At one point (whether you can believe it or not), Times Square was naturally beautiful.

Instead of jackhammers and sirens, you'd hear blue jays and bald eagles; rather than blinding ads and tourists, you'd avoid flying squirrels and the occasional mountain lion. Of course, this was more than 400 years ago.

The Welikia Project (meaning "my good home " in Lenape and formerly known as the Mannahatta Project), analyzes how much New York City has changed in the past 400 years. Ecologist Eric Sanderson wanted to discover "what Henry Hudson would have seen on the afternoon of Sept. 12, 1609, when he sailed into New York Harbor," Sanderson said in his 2009 Ted Talk .