Imagine what would happen if, millions of years into the future, scientists — perhaps
from other planets — tried to create depictions of the long extinct organisms they found in
Earth’s fossil record. Perhaps they’d create images of the deadly swans, who spear
prey with their long, hooked forearms. Or of the predatory hippo — a behemoth with
imposing fangs and deadly jaws. But wait, that’s not what a hippo looks like, or what
a swan looks like. These future scientists are way off! Well, these are examples of how,
when recreating extinct species in those extreme cases where one lacks any information on muscle
and fatty tissue and only has the skeleton to work with, things can get a little off.
These images are part of a thought experiment, “All Todays,” written in part by the astonishing
author C.M. Koseman — whose work you might have seen from his other most famous book
“All Tomorrows.” “All Todays” is a section in the larger 2012 art book “All
Yesterdays,” dreamed up by not just C. M. Kosemen, but Darren Naish — a renowned zoologist,
paleontologist and author, and John Conway: an immensely talented paleo-artist. These
three are incredible creators, and I have links to where you can follow and support
them in this video’s description. And their ‘All Todays’ thought experiment of how
imaginary future scientists might grossly misinterpret animals we’re familiar with
is worth looking at further. The section is intended to help people think critically about
the ways in which. we’ve portrayed past animals ourselves, like dinosaurs, in ways
that likely aren’t quite accurate. Early paleo artists sometimes portrayed dinosaurs
as emaciated creatures with exaggerated monstrous features, a trend sometimes referred to as
‘shrink wrapping,’ which Kosemen, Naish, and Conway have helped push against with all
Yesterdays. Now, it’s worth noting, some people who haven’t actually read the book
have assumed these illustrations are mocking the mistakes past paleontologists made in
recreating dinosaurs, which isn’t the case. “All Yesterdays” is imagining an entertaining
worst-case scenario where no muscle or skin have been preserved on the fossils of familiar
modern animals. And the result is truly worth documenting in the Archive. So, let’s get
started, and look at the ways in which paleontologists of the future might imagine the species of
the present. The first image the hypothetical future scientists have created of life from
Earth’s past is this illustration of a deadly hunter, rendered in fearsome detail by John
Conway. But don’t worry too much, because this is an erroneous interpretation of a house
cat. That’s right, the furry, whiskered felines which populate our homes have, without
any reference for the future paleontologists to go off of, been conceptualized as scaly,
frightening beasts. A pretty amusing misreading, although modern cats, despite their appearance,
are indeed proficient predators. Next, we have a portrait of a bony, agile organism
— which honestly resembles some of the creatures out of Kosemen’s All Tomorrows. Despite
all appearances, however, this is a hypothetical erroneous recreation of a Zebra. You’d be
forgiven if you didn’t make the connection, as most of the features one associates with
the animals, like their stripes, mane, and overall body shape, have been left out. The
future paleontologists have also misunderstood the animal’s hooves, instead guessing the
organism has strange, single-toed feet on which they run. The hooves which Zebras and
other equids use to get around on are pretty unique in the animal kingdom, so it makes
sense why such an adaptation might not occur to future scientists. This emaciated, angular,
reptilian looking beast is a hypothetical misinterpretation of a Rhinoceros — which
misses the animal’s thick, protective skin and overall heavyset body structure. The recreation
also sports a bizarre sail-like frill on the animal’s back, which the imagined scientists
believed helped the animal shed excess heat. This erroneous sail comes from a misunderstanding
surrounding the pronounced vertebrate on the skeleton of the real-life animal. Another
notable error? The fictional recreation is also missing one of the most well-known features
of the Rhino: its horn. As Rhino horns are made of keratin, and wouldn’t fossilize
well like the other bones in the animal’s skeleton — any future paleontologists might
be left in the dark about the animal’s most distinguishing characteristic. Another animal
missing its most distinguishing characteristic — and looking unrecognizable as a result
— is the elephant, pictured here bereft of its trunk. This is an intriguing example
of how an imagined reconstruction of a modern animal might be too cautious. After all, the
very concept of an elephant’s trunk is unique and downright peculiar even in context, so
one can imagine why it wouldn’t occur to a future paleontologist. Especially when you
consider that the elephant’s trunk is a muscular appendage without any internal skeletal
structure, meaning it wouldn’t be preserved in any kind of fossil record. There are aspects
of an elephant’s skull which do hint at the existence of a trunk, but it’s not hard
to imagine that a careful scientist of the future might err on the side of caution and
dismiss such a possibility. The next erroneous reconstruction shows a thick-furred herbivore
in a mountainous habitat. What species is this image based on? The manatee! An animal
which is certainly not furry and certainly not terrestrial. But the authors imagine the
future paleontologists only have access to the animal’s skull, which resembles that
of a standard grass-dwelling herbivore. So imagining the rest of the animal would be
a four legged, furry land-dweller isn’t too big a leap — even if it’s obviously
incorrect Another hypothetical interpretation which misses the mark is this portrait of
a lithe, deadly predator that runs on all fours to intercept prey. We know this animal
as a baboon — and also know it’s quite different from what the fictional paleontologists
imagined it to be: possessing fur and an arboreal lifestyle. The future scientists also believed
the animal secreted deadly venom from its front teeth. Baboons actually do possess unique
fang grooves — a feature sometimes found in venomous animals — for reasons that aren’t
completely clear. So, while the concept of a venomous baboon seems absurd to us, someone
lacking all knowledge of the animal might make that very mistake. Real paleontologists
have made similar errors, like theories that Cretaceous Period dinosaur Sinornithosaurus
possessed a venomous bite due to its grooved teeth — a hypothesis that was later proven
false. Even more frightening than a venomous baboon, we have this long-fingered predator
interpreted as something right out of a nightmare. You can really see Koseman’s All Tomorrows
style coming through here. But in our time, we know the species as something much less
frightening: the tiny, furry spider monkey. Here, our imagined future paleontologists
interpreted the uniquely long finger bones present in spider monkey skeletons as gaunt,
claw-like digits. And I think we can all be glad that this is a species that doesn’t
actually exist in this form. Moving on from the primates, the next animal recreation from
our fictionalized scientists is a parasite that sucks the blood from larger animals.
The image might be unnerving, but the real animal it’s based on certainly isn’t.
That’s right, it’s the one-and-only humming bird — a fast moving, brightly colored bird
which gets its sustenance from nectar, instead of from any kind of helpless animal. Hummingbirds
are so innocent looking, it’s hard to imagine anyone interpreting this animal as anything
frightening. But humming bird skeletons are pretty weird, with strange proportions and
long, serrated beaks. We know the curiously lengthy beaks of humming birds are for the
purpose of accessing nectar, but this might not be easily discernible without context.
So, who’s to say imagined future paleontologists might not land on a theory that hummingbirds
are blood-sucking parasites? Here’s a second misinterpretation of a species of bird, imagined
as another featherless, gaunt animal with claws at the end of the wings. The unique
shape of their beaks signals that this animal is a recreation of a Hornbill, a bird which
already looks like it’s from another time. If you’re wondering why our future scientists
assume both this and the hummingbird didn’t have feathers, it’s likely because feathers
aren’t always preserved clearly in the fossil record. And indeed, a similar thing happened
when paleontologists originally missed that dinosaurs like velociraptors had feathers.
And so, the Hornbills are drawn as scaly beasts, unable to take flight. Nearing the end of
our glimpse at “All Todays,” we have a portrait of an animal with an usually long
body and four stumpy legs. Despite appearances, this is a theoretical misunderstanding of
a snake. To us, it’s obvious that snakes don’t have legs — I mean, just look at
them. But to someone who only knew a snake through fragmentary remains, they might assume
the skeleton they were exhuming was incomplete. After all, it does seem hard to believe that
the snake, unlike almost all other related reptiles one might uncover, simply wouldn’t
have the main things animals used to get around. And at the end of this limited preview of
“All Todays,” we have a speedy, bony organism that looks like an animal you wouldn’t want
to cross. So, what creature have the future paleontologists misjudged this time? The cow.
Yep, the bulky grass-chewing herbivores themselves. Cows are so ingrained in our modern consciousness,
the notion of anyone imagining these animals as lithe, agile organisms certainly seems
silly. But, maybe you have to have seen a cow to understand. And that’s the end of
our glimpse at the “All Todays” section of Kosemen, Naish, and Conway’s unbelievably
cool “All Yesterdays.” If you liked this content, please consider supporting Kosemen,
Naish, and Conway’s incredible work by purchasing a copy of “All Yesterdays” — and by
patronizing their other works and social media, which again you can find in the links below.
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