The
total length of this massive specimen is estimated at sixty-three
feet, or from six to eight feet less than the largest "long-limbed"
dinosaur. The height of the skeleton at the hips is fifteen feet.
There is less direct evidence that the "thunder saurian" had the power
of raising its fore quarters in the air than in the case of the
"light-limbed saurian," because no bend or supporting point in the
tail has been distinctly observed.
The third type of giant dinosaur is the less completely known
"chambered saurian," the _Camarasaurus_ of Cope or _Morosaurus_ of
Marsh, an animal more quadrupedal in gait or walking more habitually
on all fours, like the great _Cetiosaurus_, or "whale saurian,"
discovered near Oxford, England. With its shorter tail and heavier
fore limbs, it is still less probable that this animal had the power
of raising the anterior part of its body from the ground. Of a related
type, perhaps, is the largest dinosaur ever found; this is the
_Brachiosaurus_, limb-bones of which were discovered in central
Colorado in 1901 and are now preserved in the Field Columbian Museum
of Chicago. Its thigh-bone is six feet eight inches in length, and its
upper arm-bone, or humerus, is even slightly longer.
_Feeding Habits of the Giant Dinosaurs._ We still have to solve one of
the most perplexing problems of fossil physiology; how did the very
small head, provided with light jaws, slender and spoon-shaped teeth
confined to the anterior region, suffice to provide food for these
monsters? I have advanced the idea that the food of _Diplodocus_
consisted of some very abundant and nutritious species of water-plant;
that the clawed feet were used in uprooting such plants, while the
delicate anterior teeth were employed only for drawing them out of the
water; that the plants were drawn down the throat in large quantities
without mastication, since there were no grinding or back teeth
whatever in this animal.
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