BJ
From: Barney & Friends · Dinosaur: Protoceratops
The best-known yellow dinosaur on TV. BJ is a 7-year-old yellow Protoceratops who wears a red baseball cap and red sneakers. He's Baby Bop's big brother and has been singing with Barney since 1993.
Ask Puffsaurus
Yellow Dinosaurs
Who's the famous yellow dinosaur, and were real dinosaurs ever yellow? Meet sunny dinosaurs from TV and games, discover what colors scientists have found in fossils, and print a dinosaur to color yellow.
Quick Answer
The most famous yellow dinosaur is BJ from Barney & Friends, a yellow Protoceratops in a red baseball cap. Mario fans also know Yellow Yoshi. As for real dinosaurs, scientists don't know yet if any were yellow: fossils keep black, brown and ginger colors, but not yellow. Birds are living dinosaurs, though, and lots of them are bright yellow!
Famous Yellow Dinosaurs
Looking for the name of that yellow dinosaur your child loves? Here are the sunny dinosaurs kids ask about most.
Yellow Yoshi
From: Super Mario games · Dinosaur: Yoshi
Mario's friendly dinosaur pal is usually green, but Yoshis come in lots of colors, and yellow is one of them. A Yellow Yoshi first showed up in Super Mario World back in 1990.
Your yellow toy dino
From: Toy boxes everywhere · Dinosaur: Any kind you like!
Yellow is one of the most popular colors for dinosaur plush, bath toys and building blocks, because bright, sunny colors are easy for little eyes to spot. Does your yellow dinosaur have a name yet?
Fun fact: BJ is based on a real dinosaur! Protoceratops was about the size of a sheep, with a parrot-like beak and a bony frill. Meet it on our cute dinosaurs page.
Were Real Dinosaurs Yellow?
For a long time, nobody knew what color any dinosaur was. Then scientists looked at fossil feathers and skin under super-strong microscopes and found tiny color packets called melanosomes. Their shape tells us the color: long, skinny ones make black and gray, and round, chubby ones make ginger and reddish-brown.
But here's the catch: yellow is made a different way. Birds get their yellow from carotenoids, colorful pigments in the seeds, fruit and bugs they eat (the same stuff that makes carrots orange). Carotenoids break down over millions of years, so they don't show up in dinosaur fossils.
That means a dinosaur could have had a bright yellow crest, belly or tail, and we just can't see it yet. So when you color a dinosaur yellow, nobody can say you're wrong!
Real Dinosaur Colors Scientists Have Found
These dinosaurs had their colors worked out from fossils. No yellow ones yet, but every new find could change that!
Sinosauropteryx
Say it: SY-noh-sor-OP-ter-ix · Found in 2010
Ginger-brown with a white-striped tail and a dark “bandit mask”
Anchiornis
Say it: an-kee-OR-nis · Found in 2010
Gray-black body, black-and-white spotted wings, reddish-brown crest
Microraptor
Say it: MY-kro-RAP-tor · Found in 2012
Glossy black with a shiny blue sheen, like a crow
Psittacosaurus
Say it: SIT-ah-co-SORE-us · Found in 2016
Brown on top and pale underneath, for hiding in shady forests
Borealopelta
Say it: bor-ee-AL-oh-PEL-tah · Found in 2017
Reddish-brown armored back with a lighter belly
Caihong
Say it: CHAI-hong · Found in 2018
Dark feathers with a shimmery, rainbow-shiny neck
Want to see some of them? Meet the feathered dinosaurs →
Why Would a Dinosaur Be Yellow?
Hiding in dry grass
Sandy yellow and tan colors help animals blend into deserts and dry plains, places where many dinosaurs lived.
Showing off
Birds use bright yellow feathers to say “look at me!” to a mate. Feathered dinosaurs may have done the same thing.
Warning others
Bright yellow can mean “stay away!” in nature, like on bees and some frogs. A yellow crest or frill could have warned rivals off.
Yellow Dinosaurs That Are Alive Today
Want to see a real yellow dinosaur? Look out the window! Birds are dinosaurs, and plenty of them are as yellow as a banana.
- American goldfinch: The males turn bright lemon-yellow every spring. Their yellow comes from seeds and plants they eat.
- Canary: Famous for its sunny feathers and cheerful song. Wild canaries are greenish-yellow; pet canaries are often bright yellow.
- Yellow warbler: A tiny, all-yellow songbird that zips around bushes catching bugs, just like little feathered dinosaurs once did.
- Golden pheasant: Wears a bright golden-yellow crest on its head, like a crown of feathers.
Free Yellow Dinosaur Coloring Page
Print our color-me-yellow dinosaur and make it as sunny as you like. Try mixing different yellows: lemon for the body, golden for the spots, orange for the spikes and pale butter-yellow for the belly.
Name Ideas for Your Yellow Dinosaur
Got a new yellow dinosaur toy or drawing? Pick a sunny name:
- Sunny
- Lemon
- Goldie
- Banana
- Buttercup
- Daisy
- Mango
- Honey
- Butterscotch
- Sunflower
- Pineapple
- Custard
Want a real dinosaur name instead? Browse our names of dinosaurs list or find a yellow dino on our best dinosaur toys page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the yellow dinosaur called?
The most famous yellow dinosaur is BJ from Barney & Friends, a yellow Protoceratops who wears a red baseball cap. Mario fans may also be thinking of Yellow Yoshi, a yellow version of Yoshi from the Super Mario games.
What kind of dinosaur is BJ from Barney?
BJ is a Protoceratops, a real dinosaur that lived about 75 million years ago in what is now Mongolia. Real Protoceratops was about the size of a sheep and had a beak and a bony neck frill, a smaller cousin of Triceratops.
Were any real dinosaurs yellow?
Nobody knows yet. Fossils can keep tiny color packets called melanosomes, which show black, gray, brown and ginger colors. Yellow usually comes from pigments in food called carotenoids, and those don't survive in fossils. So some dinosaurs could have been yellow, but scientists can't prove it yet.
Are there yellow dinosaurs alive today?
Yes! Birds are living dinosaurs, and many of them are bright yellow, like the American goldfinch, the canary and the yellow warbler.
What colors were dinosaurs really?
For a few feathered dinosaurs we know! Sinosauropteryx was ginger with a striped tail, Microraptor was shiny black, and Anchiornis was black, white and reddish-brown. For most dinosaurs, though, artists make an educated guess based on animals living today.
What is a good name for a yellow dinosaur?
Try a sunny name like Sunny, Lemon, Goldie, Banana, Buttercup, Mango or Butterscotch. Our list on this page has more ideas.
Keep exploring: meet the cutest real dinosaurs, find out why birds are dinosaurs, or discover all the types of dinosaurs.
All illustrations on this page are original Puffsaurus artwork. Barney & Friends and Super Mario characters belong to their owners; Puffsaurus is not connected with them.
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