1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff. 2 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:11,319 Speaker 1: Lauren vogelbam Here celebrated paleo artist Ray Troll told us 3 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,400 Speaker 1: in an email, shared passion for an obscure topic is 4 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:18,840 Speaker 1: what binds scientists and artists. They're both curiosity driven, and 5 00:00:19,079 --> 00:00:22,480 Speaker 1: he would know. Based in Alaska, Troll builds on scientific 6 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:27,480 Speaker 1: findings to create art that depicts prehistoric life. Through paleo art, 7 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 1: fossils are revived. A single drawing or sculpture can define 8 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 1: how the public will visualize and extinct species, so paleo 9 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:37,320 Speaker 1: artists strive to keep their work as accurate as possible, 10 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:40,640 Speaker 1: a task that gets harder when the experts disagree. It's 11 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:42,840 Speaker 1: a tough job, to be sure, but also a dream 12 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:46,400 Speaker 1: job for loads of fossil fans and dinosaur enthusiasts. But 13 00:00:46,479 --> 00:00:49,400 Speaker 1: how do they go about creating it? First off, a 14 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:54,639 Speaker 1: little history. A dinosaur renaissance changed the game. Paleo art 15 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:58,960 Speaker 1: didn't always feature dinosaurs. All prehistoric organisms, from early palm 16 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:03,200 Speaker 1: trees to wooly mammoth make worthy subjects. Nevertheless, the fascinating 17 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:05,520 Speaker 1: reptiles were at the center of a significant period in 18 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 1: the history of this art form, called the dinosaur renaissance. 19 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:12,280 Speaker 1: Prior to the nineteen sixties, dinosaurs were largely written off 20 00:01:12,319 --> 00:01:15,880 Speaker 1: as dimwitted, tail dragging hulks. Most paleo art from the 21 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:20,119 Speaker 1: early twentieth century reflects that view, but in nineteen sixty nine, 22 00:01:20,319 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 1: Yale paleontologist John Ostrom published a new paper on Dano 23 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:26,480 Speaker 1: Nikes and eleven foot that's three point three meter predator 24 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:30,680 Speaker 1: akin to the Jurassic Park imagining of velociraptor. Noting its 25 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:33,960 Speaker 1: long legs and sickle shaped claws, Ostrom claimed Dano Niicus 26 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:36,480 Speaker 1: was an athletic beast who ran down its prey and 27 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:39,319 Speaker 1: might have even hunted in packs. The scientist went on 28 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:42,640 Speaker 1: to popularize the now widely accepted idea that today's birds 29 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:47,600 Speaker 1: are descended from Mesozoic dinosaurs. Exciting hypotheses like these changed 30 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 1: the discourse about how dinosaurs looked and behaved. In the 31 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies and eighties, A growing number of artists responded 32 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:57,960 Speaker 1: by illustrating the creatures and active dynamic poses. What followed 33 00:01:58,000 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 1: was a renewed public interest in both the study of 34 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:04,720 Speaker 1: dinosaurs and in paleo art itself, But there was a problem. 35 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 1: Bare bones and skeletons often don't tell you a whole 36 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:11,400 Speaker 1: lot about the overlying soft tissue. Hence, some paleo artists 37 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:14,960 Speaker 1: have chosen to reconstruct animals reptiles in particular, as lanky 38 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:18,120 Speaker 1: beasts with ultra low body fat, skinny tails, and heads 39 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:21,520 Speaker 1: that are largely devoid of cartilage or loose skin. This 40 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:24,520 Speaker 1: practice has been called shrink wrapping, and if you couldn't 41 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:27,920 Speaker 1: tell from the moniker, it's been contentious. Troll broke it 42 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:30,560 Speaker 1: down for us quote. I think there are some really 43 00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:33,519 Speaker 1: valid points to be made about shrink wrapping. Many paleo 44 00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:37,280 Speaker 1: artists are reluctant to jump into more speculative reconstructions, preferring 45 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:40,960 Speaker 1: to play it safer. So by keeping their animals lean 46 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,880 Speaker 1: and mean, paleo artists can highlight known skeletal anatomy without 47 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:48,119 Speaker 1: making conjectural guesses about an animal soft tissues that might 48 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:51,680 Speaker 1: not have been preserved. Back in the dinosaur Renaissance, shrink 49 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:55,120 Speaker 1: rapping was in fashion. That's no longer the case. Modern 50 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:57,200 Speaker 1: critics point out that living animals tend to look a 51 00:02:57,240 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 1: lot different than you might expect if you had nothing 52 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:01,919 Speaker 1: to go on but their naked skeletons. Troll pointed out 53 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:05,240 Speaker 1: that things like trunks, ears, and blubber don't usually fossilize. 54 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:10,040 Speaker 1: We also spoke via email with Matt Celeski, paleo artist 55 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:12,800 Speaker 1: and museum exhibit designer, who also offered his thoughts on 56 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 1: the issue quote, today's paleo artists are looking more closely 57 00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 1: at the extent of soft tissue in living animals. I 58 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:21,800 Speaker 1: think this fleshing out of paleo art makes for heightened 59 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:25,120 Speaker 1: levels of believability in the reconstructions and greater diversity in 60 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:28,720 Speaker 1: the way artists approach their subjects. In other words, chunky 61 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 1: limbs and necks and not to mention, poufy dino feathers 62 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:35,680 Speaker 1: have gone mainstream, but figuring out what those features might 63 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:38,960 Speaker 1: have looked like takes some serious research. To scientists, the 64 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:41,280 Speaker 1: skeletal drawing is one of the most useful forms of 65 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:44,320 Speaker 1: paleo art. An animal skeleton is usually depicted in an 66 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:47,880 Speaker 1: upright position that is standing or running, and juxtaposed against 67 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:52,360 Speaker 1: a black silhouette that represents the creature's body profile. Unfortunately, 68 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:55,000 Speaker 1: in the fossil record, complete skeletons tend to be rare. 69 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:58,840 Speaker 1: When parts are missing or broken, scientists and artists can 70 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:02,600 Speaker 1: only speculate about why those elements looked like Sluski said. 71 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:06,000 Speaker 1: Every skeleton presents unique challenges, but I find the most 72 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:08,120 Speaker 1: difficult thing is filling in the parts you don't know, 73 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:11,560 Speaker 1: extrapolating the shapes of missing bones, or correcting the shapes 74 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: of bones that have been damaged or distorted by time. 75 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:17,680 Speaker 1: Filling in each missing piece involves a complex mix of research, 76 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:20,760 Speaker 1: inference and educated guesses, and I always wonder if they 77 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:22,679 Speaker 1: are better choices than the ones I end up making. 78 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:26,960 Speaker 1: But these efforts aren't new. Let me take you back 79 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:30,359 Speaker 1: to eighteen fifty three, when sculpture Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins was 80 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:33,479 Speaker 1: hired to build more than thirty full sized concrete models 81 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:36,799 Speaker 1: of prehistoric animals for Crystal Palace Park in London, England. 82 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:40,800 Speaker 1: The man really did his homework, consulting experts, scrutinizing fossils, 83 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:43,680 Speaker 1: and reviewing the scientific literature. In short, he was a 84 00:04:43,720 --> 00:04:47,880 Speaker 1: dedicated paleo artist. One of hawkins guandon molds had a 85 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:51,200 Speaker 1: carnivorous gut big enough to hold a table and some chairs, 86 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:54,239 Speaker 1: so as a publicity stund for his project, twenty one guests, 87 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 1: including paleontologists William Buckland and Sir Richard Owen, were invited 88 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:00,160 Speaker 1: to climb down into the belly of the beast. An 89 00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:02,760 Speaker 1: eight course dinner party, The Big Shindig, took place on 90 00:05:02,839 --> 00:05:06,680 Speaker 1: New Year's Eve in eighteen fifty three. Restoration projects have 91 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:09,359 Speaker 1: helped these master works survived to the present day. The 92 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:12,479 Speaker 1: beasts attract thousands of visitors every year, even though they're 93 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:17,160 Speaker 1: no longer deemed accurate. Hawkins Megalosaurus, for example, stands menacingly 94 00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:19,720 Speaker 1: on all fours, but scientists now think the meat eating 95 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:24,480 Speaker 1: dinosaur was by pedal. Nevertheless, the Victorian era giants capture 96 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:27,800 Speaker 1: the prevailing wisdom of their time, giving them immense cultural value. 97 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:36,360 Speaker 1: Prehistory matters, but so does our history. Today's episode was 98 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:39,320 Speaker 1: written by Mark Mancini and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain 99 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:41,520 Speaker 1: Stuff is a production of iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works. 100 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:43,880 Speaker 1: For more on this and lots of other well preserved topics, 101 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:46,560 Speaker 1: visit our home planet how Stuff Works dot com, and 102 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:49,000 Speaker 1: for more podcasts. For my heart Radio, visit the iHeart 103 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:51,560 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 104 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:52,240 Speaker 1: favorite shows.