Meet the famous blue dinosaurs from movies and toys, then find out whether real dinosaurs were ever blue. (Spoiler: some blue dinosaurs are still alive today!)
Quick Answer
The most famous blue dinosaur is Blue, the Velociraptor from the Jurassic World movies. For real dinosaurs, scientists haven't found one that was clearly sky-blue, but Microraptor had black feathers with a blue sheen, some dinosaurs laid blue-green eggs, and many birds, which are living dinosaurs, are bright blue today.
When kids ask about “the blue dinosaur,” they usually mean one of these:
Blue the Velociraptor
The most famous blue dinosaur of all. In the Jurassic World movies, Blue is a clever raptor with a blue-gray stripe down her side, raised and trained by an animal keeper named Owen.
Blue dinosaurs in games
Lots of video game dinosaurs come in blue. Yoshi, the friendly dinosaur from the Mario games, comes in many colors, and light-blue Yoshis are a fan favorite.
Blue toys and plushies
Blue is one of the most popular colors for dinosaur toys, from soft plush T. rexes to bath toys and blue raptor figures.
Our favorite dinosaur toys →
Blue is a movie star, but the real Velociraptor looked quite different. In 2007 scientists found little bumps on a Velociraptor arm bone where big feathers were attached, so we know it was feathered, a bit like a fierce turkey.
| 🎬 Blue in the movies | 🦴 Real Velociraptor | |
|---|---|---|
| Size | Taller than a grown-up | About the size of a turkey, with a long tail (about 6 feet long) |
| Weight | Heavier than a person | About 33 pounds, like a medium dog |
| Skin | Scaly skin, no feathers | Covered in feathers, with feathered arms like little wings |
| Color | Gray with a blue stripe | Nobody knows yet! No Velociraptor feathers have been found |
| Home | An island theme park | Deserts of Mongolia, about 75 million years ago |
Here's a secret: scientists can find some dinosaur colors in fossils, but blue is the hardest color to find. That's because animals make blue in a different way from other colors.
Black, gray, brown and ginger come from tiny color packets called melanosomes. Their shapes can survive for millions of years, so scientists can look at them under a super-powerful microscope and work out a feather's color.
Blue is a trick of the light. Blue birds don't have blue color inside their feathers. Instead, their feathers have tiny shapes that bounce back only blue light. Those shapes are so small and fragile that they are very hard to spot in a fossil. So some dinosaurs may well have been blue, and we just can't see it yet.
Say it: MY-kro-RAP-tor
💙 The blue part: Glossy black feathers with a blue shine
⭐ In 2012, scientists studied the tiny color packets in its fossil feathers and found it was black with a shimmery blue sheen, just like a crow or a grackle in the sunshine. It was about the size of a crow and had four wings!
More flying dinosaurs →
Say it: hay-yoo-AN-ee-ah
💙 The blue part: It laid blue-green eggs
⭐ Scientists found two color chemicals in its fossil eggshells, the same ones that make emu and robin eggs blue-green. So even if Heyuannia wasn't blue, its eggs were!
All about dinosaur eggs →
Say it: tsy-HONG
💙 The blue part: A shimmering rainbow neck
⭐ Its name means “rainbow” in Chinese. Its neck feathers shimmered with changing colors, like a hummingbird's throat, so in the right light it may have flashed blue and purple.
Meet more feathered dinosaurs →
Say it: KASS-oh-wair-ee
💙 The blue part: Bright blue skin on its head and neck
⭐ Birds are dinosaurs, and this one lives in Australia and New Guinea today! It has bright blue skin, a tall helmet on its head and big clawed feet, and it lays bright green eggs.
Why birds are dinosaurs →Birds are the dinosaurs that survived, so every blue bird is a real blue dinosaur! Look out for these:
Blue jay
Its feathers have no blue color inside. Crush one and it looks brown!
Peacock
Shiny blue neck and a giant tail full of shimmering eyes.
Kingfisher
A flash of electric blue as it dives into the water for fish.
Bluebird
A small songbird with a sky-blue back and an orange chest.
Pick your blues
Choose a light blue, a medium blue and a dark blue. Three shades make your dinosaur look round and real.
Color the body
Fill in the whole dinosaur with medium blue. Go around the edges first, then fill in the middle.
Add a light belly
Color the belly and chin light blue or white. Lots of real animals are lighter underneath.
Spots and stripes
Use dark blue for spots, stripes or back plates. A stripe down the side looks fast and sporty!
Finish the scene
Add a nest of blue-green eggs, a blue bird friend and a yellow sun. Now your blue dinosaur has a home.
Maybe! Scientists haven't found a dinosaur that was clearly sky-blue, but Microraptor had black feathers with a blue sheen, some dinosaurs laid blue-green eggs, and many birds, which are living dinosaurs, are bright blue today. Blue colors are very hard to find in fossils, so some extinct dinosaurs may have been blue too.
The most famous blue dinosaur is Blue, the Velociraptor from the Jurassic World movies. She is gray with a blue stripe on her side. Other well-known blue dinosaurs include light-blue Yoshi from the Mario games and lots of blue dinosaur toys.
Blue is a Velociraptor. The real Velociraptor was much smaller than the movie version, about the size of a turkey, and it was covered in feathers. Scientists don't know what color it was.
Some fossils keep tiny color packets called melanosomes. Their shapes tell scientists whether feathers were black, gray, brown or ginger. Blue is different: birds make blue with tiny shapes that bounce back blue light, and those are very hard to spot in fossils.
Yes, some did! Scientists found color chemicals in the fossil eggshells of Heyuannia, an oviraptor-like dinosaur from China, showing that its eggs were blue-green, a bit like emu or robin eggs.
Yes! Birds are dinosaurs, so blue jays, bluebirds, kingfishers and peacocks are all blue dinosaurs. The cassowary, a big flightless bird, even has bright blue skin on its head and neck.
Image credits (via Wikimedia Commons): Microraptor by Matt Martyniuk (CC BY 3.0); Heyuannia and eggs by Danny Cicchetti (CC BY-SA 4.0); Caihong by Lucas-Attwell (CC BY-SA 4.0); Velociraptor by TotalDino (CC BY 4.0); southern cassowary by Dave Kimble (public domain). Blue dinosaur cartoon and color diagram by Puffsaurus.
Does your little one love blue dinosaurs? 🦕
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