Fearsome dire wolves and saber-toothed cats no longer prowl around La Brea Tar Pits, but thanks to new research, anyone can bring these extinct animals back to life through augmented reality (AR).

Dr. Matt Davis and colleagues at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and La Brea Tar Pits collaborated with researchers and designers at the University of Southern California (USC) to create more than a dozen new, scientifically accurate virtual models of Ice Age Animals , published recently in Palaeontologia Electronica .

The models were built in a blocky, low poly style so that they could be scientifically accurate, but still simple enough to run on normal cell phones with limited processing power.

"Paleoart can be very influential in how the public, and even scientists, understand fossil life," said Dr. Emily Lindsey, Assistant Curator at La Brea Tar Pits and senior author of the study.

For example, we can accurately depict the shaggy fur of Shasta ground sloths because paleontologists have found a whole skeleton of this species with hair and skin still preserved.

More information: Matt Davis et al, Designing scientifically-grounded paleoart for augmented reality at La Brea Tar Pits, Palaeontologia Electronica (2022).