--- title: Lovely Bones: Photographs of Animal, Fish and Bird Skeletons description: The bones of creatures as varied as elephants, hummingbirds and humans are eloquent totems, raising questions about life and death. canonical: https://time.com/3876518/lovely-bones-photos-of-animal-skulls-and-skeletons/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-04-02T20:27:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:53.227Z og:title: Lovely Bones: Photographs of Animal, Fish and Bird Skeletons og:description: The bones of creatures as varied as elephants, hummingbirds and humans are eloquent totems, raising questions about life and death. og:url: https://time.com/3876518/lovely-bones-photos-of-animal-skulls-and-skeletons/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt94ecc4ccb1503803/698845040b72e375d76e2bab/50866950.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2513 og:image:height: 1414 og:image:alt: Andreas Feininger, owl's skull og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lovely Bones: Photographs of Animal, Fish and Bird Skeletons twitter:description: The bones of creatures as varied as elephants, hummingbirds and humans are eloquent totems, raising questions about life and death. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt94ecc4ccb1503803/698845040b72e375d76e2bab/50866950.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Lovely Bones: The Art of Evolution > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Apr 2, 2013 8:27 PM UTC  An owl's skull, 1951. An owl's skull, 1951. Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Apr 2, 2013 8:27 PM UTC Design is a funny, marvelous, sometimes unsettling thing — especially when evolution itself is the designer. Take these six-decade-old pictures of skulls and bones. Seen in a certain light, and photographed for LIFE by the great Andreas Feininger, the bones of creatures as varied in size and temperament as fish, bats, elephants, hummingbirds and humans are eloquent totems, raising questions about life, death and what we ultimately leave behind. In the end, though, perhaps the way that humans and our fellow creatures appear when seen at the most elemental level — in other words, how we look when literally stripped to the bone — says more about us than we’d like to admit. Even as these pictures summon thoughts that swing between the morbid and the exalted, one thing remains strikingly clear: in the right hands, bones are beautiful. _Many of these Feininger photographs appeared in the Oct. 6, 1952, issue of LIFE._ _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  An owl's skull, 1951. Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Skeletal structure of a mole, with shovel-shaped hands and wedge-shaped skull, giving the mole perfect tunneling tools, 1951. Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  The skeletal structure of a bat, 1951 Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Fish skeleton, 1951. Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Vertebrae of a catfish, 1951. Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Pygmy armadillo, 1951\. The armored tail plate attached to its hip bones protects the pygmy armadillo's rear when he pokes his head down a hole to dig. Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Jumping mouse, 1951. Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Human and horse skeletons, 1951. Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  The skeletal structure of an elephant's skull, showing teeth, 1951. Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Hummingbird and elephant's femur, 1951. Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Skeletal rib cage of a gorilla, 1951\. The cage protects its vital organs and provides girders for its huge chest muscles, on display at the Museum of Natural History, New York. Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  African shrew, 1951\. Interlocking prongs of the shrew's bones give it a stronger backbone design than most mammals. Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Skeletal structure of a bird, 1951. Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Ostrich femur, 1951. Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Bear femur, 1951. Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Sloth, 1951. 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