Scientists have struggled to learn about the creatures and the sculptures are the first attempt to visualize them at lifelike dimensions. They were depicted as monstrous, mammal-like, heavy-legged, and four-legged beasts – an idea that was revolutionary compared to earlier ideas that had imagined dinosaurs in physical form. is a giant lizard. But it’s also wrong.
A view of the Crystal Palace exhibit with Richard Owen’s stunning dinosaur reconstructions in the foreground, by the George Baxter press in London. Credit: Wellcome Collection
“This is the first dinosaur book where the dinosaurs actually looked like what they looked like,” declares the author, who has worked with paleontologist Bob Nicholls. “Every detail, as much as possible, is supported by evidence. We have tried to select species that are well documented, so that in the text I can show what we know and why do we know it.”
Ancient house Bob Nicholls animates the creatures in Benton’s book, including on the cover shown here. Credit: Thames & Hudson
“I think we can say that feathers have an earlier origin than we thought, at least 100 million years, right back to the roots of the dinosaurs,” Benton said.
A restored skeleton of Hadrosaurus hoikii based on the original at the Philadelphia Institute of Natural Sciences, the museum’s first mount of a dinosaur, to be precise, upright. Credit: Archives of the Smithsonian Institution
The idea that dinosaurs had feathers didn’t appeal to everyone. Famously, the “Jurassic Park” series – which debuted in 1993 before feathered dinosaur fossils were first discovered – has steadfastly refused to include them in its most recent films.
“They describe it by saying they don’t want the T-Rex to look like a giant chicken. But it’s a pity,” Benton said.
Even more recently, Benton and his team at the University of Bristol in the UK have pioneered a way, by finding pigment structures deep within fossil feathers, to determine the color patterns of dinosaurs from fossils. “We were the first to use this method in 2010, so the book mainly documents studies from the past 10 years looking at the skin, scales and feathers in fossils – to get color. sharp.”
That result is demonstrated through illustrations of the 15 creatures featured in the book – not only of dinosaurs but also of prehistoric birds, mammals and reptiles – embellished with vibrant leather patterns, many colorful feathers and some with prominent iridescent tips.
Looking at these creatures shows how much our knowledge of dinosaurs has improved and how much it can still improve. “A few years ago, I thought we would never know about the color of a dinosaur, but now we do,” Benton said.
“Don’t draw boundaries, because sooner or later a smart young person will say, ‘Hey guys, we can really work this out.'”
“Dinosaurs: New Visions of a Lost World” is published by Thames & Hudson.
Add to queue: Dino-mania
If you want to know the full history of dinosaurs, look no further than this “dinosaur biography” by one of the world’s leading paleontologists, Steve Brusatte. The book chronicles the 200-million-year history of the dinosaurs, from the Triassic, to the Jurassic, and to the Cretaceous, when their dominance ended through a mass extinction caused by a comet or asteroid. caused by sperm. Told as an epic story illustrating the modern workings of paleontology, it is based on very recent research.
This classic documentary series, produced by the venerable BBC’s Natural History Unit and broadcast by Discovery in the US, stands out as the most expensive documentary ever made when it came out in 2015. 1999. The film won three Emmys, spawned two sequels, and depicts dinosaurs in their natural habitat – in true documentary style – using a combination of computer graphics and animation. It was superior for its time and still holds much of its entertainment and educational value, although some of the science is now obsolete.
A blend of paleontology and political drama weaves through the story of Sue, the largest and most complete T. rex skeleton ever found. After being unearthed in South Dakota in 1990, the fossil became the center of a years-long legal battle over its ownership, illustrating the rifts that can arise between paleontologists. archaeologists, fossil collectors, and the government that owns the land on which the fossils were found. Spoiler alert: Sue is currently on display at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History.
The podcast for dinosaur lovers, “I Know Dino” is hosted by Garret Kruger and Sabrina Ricci, a husband and wife team of dinosaur enthusiasts. Each hour-long episode focuses on one species, discussed and explored in detail with the help of guests. The podcast, which started in 2016, has now reached nearly 400 episodes.
This Steven Spielberg classic remains the pop-culture reference point for dinosaurs. This is the first film to portray them as intelligent, active, and fast-moving creatures. (Who can forget the famous scene where T. rex fights the Velociraptors?) Although it was made nearly 30 years ago, the film’s CGI is still under scrutiny. Scientific accuracy has dwindled over the years, but it’s still an entertaining movie worth watching, with important performances by Laura Dern, Sam Neill, and Jeff Goldblum.
Top image: Reconstruction of Psittacosaurus, an illustration that appeared in the book “Dinosaur: A New Image of a Lost World.” A fossil was found for this creature containing preserved soft tissue, including skin and a patch of reed-like hair on the tip of the tail.
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