As it turned out, almost all dinosaurs known to science, even such popular ones as Velociraptor or Tyrannosaurus, could actually look different than they are usually imagined.
Until the mid-20th century, these ancient reptiles were seen as sluggish and clumsy animals. But then researchers found that dinosaurs led a very active lifestyle. This radically changed the perception of them, and Jurassic Park, released in 1993, helped confirm this opinion.
Over the past 20 years, thanks to new discoveries in China and the use of modern technology, the idea of what dinosaurs looked like is no longer as reliable as even the best-studied reptiles. As it turned out, many of them had plumage all over their bodies.
Velociraptor
At the end of the last century, paleontologists suggested that dinosaurs from the velociraptor family were feathered. Researchers increasingly came across the remains of an early representative of this species - a dromaeosaurid with full wings.
2007 brought a big sensation. American researchers have discovered feather landing sites on the forearm bones of the remains of a velociraptor. This discovery was further convincing evidence that the reptile was winged.
Indeed, the depiction of the Velociraptor in Jurassic Park was heavily altered. In fact, the dinosaur, enlarged to the size of an adult in the film, was no larger than a regular turkey.
Archeopteryx
History shows this animal as a transitional link between reptiles and birds. But new discoveries have revealed that Archeopteryx may actually be the predecessor of Velociraptor. Disputes between followers of the two theories have been going on for several decades.
Archeopteryx is considered one of the earliest species of dinosaurs, but this is rather arbitrary. According to English paleontologist Steve Brusett, it is impossible to accurately create an evolutionary tree that includes birds and reptiles.
Triceratops
This huge dinosaur is one of the most popular among lovers of ancient reptiles. But even they, as it turned out, are not so well studied.
In 2009, researchers John Scannella and John Horner published an article that made a sensational assumption. In their opinion, Triceratops was a small version of the less studied Torosaurus. Since then, there has been heated debate about which dinosaur was larger.
Brontosaurus
This dinosaur is shown in Jurassic Park as a huge, lumbering beast with a very long neck. But for a century, all scientists thought that in fact it never existed.
The first time the remains of a brontosaurus were presented to the public, it was just a fake. In fact, it was an artificial composition consisting of the skeleton of an Apatosaurus and the head of a Camarasaurus.
But in 2015, new studies were conducted. They showed significant difference between the fossilized remains of Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus. This indicated that this reptile could indeed exist. The difference between these two species is mainly in size.
Tyrannosaurus
The bloodthirsty image of this most feared predator of the Jurassic period is also under threat. As the feathered revolution in paleontology progressed, some researchers wondered whether Tyrannosaurus rex had feathers. Until recently, more than 50 fossilized T-Rex skeletons were carefully examined, and nothing like this was found on any of them.
But in 2004, a primitive tyrannosauroid covered in feathers was found in China. In 2012, another sensational discovery was made - the discovery of Yutyrannus. This predator, being a relative of the Tyrannosaurus rex, was covered with long feathers. So it’s worth thinking about the real appearance of the most terrible predator of all time.
Stegosaurus
At one time there were many different speculations around this dinosaur. According to one opinion, the stegosaurus had an additional brain in the pelvis, since the main thinking organ located in the tiny head could not cope alone. In fact, glycogen, necessary for energy regulation, could be located in this cavity in the reptile.
There were also different opinions around the supposed plates on the back of the stegosaurus. According to the most common one, these were a kind of “solar panels” to regulate the body temperature of a cold-blooded reptile. But there is no evidence for this version. It is also believed that spines and plates helped stegosaurs identify fellow tribesmen and identify opponents.
Pachycephalosaurus
Although this dinosaur is not one of the most popular reptiles of the Jurassic period, it is well known for its head, which it used as a battering ram.
Typically, representatives of this species are described as predators constantly fighting with the help of hard foreheads.
In fact, paleontologists strongly doubt this use of the hard skull of Pachycephalosaurus. Having studied the structure of the skull tissue, the researchers came to the conclusion that such a shield on the head would not have been able to cope with a really strong blow. Most likely, it was intended to attract the attention of individuals of the other sex during mating games.
Ankylosaurus
This dinosaur looks like a medieval heavy knight thanks to its thick armor plates located throughout its body. Even the most deadly fangs of a Tyrannosaurus rex could not overcome this defense.
As it turns out, it's not a matter of thickness. Thanks to the research of German paleontologist Torsten Scheyer, it turned out that the armor of the ankylosaur was quite light and thin. Its strength lies in a special complex combination of collagen and bones, reminiscent of materials such as Kevlar or fiberglass.
According to Scheier, this shell structure allowed it to be extremely strong in all directions. So the ankylosaur is more reminiscent of a modern soldier in a bulletproof vest than a knight in armor.
Spinosaurus
This dinosaur played a key role in "Jurassic Park" - it was the one the writers chose for the mortal battle with the Tyrannosaurus rex. The choice was clear - the Spinosaurus, with a length of more than 15 meters, is almost three meters longer than the T-Rex. At the same time, the reptile has a long jaw studded with sharp teeth, and there is a fancy crest on its back.
The structure of Spinosaurus remained a mystery until recently, since its existence was evidenced by skeletal fragments found in the desert regions of North Africa. In 2014, American paleontologist Nizar Ibrahim discovered new remains of this reptile. They made it possible to say definitively: Spinosaurus is the only known aquatic dinosaur. It had small hind limbs suitable for swimming and a crocodile-like nose, and its body structure resembled early amphibians.
Pterosaur
In fact, these birds of prey are not dinosaurs at all, but this fact is often forgotten. Pterosaurs, or pterodactyls as they are most often called, are one of the groups of flying reptiles. Moreover, their sizes were completely different.
The largest pterosaurs were azdarchids - winged giants, equal in height to giraffes. Their wingspan is truly impressive - up to 10 meters. They can safely be called the largest birds of all time.
At the same time, there were also very tiny pterosaurs. Thus, the wingspan of a non-mycolopter was only 10 centimeters.
Over many years of publishing biology textbooks and popular science books, a certain tradition has developed of depicting dinosaurs. Ancient lizards are depicted as gigantic leathery creatures, with huge fangs - if it is a predator, and with a tiny head sitting high on a thin neck - if the lizard was a herbivore. The latest paleontological evidence proves that this was not so, and dinosaurs were, quite literally, soft and furry.
Appearance
Reconstructing the appearance of dinosaurs is a very difficult task due to the paucity of surviving remains. Sometimes paleontologists manage to discover the skeletons of ancient dinosaurs and even c. However, much more often, scientists come across individual bones or parts thereof. In order to recreate the appearance of a person or a dinosaur, specialists need to determine how muscles and tendons were attached to the bones, determine the approximate volume of soft tissue, place cartilage on the resulting “semi-finished product” and cover it all with skin. To do all these procedures, researchers first need to carry out many calculations and decide on the most likely hypothesis anatomical structure object.
If paleontologists are lucky enough to discover still unfound fragments of dinosaur bones, they can clarify existing models of their appearance. Sometimes the amendments made do not change the overall picture much, but sometimes they force scientists to significantly reconsider their view of the appearance of ancient reptiles.
It is precisely this radical restructuring that occurred with the sauropod model. These giant herbivorous dinosaurs are considered the largest animals ever to live on land. The length of the smallest representatives of this group of ancient lizards was about 6 meters. The length of the record holders was close to 60 meters. Scientists who discovered the first sauropod fossils suggested that their gigantic bodies rested on four thick legs, and their tiny head rested on an upward, thin neck. Due to their size, sauropods could easily feed on leaves from tall trees, like modern giraffes.
In order to ensure normal blood supply to the head, giraffes, which are significantly inferior to sauropods in neck length, have to resort to . They have acquired a very powerful heart, which creates a pressure three times higher than that of a human, and the blood of giraffes is three times thicker than that of Homo sapiens. Without these devices, animals would immediately die from the pressure drop when raising or lowering their heads.
Sauropods would have had even more difficulty maintaining blood pressure. According to recent calculations by researchers, the mass of the lizards' heart should have been at least five percent of their body weight (for comparison, in humans this figure is about half a percent). Therefore, scientists came to the conclusion that the neck of the ancient giants was directed. This is exactly how sauropods are depicted in most publications - horizontally elongated along the head-tail line. However, more recently, work has emerged whose results may force paleontologists to return to their original point of view on the anatomy of sauropods.
The authors of the new study proceeded from the assumption that colossal lizards were “structured” in the same way as other animals that move on four limbs. In the course of evolution, they acquired precisely those features that provide the best adaptability to a terrestrial lifestyle. Scientists have no reason to assume that sauropods were an exception. Analysis of the skeletal structure of a large number of vertebrates, which included cats, rabbits, turtles and crocodiles, showed that their necks have a characteristic S-shaped curve that points upward. The researchers concluded that sauropods, most likely, .
T. rex with almost “correct” paws. In one of the recent works, it was proven that these lizards had . Image from ArthurWeasley
New data has changed ideas not only about herbivorous dinosaurs. Predatory dinosaurs also turned out to be not quite what was commonly believed. Looking at pictures depicting huge bipedal theropods - a suborder of lizard-hipped dinosaurs, to which the famous Tyrannosaurus rex, - many paid attention to their forelimbs. Judging by these drawings, the tiny legs of the predators dangled helplessly, palms down, somewhere at chest level.
A detailed analysis of the anatomy of the theropods' forelimbs showed that, despite their unpresentable appearance, they were very strong. Scientists have put forward several hypotheses to explain the function of the front paws. Most agreed that, most likely, with their help, predators held the caught prey for greater convenience in “processing” with their jaws. The authors of one recent paper suggested that theropods' slightly grotesque limbs. Based on the analysis of fossilized tracks, scientists concluded that the palms of the front paws did not look down, but at each other.
The researchers' findings advance the evolution of bipedal predators into birds. Until now, it was believed that characteristic anatomical features began to appear in theropods at the end of the Jurassic period (slightly earlier than 145 million years ago). New data moves this event back 45 million years, to the very beginning of the Jurassic.
The very fact that ancient lizards had plumage was first proven in 1999, when the remains of Beipiaosaurus inexpectus. This dinosaur, which walked on two hind limbs, belonged to the group from which birds later evolved.
What happened during the evolution of reptiles into birds can be observed every day. The appearance of winged dinosaurs is not so obvious to researchers. For a long time paleontologists believed that the wings of pterosaurs were smooth and leathery and resembled the wings of modern bats. At the end of September 2009, a group of researchers presented evidence to the scientific community that this idea was incorrect.
The authors of the new work studied the perfectly preserved remains of winged lizards discovered in Inner Mongolia. Even pieces of soft tissue remained on the bones of Cretaceous reptiles. Their analysis showed that the skin of pterosaurs was thicker closer to the surface of the lizard's body. At the moment, it is not clear whether they resembled or resembled the fur of mammals. What function the hairs performed is still unclear.
Habits
The lifestyle of dinosaurs is even more difficult to restore than their appearance. Scientists judge the habitat, feeding methods, reproduction and place in the ecosystem largely based on the supposed appearance of the lizards. Accordingly, as certain ideas are clarified or abandoned, the conclusions of researchers about the ecology of ancient dinosaurs change.
Thus, quite recently, a group of Tokyo paleontologists stated that pterosaurs, considered the thunderstorm of the Mesozoic sky, flew very mediocrely. Scientists analyzed the flight method of several species of birds and determined the maximum possible body weight at which a bird can effectively move in the air. According to the authors' calculations, pterosaurs were approximately (the mass of these lizards could reach 250 kilograms).
On the other hand, pterosaurs could compensate for excess body weight due to. A group of paleontologists from the USA and Great Britain examined the bones of flying lizards using computed tomography and x-ray. Scientists have discovered characteristic cavities in them. In modern birds, the cavities contain air sacs - organs where part of the inhaled air enters. The presence of air sacs allows oxygen-rich air to pass through the lungs both during inhalation and exhalation.
Recent evidence suggests that another dinosaur characteristic has been misjudged. Terrible predator T. rex, perhaps, preferred to hunt not adult herbivorous giants, but defenseless young animals. Scientists made this conclusion based on an analysis of the bones of herbivorous dinosaurs discovered by paleontologists to date. The fossils found rarely indicated that the lizard was killed and “butchered” by a predator. But a lot of half-digested bones of young herbivorous dinosaurs and their embryos were found.
Other predators of the late Cretaceous period also exhibited atypical behavior. Small, but nevertheless dangerous, velociraptors loved to wait for their victims. This conclusion was the result of work on modeling the biomechanics of the claws of ancient predators.
In addition to trees, ancient lizards mastered another ecological niche - burrows. Moreover, dinosaurs dug them themselves and survived harsh conditions underground. Burrows have been found in Australia and North America. During the time of the dinosaurs, these territories were located at higher latitudes than now, since the continents in their modern form have not yet formed. During cold periods, temperatures dropped below zero at night, and dinosaurs needed shelter. Some more data collected over recent years, lead us to assume that the reptiles are more ancient than is commonly thought.
The inconsistencies between traditional ideas about dinosaurs and new factual data can be listed for a very long time. It can be mentioned that the sense of smell of dinosaurs, that the eggs of some of the ancient giants, and the “teenage” dinosaurs gathered in gangs and.
As new facts are accumulated and verified, textbook authors will have to order new pictures and rewrite old texts. So, the next generation of children will have completely different ideas about dinosaurs than we do. And what actually happened on Earth during the era of giant lizards, we will most likely never know.
These giants dominated our planet for more than 160 million years, but at the end of the Cretaceous period they completely disappeared as a species. Scientists are still finding remains of dinosaurs that completely disappeared as a species about 66 million years ago. And even now their size is amazing!
In total, paleontologists count more than 1,000 species of dinosaurs, but only ten of them can be distinguished by a special feature. They do not have outstanding sizes, are not bloodthirsty, but are simply very strange.
10 Amargasaurus
This species was first described in 1991, after José Bonaparte discovered remains in the La Amarga quarry. A distinctive feature of this dinosaur is two rows of spines on the neck and back, approximately 65 centimeters long. Amargasaurus has no other outstanding qualities.
Scientists are still arguing why there were spikes on the back of this lizard. This design significantly reduced the dinosaur's mobility, so protection from predators was in doubt. We can definitely say that the male Amagasaurus had longer spines, which means it used them for mating games.
9 Concavenator
This carnivorous dinosaur was first discovered in 2003, and scientists are still debating its strange skeleton. The concavenator had a small body about 6 meters long and a strange feature - a hump between the 11th and 12th vertebrae of the skeleton.
The hump did not serve any useful function, just like the bumps in the bones of the concavenator’s forearms. But paleontologists were able to take a fresh look at the theory of the relationship between birds and dinosaurs, because before this, feather rudiments had not been observed in any relative of this dinosaur.
8 Kosmoceratops
Another strange representative of this species belongs to the horned dinosaurs. Perhaps this is where all its advantages end. The name Kosmoceratops does not come from the word cosmos, but means ornate in ancient Greek.
And it is really, very richly decorated! Kosmoceratops had 15 horns, and in terms of their number, it is the most equipped dinosaur. True, there was no point in them, except that the beautiful horns came in handy during mating games.
7 Kulindadromeus transbaikalensis
This miracle animal, as the name implies, was discovered in Russia, in the Kulinda Valley in 2010. Since then, the minds of scientists have not stopped digesting information, because Culindadronius has violated all conceivable theories about dinosaurs.
It belongs to the group of ornithischian dinosaurs, but does not have wings (or their rudiments). All previously found representatives of this group did not even have the rudiments of feathers, which caused discussions in scientific worlds. So far, it has been established that feathers were used by this dinosaur to maintain warmth and for mating games.
6 Notronichus
This wonderful dinosaur belongs to the genus of therapods (predators), but is a herbivore. His remains were discovered in 1998 on a ranch in New Mexico. It had a rather impressive weight - 5.1 tons and a height of about 5 meters.
Now imagine a giant sloth standing on the ground. This is exactly what this dinosaur looked like, which greatly surprised paleontologists. Its huge claws were a completely unnecessary adaptation, given its herbivory. Nootronichus was very, very slow because of the claws...
5 Oryctodrome
This ornithischian dinosaur had a very unusual property for its species. Small, only 2.1 meters long and weighing 22 kg, it looked like a modern mole or rabbit.
Yes, oryctodromeus dug holes and hid in them from predators. It looks like a pretty cute wombat, only many times larger. The spectacle was obviously funny - a dinosaur that lives in a hole and digs the ground with its claws!
4 Ganzhousaurus
This species was discovered in the province of the same name in China in 2013. Scientifically it is called Qianzhousaurus, and in everyday life it is called “Pinocchio dinosaur”. In practice, he is a tyrannosaurus, only slightly modified.
The fact is that the Ganzhousaurus has a very long jaw, the structure of which defies explanation. Their cousins, tyrannosaurs, have a very massive skull that could withstand powerful blows. Why would a Pinocchio dinosaur, with the same body structure, have a long jaw that cannot withstand the load is a real mystery.
3 Rhinorex
This species belongs to the genus of herbivorous hadrosaurids, but differs from them in one feature in the structure of the skull. Rhinorex simply has a huge nasal plate that defies any explanation.
The purpose of this dinosaur's nose has been debated by scientists for many years. Like his relatives, he did not have a special sense of smell, so such a growth on the nose is meaningless from the point of view of convenience. The duck-billed dinosaur is still being studied and researched by paleontologists.
2 Stygomoloch
Oh, his name already inspires fear - translated it is “horned demon from the river of hell.” This herbivorous dinosaur had a domed skull with horns located at the back.
The name stygimoloch comes from mythology - Moloch (a Semitic deity) and Styx (a nymph in Hades). Scientists are still arguing why he needed such a strange skull and have come to the conclusion that these are again mating games. Stygomoloch fought his opponents with the help of his convex forehead and horns.
1 Yutyrannus
This type of dinosaur was related to the Tyrannosaurus rex, although the difference is immediately visible. It was covered with short, chicken-like feathers, about 15 centimeters long. He was a predator, although at first glance he did not look at all intimidating in these feathers.
Moreover, it weighed quite a lot, about two tons. Findings of such dinosaurs increasingly lead scientists to believe that all representatives of this species first had feathers, and then lost them during evolution.
Humanity is lucky that these powerful creatures became extinct many millions of years ago. Even the strangest and most absurd of them could destroy a person with one blow.
Millions of years ago, these giants of the ancient world - dinosaurs - reigned on the planet. Only in the 19th century did scientists begin to study their remains. There were many questions related to ancient lizards. One of them: “What does a dinosaur look like?” - has not yet been fully clarified. Too great a gap of time separates modern man and these amazing animals to speak with confidence about their appearance.
Ancient giants of the planet
Dinosaurs appeared (photos and descriptions of some of them can be seen in our article) about 230 million years ago. The origin of these creatures dates back to the late Triassic period, their heyday occurred in the Jurassic period, and their disappearance occurred at the end of the Cretaceous period. Over millions of years of existence, dinosaurs settled throughout the Earth. Their remains have been found even in Antarctica.
Types of dinosaurs
Today, scientists know more than a thousand species. They are divided into predators, herbivores, aquatic and flying dinosaurs. This diversity creates great difficulties, since scientists usually have, at best, only a few bones in the hands of scientists to determine the species.
How do researchers recreate ancient dinosaurs?
Descriptions can be found everywhere - in encyclopedias on the ancient world of our planet, scientific works, books for children. Large quantity films, documentaries and children's cartoons are dedicated to the giants of the past. If you ask any person, he will quite accurately describe the appearance of ancient lizards. How do we know what dinosaurs look like? Photos and videos of them, of course, are impossible to get, because they existed millions of years ago. The answer lies in the remains of these reptiles. To date, more than one hundred thousand have been found. These include not only bones, but also dinosaur eggs, their excrement, fossilized paw prints and bodies.
Using fragments of the skeleton, scientists reconstruct the appearance of the lizards. What do dinosaur bones look like? Externally, they differ from the remains of modern animals in their size and degree of preservation. Unfortunately, finding a complete skeleton is incredibly rare. Most often, scientists have to determine what a dinosaur looks like based on scattered remains.
Where are dinosaur bones found?
There are many places on Earth where you can find the remains of ancient giants. More than a thousand such valuable finds have been discovered in the Canadian province of Alberta. These were the remains of centrosaurian lizards. In Argentina, in the province of Chubut, the bones of seven titanosaurs were found. In Mexico, in 2014, the bones of 14 lizards were discovered in one of the deserts. A large number of dinosaur remains continue to be found in the Chinese province of Shandong. The bones of large theropods were found here - the predatory ancient lizards of the tyrannosaurus and ankylosaur.
How does the process of restoring the appearance of ancient lizards take place?
Dinosaurs lived millions of years ago. Soft fabrics during this time they turned to dust, and the bones turned to stone. Since the 19th century, we have learned a lot more about what a dinosaur looks like, but even now there is no certainty whether scientists are correctly reconstructing their appearance.
This work is painstaking and time-consuming. First you need to assemble a skeleton from the found fragments. If some parts are missing, they have to be restored. Then the artists get to work. Based on the skull and skeleton, they recreate the body and skin of the lizard. For this purpose, a technique is used that is used in forensic science. What dinosaur skin looks like has been revealed through fossils that clearly show its texture and pattern. It was waterproof, dry and made of scales. The found prints clearly show hard areas and elastic folds of the skin. Some species of ancient reptiles were protected by shells. These include ankylosaurs.
One of the problems in determining what a dinosaur looks like is figuring out the color of the skin. So far, paleontologists cannot reliably answer this question. Therefore, when reconstructing the appearance of the lizard, modern animals and birds are taken as a basis. Thus, artist Tyler Killor, who, on the instructions of scientists, restored the appearance of the dinosaur Rugops, took the color of the plumage of the Shoebill bird as a model.
But even the most carefully recreated appearance of a dinosaur can undergo changes. Modern technologies and recent discoveries in paleontology provide new data about the ancient giants.
What does a dinosaur look like: general description
Ancient lizards were divided into two large orders: saurian and ornithischian. The latter were sauropods (herbivores). Saurischian dinosaurs were divided into two groups: theropods (carnivores) and sauropods. These are representatives of large lizards with massive bodies and long necks: apatosaurus, diplodocus, brachiosaurus). Each of the orders of dinosaurs is represented by both bipedal dinosaurs and those who moved on four limbs.
In most cases they walked on two legs.
There is an opinion that all dinosaurs were huge. This is wrong. Among them were both real giants (Seismosaurus, Spinosaurus) and small lizards (Compsognathus, Heterodontosaurus).
Dinosaurs are one of the most amazing representatives of the animal world of our planet in the past. They combined the characteristics of several now distinct groups of modern animals: crocodiles, lizards, birds and mammals.
They are similar to crocodiles due to their skin and teeth. Their skull is the same as that of lizards, and the structure of the tubular bones makes dinosaurs similar to mammals. The structure of the pelvis and hind limbs brings ancient reptiles closer to birds.
Most dinosaurs walked on their hind limbs located vertically, leaning on their toes when walking. This method of movement made them more active.
About the structure internal organs Disagreements still arise among scientists to this day. What they were like is now impossible to determine, so the anatomy of birds and lizards is taken as the basis. Little more is known about the brains of ancient reptiles. The intact skulls found suggest with a high degree of probability that its structure was similar to the brain of modern lizards.
There are also difficulties in determining the color of the skin. Perhaps some dinosaurs had khaki skin. Some may have been brightly colored, following the example of modern lizards.
According to recent research, a number of ancient lizards had feathers.
This is not only the well-known Archeopteryx, but also Microraptor, Caudipteryx and others.
Amazing appearance: the most famous and unusual dinosaurs
Among the ancient lizards there are very interesting individuals whose appearance is unusual. Suchomimus, a huge predator, resembled a crocodile with its narrow mouth, and the claw of the first finger on its forelimbs reached a length of more than 30 centimeters.
The Carnotaurus had horns. For this predator they most likely played the role of identification marks.
Gryposaurus had a beak and approximately 800 teeth. Whether he was a herbivore or a predator is still unknown.
Tyrannosaurus Rex is a dinosaur whose description always arouses great interest. This is one of the largest predators of the past, whose appearance and size look terrifying.
It was bipedal and had a massive head, balanced by a large tail. The peculiarity of the tyrannosaurus is that, with powerful hind limbs, it had very small front paws with two fingers. Due to the fact that among the 30 skeletons of this predator found, several were completely preserved, scientists were able to carefully study its structure, biology and biomechanics.
Conclusion
The history of the amazing giants that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago has not yet been fully studied. New discoveries and more accurate research methods can reveal many secrets of the lifestyle, appearance and physiology of dinosaurs.
I found a very interesting article here that the appearance of dinosaurs is a big question. I have long been interested in why they all look like lizards, by the way.
One of the paleoartists (these are people who figure out what an animal looked like based on bones) C.M. Kosemen says that too much has not been preserved to draw conclusions about appearance- feathers, scutes and everything else. For example, there is such an animal now as the pangolin, with a bunch of scutes all over its body. So what it will look like in a fossil is a big question, most likely it will look like a lizard.
The artist claims that if you look closely, all the dinosaurs' faces are similar, they only have visible teeth and the faces themselves have almost no fatty layers. Simply because it is impossible to establish this now - there is no surviving information.
It is also impossible to determine the color of the animals, and in general, most skeletons were reconstructed from only a few bones.
Koseman says there is a tendency to exaggerate dinosaur heads and claws. Sure, many dinosaurs had big claws and scary heads, but in many paintings they seem almost cartoonish. In fact, many things about modern dinosaur illustration make the beasts more sensational and in some ways more attractive, helping future generations become interested in paleontology.
It is also interesting that the artist tried to depict modern animals using their skeletons and paleontological methods; the pictures really deserve attention.
These are elephant, zebra and rhinoceros.
This is a baboon. 
Well, these are swans. 
And the cherry on the cake is the hippopotamus. 
There are many questions associated with dinosaurs in general, and most of them simply have no answers. Can you imagine dinosaurs being different?
