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When it comes to creatures that are known to us only through fossils it's understandable that there's a lot we don’t know. Skin, fur, hair, feathers, fat tissue rarely gets fossilised and fossil remains can't tell much about the behavior of the animal. Hence, it's no secret that when it comes to palaeontology, a fair amount of speculation is allowed.
C.M. Kosemen, an Istanbul-based artist has written a book "All Yesterdays" about prehistoric animals where he shared some of his speculations through illustrations.
He says that animal reconstructions based only on fossils may often pose some inaccuracies. The main reason is that many features of animal bodies may not have survived in fossils, such as pouches, or skin flaps.
Most of us have seen dinosaurs portrayed with deadly grins and massive sharp teeth making them look like terrifying predators. According to Kosemen, actual dinosaurs which inhabited the earth million years ago, may not have looked so terrifying after all. Most of the animals had lips, gums and enough facial fat to hide their vicious grins.
To avoid similar misconceptions himself, the artist tries to take more cues from animals today.
With his illustrations, Koseman challenges current depictions of dinosaurs by offering alternatives, which may be more accurate and knowledgeable.
Check them out below and tell us what you think in the comments.
More info: cmkosemen.com
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
The Extremely Birdy Predatory Dinosaur Deinonychus Watches The Sunset At A Canyon
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#2
Scythe-Armed, Featherless Swans
glowworm2 7 years ago
That's kind of terrifying actually--I see one of them impaled some lunch.
Stealthzilla 3 years ago
I love this because it’s very similar to how dinosaurs are draw for no reason
#3
An Elephant, A Rhinoceros And A Horse Reconstructed With The Mistakes We Often See In Reconstructions Of Dinosaurs And Other Extinct Animals. From My Book, All Yesterdays, Unique And Speculative Views Of Dinosaurs And Other Prehistoric Animals
earringnut 7 years ago
this is my favorite! it shows just how far off we are of what we think we know.
Virgil Blue 7 years ago
True, and thats why we keep adapting them when new info becomes available. I do hope the feathered t rex catches on. Even if it justly to hear Jeff Goldblum say "Nice pre bird, beautiful plumage" in a future Jurassic park movie.
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Alison Marchand 7 years ago
These remind me of the illustrations from those Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books that scarred me from childhood...
#4
Two Lanky Moganopterus Pterosaurs On A Stroll At An Ancient Beach. Moganopterus Was One Of The Largest Toothed Pterosaurs
Aduain Captor 6 years ago
Pigeons are incredibly intelligent, remember faces their entire life, can recognise faces in photographs and themselves in mirrors. They are social animals just like humans, dolphins, elephants, corvids and parrots which made them socially intelligent very similar to humans. Idk what you were trying to prove here
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sandro dugladze 2 years ago
wdym a pigeon is pretty smart and also we dont really know how smart pterosaurs were, cuz everybody is too focused on how goddamn scary they are
#5
A Short-Tailed Form Of The Popular Sail-Backed Repto-Mammal Dimetrodon. The Background On This Image Is Inaccurate. These Animals Mostly Inhabited Swamps And Jungle
#6
The Intermediate-Form Pterosaur, Darwinopterus Modularis, Flashes Its Red Crest For A Potential Mate
#7
The Giant, Macropredatory Sperm Whale, Livyathan Melvillei, Which Lived 12-13 Million Years Ago. Each Teeth Of This Animal Was The Size Of A Small Shoe
Michael Oberhofer 6 years ago
I see your point, but consider how weird it is to construct a plural by changing a double 'o', to a double 'e'. Makes no sense. How about 'Mouse', & 'Mice'? Why isn't the plural of 'House', 'Hice'? English is a silly, silly language. We're just very lucky that military success & colonisation in the 17th to 19th centuries by a tiny island off the European mainland made it a global language. It could just as easily be Chinese, Arabic, or Norse. ...Just sayin'
Load More Replies... #8
The Sword-Beaked Ichthyosaur Eurhinosaurus Has Been Typecast As A Slim, Sleek Marine Reptile, But With A Length Exceeding 6 Meters, It Must Have Been Quite A Stately Creature In Real Life
#9
The Stubby-Armed Dinosaur, Majungasaurus, Displays With Its Flamboyant Neck Wattles And Crest
Doubanji 7 years ago
Wonder if they're meant to scare off predators like the peacocks eye feathers?
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#10
A Jock Ctenospondylus Faces Down A Smaller Opponent Because His Back Is Not Humpy And Red Enough
#11
"Shrink-Wrap" Reconstructions Of Birds
#12
Measured Drawing Of The Small Chinese Pterosaur Qinglongopterus, A Relative Of Rhamphorhynchus. This Flying Reptile Is Known From The Fossil Of A Very Small Juvennile - Not Much Larger Than The Eurasian Wren, Troglodytes Troglodytes Living Today
#13
Albertosaurus, The Original "Terror Bird"
#14
A Bull Diplodocus Briefly Walks On Two Legs While On A Beachside Excursion, As His Kind Often Does
MBZ MetalsmithArtist 7 years ago
These drawings and captions are really interesting- they remind me of Edward Gorey too
Janet Allison 7 years ago
“As his kind often does” lmao. Did you read it’s diary or something?
#15
The Swimming Reptile Polycotylus, Viewed From The Top. New Discoveries Indicate These Prehistoric Marine Reptiles Were Quite Chunky - More Like Seals And Walruses Than Snakes Or Crocodiles.
#16
Balaur Bondoc Lived In Late Cretaceous Romania. It Was Interpreted As A Strange, “Double-Sickle-Clawed” Relative Of Velociraptor Or Deinonychus, But It Is Now Thought To Be A Unique Relative Of Early Birds
#17
A Slightly Immature Pterodactylus Pterosaur By An Ancient Seashore. A Mature Specimen Can Be Seen On The Background
#18
Pencil Illustration Of The Ichthyosaur Acamptonectes
#19
The Demon-Bird Austroraptor Howls Against The Full Moon
#20
The “Bull-Horned” Ceratopsian Nasutuceratops Supplements Its Diet With A Dash Of Calcium - From An Unfortunate Turtle It Found On A River Bank
#21
Scaled Pencil Drawings Of Large And Small Forms Of Plateosaurus. This Early Plant-Eating Dinosaur Exhibited A Large Variety In Body Sizes
sandro dugladze 2 years ago
plateosaurus might probably be the most used dinosaur ever, cuz whenever a company with no knowledge of dinosaurs wants to make dinosaur toys, they either make different colored plateosaurs and slap random dinosaur names on them or just make everything either a t rex or a saurupod
#22
Pencil Study Of Massospondylus, The Goobiest Prosauropod
#23
Portrait Of Sinosaurus, A Meat-Eating Dinosaur Once Thought To Be A Species Of The Dilophosaurus
#24
This Small, Climbing, Fuzzy And Heterodont (Differently-Toothed) Animal As The Ultimate Ancestor Of All Dinosaurs, “Dinosauromorphs” And Pterosaurs
#25
The Early Dinosaur, Eoraptor, Runs Through A Psychedelic Forest, Its Body Already Bristling With Tuft-Like Structures Ancestral To Feather
#26
An Experimental, Cave-Art-Like Rendition Of Dinosaurs. The Mid-Size Tyrannosaur, Gorgosaurus, Has Just Killed An Edmontosaurus-Like Herbivore, Two Bird-Like Troodonts Are Closing In To Share The Kill
MantisKeeper 5 years ago
actually dinosaurs couldn't stick their tongues; they were rooted to the bottom of the mouth.
#27
The Giant Meat-Eating Dinosaur, Giganotosaurus, Here Restored With A Throat Sac. This Animal Had Tiny Arms That Terminated In Hook-Like Claws
MantisKeeper 5 years ago
It means 'giant lizard of the south.' the original indominus rex, it was larger than tyrannosaurus by about 6 feet.
Load More Replies... sandro dugladze 2 years ago
Giga arms werent small lol it could easily pick you up with its arms by crouching
#28
The Newly-Discovered Polar Dinosaur Nanuqsaurus, From Fossil Deposits In Alaska, Seen Here In Scale With A Modern-Day Inuit Girl. Nanuqsaurus Was A Small-Sized Relative Of The Famous Tyrannosaurus Rex
#29
A Pterosaur With Bird-Like Feathers
#30
The Crocodile-Like Archosaur Ticinosuchus Attacks A Long-Necked Tanystropheus
#31
The Herbivorous Dinosaur Zalmoxes, Restored Speculatively With A Covering Of Thick, Pangolin-Like Scales Interspersed With Feathery Filaments
sandro dugladze 2 years ago
these scales aint gonna save it from me [Look at my profile picture]
#32
Mosasaurs Were Gigantic, Sea-Dwelling Relatives Monitor Lizards That Lived At The Time Of The Dinosaurs
#33
Male And Female Limusaurus Dinosaurs. Done In An Experimental New Style In Which I Draw, Scan, Print And Draw Over Successive Iterations Of The Same Image
#34
Australian Dinosaurs: Australovenator Wintonensis And Two Modern-Day Emus, Dromaius Novaehollandiae. The Australovenator Figure Is Adapted From A Skeletal Drawing By Ashley Patch
#35
Medium-Size Mosasurs, Swimming Lizards That Lived At The Time Of Dinosaurs, In Comparison With A Modern-Day Person
#36
Measured Drawing Of The “Double Sickle-Claw” Dinosaur Balaur Bondoc From Late Cretaceous Romania, Compared To A Present-Day Dog
Virgil Blue 7 years ago
The dog looks like it's thinking "I don't know if I like this thing. Will it claw me if I Would try to smell it's bum?"
#37
The Earliest Ancestor Of Pterosaurs Could Have Been Something Like This. This Is A Speculative Animal
#38
The Sail-Backed Repto-Mammal Secodontosaurus Was The Most Likely Member Of Its Group To Have Had An Aquatic Lifestyle
#39
The Recently Discovered Torvosaurus Gurneyi, One Of The Largest Meat-Eating Dinosaurs Known From Europe, In Scale With Torvosaurus Tanneri, Its American Relative, And A Present-Day Girl
#41
Measured Drawings Of The Newly-Discovered, Skin-Winged Dinosaur Yi Qi, Compared With A Modern-Day Magpie, Pica Pica
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What do you think ?
The Alchemist 7 years ago
It reminds you of how much we don't know about dinosaurs. We can only learn so much from looking at their bones.
Zori the degu 7 years ago
Really like most of them but I have to disagree with some, especially the pterosaurs pictures. Some of them simply seem to have too small wings. After all, these animals could fly or at least hover. Great job, nevertheless. Reminded me of the good old days I was obsessed with drawing dinosaurs. My favourite targets were pterosaurs and long-nosed predators, such as spinosaurus, baryonyx, irritator and their close relatives.
Casandra Nițescu 7 years ago
"How dinosaurs actually looked like" .... *siiigh* it's "HOW dinosaurs actually LOOKED" oooooor "WHAT dinosaurs actually LOOKED LIKE" ffs!
The Alchemist 7 years ago
It reminds you of how much we don't know about dinosaurs. We can only learn so much from looking at their bones.
Zori the degu 7 years ago
Really like most of them but I have to disagree with some, especially the pterosaurs pictures. Some of them simply seem to have too small wings. After all, these animals could fly or at least hover. Great job, nevertheless. Reminded me of the good old days I was obsessed with drawing dinosaurs. My favourite targets were pterosaurs and long-nosed predators, such as spinosaurus, baryonyx, irritator and their close relatives.
Casandra Nițescu 7 years ago
"How dinosaurs actually looked like" .... *siiigh* it's "HOW dinosaurs actually LOOKED" oooooor "WHAT dinosaurs actually LOOKED LIKE" ffs!
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