Anthropologists weren’t immune to misleading lines of thought, either. Learn more about the Piltdown Man, the so-called missing link, and these guys here and here. Image credit: Bodies of evidence: John Cooke’s 1915 painting of the Piltdown men photographed by Nils Jorgensen/Rex Features.
I grew up on Land of the Lost, a cheesy kids show in the 1970s in which cavemen were chased by dinosaurs and well, something called sleestaks. OK, so they never purported to be accurate, but as a kid, you want to believe anything that is adventurous and fun.
Scientists have also been quick to pull the trigger on their ideas about life in the past. These days, scientists are still trying to get it right when it comes to depicting fossil creatures. The process will never end.
A Feathered Reptile 