# Preserved dinosaur skin has indeed been found... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [March 12, 2002, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preserved-dinosaur-skin-has-indeed-been-found/97888 "2002-03-12T18:46:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preserved-dinosaur-skin-has-indeed-been-found/97888/1 "2002-03-12T18:46:59Z")
…although it does not shed any light on coloration issues… [http://www.dinohunters.demon.co.uk/History/Trachodon2.htm](http://www.dinohunters.demon.co.uk/History/Trachodon2.htm) tells of the dinosaur mummy that includes preserved skin and [http://www.dinosauria.com/jdp/misc/scipionyx.html](http://www.dinosauria.com/jdp/misc/scipionyx.html) details the dinosaur fossil that includes preserved internal organs (though this specimen does not have preserved skin)… ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preserved-dinosaur-skin-has-indeed-been-found/97888/2 "2002-03-12T21:35:38Z")
Here’s another skin sample: [http://www.discover.com/may\_99/breakbump.html](http://www.discover.com/may_99/breakbump.html) And this article indicates that it _may_ be possible to one day actually determine something about dionsaurian skin color: [http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/dinosaurs/jurpink.jsp](http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/dinosaurs/jurpink.jsp) ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preserved-dinosaur-skin-has-indeed-been-found/97888/3 "2002-03-12T21:41:58Z")
Or di **no** saurian skin, even. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preserved-dinosaur-skin-has-indeed-been-found/97888/4 "2002-03-12T23:32:49Z")
Welcome to the SDMB, and thank thee for posting thy comment. Please include a link to Cecil’s column if it’s on the straight dope web site. To include a link, it can be as simple as including the web page location in thy post (make sure there is a space **before** and **after** the text of the URL). Cecil’s column can be found on-line at this link: [What color were dinosaurs? (21-Mar-1980)](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_010.html) * * * moderator, «[**Comments on Cecil’s Columns**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1)» ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2002, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preserved-dinosaur-skin-has-indeed-been-found/97888/5 "2002-03-13T03:43:01Z")
Not to be too much of a party pooper, but there was an exhibit of an anatosaur “dinosaur mummy”, complete with skin impressions, on exhibit in the American Museum of Natural History _long_ before Cecil’s original column appeared. I know – I practically grew up there. ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2002, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preserved-dinosaur-skin-has-indeed-been-found/97888/6 "2002-03-13T13:52:13Z")
**Darwin’s Finch** : That’s a spectacular find, but to be fair to Cecil, the hadrosaur skin fossil is actually a skin _impression_, not the actual preserved skin of the dinosaur. It is, like I said, a spectacular and important fossil, however! **CalMeacham** : That dinosaur mummy is the very same one that my first link refers to: so there you have it, independent corroboration! ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2002, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preserved-dinosaur-skin-has-indeed-been-found/97888/7 "2002-03-21T09:25:23Z")
The column can also be found on pages 10-11 of Cecil Adams’ book «[_The Straight Dope (1984; reissued 1986, 1998)_](https://securesite.chireader.com/cgi-bin/dopestore/buystuff.bat#tsd)».