Paleontologists from the La Brea Tar Pits are currently developing a scientifically accurate extinct animal herd for use in augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR).
The fearsome saber-toothed cats and wolves no longer lurk around the La Brea Tar Pits archaeological site, but thanks to this new research, anyone can bring these extinct species back to life through augmented reality (AR).
Dr. Matt Davis and his colleagues at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History and La Brea Tar Pits have collaborated with researchers and designers at the University of Southern California (USC) to create over a dozen new, scientifically accurate virtual models of Ice Age animals.
New models provide scientifically accurate reconstructions of Ice Age animals.
The team is investigating how AR impacts learning in museums, but they soon realized that there were no scientifically accurate Ice Age animals in the metaverse that they could utilize. Therefore, they conducted extensive research on paleontology and created their own.
These models are designed in a blocky, low-poly style to ensure scientific accuracy while remaining simple enough to run on standard mobile devices with limited processing power.
According to co-author Dr. William Swartout, Director of Technology at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies, “The innovation of this approach is that it allows us to create scientifically accurate artworks for the metaverse without having to focus on the details we are still lacking good fossil evidence for.”
The researchers hope this paper will also foster greater respect for paleoart, the art form that recreates what extinct animals looked like. Dr. Emily Lindsey, Assistant Director at La Brea Tar Pits and a senior author of the study, stated: “Paleoart can significantly influence how the public, and even scientists, understand the life of fossils. However, much of the paleoart is viewed as an afterthought and does not undergo the scrutiny that other scientific studies do. This can lead to particularly poor reconstructions of extinct species being propagated across generations in popular media and academic publications.”
Dr. Davis, the lead author of the study, remarked: “We believe paleoart is an important part of paleontological research. That’s why we decided to publish all the scientific studies and artistic decisions involved in creating these models. This will help other scientists and paleontologists easily critique and build upon our team’s work.”
Dr. Davis noted that acknowledging what we do not know about the appearance of these animals is just as important as recording what we do know. For example, we can accurately describe the shaggy fur of the Shasta ground sloth because paleontologists have found a complete skeleton of this species with hair and skin still preserved. But for the woolly mammoth, paleontologists have only found a few hair strands. Their thick fur is an artistic decision.
Dr. Davis and his colleagues hope that other paleontologists and scientists will follow their lead by publishing all research related to the reconstruction of their extinct species. This will lead to better and more accurate versions for everyone.
