CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Steggie was born this way. (Insert Lady Gaga song here.)

Clevelanders and University Circle visitors all know Steggie as a brownish-greenish color. The 18-foot-long and 8-foot-tall Stegosaurus was that shade of green for nearly 50 years outside the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. But, as it turns out ... it was never scientifically accurate.

The Plain Dealer's Laura DeMarco reports:

"The biggest change will be the paint job," says Glenda Bogar, CMNH director of communications. "Steggie [got] a full and complete repainting, which [is] as scientifically accurate as current knowledge allows. Our Exhibits staff is work[ed] with our Vertebrate Paleontology staff to come up with a paint plan which includes some new colors."

"This new color scheme for Steggie is meant to reflect a modern understanding of

dinosaur evolutionary relationships and paleobiology: dinosaurs were

highly visual and colorful social animals, just like their living

descendants - birds," says Lee Hall, Vertebrate Paleontology Preparator.

So there you have it. Steggie really was born that way, we've just been misrepresenting him this whole time.