Artist shows how these extinct animals might’ve looked in real life in his 12 illustrations

Since the early 19th century, artists have depicted colorful – if sometimes fictional – animals (especially dinosaurs) and prehistoric environments, mingling science with unbridled fantasy as more and more fossils got uncovered and studied by the archeologists of that time.

It is pretty clear, though, that by only looking at a cluster of fossils such as bones, not much can be said about the appearance of the said animal that existed a long time ago. For example, the prehistoric reptiles could share similar bone structures thus revealing their true appearance was quite a hard task at the time.

However, nowadays, with the help of computers, artists and archeologists alike can get an idea about what these majestic creatures looked like millions of years ago.

A paleoartist known as “Paleorex” on their Instagram shows how various prehistoric animals might’ve looked like millions of years ago by making 3D renders of them.

Velociraptor

Velociraptor is one of the most iconic dinosaurs of all. It was a ferocious hunter that likely relied on its deadly sickle claws to pierce the vital areas of its victim’s body, much like today’s eagles. Velociraptors have been misunderstood ever since they were featured in Jurassic Park as giant scaly dinosaurs. In reality, Velociraptor shared many traits found in modern-day birds, most notably, feathers.

Through art, this long extinct and fascinating animal is bought back to life!

The Encylopedia describes paleoart as any original artistic work that attempts to depict prehistoric life according to scientific evidence. Works of paleoart may be representations of fossil remains or imagined depictions of the living creatures and their ecosystems.

While paleoart is typically defined as being scientifically informed, it is often the basis of depictions of prehistoric animals in popular culture, which in turn influences public perception of and fuels interest in these animals.

Smilodon

Up until about 10,000 years ago, the saber-toothed cat Smilodon was a ferocious predator that dominated the primeval landscape of the Americas.

Smilodon means “knife-tooth”, a perfectly fitting name given its enormous fangs, which measured up to 28 centimeters in length. This 250-kilogram feline was an apex predator and primarily hunted the large mammals it shared the land with, such as bison and camels.

Dorygnathus

Dorygnathus was a small pterosaur that lived in Europe during the Early Jurassic period approximately 180 million years ago when shallow seas flooded much of the continent. This flying reptile had a short wingspan of about 1.5 meters.

The most striking feature of Dorygnathus is its incredible teeth, which were very long and sharp, ideal for catching small aquatic prey like prehistoric fish and squids.

In case you didn’t know, through paleoart, most of the fossils found are “revived.” A single drawing or sculpture can define how the public will visualize a whole category of extinct species.

So paleoartists strive to keep their work as accurate as possible—a task that gets harder when the experts disagree and when more data is found and proved inaccurate.

Barbourofelis

Barbourofelis was one of the largest “false saber-tooth cats”, which were carnivorous mammals that, due to convergent evolution, evolved to be very similar in appearance to cats, even though they were quite distantly related.

Barbourofelis was up to 1.8 meters long and was a powerfully built predator, with a skeletal structure that is indicative of a strongly developed musculature. This hints Barbourofelis was a fierce predator, which likely hunted large prey in North America during the Pliocene.

Stegoceras

Stegoceras was the prime example of a pachycephalosaur (“thick-headed lizard”), a family of ornithischian, plant-eating, bipedal dinosaurs, known for their extremely thick skulls. Although Stegoceras had a sleek build, it had a large dome on its head made of thick solid bone. Similarly to modern day bisons, experts believe that Stegoceras males used their very strong heads to shove and head-butt each other to win females during breeding season.

This peculiar dinosaur lived in what is now North America around 75 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous. Paleoart doesn’t always need to feature dinosaurs, though they are the most prevalent.

All prehistoric organisms, from early palm trees to woolly mammoths, make quite worthy subjects! Nevertheless, the charismatic reptiles were pretty much always at the center of attention, and for a significant period in the history of this art form, there was even a “dinosaur renaissance.”

Triceratops

Behold the mighty Triceratops, one of the most famous dinosaurs of all!

With its 3 iconic horns, a parrot-like beak, and a large frill, the skull of Triceratops is one of the largest and most striking of any land animal.

It is often considered the toughest of all dinosaurs, and indeed it used its sheer size, body strength, and imposing horns to fend off attacks from one of the deadliest predators to ever live, T-REX.

Guanlong

In the late Jurassic it would have been hard to believe that such a relatively small predator like Guanlong would lead to the evolution of one of the largest and most ferocious carnivorous dinosaurs of all, Tyrannosaurus rex! In fact, it is one of the first known tyrannosaurids and lived in China about 95 million years before Tyrannosaurus rex.

Its name comes from the Chinese words meaning “crown” and “dragon”, a clear reference to its unusual crest, one of the most distinct among known theropod dinosaurs, which was probably used for display and to intimidate rivals.

It is clear that natural history artwork has always relied heavily on science, but scientific communication also benefits increasingly from carefully executed scientific illustration, in the form of artwork for press releases, manuscript figures, and journal cover images.

Pyroraptor was a dromaeosaurid, a small, bird-like predatory theropod that possessed enlarged curved claws on the second toe of each foot. In Pyroraptor, these claws were 6.5 centimeters long and, as in other dromaeosaurids, these claws might have been used as weapons or as climbing aids. Pyroraptor lived during the Late Cretaceous, approximately 70 millions of years ago, in what is now France and Spain.

Tupandactylus

Some of you know that I really enjoy depicting pterosaurs, especially the more “extreme” ones that used to live during the Cretaceous in what is now Brazil. Recently, a new and perfectly preserved pterosaur specimen of the genus Tupandactylus was discovered and what you see is my depiction of this once fascinating animal. Hope you like it!

Chilotherium

Chilotherium is a genus of prehistoric rhinoceros that lived during the Miocene and Pliocene in Asia and Eastern Europe. At the shoulders, it was as tall as a fully grown man and weighed between 1 to 2.5 tons.

Its most notable feature is its two large upward-curving tusks, formed from enlarged incisor teeth, which rose up from the lower jaw. Although these peculiar tusks were present in both males and females, they seem to have been larger in the males, suggesting that they might have been used for display. ‬They were also likely used for species recognition as well as possible practical applications.

Scutellosaurus

Scutellosaurus was a small ornithischian dinosaur that lived approximately 196 million years ago during the Early Jurassic in what is now Arizona, USA. Scutellosaurus was lightly built and was around 1.2 metres long and 50 centimeters tall.

One of the more striking features of this small herbivorous dinosaur was the large number of osteoderms that ran along its neck to its back and as far down as its tail. These formed parallel rows, with as many as five rows on each side.

Titanis

Titanis was a giant flightless terror bird that inhabited in North America during the early Pliocene to early Pleistocene epochs. Titanis was a large fearsome predator, that was almost 2 meters tall and weighed around 150 kilograms. It had long and powerful legs and it could run at high speeds when hunting its prey. Although its skull has not been discovered yet, it is likely that it had a large, axe-like beak, like its relatives.