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Best paleontology fails
Topic Started: Jan 11 2014, 01:18 PM (42,454 Views)
Yi Qi
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Again Ugly=/= Innacurate, no matter how uncanny it looks, the other one was by all means an accurate depiction of the creature. I'm not saying i like it, i'm saying it most definately isn't a failure.
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CyborgIguana
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Who says that EVERY prehistoric animal had to be easy on the eyes anyway? Plenty of today's creatures aren't.
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BossMan, Jake
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Son of God

CoughcoughEye eyescoughcough

Posted Image

Atleast they tried
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CyborgIguana
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Honestly they would've been better off just keeping that model scaly.
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Paleodude
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ex-Krampus

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"Camarasaurus"
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stargatedalek
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I'm not slow! That's just my moe!

I don't get why "failure" has to mean "inaccurate" in every context. As a piece of aesthetic art we can think that was a failure because we think it's ugly and overly speculative just for the sake of being ugly. Yes it's not objectively inaccurate, but we can still call it a failure if we want to.

Better than actively looking for things to post here, I hate when people do that.
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Yi Qi
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stargatedalek
Mar 29 2016, 09:46 PM
I don't get why "failure" has to mean "inaccurate" in every context. As a piece of aesthetic art we can think that was a failure because we think it's ugly and overly speculative just for the sake of being ugly. Yes it's not objectively inaccurate, but we can still call it a failure if we want to.

That is certainly true, though i must remind that, in real life, many animals are ugly to the point of being disgusting, take a certain one of Megaladapis relatives as an example...

Posted Image

In terms of getting objectively hideous, you really don't get any worse than that. And that was my main point, nature doesn't have to cater to human aesthetical taste, and it very often does not, and while i too find that reconstruction ugly, that could've very well been how Megaladapis looked IRL.

But on most parts i agree with this point, it is a rather ugly reconstruction and there are tons of more eye pleasing others as i myself have posted.
Edited by Yi Qi, Mar 29 2016, 10:50 PM.
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Incinerox
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Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti

Honestly, nothing defines the title of this topic more than The Bone Wars.
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BossMan, Jake
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Son of God

Don't see how exactly it was a fail. They did describe many new species of dinosaurs even if some were eventually lumped into other species. Even so they provided many more specimens
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CyborgIguana
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It was a fail because it was more about childish competition than scientific discovery, plus many of the fossils were acquired in potentially damaging ways like literally blowing them out of the rocks with dynamite.

For all we know, Amphicoelias fragillimus could've been a hoax on Cope's part meant just to keep him ahead of the game (maybe that's a bit too much of a conspiracy theory, but it still wouldn't exactly surprise me).
Edited by CyborgIguana, Mar 30 2016, 12:54 PM.
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BossMan, Jake
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Son of God

Oh! Ok that makes a lot of sense then
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Incinerox
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Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti

BossMan, Jake
Mar 30 2016, 12:47 PM
Don't see how exactly it was a fail. They did describe many new species of dinosaurs even if some were eventually lumped into other species. Even so they provided many more specimens
In their rush to discover more things first, Cope and Marsh got maybe 60% of their findings wrong. Elasmosaurus being restored backwards, Brontosaurus using Camarasaurus's skull etc.

It was an absolute nightmare, but it failed the science in the best way because it became a boon for just MORE palaeobiological data.
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Acinonyx Jubatus
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I AM THE UNSHRINKWRAPPER!

Yi Qi
Mar 29 2016, 10:49 PM
stargatedalek
Mar 29 2016, 09:46 PM
I don't get why "failure" has to mean "inaccurate" in every context. As a piece of aesthetic art we can think that was a failure because we think it's ugly and overly speculative just for the sake of being ugly. Yes it's not objectively inaccurate, but we can still call it a failure if we want to.

That is certainly true, though i must remind that, in real life, many animals are ugly to the point of being disgusting, take a certain one of Megaladapis relatives as an example...

Posted Image

In terms of getting objectively hideous, you really don't get any worse than that.
I'm sorry, are we looking at the same picture? That Aye-Aye's just about the cutest one I've ever seen. If you want ugly in nature, you go to the wrinkle-faced bats and the gnarled, battle-torn bull giraffes with the overlumpy skulls, not the fluffy lemurs with bright eyes and buck-toothed smiles.

Back on topic, The Tully Monster. Though I believe that may have been mentioned already.
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CyborgIguana
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Dale Russell's "Dinosauroid" hypothesis, enough said. Apparently even he reacts with embarrassment if anyone mentions it nowadays. xD
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BossMan, Jake
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Son of God

At least he recognizes his mistake and feels bad about it. Unlike some people these days

(I'm looking at you Peters)
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