New dinosaur may have looked like a raccoon (Report)

Sinosauropteryx’s plumage pattern suggests it lived in an open habitat 130 million years ago (artist’s impression). (Credit: Robert Nicholls)

Imagine this: a large, feathered reptile with bold stripes and a colorful, raccoon-like face. Sound like something you’d probably see roaming around the world of Pokemon, right? Well it’s real, or at least it was. It’s called a Sinosauropteryx, and it lived here on Earth some 126 million years ago.

The very first Sinosauropteryx fossil was actually discovered way back in the mid 1990s, and it shook up the entire image of dinosaurs thanks to its apparent feathery coat. Now, a new research effort to learn more about the ancient species has given scientists a better understanding of exactly what it looked like, and man is it a weirdo.

Using the preserved remains from three different Sinosauropteryx fossils, paleontologists from the University of Bristol were able to figure out the colors of the dinosaur’s fancy…