50 Of The Most Interesting Pics That Prove That “Nature Was Metal” Millions Of Years Ago
We can only guess what the future will look like. But the past? We have evidence to help us paint a picture of it. To visit it.
There's a cool subreddit called 'Nature Was Metal' and its members are like online paleontologists, digging around the internet in search of pictures of dinosaurs and other creatures that are now extinct.
Often, they find pretty good ones: photos of real uncovered skeletons or image projections, built around them.
This subreddit is like a time machine, which may not physically take us to visit the long-gone days, but it certainly allows us glimpses of it, and that can be just enough to please our burning curiosity.
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This Artist Tom Björklund Draws Neanderthals As People And Not As Biological Specimens. I Have To Say, Out Of All The Art I've Seen Of Neanderthals, This Is The One That Humanizes Them The Most
Crinoid Fossils Can Be Found In Some UK Rivers And Were Once Thought To Be Fairy Coins. Sometimes Called ‘Star Stones’
Extinction has been a natural part of the planet's evolutionary history. In fact, 99% of the four billion species that have evolved on Earth are now gone.
And the process continues.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List has tried to estimate the number of extinctions over the last five centuries but unfortunately, we don't know everything about all of the world's species over this period, so it's likely that some will have disappeared without us even knowing they existed in the first place, so its numbers can be an underestimate.
Still, that's the best guess we have. The IUCN Red List estimates that 900 species have gone extinct since 1500.
In 1982, The Comic Strip 'The Far Side' Jokingly Referred To The Set Of Spikes On A Stegosaurus's Tail As A "Thagomizer". A Paleontologist Who Read The Comic Realized There Wasn't Any Official Name For The Spikes And Began Using The New Word; "Thagomizer" Is Now The Generally Accepted Term
“Dogor” An 18,000 Year-Old Puppy That Was Discovered In The Siberian Permafrost. He’s So Well Preserved That His Nose And Whiskers Are Still Mostly Intact
Opalized Crab Claw
If a cavity has formed because a bone, shell or pinecone was buried in the sand or clay that later became rock, and conditions are right for opal formation, then the opal forms a fossil replica of the original object that was buried.
To understand the biodiversity problem we need to know how many species are under pressure; where they are; and what threats are they facing.
To do this, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species evaluates species across the world for their level of extinction risk. It does this evaluation every year and continues to expand its coverage.
But the IUCN has not evaluated all of the world's known species. In many taxonomic groups, it has assessed only a very small percentage. In 2021, for example, it analyzed only 7% of described species.
This Isn’t A Dinosaur Fossil; It’s A Mummy
A 110 million-year-old Nodosaur was swept to sea by a flooding river, sank, landed on its back, and was pressed into the ocean floor. It’s so well- preserved that it still has intestines and weighs 2,500 of its original 3,000 lbs
It May Not Look Like Much, But This Tiny, Billion-Year-Old Green Algae Is The Ancestor Of All Land Plants On Earth
A Neanderthal Father With His Child. Reconstruction Made By The Kennis Brothers
10 Million Years Ago, Turtles Could Eat You With A Single Bite
As we'd expect, animals such as birds, mammals, and amphibians have seen a much larger share of their species assessed – more than 80%. On the other hand, only 1% of insects have. And less than 1% of the world's fungi.
The lack of complete coverage of the world’s species highlights two important points we need to remember when interpreting the IUCN Red List data:
1. Changes in the number of threatened species over time do not necessarily reflect increasing extinction risks;
2. The number of threatened species is an underestimate.
Outdated Reconstruction Of A Neanderthal vs. Scientifically Accurate Reconstruction Of A Neanderthal
A 120-145 Million Year Old Dinosaur With Two Heads Was Found In Yixian, China
It's super rare because the chances of a two headed animal are small and for it to even fossilize are even smaller.
Imagine Just How Huge And Metal This Mammoth Must Have Been... Tusk Of A Woolly Mammoth In Siberia
A Comparison Between The Skull Of A Sarcosuchus And A Nile Crocodile
In total, the IUCN Red List has evaluated 40,084 species across all taxonomic groups to be threatened with extinction in 2021.
But as noted before, since birds, mammals, and amphibians are the most well-studied groups, their numbers are the most accurate reflection of the true number (and therefore, understudied groups such as insects, plants, and fungi will be a large underestimate).
The Last Photo Taken Of A Wild Barbary Lion. Taken In 1924
The Giant Monster That Was Argentinosaurus
Megalodon & Human Size Comparison
Indohyus - The Earliest Known Ancestor Of The Whale
Many think that humans are also doomed to disappear. Paleontologist Henry Gee thinks the most insidious threat to humankind is the so-called extinction debt.
"There comes a time in the progress of any species, even ones that seem to be thriving, when extinction will be inevitable, no matter what they might do to avert it," Gee wrote in Scientific American.
"The cause of extinction is usually a delayed reaction to habitat loss. The species most at risk are those that dominate particular habitat patches at the expense of others, who tend to migrate elsewhere, and are therefore spread more thinly. Humans occupy more or less the whole planet, and with our sequestration of a large wedge of the productivity of this planetwide habitat patch, we are dominant within it. H. sapiens might therefore already be a dead species walking."
Around 26000 Years Ago This Lion Cub Was Abandoned In A Siberian Cave By Her Mother Who Either Went Hunting, Or Was Killed Never To Return
Unable to feed herself, the cub dubbed Sparta starved and has been perfectly preserved since.
Reconstruction Of Sue, The T. Rex, In The Field Museum In Chicago
Notice the eyes and the snout, to this day I never saw a reconstruction that looked terrifying and cute at the same time. Blue Rhino Studio made the model for this exhibition. Photo taken from their Facebook page.
This Brachiosaurus Skeleton
The Diversity Among Homo Erectus Around The World. Homo Erectus Existed For 1.9 Million Years And Was The Most Successful Human Species
I really love what they have done with Java Man. You feel like you could mid conversation with them.
"The signs are already there for those willing to see them," Gee said. "When the habitat becomes degraded such that there are fewer resources to go around; when fertility starts to decline; when the birth rate sinks below the death rate; and when genetic resources are limited—the only way is down. The question is 'How fast?'"
The paleontologist suspects that the human population is set not just for shrinkage but collapse. I guess, time will show.
Quetzalcoatlus, The Biggest Flying Animal Ever!
How could something so big get off the ground and fly. The size of the neck and head makes it seem impossible. Not saying it wasn't possible.
These Starfishes Embedded In Stone As A Fossil
These 250-Million Year Old Detailed Crinoid Fossils
Titanoboa Skeleton
23 Million Year Old Lizard Found In Fossil
Tail Of A 99m Yo Dinosaur, The First One Ever Discovered. Perfectly Preserved, Still Covered In Feathers
Had To Drive 14 Hours To Get Her, But I Finally Have My Little Own Coelophysis
Sue Is The Largest T.Rex To Be Found So Far, At 90% Of The Body Complete
A Megalodon Tooth Compared To A Great White Shark!
A Raptor And Protoceratops’ Fight Preserved In The Sand
An Incredibly Intact Crinoid Specimen Fossil Dating Back To About 345 Million Years Ago!
The World’s Only Intact Fossil Of An Early Whale - The Basilosaurus Dating About 40 Million Years Ago - Has Been Uncovered During A Excavation At Wadi Al-Hitan In Egypt
Cretan Dwarf Mammoth. It's Possible Its Skull Was The Origin Of The Myths About Cyclops In Ancient Times. (Not My Photo)
The Licking Bison Of La Madeleine Was Carved On A Reindeer Antler Fragment In Upper Paleolithic France Sometime Between 20,000 And 12,000 Years Ago. It Depicts The Now Extinct Steppe Bison
A Preserved Foot Of The Giant Moa Bird. An Extinct Species Native To New Zealand. It Grew To Be 12 Feet Tall
When Breeding, Australian Gastric-Brooding Frogs (Rheobatrachus) Would Stop Producing Gastric Acid, Swallow Their Eggs, And Carry Them In Their Stomachs Past Metamorphosis. Extinct Since 1985
100,000 Years Ago, A Group Of Neanderthals In Spain Walked Down To The Beach
An Argentinian Farmer Recently Found 20,000 Years Old Fossilized Glyptodons
The Evolution Of Our Face
A Rare Fossil: The Shell Of A Tortoise Stuck In The Jaw Of An Ancient Elephant
That would be the beginning of a apocalypse scenario in Pratchett's disc world
I See Your Various Well-Preserved Animals And Raise To You A Smushed Baby Mammoth (Credit Ruth Hartnup)
Prehistoric 'Hell Ant' Stuck In Amber Biting It's Prey For 99 Million Years
Livyatan Is An Extinct Genus Of Sperm Whale And Is Most Notable For Being A Member Of The Raptorial Sperm Whales (Hyper-Predatory Sperm Whales) And Having The Strongest Bite Of Any Tetrapod
This Was Toughie, The Last Known Living Rabbs' Fringe-Limbed Treefrog. He Was Captured As An Adult In Panama In 2005 And Died In Captivity On September 26, 2016
We destroy ourselves most efficiently. Animals just catch the fall out.
Skeleton Of Archelon Ischyros
The shell looks like lace or big snowflakes... very beautiful animal!
Triceratops Femur (Left) vs. Elephant Femur
This Spinosaurus Skeleton
Giant Chinese Paddlefish Now Officially Extinct
Prehistoric Spider-Like Arachnid Found Preserved In Amber
I enjoyed this list! Because I'm a huge dinosaur enthusiast and expert, my favourite dinosaur is obviously the most well known, Tyrannosaurus Rex, aka T-Rex!
T. Rex is cool and all, but have you seen T. Rex... in an F-14!?!
Load More Replies...Initially I thought that the title "..Nature Is “Metal”" has a spelling error. Than I saw "How Huge And Metal This Mammoth Must Have Been... " and I said that maybe it would be a good idea to search on google what means if something "is metal". This is too much for me, I just want to see words to be used with their normal meaning, I am too old for this. 😅
Language is fluid. Shakespeare made some words up as he wrote. Even Gary Larson helped (see #46) 😉
Load More Replies...I enjoyed this list! Because I'm a huge dinosaur enthusiast and expert, my favourite dinosaur is obviously the most well known, Tyrannosaurus Rex, aka T-Rex!
T. Rex is cool and all, but have you seen T. Rex... in an F-14!?!
Load More Replies...Initially I thought that the title "..Nature Is “Metal”" has a spelling error. Than I saw "How Huge And Metal This Mammoth Must Have Been... " and I said that maybe it would be a good idea to search on google what means if something "is metal". This is too much for me, I just want to see words to be used with their normal meaning, I am too old for this. 😅
Language is fluid. Shakespeare made some words up as he wrote. Even Gary Larson helped (see #46) 😉
Load More Replies...