We may imagine the Allosaurus lying in wait,
watching his prey until its near approach stimulates him into a
semi-instinctive activity; then a sudden swift rush, a fierce snap of
the huge jaws and a savage attack with teeth and claws until the
victim is torn in pieces or swallowed whole. But the stealthy,
persistent tracking of the cat or weasel tribe, the intelligent
generalship of 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.
TYRANNOSAURUS.
The "Tyrant Saurian" as Professor Osborn has named him, was the climax
of evolution of the giant flesh-eating dinosaurs. It reached a length
of forty-seven feet, and in bulk must have equalled the mammoth or the
mastodon or the largest living elephants. The massive hind limbs,
supporting the whole weight of the body, exceeded the limbs of the
great proboscideans in bulk, and in a standing position the animal was
eighteen to twenty feet high, as against twelve for the largest
African elephants or the southern mammoth. The head (see frontispiece)
is 4 feet 3 inches long, 3 ft. 4 inches deep, and 2 ft. 9 inches wide;
the long deep powerful jaws set with teeth from 3 to 6 inches long and
an inch wide.
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