Not only does modern technology allow us to enjoy the present, but it also allows us to enjoy the past. The software available, such as Photoshop, allows us to see what things looked like in the past. They’re close to reality, despite the fact that they’re still digital.
For this reason, Roman Uchytel employs technology. He employs Photoshop to give us a glimpse of things that have passed us by and are unlikely to return. To be more specific, he uses the information he has to recreate prehistoric extinct animal species as best he can. And it’s fair to say he’s done a pretty good job of it; he even wrote a book, which you can read here.
For today’s post, we’ll show you just one of his many series in which he compares the sizes of extinct species to their modern relatives and compares them side by side. It’s amazing how some of the species were much larger than you’d expect based on their modern relatives. So scroll down and take a look back in time!
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The majority of the animals depicted here lived during the Pleistocene epoch, also known as the Ice Age, which lasted from 2.58 million to 11 million years ago. The Ice Age was a glacial period during which the majority of the northern hemisphere was covered in, you guessed it, ice. Glaciers occurred in a series of on-and-off cycles that lasted between 41,000 and 100,000 years.
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As you are probably aware, all of the ancestor species depicted here are now extinct. Almost all, if not all, of these species became extinct during the Late Pleistocene’s Quaternary period (2.58 million years before the present). Several megafaunal and other extinctions occurred during this time period. This pulse extinction was marked by a widespread lack of ecological successors, which resulted in a significant shift in faunal habitats and relationships.
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Fact: Life on Earth has gone through five major extinction events and is currently undergoing one of the so-called Holocene extinction events. An extinction event is defined as a large-scale and rapid loss of biodiversity. 90 to 96 percent of all species were wiped out in the greatest extinction event. Scientists disagree about the exact number of extinction events that life has experienced, ranging from five to twenty. The current extinction event differs from others in that human activity has a significant role to play.
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Let’s hope you gained some new knowledge today. If you didn’t, or if you’re interested in learning even more interesting things, Bored Panda is here to help you quench your thirst for knowledge. Here’s the latest installment of our popular “Today I Learned” posts. Too broad; want to learn about animals specifically? It’s no problem. Do you want to learn more about ornithologists’ wacky bird names? Maybe you’re curious about what insects look like when they’re flying. Let’s not end this post on extinct species on a depressing note: here’s a story about a resurrected elephant shrew species that we thought had died out 50 years ago.
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“My wife and business partner Alexandra Antonova (Uchytel) and I came up with this idea together, for our children to know what the ancestors (or relatives) of the animals they see in the zoo looked like,” Roman said of his hobby, background, and love for prehistoric animals, among other things.
After graduation, I began studying Photoshop and experimenting with different functions for fun, but the foundation of everything is my artistic education and the vast amount of scientific literature about animals that I’ve read since I was a teenager or even a child.”
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Here’s what got Roman started: “In the early 2000s, I worked as a television designer. Extinct animals and dinosaurs were a favorite pastime of mine. I was inspired when “Walks with Monsters” was released because no one had ever made a film like it before. Because I studied anatomy and was trained as an artist, I decided to draw these animals for myself based on their skeletons. As a result, the final product was posted on a zoo forum and shared with others. It turns out that I’m not the only one who is interested in a reconstruction like this. Besides, I used to have books about ancient animals with illustrations by Burian and Flerov when I was a kid. I practically grew up at the zoo because my family lived near it.”
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“My favorite animal is the one I’m drawing right now. So every time I get a new favorite. Can you imagine that ancient rodents were the size of a rhinoceros, and extinct rhinos led the life of giraffes and were the tallest animals in the world?!”
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“My wife and business partner Alexandra Antonova (Uchytel) is a great writer. She has so many cool ideas. Now we’re working on one idea—Prehistories (a series of prehistoric fairy tales). Now all we have to do is find a publisher.”
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