Re: DINOSAUR digest 1012

[sj@io.com (Steve Jackson)]

Steven S. Lazarussaid:

>What about the (Stegosaurus)
>plates as a camouflage device? Has this been suggested before? If it was
>foraging among thick vegatation, might the plates help it blend in with its
>surroundings? If this was true, might this suggest something about skin
>coloring since most vegetation is some shade of green?

One of the presenters at Dinofest (Ralph Chapman, I think) mentioned this
idea. Apparently the Stegosaurus' shape is hard for an electronic imaging
system to make out, and a predator might have the same trouble.

I gave it some thought afterwards, since we are currently coloring DINO
HUNT illustrations. For it to really work, it would be best if the plates
were not the same color as the body (that would present one coherent image,
albeit a spiky one). OTOH, there would be little point in having the body
one color and the plates another color; that would just make the basic body
shape easy to recognize, by ignoring the plates. The best way to break up
the body outline would be either an overall mottle pattern extending onto
the plates,
or a broad stripe pattern that extends from the body onto the plates. I
want to make sure we color at least one stegosaurid that way, just to see
how it works.

Not just greens. Greens, browns and grays for forest. For a harsher
environment, shades of brown, rust and gray-black.

But we won't pose him in front of the forest, because we want you to be
able to SEE him. The problem with good cammo, from the illustrator's
viewpoint, is that it works. (I have had the same trouble with well-painted
military miniatures on a colored map or terrain board. The better they are,
the likelier you are to lose them.)

 Steve Jackson - yes, of SJ Games - yes, we won the Secret Service case
Learn Web or die - http://www.io.com/sjgames/ - dinosaurs, Lego, Kahlua!
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