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
#1 The Extremely Birdy Predatory Dinosaur Deinonychus Watches The Sunset At A Canyon
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#2 Scythe-Armed, Featherless Swans
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#3 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
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#4 Two Lanky Moganopterus Pterosaurs On A Stroll At An Ancient Beach. Moganopterus Was One Of The Largest Toothed Pterosaurs
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#5 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
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#6 The Intermediate-Form Pterosaur, Darwinopterus Modularis, Flashes Its Red Crest For A Potential Mate
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#7 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
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#8 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
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#9 The Stubby-Armed Dinosaur, Majungasaurus, Displays With Its Flamboyant Neck Wattles And Crest
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#10 A Jock Ctenospondylus Faces Down A Smaller Opponent Because His Back Is Not Humpy And Red Enough
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#11 “Shrink-Wrap” Reconstructions Of Birds
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#12 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
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#13 Albertosaurus, The Original “Terror Bird”
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#14 A Bull Diplodocus Briefly Walks On Two Legs While On A Beachside Excursion, As His Kind Often Does
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#15 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.
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#16 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
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#17 A Slightly Immature Pterodactylus Pterosaur By An Ancient Seashore. A Mature Specimen Can Be Seen On The Background
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#18 Pencil Illustration Of The Ichthyosaur Acamptonectes
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#19 The Demon-Bird Austroraptor Howls Against The Full Moon
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#20 The “Bull-Horned” Ceratopsian Nasutuceratops Supplements Its Diet With A Dash Of Calcium – From An Unfortunate Turtle It Found On A River Bank
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#21 Scaled Pencil Drawings Of Large And Small Forms Of Plateosaurus. This Early Plant-Eating Dinosaur Exhibited A Large Variety In Body Sizes
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#22 Pencil Study Of Massospondylus, The Goobiest Prosauropod
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#23 Portrait Of Sinosaurus, A Meat-Eating Dinosaur Once Thought To Be A Species Of The Dilophosaurus
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#24 This Small, Climbing, Fuzzy And Heterodont (Differently-Toothed) Animal As The Ultimate Ancestor Of All Dinosaurs, “Dinosauromorphs” And Pterosaurs
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#25 The Early Dinosaur, Eoraptor, Runs Through A Psychedelic Forest, Its Body Already Bristling With Tuft-Like Structures Ancestral To Feather
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#26 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
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#27 The Giant Meat-Eating Dinosaur, Giganotosaurus, Here Restored With A Throat Sac. This Animal Had Tiny Arms That Terminated In Hook-Like Claws
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#28 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
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#29 A Pterosaur With Bird-Like Feathers
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#30 The Crocodile-Like Archosaur Ticinosuchus Attacks A Long-Necked Tanystropheus
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#31 The Herbivorous Dinosaur Zalmoxes, Restored Speculatively With A Covering Of Thick, Pangolin-Like Scales Interspersed With Feathery Filaments
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#32 Mosasaurs Were Gigantic, Sea-Dwelling Relatives Monitor Lizards That Lived At The Time Of The Dinosaurs
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#33 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
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#34 Australian Dinosaurs: Australovenator Wintonensis And Two Modern-Day Emus, Dromaius Novaehollandiae. The Australovenator Figure Is Adapted From A Skeletal Drawing By Ashley Patch
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#35 Medium-Size Mosasurs, Swimming Lizards That Lived At The Time Of Dinosaurs, In Comparison With A Modern-Day Person
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#36 Measured Drawing Of The “Double Sickle-Claw” Dinosaur Balaur Bondoc From Late Cretaceous Romania, Compared To A Present-Day Dog
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#37 The Earliest Ancestor Of Pterosaurs Could Have Been Something Like This. This Is A Speculative Animal
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#38 The Sail-Backed Repto-Mammal Secodontosaurus Was The Most Likely Member Of Its Group To Have Had An Aquatic Lifestyle
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#39 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
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#40 Adult And Juvenile Atlasaurus Dinosaurs In Scale With A Modern-Day Person
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#41 Measured Drawings Of The Newly-Discovered, Skin-Winged Dinosaur Yi Qi, Compared With A Modern-Day Magpie, Pica Pica
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
#42 This Is A Purposefully Wrong Reconstruction Of Pterodactylus With Lizard-Like Features
Image source: C. M. Kosemen
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