Curiosities of Science, Past and Present: A Book for Old and YoungTimbs, John
Science
Curiosities of Science, Past and Present: A Book for Old and Young
Timbs, John
Science
The family of herbivorous Cetaceans are connected with the
Pachydermata of the land by one of the most wonderful of all the
extinct creatures with which geologists have made us acquainted.
This is the _Dinotherium_, or Terrible Beast. The remains of this
animal were found in Miocene sands at Eppelsheim, about forty miles
from Darmstadt. It must have been larger than the largest extinct or
living elephant. The most remarkable peculiarity of its structure is
the enormous tusks, curving downwards and terminating its lower jaw.
It appears to have lived in the water, where the immense weight of
these formidable appendages would not be so inconvenient as on land.
What these tusks were used for is a mystery; but perhaps they acted
as pickaxes in digging up trees and shrubs, or as harrows in raking
the bottom of the water. Dr. Buckland used to suggest that they were
perhaps employed as anchors, by means of which the monster might
fasten itself to the bank of a stream and enjoy a comfortable nap. The
extreme length of the _Dinotherium_ was about eighteen feet. Professor
Kemp, in his restoration of the animal, has given it a trunk like
that of the elephant, but not so long, and the general form of the
tapir.--_Professor Owen._
THE GLYPTODON.
There are few creatures which we should less have expected to find
represented in fossil history by a race of gigantic brethren than the
armadillo. The creature is so small, not only in size but in all its
works and ways, that we with difficulty associate it with the idea of
magnitude. Yet Sir Woodbine Parish has discovered evidences of enormous
animals of this family having once dwelt in South America. The huge
loricated (plated over) creature whose relics were first sent has
received the name of Glyptodon, from its sculptured teeth. Unlike the
small armadillos, it was unable to roll itself up into a ball; though
an enormous carnivore which lived in those days must have made it
sometimes wish it had the power to do so. When attacked, it must have
crouched down, and endeavoured to make its huge shell as good a defence
as possible.--_Professor Owen._
INMATES OF AN AUSTRALIAN CAVERN.
From the fossil-bone caverns in Wellington Valley, in 1830, were sent
to Professor Owen several bones which belonged, as it turned out, to
gigantic kangaroos, immensely larger than any existing species; to
a kind of wombat, to formidable dasyures, and several other genera.
It also appeared that the bones, which were those of herbivores, had
evidently belonged to young animals, while those of the carnivores
were full-sized; a fact which points to the relations between the two
families having been any thing but agreeable to the herbivores.
THE POUCH-LION OF AUSTRALIA.
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