Trivia / Life Before Man

• Follow the Leader: Burian's paintings represented a foundation on which many imitators stood.
• Science Marches On: Yeah, it's a paleontology book from the '70s, compiling a list on what's outdated would be pointless. Lets just say that it would be almost as long as the book itself. However a few key points can be singled out:
  • The birds aren't related to dinosaurs, instead they evolved from the purely made-up critter Proavis.
  • Defying the laws of physics, sauropods are happy swamp-dwellers. Brachiosaurus, in particular, walks around on the bottom of a ten-meter-deep water with only its head poking out.
  • Hadrosaurs seek refuge from theropods in the water, who for some reason are repelled by the stuff.
  • Plesiosaurs have bendy necks.
  • Pterosaurs rest by hanging upside down like bats.
  • Ankylosaurs look like armored salamanders. And Scolosaurus has a pair of spikes on its tail club
  • Many dinosaurs are tail-draggers.
  • However this is also Lampshaded in the art, as many of the pictures are updated, corrected versions of Burian's older works.