Nowadays we’re all used to seeing blockbuster feature films that use computer graphics and animation technologies to portray imaginary creatures or re-creations of prehistoric animals in their “natural” habitat. On the face of it, the 3D digital modeling and animation work performed by Bill Sellers, program director in zoology at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, is not particularly exceptional. But it is. It’s much too realistic for an animation feature film, according to some of the best-known names in the world of animation movies.

But Sellers isn’t in the movie business. His mission is to uncover and understand human and animal evolution: how we got to where we are today, physiologically, and the differences that have evolved between prehistoric animals and modern-day animals, including humans, throughout millions of years.

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