#*dinosaurs and other animals before someone corrects me. ik pterosaurs arent dinos its just easier to say when talking about the dino show

[wyrmways]

I love prehistoric planet so so dearly but i do wish that they made the animals a little less gray.

Especially in cases of animals that are theorized to have sexual display traits like frills or crests?? They put some color on them but compared to real life animals (especially reptiles & birds!) they are just sooo dull.

Nanuqsaurus was especially disappointing for me. Maybe it's just because it's normally depicted as some kind of white color, but i feel having the opportunity for such a unique color on this dinosaur and making it mostly the same grayish brown as so many other dinosaurs in the show was a missed opportunity.

Part of this is definitely the filter and lighting they put over certain scenes to make them look more 'natural' i suppose. I think the male hatzegopteryx's crest is actually very beautiful, but unfortunately due to the lighting of the show it often appears so much more drab and dull than it should be, even in broad daylight .

(color in show vs art by ttorroo on instagram)

This is a major reason the corythoraptor design stood out to me, because they were just so bright and beautiful in comparison to everything else in the show! Every time they were on screen i thought it was amazing to get to see these dinosaurs in such vibrant color! This shows that they /can/ depict dinosaurs in this way at least.

And i feel as though the only reason they /were/ blue is because they were based off of the modern cassowaries (one of which i got to see in person recently, they are a GORGEOUS blue. So much brighter than you would expect, heres a picture)

I just feel like, even though i love prehistoric planet, its quest to be overly 'realistic' holds it back in this area at least. The only animals they were willing to make super vibrant were the ones they based on a living similar bird, instead of considering that if the bright colors of a cassowary are possible, there's nothing that says that other bright colors could be possible on other types of dinosaurs.

Especially considering the colors of other birds! If they wanted to base the dino coloring on real life animals, they could have been inspired by other kinds of birds. Just because cassowaries are more 'dinosaur-like' doesnt discount the fact that birds are an incredibly diversely colored and patterned group of animals. There is plenty of potential for other colors in dinosaurs when looking at modern ones.

In fact, i would argue that the fossil evidence we have shows that dinosaurs could have been more brightly colored and distinctly patterned than the ones in the show, at least. While there haven't been bright yellow or blue dinos found, there has been evidence of brighter reds and browns, some greens and purples, iridescent like feathers, and more distinct patterns like stripes on several dinos.

It kind of baffles me how they were able to make leaps like the dreadnoughtus air sacs, but they weren't willing to make the dinosaurs a little brighter? I mean, so much paleo art nowadays depicts dinos in vibrant colors, i dont think it would be too much of a stretch.

Tldr, i love prehistoric planet and i think it has done a lot for the perception and depiction of dinosaurs as real life animals, i just wish that it didnt associate looking 'realistic' with 'looking gray' as much as it does, especially considering the amount of potential traits for sexual display dinosaurs had, and the colors of living birds and fossil evidence of dinosaur colors.