Dinosaur

“ Ordinarily feeders on herbage and roots, they were like pigs and rats and men, more or less without prejudice in their diet, and they seemed to think that dinosaur went very well with grass.
At a distance of not more than fifty paces from these destroying hosts, the man-creature stood carelessly, and stared and considered. He had no fear of them. He knew he could avoid them with ease. So insignificant that in their excitement they hardly noticed him, so small that in bulk he was no greater than the least of their calves, he nevertheless despised the gigantic beasts and felt himself their lord. ”

“ Only the dull-colored flat skull and a portion of the neck of this venerable fossil are to be seen, projecting about a yard or two. It stands seven feet above its low platform, which is surrounded by a railing. On this is a slanted sign which describes it. Its size, its grimness and the light which rests upon it make it dominate everything. The remainder of the huge dinosaur is masked by a high screen at its left, upon which hangs a map indicating by its varied horizontal shades of color, the various geological strata and periods. ”

“ The Dinosaur Ledge is famous because here the world’s greatest store of fossil bones of these long extinct reptiles has been uncovered. Two groups, or orders, of dinosaurs have been discovered, with a number of different types or kinds somewhat related to each other within these orders. From the fossil bones, scientists can tell that these creatures varied greatly in size and habits of living.
TILTED ROCK STRATA NEAR THE DINOSAUR QUARRY.
Some were the size of chickens, others as big as horses, and others of such gigantic size that no land animal alive today can compare with them. ”

“ A Monstrous Dinosaur.—Assistant-Professor W.H. Reed, of the Geological University of Wyoming, has made a great discovery by unearthing the petrified bones of the most colossal animal ever taken from the earth's crust. This fossil monster was a dweller in the Jurassic age, a Dinosaur, measuring nearly 130 ft. in length, and being perhaps 35 ft. in height at the hips and 25 ft. at the shoulders—an animal so terrible in size that its petrified skeleton alone is believed to weigh more than 40,000 pounds. ”

“ But if so we might expect from the analogy of the lizard that the scales of the head would be ossified and preserved in the fossil; and there is nothing of this kind in the Carnivorous Dinosaurs. We can exclude feathers from consideration, for these dinosaurs have no affinities to birds, and there is no evidence for feathers in any dinosaur. Probably the best evidence is that of the Trachodon or duck-billed dinosaur although this animal was but distantly related to the Allosaurus. ”

“ The size, length of limb, number and proportions of the toes, and the absence of hand and tail impressions, together with the fact that they are among the most numerous of the tracks, the makers of which would in consequence be among those most likely to be preserved as fossils, all point conclusively to the New Windsor dinosaur as the creature whose existence is thus recorded.
The carnivorous dinosaurs followed at least two lines of evolution, the more conservative of which simply increased in size and in consequent strength and ferocity throughout their racial career. ”

“ Actually the dinosaurs show as much diversity in size, body form, and habits as any group of reptiles. The smallest dinosaur walked on its 2 hind legs like a chicken 4 and was about the same size. The largest walked on all 4 legs, was about 80 feet long, and weighed 30 to 40 tons. As examples of variety in body form there are the two-footed, flesh-eating Antrodemus, the armored Stegosaurus, the turtle-like Ankylosaurus, the horned Triceratops, the huge Apatosaurus, the two-footed vegetarian Camptosaurus, and the great variety of head forms in the aquatic hadrosaurs. ”

“ The immense interval of time that preceded, and the no less vast stretch of time that separated them, is represented in the record of Dinosaur history by a multitude of tracks and a few imperfect skeletons assigned to the close of the Triassic period, and by a few fragments from formations which may be [24] intermediate in age between the Jurassic-Comanchic and the late Cretacic. Consequently we cannot expect to trace among the Dinosaurs, the gradual evolution of different races, as we can do among the quadrupeds of the Age of Mammals. ”

“ At Dinosaur National Monument only Morrison rocks of the upper Jurassic Period contain the fossil bones of dinosaurs. After Morrison time, the Cretaceous seas invaded this area. More than 5,000 feet of sandstone, shale, and mudstone were formed from sediments deposited in these seas.
Elsewhere in North America and the rest of the world, the diversity and numbers of dinosaurs actually increased. Entirely new groups evolved and achieved success in the battle for survival. The climax of reptile development seems to have come near the end of Cretaceous time in the Mesozoic Era. ”

“ Dinosaur means “terrible lizard.” Everyone has heard this name and attaches to it at least a vague conception of a creature of peculiar shape and tremendous size. In the dim far-away past these giant reptiles lived, developed and died in many parts of this country, but to most of us, they are only fantastic creatures in literature—not live or moving animals.
DINOSAUR TRACKS. PAINTED DESERT
The reality of the dinosaur should become apparent to those who travel through the Painted Desert region of 25 Arizona. ”

“ The first of the armored plant-eating dinosaurs, Stegosaurus, inhabited the dry plains. There were also some smaller, kangaroo-size plant-eaters that were two-footed.
A wide variety of dinosaur fossils has been found in the rocks of the Cretaceous Period, the last of the Mesozoic Era. The huge swamp dwellers still thrived. The flesh-eaters had evolved much larger types and included 40-foot Tyrannosaurus, the largest that ever lived. All the flesh-eaters walked on their hind legs as did their predecessors of the Jurassic and Triassic Periods. ”

“ In Dinosaur National Monument, the positions in which partial skeletons of the dinosaurs lie suggest that they decomposed on a sandbar. The bones on the underside of a skeleton are often arranged as they were when the animal was alive, while those on the upper or exposed side may be scattered. Such scattering would be expected as the ligaments and muscles holding the bones together decomposed; stream currents and scavengers could then disperse them. Stream currents are suggested by the position of the long, flexible tails and 21 necks of the large plant feeders. ”

“ It showed a strange looking thing called—let me think for a moment—called a dinosaur. There aren't any more of them—weren't any even in the old days when men had earth to themselves. Well, men are being wiped out just like the dinosaurs were. ”

“ They had bodies about the size of an elephant or larger. The principal differences between the flesh- and plant-eating dinosaurs were the length of the neck and tail, the details of their skull structure, and other parts of their skeleton. ”

“ Contrast this with the diminutive Laosaurus, a 21⁄2-foot biped which ranks as the smallest dinosaur yet taken from the deposit. This tiny creature had hollow limb bones and was one of the agile, quick-running types. Only one was found. When discovered, Douglass thought it a “baby” dinosaur, but study proved it to be a full-grown specimen. The condition of the skeleton reflected considerable agitation before and after burial. It lay on its back, the limbs distended. The tail was gone and the skull crushed. ”

“ The river-plain deposits of the Age of Mammals on the other hand, are still quite extensive, especially those of its later epochs, and afford a fairly complete record in some parts of the continent of the upland fauna of those regions.
Occurrence of Dinosaur Bones. Dinosaur bones are found mostly in the great delta formations, and since those were accumulated chiefly in the early stages of great continental elevations, it follows that our acquaintance with Dinosaurs is mostly limited to those living at certain epochs during the Age of Reptiles. ”

“ Some 60 million years have passed since the dinosaurs ruled the world. In that time mountains have risen, wasted away, and risen again. Glaciers have come and gone. Many species of plants and animals evolved and passed on to extinction. Every life form meets the test—adapt or die. That test is as real to the dusty lizard basking on the quarry face as it was to the dinosaurs whose bones you came to see. ”

“ But the stealthy, persistent tracking of the cat or weasel tribe, the intelligent generalship of [46] the wolf pack, the well planned attack at the most vulnerable point in the prey, characteristic of all the predaceous mammals, would be quite impossible to the dinosaur. By watching the habits of modern reptiles we may gain a much better idea of his capacities and limitations than if we judge only from the efficiency of his teeth and claws, and forget the inferior intelligence that animated these terrible weapons. ”

“ The land reptiles called Dinosaurs were the largest creatures that have ever walked the earth. In the American Museum of Natural History, in New York, the mounted skeleton of the giant Dinosaur fairly takes one's breath away. ”

“ It was a dinosaur, and belonged to the scaled or armoured species. In a few moments another head appeared, and towered several feet above the first. The head was obviously reptilian, but had a beak similar to that of their tortoise. The hind legs were developed like those of a kangaroo, while the small rudimentary forepaws, which could be used as hands or for going quadruped-fashion, now hung down. The strong thick tail was evidently of great use to them when standing erect, by forming a sort of tripod.
"How I wish we could take a pair of those creatures with us when we return to the earth!" ”

“ By far the most imposing of these animals are those which may be popularly designated as the great or giant dinosaurs. The name, derived from deinos terrible, and sauros lizard, refers to the fact that they appeared externally like enormous lizards, with very long limbs, necks, and tails. They were actually remotely related to the tuatera lizard of New Zealand, and still more remotely to the true lizards.
No land animals have ever approached these giant dinosaurs in size, and naturally the first point of interest is the architecture of the skeleton. The backbone is indeed a marvel. ”

“ According to geologic reckoning, the dinosaurs were among the highest types of life on earth several million years ago; they left only occasional tracks in the rocks, and now and then a petrified skeleton. These bones, when examined, show how the animal must have moved about, either in water, on land, or in air; the teeth and jaws indicate what he ate, whether of flesh, fish, or vegetation ”

“ Visualize a Tyrant King dinosaur with ribbed, skeletal wings, reduced to the dimensions of a kangaroo, and you'll have a fairly accurate mental picture of one.
All they do is eat. Birds and small mammals, fruits, berries and nuts. In twenty-four hours a Draconian flying lizard can eat three times its weight in food. ”

“ Dinosaurs, which were contemporary with Ornithosaurs, approximate to them in blending characters of Birds with the structure of a Reptile and something of a Mammal in one animal. If an Ornithosaur is Reptilian in its backbone, in the articular ends of each vertebra having the cup in front and ball behind in the manner of Crocodiles, Serpents, and many Lizards, a Dinosaur like Iguanodon, which had the reversed condition of ball in front and cup behind in its early vertebræ, may be more Mammalian than Avian in a corresponding resemblance of the bones to the neck in hoofed Mammals. ”

“ This subclass includes the dinosaurs, crocodiles, and the flying reptiles. The lizards, snakes, turtles, and the tuatera of New Zealand belong to other subclasses of reptiles which have been distinct from that of the dinosaurs as far back in geologic time as we can trace them. The kinship between the dinosaurs and the small lizards living in the monument today lies only in that both are reptiles. The only living relatives of the dinosaurs are the alligator and the crocodile. ”

“ If the tibia without that epiphysis and the astragalus were found in the fossil state, I know not by what test they could be distinguished from the bones of a Dinosaurian. And if the whole hind quarters, from the ilium to the toes, of a half-hatched chicken could be suddenly enlarged, ossified, and fossilized as they are, they would furnish us with the last step of the transition between Birds and Reptiles; for there would be nothing in their characters to prevent us from referring them to the Dinosauria. ”

“ Mabel and Kathleen, nervously peering among the rhododendron bushes and the bracken and the fancy fir-trees, find six several heaps of coats, hats, skirts, gloves, golf-clubs, hockey-sticks, broom-handles. They carry them, panting and damp, for the mid-day sun is pitiless, up the hill to where the stone dinosaurus looms immense among a forest of larches. The dinosaurus has a hole in his stomach. ”

“ The gigantic Dinosaur, Atlantosaurus montanus, described by the writer in the July number of this Journal, [1] proves to belong to a lower horizon than at first supposed, and is really from the upper Jurassic. ”

“ There are additional facts which point to land progression, such as the point in the tail where the flexible structure suddenly becomes rigid, as shown in the diagram of vertebræ below; the component joints are so solid and flattened on the lower surface that they seem to demonstrate fitness to support partly the body in a tripodal position like that of a kangaroo. I have therefore hazarded the view that even some of these enormous dinosaurs were capable of raising themselves on their hind limbs, lightly resting on the middle portion of the tail. ”

“ The giant dinosaur would be an appropriate name for another reptile — the camarasaur. The Amphicælius altus, just described, was amphibious in the sense that it fed upon everything it could reach and capture, in or out of water, while wading. The type now to be described was similar in appearance in many respects, except that it waded or swam in the water indifferently. This type was purely herbivorous, and its great bulk suggests that it required at least an acre of plants, grass, and leaves to satisfy its appetite for a meal. ”