ADVERTISEMENT

About 500 million years ago, not a single creature had a skull. Over time, these bony plates evolved into the structural marvels that vertebrates—animals with spinal cords, aka you, me, and your pug, carry around today.

In fact, skulls are such complex wonders of nature that when viewed alone, they do look like they belonged to some distant, fabulous creatures. And that alone is enough to give the internet quite a rich source of memesy inspiration.

This time, people are imagining what aliens would reconstruct if they came across the skulls of some of the most loved residents on our planet, like cats, dogs, and wild cutie pies. Scroll down to see the hilarious results, but beware—it may reveal that your chonky catto is a Tyrannosaurus rex in disguise.

#3

Skull-How-Aliens-Would-Reconstruct-Animal-Meme

Report

Add photo comments
POST
stonewoodoo avatar
snorincats avatar
Kathy Baylis
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Don’t worry, that animal loses the lower set by the time they reach adolescence. Unfortunately, decades later many of them have lost the second set too...

Load More Replies...
seidwolf avatar
SeidWolf
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ok, so i know we're born with all our teeth, but never visualized how horrifying this might look.. i cannot unsee this.

janinesteam avatar
Janine B.
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We're not born with all of our teeth. It's the skull of a child age 5-6.

Load More Replies...
lottiehoyle19_1 avatar
LottieH
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nearly 40 and I still have a baby canine tooth my adult one is stuck up in my skull, I had dental gold surgery done to fix it as a child but it didn't work, I still have the 9ct gold chain in the roof of my mouth too. I wonder what the aliens would think of that 😄

minisupe80 avatar
Lil’ Twister
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They’re both baby and adult teeth. Kids have “adult teeth” in jawbones waiting to pop out

m3riley avatar
Michelle
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Legit question... the alien remake: if they used an actual human skull for reconstruction, even a child's skull that had all the teeth, why would the reconstruction be all pointy fang teeth? That's not what's in the skull that's shown, right? Or am I missing why the creepy clown thing is the outcome? I don't understand how humans would come out looking like a shout out to the snake-clowns from the Lego Batman Movie. Lol

ela_2 avatar
Ela
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The creepy clown is from a horror movie. Closest they could come without doing their own art, I guess?

Load More Replies...
sbn-sturm avatar
Sabse
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can't get rid of that picture now when I look at my little one 😳

grubbster55 avatar
Andrew Gibb
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

worth noting that the skull has been cut away to allow you to see all the teeth waiting to come through childskull...4cabcc.jpg childskull-5f0d6d04cabcc.jpg

t-arch301 avatar
Tambot
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That is shocking. I actually never realized we were born with all our teeth. Makes sense though

cashie181141 avatar
Cashie 181141
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i was just wondering that in case of dinosaur may b we are like aliens... what i wana say is that we recreated dinosaur by its skeleton and skull may b they are cute in reality and we pictured them terrifying 😂😂do i make sense? 😂SORRY

jmchoto avatar
Jo Choto
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Amazing it doesn't hurt us when we are storing all our adult teeth in our baby heads.

lylamclean avatar
Lyla McLean
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

All of these make me doubt whether we are right about how dinosaurs looked. I mean think about it you look at a picture of a dino skull then what we think it would look like and your like that makes sense but for these you would never think that’s what it was.

ak_13 avatar
A K
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh my god oh my god oh my god. I did NOT want to know what child skulls look like 😨 that is SO disturbing looking.

hoihoi avatar
Hoi Hoi
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's inaccurate. The skull is round and the teeth has round edges. Aliens wouldn't reconstruct it like the second image.

metz_c avatar
Rose
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think I'm going to have quite a few nightmares after looking at all of these...

ela_2 avatar
Ela
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah, never look at an x-ray of your infant's head. All the teeth are there, ranked up through their cheeks almost up to the eyes.

ohjojo62 avatar
ohjojo
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No one told you to paint it. Yeah but that's a lot of creepy teeth all at once

dingoperson avatar
Dingo Person
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Those teeth look so satisfying to just pry out. Is that weird or not tho

sexychick4421475 avatar
Claire Armstrong
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

OK granted, I haven't actually seen many of these so far, but I'm gonna say this is going to be the most disturbing one lol! Looking at the skull, I hadn't a feckin clue what the hell it was lol! Human, yes but I had no idea wtf all those teeth were about lol

ns_1 avatar
N S
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

this is not actually what a child's skull looks like - bone sections have been removed to lay bare the rows of adult teeth

hoihoi avatar
Hoi Hoi
Community Member
3 years ago

This comment has been deleted.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu

Bored Panda reached out to Ashley Mason-Burns-Meerschaert, the director of education at Skeletons: Museum of Osteology, who told us more about these incredible bones. It turns out, the vertebrates with the most bones in their skulls are bony fish, which can have over 100 in their skulls.

Although skulls from different species might look similar, there will be slight differences. Ashley said that “some species of shrews and rodents can only be identified by looking at dental variations under a microscope.”

There is also some skull variation between individuals of the same species and also between males and females, which scientists refer to as “sexual dimorphism.”

Ashley said that animals' skulls can change over time for various reasons, like becoming more adapted to the environment, changing due to animals' diet, or because of injuries sustained over their lifetime.

#4

Skull-How-Aliens-Would-Reconstruct-Animal-Meme

Report

Add photo comments
POST
titas-burinskas avatar
Titas Burinskas
BoredPanda Staff
Verified
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hippopotamuses are underrated in terms of how horrifyingly powerful they are.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT

It’s incredible how much we can tell about an animal just by looking at these bony structures that support and protect soft tissues and organs.

For example, some particular skull features can indicate the nature of an animal. Wired suggests that “Big eye sockets point to a nocturnal lifestyle (big eyes harvest more light).” 

Meanwhile, “giant canine teeth indicate a taste for flesh” and “lightweight bone riddled with air pockets is an adaptation for life on the wing.”

#8

Skull-How-Aliens-Would-Reconstruct-Animal-Meme

Report

Add photo comments
POST
dong_min avatar
Fernleaf6505
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

why is everything supposed to be ferocious but actually so ADORABLE

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
#9

Skull-How-Aliens-Would-Reconstruct-Animal-Meme

Report

Add photo comments
POST
katieandjaredcoates avatar
Kisses4Katie
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No, it would just be displayed in a museum- "look what those mad scientists did to the majestic wolf!"

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu

Another incredible aspect of skulls is just how complex they truly are. Imagine—a human skull has 22 bones. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, it features 8 cranial bones and 14 facial bones. When a baby is born, the forehead, or frontal, bone is separated in two, but it fuses while growing.

And now let’s take an alligator. This reptilian has around 53 skull bones, which is more than twice what we have. But it's far from the most skull bones found in an animal.

ADVERTISEMENT
#13

Skull-How-Aliens-Would-Reconstruct-Animal-Meme

Report

#14

Skull-How-Aliens-Would-Reconstruct-Animal-Meme

Report

Add photo comments
POST
juliajuhas avatar
JuJu
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Dogma: "...remember: even God has a sense of humor. Just look at the Platypus. Thank you and enjoy the show. P.S. We sincerely apologize to all Platypus enthusiasts out there who are offended by that thoughtless comment about the Platypi. We at View Askew respect the noble Platypus, and it is not our intention to slight these stupid creatures in any way."

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
See Also on Bored Panda
#17

Skull-How-Aliens-Would-Reconstruct-Animal-Meme

Report

ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#26

Skull-How-Aliens-Would-Reconstruct-Animal-Meme

Report

Add photo comments
POST
thearcherfrog avatar
The Random Merp
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For those who don't know, the reconstruction is of a Psittacosaurus, also known as that one dinosaur that will friggin tear you limb from limb and eat your fingers if you get near it's young

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#27

Skull-How-Aliens-Would-Reconstruct-Animal-Meme

Report

ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda