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Modern technology does not only let us enjoy the things that are in the present, but also things from the past. The software available, like Photoshop, helps us take a glimpse at what things looked like. Even though they still remain digital, they're pretty close to reality.

Roman Uchytel uses technology for this very reason. He uses Photoshop to show us a glimpse of things that have passed and most likely will never come back. To be more specific, he recreates prehistoric extinct species of animals as best as he can using the information that he has. And it's fair to say that he's been doing a pretty good job at it; he even published a book which you can find here.

For today's post, we show you only one of many of his series, where he compares the sizes of extinct species with their modern relatives and places them side by side. It's really surprising how some of the species were way bigger than you would've thought looking at their modern kin.

More info: twitter.com | prehistoric-fauna.com | Facebook | Instagram

#1

39 Visual Comparisons Of The Size Of Long-Extinct Animals With Their Modern Relatives

PrehistoricFauna Report

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denzoren
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If they moved just as slowly I'd love to see that. "Oh no, the giant slot is after me...got some time to get lunch and then start running".

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Most of the animals shown here existed during the Pleistocene, otherwise known as Ice Age era, which lasted from around 2.58 million to 11m7 thousand years ago. As the term Ice Age signifies, it was a glacial period where most of the northern hemisphere was covered in, you guessed it, ice. The glaciations happened on and off in steady cycles which lasted from 41,000 to 100,000 years.

As you probably know by now, all of the ancestor species shown here are extinct. Almost all, if not all of these species went extinct in the so-called Quaternary period (2.58 million years before the present) in the Late Pleistocene. This period is marked by numerous megafaunal and other extinctions. This pulse extinction is characterized by the fact that there was a widespread absence of ecological successors, which caused a major shift in faunal habitats and relationships.

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Fact: life on Earth has suffered 5 major extinction events, and is going through one so-called Holocene extinction event right now. An extinction event is a widespread and rapid decrease in biodiversity. The greatest extinction event killed 90 to 96 per cent of all species. Scientists argue over the exact number of extinction events life has gone through, ranging from five to as many as twenty. The current extinction event is different from others because human activity plays a huge hand in it.

#6

39 Visual Comparisons Of The Size Of Long-Extinct Animals With Their Modern Relatives

PrehistoricFauna Report

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Mangaboi
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The clouded leopard only goes up to a humans knees, so this is about the size of a lion.

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#7

39 Visual Comparisons Of The Size Of Long-Extinct Animals With Their Modern Relatives

PrehistoricFauna Report

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Stille20
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember as a child being fascinated when I first saw a Capybara this is wild...it's like a giant Guinea pig

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Let's hope you learned something new today. If you didn't, or if you're up to learn even more cool stuff, Bored Panda is here to help you satisfy this thirst for knowledge. Here's our latest edition of "Today I Learned" posts that our community loves. Too general, want to learn something more animal-centric? No problem. Want to know more about silly bird names that ornithologists came up with? Or perhaps you want to know what insects really look like when they're flying? Let's not end this post about extinct species with a sad note: here's a story about reappeared elephant shrew species that we thought went extinct 50 years ago.

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#9

39 Visual Comparisons Of The Size Of Long-Extinct Animals With Their Modern Relatives

PrehistoricFauna Report

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denzoren
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Just for information...the current bison is approximately 2.5m or 8feet tall...that other guy could wreck a bus and not even break a sweat.

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Roman shared: "My favorite animal is the one I’m drawing right now. So every time I get a new favorite. Can you imagine that ancient rodents were the size of a rhinoceros, and extinct rhinos led the life of giraffes and were the tallest animals in the world?!"

"My wife and business partner Alexandra Antonova (Uchytel) is a great writer. She has so many cool ideas. Now we’re working on one idea—Prehistories (a series of prehistoric fairy tales). Now all we have to do is find a publisher."

#14

39 Visual Comparisons Of The Size Of Long-Extinct Animals With Their Modern Relatives

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Jo Choto
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So Asian elephants are relatively small, which would indicate that the mammoth was smaller than a modern day African elephant. Is that actually correct?

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#15

39 Visual Comparisons Of The Size Of Long-Extinct Animals With Their Modern Relatives

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Lil Prime
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Looks like the extinct ones saying DON'T YOU EVER TALK TO ME OR MY SON EVER AGAIN!!!

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#17

39 Visual Comparisons Of The Size Of Long-Extinct Animals With Their Modern Relatives

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ggus44
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The extinct one looks more like a giant "anta" (south american tapir).

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#21

39 Visual Comparisons Of The Size Of Long-Extinct Animals With Their Modern Relatives

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denzoren
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Adapted to eating leaves that were high up in their habitat...incase anyone was wondering.

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#30

39 Visual Comparisons Of The Size Of Long-Extinct Animals With Their Modern Relatives

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Katie Lutesinger
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My local dinosaur museum has a prehistoric crocodile's skull on display, and the damn thing is the size of a smartcar! Thank goodness they're not around any more - modern crocodiles are scary enough!

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#34

39 Visual Comparisons Of The Size Of Long-Extinct Animals With Their Modern Relatives

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LadyGrimm
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I actually feel like this graphic undersells the size of Argentavis magnificens. They were known to have up to 27ft wingspans, roughly the same a small airplane. They preyed on animals the size of modern cows.

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#35

39 Visual Comparisons Of The Size Of Long-Extinct Animals With Their Modern Relatives

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Juds Conne
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Love hyenas, their lineage and modern characteristics, especially the perfection of their heads and muzzles. Same for the South American Jaguar and its ancestors ( pictured above). When something works so well, not much needs to change.

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