As we saw in Part 1, the 19th century saw the rise of many of the modern conventions we see in skeletal reconstructions. Yet the last two decades of the century closed without any innovations, and at times a retreat from proportional accuracy. In short, skeletal reconstructions became more schematic in nature. Yet the creation of the modern silhouette skeletal reconstruction evolved in the first half of the 20th century. Why did skeletal drawings see an initial fall? And when did the modern form get invented? Let’s take a look...

The ponderous creature you see above is Plateosaurus. The skeletal reconstruction could probably be several posts in itself, but first I’d like to spend some time pondering how we got here. No, no, I don’t mean what link you clicked on to reach my blog, but rather the larger journey taken by scientists and the scientific illustrators that collaborate with them. We're going to spend lots of time dissecting modern skeletal reconstructions and laying out the do’s and don’ts of restoring extinct animals, but first it’s worth reviewing how we arrived at this juncture...

A few months ago Scott Persons and Phil Currie published a paper that clarified the shape of the tail of T. rex.  It's a paper I'm fond of, in part because I did a reconstruction for it.  No, I'm not going to post it here; it's already staring at you from the banner of this blog.

 In the paper, Persons and Currie did some comparative anatomical sleuthing to better understand the size and shape of the caudofemoralis muscle in tyrannosaurs.  For those of you who aren't familiar with the caudofemoralis muscle, it runs down much of the tail and inserts on the femur; when the muscle contracts, it pulls the leg back.  This makes it a Very Important Muscle (TM).  If you are adventurous (or just happen to live in Louisiana) it's worth noting that if you eat alligator meat, this is the part you usually end up eating.

Their paper demonstrated that many scientists and paleoartists have been underestimating the size of the caudofemoralis by a wide margin.  As a result artists were reconstructing the tail incorrectly.  Here for example is an Allosaurus (drawn by some yahoo) that has a tail that is too skinny.

For the first installment, let's get the the five W's out of the way:

Who: For those of you who don't know me, my name is Scott Hartman.  You can read more about my research, interests, and other exploits here.

What: This blog will deal with the functional anatomy of dinosaurs and other extinct critters.  In addition to exploring what is known about the anatomy and appearance of extinct animals, an emphasis will be given as to how we know, as well as the limits on what can be confidently restored in extinct animals.

Why: Blogging turns to be the perfect medium for recurring articles on a similar theme.  Almost like they were designed that way.  Also, all the cool kids seem to be blogging these days, and no one wants to be last to the party!

Where: I hope to integrate the blog even more seamlessly with my website and other content, but for now it's available directly at: http://skeletaldrawing.blogspot.com/, or indirectly from my website: www.skeletaldrawing.com/.

How (often): You can expect to see frequent updates.  At least weekly, but perhaps more often as topics and schedule allow.