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26 New Comparisons Of The Sizes Of Prehistoric Animal Ancestors And Their Modern Relatives By Roman Uchytel
Interview With Artist
Have you heard of myths about how back in the day on earth, there used to live gargantuan giants? Well, I think our ancestors had a pretty good hunch about what really happened, actually. Most of our modern animals are so small compared to what the animals used to be like, but there are some interesting exceptions to the rule.
How do I know all of this? Roman Uchytel, an Ukrainian paleontologist and graphic designer, recreates them with the tools available and shares them online for everyone to learn and see an actual scale of how different our ancestors were, both in size and other features. His previous post was a hit, so let us show you some of his most recent work.
More info: Instagram | twitter.com | prehistoric-fauna.com | Facebook | deviantart.com
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Rabbit Carrot 3 years ago
The modern red panda is adorable. The extinct version is scary panda. A big nope.
Goth mouse (they/them) 3 years ago
A giant red panda like in the new movie! 😍 its like a cross between a giant panda and a red panda i love it
Though doing this is Roman's passion, unfortunately, he has more pressing matters on his mind. His country is being attacked, and he shared with Bored Panda about what's going on over there. "After eight days of bombing, I was forced to go with my family from Kharkiv to the Dnipropetrovsk region. It’s still quiet here, but the situation could change at any second..."
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#2
Martin Kaine 3 years ago
Now, now, Nathaniel, it is nothing to fawn over.
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Project2501 3 years ago
The Irish Elk is reminding me of the Forest Spirit from Princess Mononoke :o
Lance d'Boyle 3 years ago
The giant deer was a bad candidate for long term survival in part because of its antler size. If a predator approached from behind, the deer was unable to quickly turn its head to see it. If it did, the torque of its antlers would have snapped its neck. In short the giant deer was a sitting duck.
Fraxinus excelsior 3 years ago
And if you drink enough guiness then you'll see them being ridden by leprechauns
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Hannah Edwards 3 years ago
There’s a skull and antlers of one of these at a museum near me, it was ridiculously huge, it’s a wonder that they could lift their heads at all.
Martha Meyer 3 years ago
Modern deer are impressive and much larger than you think. They can easily kill a person. I'd run screaming if I saw one of those giant extinct deer even from afar.
Sierra Sturgill 3 years ago
How does the littler one have spots AND a rack??? I thought the spots went away and I know they arent born with a full rack.
XenoMurph 3 years ago
Can you imagine if they WERE born with a full rack. Ouch.
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K- THULU 3 years ago
Scary thing is there's an extinct eagle tha used to prey on the moa. How big was that bastard?
Marianne 3 years ago
Big enough to also prey on children. This is why it is extinct.
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John Baker 3 years ago
It may be worth noting that the giant moa is extinct because of humans.
Felix Feline 3 years ago
Actually, kiwis closest relative was the elephant bird of Madagascar, not the NZ moas.
Marcellus the Third 3 years ago
Yes weird/dishonest that they take the very smallest member of the clade as a comparison, not a rhea or emu.
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#4
Anastasia Shalunkova 3 years ago
Oh no no, that is so wrong. H. Floresiensis are no way our ancestors, they went extinct 10 000 years ago. Wanna take an ancestor, take Homo Erectus or Homo Habilis
John Smithers 3 years ago
You know what if this was a tv show I would watch , a kid who becomes friends with a Flores man who some how traveled time ... The kid teaches him how to live in the modern world the Flores man teaches him how to live off the land , they go on crazy adventures together ... Total 1980s vibe
Mimi La Souris 3 years ago (edited)
so many attempts/tests of evolution to finish with the homosapiens
#5
John Baker 3 years ago
Both are marsupials. Other than that, they aren't closely related at all.
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Winter 3 years ago
Aw, I love opossums! We had one hanging out by our porch last summer. He seemed curious. I named him "Lil Pater". So I presume this other one was a marsupial as well?
Kate Johnson 3 years ago
Your presumption is correct, Winter; they were indeed marsupials. 😊
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Chase Sisk 3 years ago
think god those early opossums are gone now and we have the one we have to day
Sierra Sturgill 3 years ago
I thought it was a saber tooth cat compared to an opposson and got confused
"And I know that the most real help is provided by ordinary people! And I am very grateful to all those people who care for our Prehistoric Fauna project and the Ukrainian Army! But we still need support, so we ask you to place the details for the assistance (please find at the end of this mail). We also ask you to share truthful information about how Russia is bombing civilians and lying to the whole world that it is shelling exclusively military targets! We ask you to boycott Russian goods and pressure companies and brands that still do not want to leave the Russian market! Please use #standwithukraine #noflyzone #supportukraine #stopputin #boycottrussia hashtags."
#6
Nathaniel 3 years ago
A genetic test was done on a supposed piece of yeti fur found in the Himalayas. It turned out to be polar bear fur. From a species that had been supposedly extinct for thousands of years. There maybe an isolated colony of Polar Bears left in the Himalayas.
Sander 3 years ago
Not necessarily, constant freezing temperatures can keep organic matter from rotting for over thousands of years. Just look op Ötzi the ice man, or articles about people finding frozen mammoth corpses in Siberia. (To be clear: not dismissing your claim of polar bears once inhabiting the Himalayas, just stating that there being a colony of them living there isn't necessarily true)
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Alyssa Lapa 3 years ago
Lions will also if they have the advantage. So will most large crocodilians.
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Mariele Scherzinger 3 years ago
Polar bears are the largest bears on earth. Bigger than grizzlies.
Wren Kaiser 3 years ago
The extent seems simpler to a grizzle bear maybe?? I’m probably wrong 😅
#7
T. D. Bostick 3 years ago
Seems like the 'emperor' has been dethroned. If they ever find one bigger than the colossus, they'll have to call it the 'god penguin'.
Paúl Molina Uribe 3 years ago
"Klekowski,what's the status on the approved musical selections? Exellente!"
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#8
Did you hear that? 3 years ago
Wolves are much bigger than you realize until you are next to one.
Chris Kane 3 years ago
They should've put a labrador next to this so people can see the size.
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Leo Domitrix 3 years ago
DNA has shown that the dire wolf, despite its appearance, isn't a wolf. They separated about 6 million years back, and aren't even that closely related to coyotes etc. The genus name was changed to reflect that. A last lonely bud on a branch of an evolutionary tree.
Ham Explosion 3 years ago
I remember reading a study about how scientists discovered that its actually not closely related to wolves but closest to foxes
Mary Dellenbusch 3 years ago
With the way humans are killing everything these beautiful souls will be extinct soon as well.
#9
Leo Domitrix 3 years ago
I live fairly rural, so I had a vision of the extinct giant raccoon challenging the local black bears for the campground trash, and the black bear backing down. 'Yeah, yours, never mind..."
#10
Judy Reynolds 3 years ago
I wonder if the temperaments were the same. Wolverines are supposed to be fierce and bad tempered enough.
Nubis Knight 3 years ago
Jupp, I'd prefer a Wolf over a wolverine or Badger.
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Micheal Kelly 3 years ago
With the temperament of the today animal and quadruple size and weight the then critter would be phenomenal. P
John Smithers 3 years ago
screaming "MEGALICTIS!!!" After blowing up a Russian tank just really does not have the same ring to it ... Its cool, just not the same
David Brown 3 years ago
Modern wolverines make up for their size with ferocity. I'd be interested to find out if the extinct ones were more docile.
#11
Corn Pone 3 years ago
Galapagos turtles are the biggest turtle in the world, and their huge. So this extinct one is actually giant.
Lsai Aeon 3 years ago
My kindergarten class went to some sort of petting zoo once. They had a Galapagos Giant Tortoise. Everyone got to ride the tortoise except me. The guy in charge looked at me said "You're a fat little sh*t ain't ya. Too bad, you can't ride" I'm surprised I survived my childhood, even more surprised I survived without severe mental illness
#13
Mattewis88 3 years ago
Bet the tourists on Table Mountain won't have to be told twice not to feed these monstrosities. ...wait, they still might, considering I've seen them approach a literal wild leopard for pictures.
#14
Shyla Clay 3 years ago
Stripes are slimming. Look how much smaller the striped one looks.
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Jacob Slump 3 years ago
Macrauchenia is not an equine, and was a litoptern ungulate with no extant relatives. It was long thought to have an elephant-like trunk at the end of their snout due to nostrils high on the skull but the current consensus is that it had a lip more similar to that of moose.
Marsha Cain 3 years ago
They developed stripes to hide from predators in tall vertical grasses, n to confuse predators chasing the herd for a kill cause they can't tell where one zebra ends n the next one begins!
#15
ThatOnePerson 3 years ago
So you see, a rat-dog saw a pool and thought 'Hey, Ima become a giant mammal fish'
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Vetus Vespertilio 3 years ago
The Indohyas is one of the ancestors of cetaceans such as the blue whale.
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Jo Choto 3 years ago
I find it so fascinating that there are creatures that emerged from the water and became land dwellers. They evolved into mammals and then for some reason went BACK to the water, which is how come we have air-breathing mammals that live in the sea. It's so amazing. Wish I could understand all of it.
Sorrows Taylor 3 years ago
We know what became of the fish which grew legs and went to work. This guy was like "Naah, bruh...no way!"
#16
Beaver boi🦫🇺🇦 3 years ago
Omg those are some beautiful beavers! I love representation of my species.
#17
Corn Pone 3 years ago
Aww. I love cougars. Of course, I would never want to meet that extinct one😬
Leo Domitrix 3 years ago
I'm fascinated by the conformation of the muzzle in the two being so different...
LynzCatastrophe 3 years ago
The modern ones are a pain in the @ss, I wouldn't want to meet it's ancestors.
Jackie Reed 3 years ago
Beautiful creatures.I love the sounds they make.From a very safe distance.
#18
Laugh or not 3 years ago
You are joking, but that's kind of what happened with the gigantic elk: when the ICE age ended, the forests grew back in Europe and the elks were just too big to move through the trees. Now we have smaller elks.
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John Smithers 3 years ago
You know I bet we could breed these back into existence.... I mean it may not be a great idea to but screw it , its fun to play God
KittyMommy 3 years ago
As lousy tempered as the modern buffalo is can you imagine the big guy getting pissed off? They routinely take out lions and ambush hunters who shot at them
RedMarbles 3 years ago
It's a fantastic rendering but did they have to make it look like the little guy's in danger of getting poked in the eye? Ridiculous how much it bothers me but it does.
#19
Leo Domitrix 3 years ago
It's cute how they're both like, "Eff you! No, eff you!" and I'm thinking, "Oh, let me pet them! Let me pet them!"
Alyssa Lapa 3 years ago
Makes sense they needed to be able to handle the new threat of lions which got bigger and they needed to be faster to get away.
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Alyssa Lapa 3 years ago
Thank you late Pleistocene leopard for giving me the best of the Panthera family!! Still the most wide spread of all big cats ranging from the tips of Russia down to the tip of South Africa and all over mainland Asia. African leopards are my absolute favorites of all subspecies.
Susan Gunn 3 years ago
When you start out a perfect killing machine there is no need for improvement 😁
#20
Corn Pone 3 years ago (edited)
It's so sad that they fight bulls. It's really stupid. I mean, they just kill the bull for the sake of entertainment. A life is more important than our entertainment, especially when a billion other things tat can entertain us.Edit: I think eating meat is fine, but I think that the animals should be treated fairly, and they shouldn't have such a gruesome death.
Shary Bobbings 3 years ago
Totally agree with you, bullfights are just torture and sadism, disguised as entertainment and tradition.
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not_at_school ;) 3 years ago
Hitler wanted to bring the auroch back, only one of a trillion crazy things he wanted
Patricia Ray 3 years ago
Better sport would be to put a murderer/criminal/ rapist in the center of a ring and allow the bulls to attack him until he's mincemeat.
Randall Chafin 3 years ago
In Austria, there are wild bulls and cows called “Hitler’s cows”. Hitler tried to clone the extinct Auroch. DNA science was not as exact as today- a lot was not understood. His experiment was only partially successful. The bulls and cows resembled smaller aurochs. Aurochs are extinct today, but Ancient Romans described them, they were alive when humans had written history.
Hseed 3 years ago
Bullfighting would be a nice thing to see if both animal and human had the same resources and weapons: none other than given by nature. But if first they poke a big hole between your shoulder blades, in order to make you bleed non stop, later they poke you with harpoons that stay till your death... And when you're tired, with nearly no blood in your veins... then a guy dressed as a clown makes you pursue him, to humiliate you. And when everyone's satisfied, and you can barely breath or move. They stuck a sword in the place the first hole was made. And not always works, so then aaaanother guy with a thick and short knife ends your life. This is art my ass. I live in Spain. Most of the people here are against bullfighting. My region has forbid it, for instance. This has to stop
boredpandaki 3 years ago
The right bull.is flirtting with his leg with theodern bull... Haha Oh, they heard me, I - I'll stop now
#21
Josias Sarquiz 3 years ago (edited)
Really? A sabertooth fossa! I just had an idea for a Ice Age - Madagascar animation movie. Would be epic!
#22
Manbearpig 3 years ago
Dam it goes all religious. So which God do you speak of? Zeus? Budda? Allah? Sun God? Posiden? Crom maybe? Don't bash an Atheist because their opinion differs from yours. We could bring up belly buttons or this 900 year old man. Or the populated the whole planet thing. But hey you be your perfect version of you
#23
James Pasquini 3 years ago
Wouldn't it have been great if there a human standing between them to get a better idea of size in relation to an adult human?
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Dean Connors 3 years ago
Interestingly, baby tapirs have a very similar coat pattern to the extinct tapir
Michel Denardin 3 years ago
First thing that came in my mind is the asian tapir was caught using underwear
Aurora Borealis 3 years ago
However, those are two different kinda of tapirs. They like in different areas. So they are technically two different animals.
#24
Corn Pone 3 years ago
Hyenas can actually break bone with there jaw, and have a huge amount of bite force. So I don't wanna imagine what the extinct one's bite would be like
M O'Connell 3 years ago
Donkeys have been known to kill hyenas by chomping them to death.
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Nicole Cabrera 3 years ago
Geez, can you imagine a pack of those ones chasing you w/ their cackles? lol
#25
#26
Extex 3 years ago
Yeah, especially with that longer barrel, the projectile spit would be so much faster
Load More Replies... GadgetGirl 3 years ago
I wonder why the head changed shape so drastically. All that due to a different diet?
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What do you think ?
Jo Choto 3 years ago
I watched a really cool documentary that raised stag beetles in two different environments, one more oxygen rich (like today's atmosphere) and one more CO2 rich (like more ancient times) and the difference in the size of the beetles was quite shocking. Apparently for some reason a whole bunch of animals were much bigger because of more CO2 in the atmosphere. I am unable to explain why because I watch the documentaries, but I don't make them!
Immortal Emperor Paradox 3 years ago
Maybe this is why ancient people thought that there existed large mythical beasts before as they might've seen fossils or heard stories passed on in the community. From a Xianxia perspective, every creature was very strong since they were closer to the Dao as the world had just been created. This reminds me of "Tales of Herding Gods", where the beings born just after the creation of the world like the Celestial Emperor purposely created a huge cage for the Humans, making them believe that they were living in a free world. That would ensure that these Humans with unlimited potential unlike them would never grow strong enough to be able to overthrow them. Alas, they didn't know that the lives of Humans are higher than the Heavens.
Martha Meyer 3 years ago
Scary to think that we probably all have ancestors who ended up killed by one of these.
Goth mouse (they/them) 3 years ago
Its so cool how realistic they look! I love art that shows how prehistoric animals would look, its called paleoart
WebbyWebWeb 3 years ago
We could do with a banana for scale for some of these - the modern Virginia opossum, for example.
Leo Domitrix 3 years ago
Aslong as my forearm, and I'm 70 inches tall, or 177 cm. They live around me and i deal with them all the time.
Load More Replies... Jo Choto 3 years ago
I watched a really cool documentary that raised stag beetles in two different environments, one more oxygen rich (like today's atmosphere) and one more CO2 rich (like more ancient times) and the difference in the size of the beetles was quite shocking. Apparently for some reason a whole bunch of animals were much bigger because of more CO2 in the atmosphere. I am unable to explain why because I watch the documentaries, but I don't make them!
Immortal Emperor Paradox 3 years ago
Maybe this is why ancient people thought that there existed large mythical beasts before as they might've seen fossils or heard stories passed on in the community. From a Xianxia perspective, every creature was very strong since they were closer to the Dao as the world had just been created. This reminds me of "Tales of Herding Gods", where the beings born just after the creation of the world like the Celestial Emperor purposely created a huge cage for the Humans, making them believe that they were living in a free world. That would ensure that these Humans with unlimited potential unlike them would never grow strong enough to be able to overthrow them. Alas, they didn't know that the lives of Humans are higher than the Heavens.
Martha Meyer 3 years ago
Scary to think that we probably all have ancestors who ended up killed by one of these.
Goth mouse (they/them) 3 years ago
Its so cool how realistic they look! I love art that shows how prehistoric animals would look, its called paleoart
WebbyWebWeb 3 years ago
We could do with a banana for scale for some of these - the modern Virginia opossum, for example.
Leo Domitrix 3 years ago
Aslong as my forearm, and I'm 70 inches tall, or 177 cm. They live around me and i deal with them all the time.
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