant eater. That's my understanding. I can't seem to find any sources for green boa pigmentation mechanisms. Do you have a source that says adult boas do not eat insects as a supplement to larger prey? Edit: I have found a few sites that mention albino snakes can retain some green color. www.oregonzoo.org/Cards/Amazon/emerald.treeboa.htmThat means that it's not entirely due to pigmentation in these snakes but is due to layering of iridescence--rather than layer blue iridescence on yellow pigment, they layer blue iridescence on yellow iridescence or chromarophores! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChromatophoreFascinating. Looks like scale/skin color can be much more complex than feather color. |
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Post by Griffin on Jan 1, 2012 20:33:23 GMT
No but I am in the exotic keeping field it was always my understanding that these animals (especially the boas) specialize in warm bodied prey- mostly birds and marsupials.
Interesting what you found though. So I suppose it is still plausible that at least the scaly dinosaurs could have some green color.
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Post by Horridus on Jan 1, 2012 21:05:38 GMT
Sounds like the scaly dinosaurs had greater potential for being colourful than the feathered ones (other than those with 'true' feathers) - which is rather different to how it is normally assumed, but there you go! One of those falsehoods people take for granted...
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Post by sid on Jan 8, 2012 17:20:05 GMT
Sounds like the scaly dinosaurs had greater potential for being colourful than the feathered ones (other than those with 'true' feathers) - which is rather different to how it is normally assumed, but there you go! One of those falsehoods people take for granted... Hooray for scaly critters! ;D |
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Post by Pachyrhinosaurus on Jan 21, 2012 20:50:28 GMT
Nile Crocodiles are carnivores. How would they get the pigment to be yellow, then?
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