Taking up the legacy of Waterhouse Hawkins and Owen. Art and science for a new Italian project to bring back dinosaurs to life

Since their initial formal recognition by Richard Owen in 1842, dinosaurs have always stood out in the collective imagination for their size and unusual appearance. Therefore, these marvellous animals are a source of curiosity and wonder for people of all ages, social and cultural backgrounds. Thanks to improved research techniques, palaeontologists have been able to work reconstructing the most plausible appearance of dinosaurs. Starting with petrified bones, they tried to make a dream come true – to bring the planet’s ancient inhabitants back to life. The new Italian exhibition Dinosaurs in the Flesh: Science and Art bring the Rulers of a Lost World Back to Life reveals the marriage of science and art that brings back to life animals that lived tens or hundreds of millions of years ago. Palaeontologists and artists collaborate on reconstructing the appearance of organisms from the distant past through study of the fossils, often with the aid of new technologies. The new project, which takes up the idea of Waterhouse Hawkins and Owen and their legacy to restore these ancient vertebrates based on solid scientific foundations, represents to date the only way to reanimate these fascinating lost animals

In vivo restoration and volumetric body mass estimate of Mammuthus meridionalis from Madonna della Strada (Scoppito, L’Aquila)

In this contribution we present an in vivo reconstruction and volumetric body mass estimate for the mounted skeleton of Mammuthus meridionalis on exhibit at the east bastion of the Spanish Fortress at L’Aquila (Abruzzo, Central Italy). The reconstruction has been obtained starting from a 3D photogrammetric model of the skeleton acquired via a micro-drones and by digitally adding a percentage of soft tissues according to the conditions observed in wild specimens. By applying to the volume the density range proposed in literature for extant proboscideans we obtain an estimate of the body mass in the adult male specimen ranging from 11.3 t to 11.5 t, with average body mass equal to 11.43 t. In addition, we compare the volumetric BM estimate with the BM predictive values obtained by means of traditional regression equations based on long bones linear dimension and shoulder height. The results confirm that the volumetric method is always preferable if sufficiently complete mounted skeletons are available, since application of regression formulas to single bony element can lead to an underestimation or overestimation up to 130%. As a general indication, weight estimates in extinct tetrapods based on single measures and single bones should be totally avoided, especially in groups morphologically and phylogenetically distant from extant reference taxa

Tetrapod tracks from the Middle Triassic of NW Sardinia (Nurra region, Italy)

We report here on the first tetrapod tracks from the Triassic of the Nurra region (north-western Sardinia, Italy). The specimens were found on sandstone blocks used to build a fence limiting a seasonal camping, in the coastal area north of Capo Caccia promontory. Lithologic and petrographic features allowed an assignment of the track-bearing blocks to the middle-upper portion of the Anisian (Middle Triassic) Arenarie di Cala Viola (“Buntsandstein”). Footprints are attributed to the ichnotaxa Rhynchosauroides and Rotodactylus, two common ichnotaxa of late Early Triassic and Middle Triassic ichnofaunas of Europe and United States, commonly referred in the literature to neodiapsid and archosaur producers, respectively.Fil: Citton, Paolo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Sede Alto Valle. Instituto de Investigaciones en Paleobiología y Geología; ArgentinaFil: Ronchi, Ausonio. Universita Degli Studi Di Pavia; ItaliaFil: Nicosia, Umberto. Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"; ItaliaFil: Sacchi, Eva. Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"; Italia. Sam Noble Museum; Estados UnidosFil: Maganuco, Simone. Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano; Italia. Associazione Paleontologica Paleoartistica Italiana; ItaliaFil: Cipriani, Angelo. Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"; ItaliaFil: Innamorati, Giulia. Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"; ItaliaFil: Zuccari, Costantino. Università di Bologna; ItaliaFil: Manucci, Fabio. Associazione Paleontologica Paleoartistica Italiana; ItaliaFil: Romano, Marco. Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"; Itali