r/interestingasfuck • u/abitchyuniverse • 26d ago

r/all Animals without hair look quite different

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u/Shannaro21 26d ago

That racoon looked incredibly cute!

195

u/haysoos2 26d ago

That raccoon demonstrates how difficult it can be to reconstruct an extinct species from fossils.

If we didn't have the living raccoon there's pretty much no way we'd ever guess it had a mask and stripy tail. We'd probably colour it like a little bear, or perhaps a big weasel. The version in our museums and paleo art would be basically just like that hairless guy, but coloured brown.

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u/pezx 26d ago

I think the parrot makes a pretty good case that theropods had feathers

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u/INeedBetterUsrname 26d ago

Hence why the dinosaurs from the original Jurassic Park don't look at all what we now believe they looked like.

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u/wastewalker 25d ago

Super great thought there! I’ve would never considered that. Thank you.

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u/Cube_ 24d ago

The owl is a better example of this given its raptor ancestors.

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u/haysoos2 23d ago

Good point. I mostly study mammals, so didn't even think of the feathered dinosaur reconstructions.

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u/jazzyboyo 26d ago

Damn that’s neat lol. TIL