Welcome
If you’ve come to this page, you’re looking for dinosaurs. We have 15 line drawings of various dinosaurs from the Triassic to the Cretaceous, with all of the major groups represented. They all have something in common: each one is known from fossils found at or connected to a National Park Service unit, a National Natural Landmark, or a National Historic Landmark. The National Natural Landmark and National Historic Landmark programs are both administered by the National Park Service. Through these programs we recognize significant natural and historic sites.
With these drawings you can try out your skills and imagination bringing these famous animals to colorful life. What do you think they looked like? A spotted Ceratosaurus, a striped Alamosaurus, a camouflaged Hadrosaurus? These are all aspects of prehistoric organisms that we don’t know. Soft parts like skin and feathers rarely fossilize, and outside of a few cases of pigment molecules reported from feathers, we don’t know what colors these animals might have had. We’re pretty sure that dinosaurs could see very well, though, like their modern descendants the birds, so colors would have been important to them. Some people think that features like crests and frills were colorful to attract attention, or that patterns of scales may have gone with color patterns. Others try to compare dinosaurs to living animals with similar lifestyles to get an idea of their coloration, and give smaller dinosaurs different kinds of camouflage to hide them from predators. It’s up to you with these drawings!
When you color these drawings, you are working as a paleoartist, an artist specializing in reconstructing ancient life and the environments in which these organisms lived. The work of paleoartists can be found in museum exhibits, illustrations in books and magazines, captured on websites, and even featured in motion pictures and cartoons. The illustrations used for "Dinosaurs!—Prehistoric Life in National Parks & NNLs Coloring Pages" were designed as simple drawings, to provide more opportunity for you (the paleoartist) to be creative in your work to bring these dinosaurs back to life. Good luck and have fun!
If you enjoy this set of coloring pages, be sure to check out the Prehistoric Life Coloring Book. These pages go beyond dinosaurs to many other kinds of ancient organisms found in the National Parks, from Precambrian stromatolites to Ice Age mammals.
Dinosaurs! Coloring Pages
Last updated: October 15, 2021