Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff. Lauren vogelbam Here celebrated paleo artist Ray Troll told us in an email, shared passion for an obscure topic is what binds scientists and artists. They're both curiosity driven, and he would know. Based in Alaska, Troll builds on scientific findings to create art that depicts prehistoric life. Through paleo art,
fossils are revived. A single drawing or sculpture can define how the public will visualize and extinct species, so paleo artists strive to keep their work as accurate as possible, a task that gets harder when the experts disagree. It's a tough job, to be sure, but also a dream job for loads of fossil fans and dinosaur enthusiasts. But how do they go about creating it? First off, a little history. A dinosaur renaissance changed the game. Paleo art
didn't always feature dinosaurs. All prehistoric organisms, from early palm trees to wooly mammoth make worthy subjects. Nevertheless, the fascinating reptiles were at the center of a significant period in the history of this art form, called the dinosaur renaissance. Prior to the nineteen sixties, dinosaurs were largely written off
as dimwitted, tail dragging hulks. Most paleo art from the early twentieth century reflects that view, but in nineteen sixty nine, Yale paleontologist John Ostrom published a new paper on Dano Nikes and eleven foot that's three point three meter predator akin to the Jurassic Park imagining of velociraptor. Noting its long legs and sickle shaped claws, Ostrom claimed Dano Niicus was an athletic beast who ran down its prey and
might have even hunted in packs. The scientist went on to popularize the now widely accepted idea that today's birds are descended from Mesozoic dinosaurs. Exciting hypotheses like these changed the discourse about how dinosaurs looked and behaved. In the nineteen seventies and eighties, A growing number of artists responded
by illustrating the creatures and active dynamic poses. What followed was a renewed public interest in both the study of dinosaurs and in paleo art itself, But there was a problem. Bare bones and skeletons often don't tell you a whole lot about the overlying soft tissue. Hence, some paleo artists have chosen to reconstruct animals reptiles in particular, as lanky beasts with ultra low body fat, skinny tails, and heads
that are largely devoid of cartilage or loose skin. This practice has been called shrink wrapping, and if you couldn't tell from the moniker, it's been contentious. Troll broke it down for us quote. I think there are some really valid points to be made about shrink wrapping. Many paleo artists are reluctant to jump into more speculative reconstructions, preferring
to play it safer. So by keeping their animals lean and mean, paleo artists can highlight known skeletal anatomy without making conjectural guesses about an animal soft tissues that might not have been preserved. Back in the dinosaur Renaissance, shrink rapping was in fashion. That's no longer the case. Modern critics point out that living animals tend to look a lot different than you might expect if you had nothing
to go on but their naked skeletons. Troll pointed out that things like trunks, ears, and blubber don't usually fossilize. We also spoke via email with Matt Celeski, paleo artist and museum exhibit designer, who also offered his thoughts on the issue quote, today's paleo artists are looking more closely at the extent of soft tissue in living animals. I think this fleshing out of paleo art makes for heightened levels of believability in the reconstructions and greater diversity in
the way artists approach their subjects. In other words, chunky limbs and necks and not to mention, poufy dino feathers have gone mainstream, but figuring out what those features might have looked like takes some serious research. To scientists, the skeletal drawing is one of the most useful forms of paleo art. An animal skeleton is usually depicted in an upright position that is standing or running, and juxtaposed against
a black silhouette that represents the creature's body profile. Unfortunately, in the fossil record, complete skeletons tend to be rare. When parts are missing or broken, scientists and artists can only speculate about why those elements looked like Sluski said.
Every skeleton presents unique challenges, but I find the most difficult thing is filling in the parts you don't know, extrapolating the shapes of missing bones, or correcting the shapes of bones that have been damaged or distorted by time. Filling in each missing piece involves a complex mix of research, inference and educated guesses, and I always wonder if they are better choices than the ones I end up making.
But these efforts aren't new. Let me take you back to eighteen fifty three, when sculpture Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins was hired to build more than thirty full sized concrete models of prehistoric animals for Crystal Palace Park in London, England. The man really did his homework, consulting experts, scrutinizing fossils, and reviewing the scientific literature. In short, he was a
dedicated paleo artist. One of hawkins guandon molds had a carnivorous gut big enough to hold a table and some chairs, so as a publicity stund for his project, twenty one guests, including paleontologists William Buckland and Sir Richard Owen, were invited to climb down into the belly of the beast. An eight course dinner party, The Big Shindig, took place on New Year's Eve in eighteen fifty three. Restoration projects have
helped these master works survived to the present day. The beasts attract thousands of visitors every year, even though they're no longer deemed accurate. Hawkins Megalosaurus, for example, stands menacingly on all fours, but scientists now think the meat eating dinosaur was by pedal. Nevertheless, the Victorian era giants capture the prevailing wisdom of their time, giving them immense cultural value. Prehistory matters, but so does our history. Today's episode was
written by Mark Mancini and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a production of iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more on this and lots of other well preserved topics, visit our home planet how Stuff Works dot com, and for more podcasts. For my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.