Raccoon-sized dinosaur with ‘bandit’ mask amazes scientists

WASHINGTON: A raccoon-sized, feather-clad dinosaur that roamed China 130 million years ago shared a distinctive trait with the furry modern mammal that topples dirt bins in North America: a stripe across their eyes resembling a bandit mask.

Scientists said an analysis of fossilised feathers on the dinosaur called Sinosauropteryx revealed a camouflage pattern that included the bandit mask, a light-coloured underbelly, dark-coloured back and a striped tail.

Its colour pattern also hinted at the environment Sinosauropteryx inhabited: an open savannah rather than a forest, the researchers believe.

“This was quite a surprising discovery,” paleontologist Fiann Smithwick of the University of Bristol in Britain said.

In birds, the evolutionary descendants of dinosaurs, a bandit mask pattern often obscures the eyes. Predators and prey look for eyes as a give away of an animal’s presence, Smithwick said. “The colour patterns we found are all known to be associated with camouflage in modern animals and so it is likely that Sinosauropteryx was under strong predation pressure, as well as needing to hide from its own prey.

“It was likely both the hunter and the hunted.”

Sinosauropteryx measured about 1m long, was two-legged with short arms, large thumbs and a very long tail, and was covered in filament-like feathers.

Previous research indicated its dark feathers were brownish-red. “It would have looked like a skinny version of a raccoon mixed with a turkey,” said University of Bristol molecular paleobiologist Jakob Vinther.

The camouflage pattern seen on the side of Sinosauropteryx’s body is called counter shading, which helps animals blend in with the background.

The research was published in the journal Current Biology. – Reuters