Top 13 Most Inaccurate Fossil Reconstructions

hello there guys let's talk about mistakes I make mistakes you make mistakes we all make mistakes we all created theories that at the time sighted correct when reality was much different and in no field of science are mistakes more prevalent than in paleontology the study of life that once existed countless times we have dug up the fossils of a beast and imagined what it would look like in the flesh and these imaginations are never completely correct paleontologists call these speculations reconstructions or the examination and recreation of once living organisms as well as the theories on how it looked acted and lived today we will examine the top 13 most outlandish most inaccurate and most outdated reconstructions of in paleontology we all know Tyrannosaurus Rex the famous large predatory dinosaur that was featured in Jurassic Park well a long time ago Tyrannosaurus Rex was originally reconstructed to look like a giant lizard kangaroo hybrid dragging a long tail on the ground all dinosaurs discovered in the early 20th century appeared like this the early paleontologist speculated that dinosaurs were a mix between a kangaroo and lizard in posture these outdated dinosaur reconstructions have long lizard-like tails that dragged on the ground like our kangaroos these dinosaurs also had tall erect backs like a person's appearing more humanoid in posture than what they actually were like these kangaroo dinosaur designs were later changed to the more horizontal and bird-like designs of modern day during the 1950's still little was known about dinosaurs still having kangaroo postures and reptilian scales dinosaurs would still have another 20 years before the dinosaur Renaissance in 1954 one famous dinosaur discovery led to a reconstruction that was very far from the truth there is enough Soros was one of the strangest dinosaurs yet discovered having massive claws the length of a man when Russian paleontologists give aneema leave examined the fossilized claws of this dinosaur he thought they belong to a large diving turtle like reptile 45 meters long that used the claws to harvest seaweed this giant turtle idea was eventually proven incorrect as paleontologists in 1970 identified the giant claws as dinosaur belonging to a bipedal dinosaur that was a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus it would be another 20 years until therizinosaurus would be properly identified as herbivore and feathered woolly mammoths were one of the last great megafauna that roamed the earth surviving long enough to see and be hunted to extinction by early humans after they died out these magnificent beasts were forgotten by humanity until reports from Siberia in the 1690 spoke of large skeletal remains across the landscape these skeletons sparked interest from early paleontologists in 1728 sir Hans alone published what can be considered the first scientific paper on mammoths Salons paper was based on travellers descriptions and a few scattered bones collected in Siberia and Britain while he discussed the question of whether or not the mammoth was an elephant he went hmm whatever and drew no conclusions soon more and more remains were discovered and paleontologists ended up with this thing a warthog like inaccurate interpretation of this Ice Age elephant relative probably the most recent and most controversial these inaccurate reconstructions the featherless dinosaurs the discovery of feathers on dinosaurs such as tyrannosaurus raptors and other species of dinosaur has been a revolutionary change for all dinosaur reconstructions before we had feather Tyrannosaurus on the cover of this month's Scientific American we had these naked dinosaurs that came right out of Jurassic Park now a dinosaur once thought to be covered in thick scales has fluffy feathers during the 90s many feathered dinosaurs were discovered changing all prior reconstructions this change can definitely be seen in school textbooks featuring outdated depictions of featherless / Raptors and velociraptors these incorrect reconstructions of scaling and naked dinosaurs are ones that do not seem to dial anytime soon many dinosaurs are still depicted featherless even when evidence of feathers on the same dinosaurs have been discovered it all started in 1965 when two long arms belonging to yet to be discovered dinosaur found in Mongolia the arms were massive longer than a man meaning the owner was big the owner of the arms was given a name Dino cheer Asst or horrible hand the original reconstructions pictured a massive featherless theropod dinosaur using its giant claws to catch unfortunate prey it wasn't until recently that the true appearance of the owner of the horrible hands was revealed in 2014 the same tragic year of new Spinosaurus a pair of different Dino cheeriest fossils were discovered the new evidence collected of Dino Cheers was vastly different to its original retro reconstruction new Dino cheers had feathers a humpback and a duck like head as it turns out deinocheirus was not a predator but an omnivore using its large arms to either protect itself or to reach tall branches for food pterosaurs were flying reptiles that inhabited the earth during the reign of the dinosaurs after their extinction the first fossilized remains of a pterosaur came to light in the late 18th century with the discovery of pterodactyls the creature had a bird likes now with tiny teeth in a long fourth finger in 1800 the first reconstruction of this pterosaur came to light German and French scientists Johan Hermann speculated that pterodactyl was a type of flying marsupial with an extended fourth finger that would connect the wrist to the ankle forming a bat like wingmen brain covered in fur this mammalian pterosaur would later be discovered to be a reptile and not a marsupial at all after the more infamous marsupial pterosaur reconstruction several other scientists created more incorrect reconstructions a bat-like reconstruction in 1817 in Newman's flying possum but by far the most inaccurate was johann Wagner's which was the polar opposite of his peers theories and one of his published work Johan speculated that pterodactyl used its wings as flippers and swam the open ocean like a turtle Wagner went so far to classify pterodactyls along with other aquatic invertebrates such as Plesiosaurus we now know that Wagner's reconstructions are far from the truth and pterosaurs used their wings to fly the very iconic dinosaur Stegosaurus is definitely a very peculiar and abnormal creature and it's no surprise there have been countless and accurate reconstructions of this dinosaur one of the most far from the truth is OC Marsh and his team's reconstruction in 1884 his tripod stegasaurus reconstruction also took elements from the kangaroo tail dragging as did most reconstruction at the time but his reconstruction took it to a step further Marsh belief that Stegosaurus had an additional brain at the base of the tail due to the dinosaur having such a small brain case inside the skull this inaccurate concept caught on and has become a myth often featured in pop culture referenced in Ray Bradbury short story a sound of thunder elasmosaurus was a giant long-necked aquatic reptile that used its long neck to catch fish when elasmosaurus was discovered by Edie Koch steam in 1868 the bones were reassembled by cope previously an expert on lizards which regularly have short necks and long tails cope reconstructed the newly discovered creature with its head placed on what we now know to be the tail the short end Co put the head of elasmosaurus on the wrong end of the body causing the reconstruction of elasmosaurus to have a short neck and a long tail something we now know to be quite the opposite well let's talk about brontosaurus I was going to talk about how brontosaurus never existed and it was a misidentified adapt asur but guess who's back in paleontology brontosaurus well brontosaurus was a giant sauropod dinosaur it was by far one of the heaviest creatures ever to walk the earth early paleontologists noticed this and believed the dinosaur was simply too heavy to support its weight on land to solve this early paleontologist theories believe that brontosaurus and other large sauropods lived exclusively in water and in swaps one idea even going so far to say that they were fully aquatic and spent their whole lives underwater this reconstruction has been proven false as we now know that sauropods lived on land and could support their enormous weight the mosasaur is a giant aquatic reptile related to today's monitor lizards mosasaur is featured constantly in pop culture from the kaiju size to the paddle tailed sea serpent but even in such a variety there is a common theme the ocean mosasaur is always featured living in the ocean like a reptilian killer whale so it may be a shock to find out that once upon a time it was believed that mosasaur was a land dwelling reptile and not aquatic at all in 1789 mosasaur was reconstructed as a giant monitor lizard we now know that mosasaur was clearly a fully aquatic reptile that even had a fish-like tail fluke to help it swim in the ocean for those that are at least somewhat educated in paleontology you probably have heard of a man named David Peters David Peters is an amateur outcast paleontologist that even in our modern day world can't really get a grip of accurate modern paleontology theories to say that David Peters reconstructions are incorrect is an understatement it is extremely hard to comment on David Peters reconstructions because they are so outlandish and strange it is hard to understand what is right with these reconstructions most of David Peters reconstructions are of pterosaurs and reptiles related to him on his website reptile evolution and pterosaur heresies he allegedly sees things inside fossils that no other paleontologist is able to see he edits the real fossils in Photoshop adding what he wants to it he interprets pterosaurs as bipedal upright walking reptilian monstrosity with strange amounts of long string like structures throughout their bodies some appearing like angler fish lures others appearing like massive extravagant feathers Peters has a strange knack for finding things that aren't really there here's just a few examples of his reconstructions that are extremely far from the truth imagine reconstructing the first dinosaur imagine finding the remains of a creature with nothing to relate it to hard task isn't it well that was the task of William Buckland in the mid-1800s strange bones of a giant creature were discovered in Europe Buckland had to reconstruct what the owner of the bones would look like he was indeed the first man recorded to have been given the job of reconstructing the bones of a dinosaur he gave the creature the name Megalosaurus or giant lizard he considered Megalosaurus to be quadruped ed he thought it was an amphibian an animal capable of both swimming in the sea and walking on land generally in his mind Megalosaurus resembled a giant lizard the same reconstruction was given to the second Titus or discovered Iguanodon the two dinosaurs were believed to be giant lizards with iguana like scales and sharp crocodile like teeth one of Buckland colleagues even called his Megalosaurus reconstruction a huge lizard these reconstructions depicted dinosaurs of great dragon like creatures similar to the ones featured in ancient Chinese lore we now know that Buckland's reconstructions are incorrect to say the least Megalosaurus an Iguanodon are now bird-like bipedal reptiles and not just massive elephant sized lizards Iguanodon actually being a herbivore in contrast to the previous reconstruction picturing as a large predator these extremely incorrect reconstructions are a testament to an old world of paleontology a monument still stands to this day in the United Kingdom of these incorrect recreations Crystal Palace Park reiden in 1854 still features these weird and outdated dinosaurs just to show how far we have come gliding its way into my bonus number is this extremely strange reconstruction that would make even David Peters scoff at its inaccuracy I have no idea where this came from but it seems like it comes from an extremely outdated science textbook featuring an ankylosaurus that glides with squirrel like wing membranes do I even need to say anything about this one a creature that likely weighed up to four tons flying all right that's all the time we have for today stay tuned for more top 13 lists like this one and also stay tuned for the next paleo profile episode which will be out shortly

Channel: TREY the Explainer

Views: 850,013

Rating: 4.8419161 out of 5

Keywords: Fossil (Collection Category), Fossil, Paleontology (Field Of Study), reconstructions, dinosaurs, prehistoric, pterosaur

Id: UkunILryklI

Length: 14min 51sec (891 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 28 2015