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This Artist Depicts How Dinosaurs Actually Looked Like, And The Result Might Surprise You
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.
The Extremely Birdy Predatory Dinosaur Deinonychus Watches The Sunset At A Canyon
Scythe-Armed, Featherless Swans
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
this is my favorite! it shows just how far off we are of what we think we know.
Two Lanky Moganopterus Pterosaurs On A Stroll At An Ancient Beach. Moganopterus Was One Of The Largest Toothed Pterosaurs
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
The Intermediate-Form Pterosaur, Darwinopterus Modularis, Flashes Its Red Crest For A Potential Mate
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
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
The Stubby-Armed Dinosaur, Majungasaurus, Displays With Its Flamboyant Neck Wattles And Crest
A Jock Ctenospondylus Faces Down A Smaller Opponent Because His Back Is Not Humpy And Red Enough
"Shrink-Wrap" Reconstructions Of Birds
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
Albertosaurus, The Original "Terror Bird"
A Bull Diplodocus Briefly Walks On Two Legs While On A Beachside Excursion, As His Kind Often Does
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.
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
A Slightly Immature Pterodactylus Pterosaur By An Ancient Seashore. A Mature Specimen Can Be Seen On The Background
Pencil Illustration Of The Ichthyosaur Acamptonectes
The Demon-Bird Austroraptor Howls Against The Full Moon
The “Bull-Horned” Ceratopsian Nasutuceratops Supplements Its Diet With A Dash Of Calcium - From An Unfortunate Turtle It Found On A River Bank
Scaled Pencil Drawings Of Large And Small Forms Of Plateosaurus. This Early Plant-Eating Dinosaur Exhibited A Large Variety In Body Sizes
Pencil Study Of Massospondylus, The Goobiest Prosauropod
Portrait Of Sinosaurus, A Meat-Eating Dinosaur Once Thought To Be A Species Of The Dilophosaurus
This Small, Climbing, Fuzzy And Heterodont (Differently-Toothed) Animal As The Ultimate Ancestor Of All Dinosaurs, “Dinosauromorphs” And Pterosaurs
The Early Dinosaur, Eoraptor, Runs Through A Psychedelic Forest, Its Body Already Bristling With Tuft-Like Structures Ancestral To Feather
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
actually dinosaurs couldn't stick their tongues; they were rooted to the bottom of the mouth.
The Giant Meat-Eating Dinosaur, Giganotosaurus, Here Restored With A Throat Sac. This Animal Had Tiny Arms That Terminated In Hook-Like Claws
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
A Pterosaur With Bird-Like Feathers
The Crocodile-Like Archosaur Ticinosuchus Attacks A Long-Necked Tanystropheus
The Herbivorous Dinosaur Zalmoxes, Restored Speculatively With A Covering Of Thick, Pangolin-Like Scales Interspersed With Feathery Filaments
these scales aint gonna save it from me [Look at my profile picture]
Mosasaurs Were Gigantic, Sea-Dwelling Relatives Monitor Lizards That Lived At The Time Of The Dinosaurs
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
Australian Dinosaurs: Australovenator Wintonensis And Two Modern-Day Emus, Dromaius Novaehollandiae. The Australovenator Figure Is Adapted From A Skeletal Drawing By Ashley Patch
Medium-Size Mosasurs, Swimming Lizards That Lived At The Time Of Dinosaurs, In Comparison With A Modern-Day Person
Measured Drawing Of The “Double Sickle-Claw” Dinosaur Balaur Bondoc From Late Cretaceous Romania, Compared To A Present-Day Dog
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?"
The Earliest Ancestor Of Pterosaurs Could Have Been Something Like This. This Is A Speculative Animal
The Sail-Backed Repto-Mammal Secodontosaurus Was The Most Likely Member Of Its Group To Have Had An Aquatic Lifestyle
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
Measured Drawings Of The Newly-Discovered, Skin-Winged Dinosaur Yi Qi, Compared With A Modern-Day Magpie, Pica Pica
It reminds you of how much we don't know about dinosaurs. We can only learn so much from looking at their bones.
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.
"How dinosaurs actually looked like" .... *siiigh* it's "HOW dinosaurs actually LOOKED" oooooor "WHAT dinosaurs actually LOOKED LIKE" ffs!
It reminds you of how much we don't know about dinosaurs. We can only learn so much from looking at their bones.
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.
"How dinosaurs actually looked like" .... *siiigh* it's "HOW dinosaurs actually LOOKED" oooooor "WHAT dinosaurs actually LOOKED LIKE" ffs!
