WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: How Do Paleoartists Create Dinosaur Drawings?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Lauren vogelbaumb and this is a classic episode from

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<v Speaker 1>our podcast's archives. This one goes into the fascinating world

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<v Speaker 1>of paleo art. Drawings of dinosaurs are necessarily cool, but

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<v Speaker 1>the way that artists have depicted them, based on the

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<v Speaker 1>best science available, has changed a lot over time. Here's

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<v Speaker 1>some of that history.

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<v Speaker 2>Hey brain Stuff, Lauren vogelbomb here. Celebrated paleo artist Ray

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<v Speaker 2>Troll told us in an email, shared passion for an

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<v Speaker 2>obscure topic is what binds scientists and artists. They're both

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<v Speaker 2>curiosity driven, and he would know. Based in Alaska, Troll

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<v Speaker 2>builds on scientific findings to create art that depicts prehistoric life.

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<v Speaker 2>Through paleo art, fossils are revived. A single drawing or

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<v Speaker 2>sculpture can define how the public will visualize an extinct species,

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<v Speaker 2>so paleo artists strive to keep their work as accurate

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<v Speaker 2>as possible, a task that gets harder when the experts disagree.

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<v Speaker 2>It's a tough job, to be sure, but also a

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<v Speaker 2>dream job for loads of fossil fans and dinosaur enthusiasts.

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<v Speaker 2>But how do they go about creating it. First off,

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<v Speaker 2>a little history. A dinosaur renaissance changed the game. Paleo

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<v Speaker 2>art didn't always feature dinosaurs. All prehistoric organisms, from early

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<v Speaker 2>palm trees to wooly mammoths make worthy subjects. Nevertheless, the

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<v Speaker 2>fascinating reptiles were at the center of a significant period

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<v Speaker 2>in the history of this art form, called the dinosaur Renaissance.

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<v Speaker 2>Prior to the nineteen sixties, dinosaurs were largely written off

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<v Speaker 2>as dim witted, tail dragging hulks. Most paleo art from

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<v Speaker 2>the early twentieth century reflects that view, but in nineteen

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<v Speaker 2>sixty nine, Yale paleontologist John Ostrom published a new paper

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<v Speaker 2>on Danonikus, an eleven foot that's three point three meter

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<v Speaker 2>predator akin to the Jurassic Park imagining of velociraptor. Noting

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<v Speaker 2>its long legs and sickle shaped claws, Ostrom claimed Danonikus

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<v Speaker 2>was an athletic beast who ran down its prey and

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<v Speaker 2>might have even hunted in packs. The scientist went on

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<v Speaker 2>to popularize the now widely accepted idea that today's birds

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<v Speaker 2>are descended from Mesozoic dinosaurs. Exciting hypotheses like these changed

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<v Speaker 2>the discourse about how dinosaurs looked and behaved. In the

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<v Speaker 2>nineteen seventies and eighties, a growing number of artists responded

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<v Speaker 2>by illustrating the creatures in active, dynamic poses. What followed

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<v Speaker 2>was a renewed public interest in both the study of

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<v Speaker 2>dinosaurs and in paleo art itself. But there was a problem.

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<v Speaker 2>Bare bones and skeletons often don't tell you a whole

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<v Speaker 2>lot about the overlying soft tissue. Hence, some paleo artists

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<v Speaker 2>have chosen to reconstruct animals reptiles in particular, as lanky

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<v Speaker 2>beasts with ultra low body fat, skinny tails, and heads

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<v Speaker 2>that are largely devoid of cartilage or loose skin. This

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<v Speaker 2>practice has been called shrink wrapping, and if you couldn't

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<v Speaker 2>tell from the moniker, it's been contentious. Troll broke it

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<v Speaker 2>down for us quote. I think there are some really

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<v Speaker 2>valid points to be made about shrink wrapping. Many paleo

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<v Speaker 2>artists are reluctant to jump into more speculatives constructions, preferring

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<v Speaker 2>to play it safer. So by keeping their animals lean

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<v Speaker 2>and mean, paleo artists can highlight known skeletal anatomy without

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<v Speaker 2>making conjectural guesses about an animal's soft tissues that might

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<v Speaker 2>not have been preserved. Back in the dinosaur Renaissance, shrink

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<v Speaker 2>wrapping was in fashion, that's no longer the case. Modern

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<v Speaker 2>critics point out that living animals tend to look a

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<v Speaker 2>lot different than you might expect if you had nothing

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<v Speaker 2>to go on but their naked skeletons. A troll pointed

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<v Speaker 2>out that things like trunks, ears, and blubber don't usually fossilize.

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<v Speaker 2>We also spoke via email with Matt Celeski, a paleo

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<v Speaker 2>artist and museum exhibit designer, who also offered his thoughts

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<v Speaker 2>on the issue. Quote, today's paleo artists are looking more

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<v Speaker 2>closely at the extent of soft tissue in living animals.

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<v Speaker 2>I think this fleshing out of paleo art makes for

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<v Speaker 2>heightened levels of believability in the reconstructions and greater diversity

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<v Speaker 2>in the way artists approach their subjects. In other words,

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<v Speaker 2>chunky limbs and necks and not to mention, puffy dino

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<v Speaker 2>feathers have gone mainstream, but figuring out what those features

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<v Speaker 2>might have looked like takes some serious research. To scientists,

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<v Speaker 2>the skeletal drawing is one of the most useful forms

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<v Speaker 2>of paleo art, an animal skeleton is usually depicted in

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<v Speaker 2>an upright position that is standing or running, and juxtaposed

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<v Speaker 2>against a black silhouette that represents the creature's body profile. Unfortunately,

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<v Speaker 2>in the fossil record, complete skeletons tend to be rare.

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<v Speaker 2>When parts are missing or broken, scientists and artists can

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<v Speaker 2>only speculate about what those elements looked like. Zeleski said,

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<v Speaker 2>every skeleton presents unique challenges, but I find the most

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<v Speaker 2>difficult thing is filling in the parts you don't know,

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<v Speaker 2>extrapolating the shapes of missing bones, or correcting the shapes

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<v Speaker 2>of bones that have been damaged or distorted by time.

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<v Speaker 2>Filling in each missing piece involves a complex mix of research,

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<v Speaker 2>inference and educated guesses, and I always wonder if they

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<v Speaker 2>are better choices than the ones I end up making.

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<v Speaker 2>But these efforts aren't new. Let me take you back

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<v Speaker 2>to eighteen fifty three, when sculptor Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins was

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<v Speaker 2>hired to build more than thirty full sized concrete models

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<v Speaker 2>of prehistoric animals for Crystal Palace Park in London, England.

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<v Speaker 2>The man really did his homework, consulting experts, scrutinizing fossils

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<v Speaker 2>and reviewing the scientific literature. In short, he was a

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<v Speaker 2>dedicated paleo artist. One of hawkins Guanadon molds had a

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<v Speaker 2>carnivorous gut big enough to hold a table and some chairs,

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<v Speaker 2>so as a publicity stunt for his project, twenty one guests,

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<v Speaker 2>including paleontologists William Buckland and Sir Richard Owen, were invited

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<v Speaker 2>to climb down into the belly of the beast for

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<v Speaker 2>an eight course dinner party. The Big Shindig took place

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<v Speaker 2>on New Year's Eve in eighteen fifty three. Restoration projects

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<v Speaker 2>have helped these master works survive to the present day.

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<v Speaker 2>The beasts attract thousands of visitors every year, even though

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<v Speaker 2>they are no longer deemed accurate. Hawkins Megalosaurus, for example,

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<v Speaker 2>stands menacingly on all fours, but scientists now think the

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<v Speaker 2>meat eating dinosaur was by pedal. Nevertheless, the Victorian era

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<v Speaker 2>giants capture the prevailing wisdom of their time, giving them

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<v Speaker 2>immense cultural value. Prehistory matters, but so does our history.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article five you Didn't

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<v Speaker 1>Know about paleo Art on Howstuffwork dot Com, written by

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<v Speaker 1>Mark Mancini. Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership

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<v Speaker 1>with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang.

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<v Speaker 1>Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

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