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Photo of the Day #128: An outdated Pakicetus skull

By laelaps on February 13, 2008.

i-52f05557b337917515ac894e0de9a9a2-pakicetusskull.jpg

Paleontological reconstruction can often be a bit of a gamble, especially if the specimen you're working with is incomplete. In most of the newer books about prehistoric animals I had when I was young, Pakicetus was often reconstructed as a stubby, seal-like creature, and the AMNH reconstruction followed the trend. Fortunately for paleontologists, more complete material has come out of the ground in recent years, causing a total revision of what Pakicetus looked like.

While still not entirely complete, the newer skull material shows that the reconstruction pictured above is incorrect on a number of points, the most easily-recognizable difference being that the old reconstruction has the nasal apeture placed too-far back. The position of the eyes between the old & new reconstructions has also changed, and the newer skull shows the presence of a sagittal crest lacking in the older reconstruction. Unfortunately there was so much excitement over the 1980's model that many casts are still displayed in museums and the chubby, stubby seal model is still on display in some places, but hopefully they will soon be removed and replaced with something more accurate.

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mammals
Photography

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