Author:Jiang Hong(Yantai Museum)
Source: Knowledge is Power magazine
Dinosaurs are extinct archaezos, how do we know what they looked like? It is the unremitting efforts of generations of paleontological artists that bring us closer and closer to the true appearance of dinosaurs. Scientific restoration of dinosaurs and the world in which they live is not simple, the artists who sketch paleontology are not ordinary artists, they not only have superb artistic literacy, but also have a deep accumulation of knowledge in paleontology, anatomy, ecology, geology and other aspects, it is they who open a door to the prehistoric world, taking us through time and space, back to the prehistoric era of dinosaur life.
Restoration from the inside out
Paleontological artist Gregory S. Paul's restored brachiosaurus
The restoration of paleontologists certainly begins with fossils, and in the paleontological artist Gregory S. Paul's series of reconstructive diagrams, you can see the simple process of the artist's restoration of dinosaurs, from bones to muscles, and then add skin to become what they looked like when they were alive.
The seemingly simple process is actually not simple at all. Paleontological artists must know the bones of this animal very well and rebuild them, because bones are the foundation, and all organs, muscles, skin, and various derivatives are attached or connected to the bones, as if the house had to be framed first.
Paleontological artists can only determine the size of the animal and the reasonable movement posture after clearly understanding the skeleton of the paleontology.
With a complete skeleton, it is necessary to add muscles to it, how many muscles are connected to a bone, which is difficult for paleontological artists, through the observation of the attachment and distribution of living animal muscles, as well as the structural characteristics on fossil bones, paleontological artists can add reasonable muscles and muscle groups to the skeleton, which sounds very powerful?
Bring people to the first glimpse of prehistoric behemoths
Charles Knight in the creation of the Stegosaurus model
Charles Knight was born in the United States in the 1870s, just 30 years after the birth of the name "dinosaur", and people's understanding of dinosaurs is still stuck at the level of prehistoric lizards.
Knight was fascinated by dinosaurs and other ancient creatures from an early age, and at the same time he showed a high artistic talent. Thanks to the rapid advances in the discovery and research of paleontology in the United States, Nate was able to obtain a lot of information about dinosaurs. As an adult, Knight began to draw dinosaur restoration maps for the American Museum of Natural History, combining his knowledge with cutting-edge research to create a large number of classic dinosaur restorations.
Charles Knight drew a restoration of the Thunder Dragon in 1897, which was divided into foreground and long-range in composition: the view could see a Thunder Dragon whose body was mostly not in the pond, and the structural organs of its head were well represented; the long view could see a complete image of the Thunder Dragon, and the shape and proportion of all parts of the body were clear at a glance, including a small head, a long neck, a bulky body, a meandering and slender tail, and thick limbs. This thunder dragon was nibbling on the plants on the ground, and the characteristics of the plant feeding were clear
Knight's Thunder Dragon represents the scientific understanding of large sauropod dinosaurs at the end of the 19th century, and Knight's Thunder Dragon Restoration Map not only strives to restore the appearance and life of Thunder Dragon, but also restores the environment in which it lives, whether it is the layers of the jungle in the distance, or the floating plants in the nearby ponds and the reflection of water patterns.
If you re-examine Knight's Thunder Dragon with today's understanding of dinosaurs, there are indeed many problems, such as the neck can not be raised, the tail will not drag on the ground, etc. The root cause of these problems is the limitation of the level of paleontological research more than 100 years ago, which also branded the earliest dinosaur restoration map, but it can not shake the artistry in the Knight restoration map.
Restore the true face of the dinosaur "tyrant"
The most classic T-Rex restoration comes from the movie "Jurassic Park" series, but the T-Rex in the movie is actually different from the real T-Rex. What exactly does a Tyrannosaurus Rex look like? Chinese paleontological artist Zhao Chuang tells you the answer with a restoration diagram.
Chinese paleontological artist Zhao Chuang's work photo
The Tyrannosaurus Rex head drawn by Zhao Chuang is huge, narrow in front and wide in the back. From the front, the two eyes of the Tyrannosaurus rex can stare at you at the same time, and its binocular horizon overlap angle of 60°, which is unique in large carnivorous dinosaurs, indicating that the eyesight of the Tyrannosaurus rex is very good. Another feature of the Tyrannosaurus rex's head was its mouth full of terrifying teeth, which were sharp and thick, with terrifying destructive power, and even if the Tyrannosaurus rex closed its mouth, the teeth would still be exposed.
The Tyrannosaurus Rex drawn by Zhao Chuang has palms facing each other, and has some hairs on its neck, back, and tail
In addition to the huge head, the "small short hand" with only two fingers is also an iconic feature of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. If you look closely, you will find that zhao Chuang's tyrannosaurus rex hands are palm facing each other, and the palm-down restoration in the movie is wrong. In stark contrast to the Tyrannosaurus rex 's " small short hands " , its muscular hind legs , in fact , T . rex had the longest proportion of hind legs of a giant carnivorous dinosaur , which can be seen clearly in the recovery chart. Down the legs of the Tyrannosaurus rex is its big foot, it actually walks with its toes, and it is not easy to support such a huge body with its toes.
There has always been a great controversy about whether the Tyrannosaurus rex has long scales or long hairs, and we can often see the recovery of the hairy Tyrannosaurus rex, according to the fossil evidence found so far, the Tyrannosaurus rex is long scales, and it is a very small and delicate scale. From a distance, the skin of the Tyrannosaurus rex is smooth, while Zhao Chuang's painting of the Tyrannosaurus rex has some hairs on its neck, back, and tail, and this restoration comes from the view of paleontologists at the American Museum of Natural History, because skin structures similar to chicken skin have been found in these locations.
Seeing the Tyrannosaurus Rex drawn by Zhao Chuang, did you already feel the oppression of the ancient tyrant, this Tyrannosaurus Rex is based on the details of the latest research, but this is not the "decisive version" of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. In the future, with more fossil discoveries and scientific research on T. rex, it may have to change again.
A master of fine details
Being able to accurately and gracefully reconstruct a dinosaur is already great, but for paleontological artists, this is far from enough, because they will find a way to show the environment in which dinosaurs lived and the relationship between dinosaurs, so there is a more atmospheric and informative restoration of paleoecological scenes.
Julius Stoney's painting of the prehistoric underwater world
Canadian paleontologist Julius Stoney is a master of paleoecological scenes, and he also earned a doctorate in microbiology. In Stoney's view, rebuilding an ecosystem that has disappeared for tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of years is not a simple task, first it is necessary to determine the terrain and climate at that time, then restore the plant community as the background, and finally select the animals that will appear in the restoration map. This process requires going through a lot of material and consulting experts, because any animal that shouldn't be present or even a humble plant can ruin the entire painting.
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"Ecological Niche Segmentation of Different Dinosaurs in dinosaur park group" is a representative paleo-ecological scene created by Julius Stoney, showing the dinosaur world of the Late Cretaceous 76 million years ago. The restoration is set in the early morning when the sun first rises, and the fog has not completely dissipated. The environment is selected in the transition zone between the forest and the plain, and the composition of the landscape from left to right gradually becomes open, and the dinosaur group can be seen in the distance. The dinosaurs that appear in the big scene from left to right are Openhorn, Lai's Dragon, Euphorbia, Baotou Dragon, Ctenophoraurus, and Dragon, which are not on a flat surface, but are arranged in layers near and far.
Julius Stoney also took into account the effects of light when drawing dinosaurs, with dinosaurs in the distance slightly blurred, while dinosaurs in the near distance are rich in detail, and the parts of the body that are exposed to the sun are particularly bright. This paleontological scene is full of tension in visual presentation, there is an immersive feeling in the viewing, and the environment is full of peace with the dinosaurs, giving people a sense of calm. This scene is not only a simple restoration of the paleo-ecological scene, but also a hidden display of ecological niche segmentation, such as the tall and standing Lai's dragon and ctenophora eating on high leaves, the limbed openhorn and euphorbia, the low-lying Baotou and Gibbosaurus feeding on ground-growing ferns, and different species of dinosaurs eating food of different heights, avoiding competition.
(Editor-in-Charge / Huang Yingying Art Editor / Zhou You)