“All Yesterdays” Explained | Speculative Paleontology

What did dinosaurs ‘really’ look like? This is a breakdown of “All Yesterdays” — a book from the “All Tomorrows” author C. M. Kosemen, with John Conway and Darren Naish.
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The credited images featured in this video come from the excellent book “All Yesterdays: Unique and Speculative Views of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals.” The book is available for purchase on Amazon.

Follow and Support C. M. Kosemen, John Conway, and Darren Naish:

Take a moment to think about the appearance of a modern bird – like a parrot, or something similar. We know these animals have relatively thick bodies, feathery coats, unique patterns, and varying colors. Now, think about a parrot’s skeleton. Based on the bones alone, these birds seem like they’d have long, slender frames — yet the layers of skin and feather coverings make them look quite different than their gaunt skeletal structures might suggest.

And this exact phenomenon presents a practical challenge when it comes to reconstructing accurate depictions of dinosaurs. The challenge of capturing the forgotten peculiarities of dinosaurs is at the center of “All Yesterdays,” a book written and illustrated in part by C.M. Koseman — whose work you know from his other most famous book “All Tomorrows.”

So, let’s take a look, and imagine what unique aspects of dinosaurs may not show up in the fossil record.

0:00 All Yesterdays
2:16 Why Speculate?
2:55 Carnotaurus
3:58 Majungasaurus
4:37 Plesiosaur
5:29 Therizinosaurus
6:14 Heterodontosaurus
6:57 Leaellynasaura
7:58 Elasmosaurus
9:18 Protoceratops
9:47 Camarasurus
10:28 T Rex
11:08 Outro

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I do not own the images, music, or footage used in this video. All rights and credit goes to the original owners.

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

#CuriousArchive #AllTomorrows #SpeculativePaleontology

[Hysterically_Accurate]

I love the idea of a group of researchers stumbling across a T-rex, but instead of rushing at them and trying to eat them it just kinda lazily looks at them and goes back to sleep. Or maybe a sauropod twisting in all sorts of weird ways trying to scratch an itch, like you see animals do today

[artsyastronaut]

I never knew how much I would like speculative zoology/paleontology

[capsey_]

As a kid a had a book about dinosaurs and was obsessed with all these monstrous creatures, but now I'm kinda sad because we won't be able to see them and know for sure about them, only speculate...

[MegaKnight]

Looking at a Utahraptor display, declaring it likely one of the most vicious predators ever, my sister suggested it might have been as chill as modern cheetahs

[Bunny-nsni]

I love seeing dinosaurs behaving like actual animals, instead of bloodthirsty, brutal monsters

[truessencemua]

Yes this book needs more love since all tomorrow’s got a resurgence

[NoisqueVoaProduction]

I am bound to propose a game where I give people pictures of skeletons of a Rooster, an Owl, a Turkey, An Ostrich and a peacock to show people how it is impossible to distinguish those animals from their skeletons even though they are so different.
I think it makes pretty clear how dinossaurs were probably much more diverse than we think

[parkershaw]

Wanted to add that invertibrates like to play, too! I keep aquatic snails, and they do plenty of things to entertain themselves when they're not eating. One species in particular loves to climb to the top of the tank and release themselves, floating down and having a blast.

[Hydracat]

I'll be honest: until now I never realised how "normal" dinosaurs could look like, yet on the other side, remembering the hippopotamus skull interpretation gave me the creeps a few years ago. Who would interpret such a chubby creature with a demonic shape? ...Well exactly the same point is here made. We do not know how dionsaurs really looked like. And by knowing the modern nature it is very likely they looked somekind of similar, because back then they inherit the niches modern animals ocupy now. Dinosaurs had millions of years to adapt. They are nor likely to be just simple reptiloids.
It makes you think how normal those creatures really looked like for the modern human...

[HypnoManSweger]

I really like the idea of dinosaurs finally being shown as animals not just props or a myth lmao and I also never liked the idea that all dinos looked similar, just hide or scales with sometimes feathers.


Holy crap 3.5k likes? thanks yall lol

[Ahalaya]

I guess I'm weird, since I've long adored adorable paleoart. There's just something about seeing a critter typically shown as ferocious doing something cute or just as simple as sleeping that puts a smile on my face. It's also a nice change from the usual, not even exclusively from a scientific perspective. Sometimes it's nice to mix it up a bit.

[BlazeMakesGames]

I think this is part of what makes monster hunter's ecology so fun and interesting. Even in a game explicitly about fighting these incredibly powerful beasts with magical elemental abilities and whatnot. They still take the time to animate things like how Diablos eats cactus because it's actually a herbivore despite its fearsome appearance. Or how Barroth rolls around in the mud and looks adorable doing it.

[SlothOfTheSea]

All Yesterdays, All Todays, All Tomorrows. Finally, I have them all.

[MrSoso]

I would love to see a movie like Jurassic park with this kind of Dinosaurs with a more attractive and creative designs and fascinating behaviors almost like magic.

[kyle]

The trex after going fishing " the fish I caught was this big!" *flails mini arms around wildly*

[alvaronavarro]

"Carnotaurus asserts it's dominance" -72 million years ago, colorized

[GippyHappy]

I have always found it frustrating that people close themselves off to the possibilities of what long dead creatures may have looked or behaved like. Always drawn with no fur or feathers, all muddy greens and browns. But that's not what animals look like!

How could you know a chameleon can change it's colors just looking at it's bones?
How would you know that a peacock has such large impractical feathers?
Or that male lions have beautiful manes?
Could you tell how friendly a dog is, just by looking at it's sharp teeth?
How would you know that glass frogs have clear skin?

You wouldn't. So why assume when you can wonder?

[Evolved_Skeptic]

The antelope which are a Tiger's primary prey are colour-blind & so find it difficult to discern between red & green pigments (possibly Deuteranopia), explaining the Tiger's apparently bizarre bright orange & white (with black stripes) fur colourings given it's environment filled with myriad hues of green.

So, once you eliminate colour & compare the tonal values of their coat with that of the surrounding foliage of semi-tropical/tropical plants, a Tiger will vanish into the background in an astonishing exemplar combining both concealing & disruptive camoflage.

Try to imaging all the parallel Predator/Prey Dynamics in Dinosaurs & you start to grasp just how challenging being a Paleoartist truly is. Typically the best that they can do is follow the science, with limited artistic license based on our understanding of modern animals.

[glorbojibbins]

I just imagine that they were all wonky looking like gigantic terrifying turkeys 🦃

[LudosErgoSum]

I got this book when it was first published in 2012. It's such a beautiful piece of art that merge science with fantasy.