Dinosaur Depictions Evolve With Advancing Knowledge [PHOTOS]

By Roxanne Palmer | January 22 2013 6:28 PM

While dinosaur fossils haven’t changed much in millions of years, human interpretations of them have certainly evolved. The lumbering reptilian dinosaurs depicted decades ago are being replaced by more bird-like creatures. Here are just a few examples of how much things have changed.

The Deinonychus sculpture seen here at the theme park Dinosaur World in Cave City, Ky., may be what you typically think of when you think of dinosaurs: scaly and scary …

deinonychus_scaly Photo: Flickr/London looks Deinonychus sculpture, now deemed an inaccurate depiction.

… but a 2011 work by artist Emily Willoughby shows a much more feathery creature, in line with current paleontological reconstructions.

deinonychus_feathered Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Emily Willoughby Modern depiction of Deinonychus antirrhopus feeding on a Zepheryosaurus.

This 1922 painting by Charles R. Knight shows a group of Protoceratops nesting. But there are many things factually wrong with it, according to what we now know about these dinosaurs. The dragging tails and splayed, alligator-like stance are all wrong. Also, the eggs in the painting, based on a nest found in Mongolia, later turned out to be from an oviraptor.

protoceratops_old Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Charles R. Knight Old drawings of protoceratops show a more alligator-like creature.

A newer reconstruction of Protoceratops andrewsi from the artist Nobu Tamura shows a much more spry version of this dog-sized cerotopisan. [Wikipedia/Nobu Tamura]

protoceratops_new Photo: Nobu Tamura Artist's impression of Protoceratops andrewsi.

An 1869 E.D. Cope illustration of an Elasmosaurus (left) confronting a Dryptosaurus (middle) for the American Naturalist suffers from several inaccuracies.

dinosallwrong Photo: Wikimedia Commons/E.D. Cope There's a lot wrong with this picture.

Cope put the Elasmosaurus’ head on what is actually the tail -- one of this gigantic pleiosaur’s defining features is its impressively long neck, which contains 71 vertebrae.

elasmosaurus_new Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Nobu Tamura Artist's impression of Elasmosaurus, with the head on the right end this time.

The Dryptosaurus, meanwhile, has a much smaller head and more rigid posture than what scientists currently believe this primitive tyrannosaur sported in real life. A more modern reconstruction shows a less ramrod posture.

drypto_new Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Josep Ansesi A brightly colored impression of a Dryptosaurus.

The fearsome Velociraptor shown in the “Jurassic Park” movies was a truly terrifying, intelligent creature.

jurparkvelo Photo: Universal Pictures/Amblin Entertainment Real-life velociraptors weren't nearly this fearsome.

While the group of dinosaurs that Velociraptor belonged to, the dromaeosaurs, did include some creatures as large as the raptors shown in the movie, the real Velociraptor weighed about 75 pounds, about the same as a medium-size dog. And although they did have slightly larger brains, they were by no means exceptionally intellectual animals.

velociraptor_new Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Matt Martyniuk This probably wouldn't be nearly as scary to theatre-goers.