Fossils: A Story of the Rocks and Their Record of Prehistoric LifeMarkman, Harvey C.
Science
Fossils: A Story of the Rocks and Their Record of Prehistoric Life
Markman, Harvey C.
Fossils; Paleontology
In Jurassic time there became prominent a group of large dinosaurs which
were more equally developed as to fore and hind limbs. They were
sluggish creatures, quadrupedal in their manner of locomotion,
vegetarians in regard to their diet. Some of them reached enormous
proportions and it is believed that they resorted to life in the water
in order to get part of the weight off their feet. _Diplodocus_ and
_Brontosaurus_ are the names of well-known giants in this group. They
had long necks and tails, very small skulls, were the largest of all
land animals and are known to have reached a length of eighty feet or
more. Some estimates, based on measurements of incomplete skeletons,
have exceeded one hundred feet, but these extremes are somewhat
questionable. _Diplodocus_ was the more elongated of the two, with much
of its length in the whip-like tail. Our mounted skeleton has a length
of seventy-five feet six inches, measured along the vertebrae. Its
height at the pelvis is twelve feet six inches.
The teeth of these large quadrupeds are of a slightly broadened and
blunted form which has caused some speculation as to their possible use.
It has even been suggested that the animals were fish-eaters but this
seems impossible in view of the great size and general characteristics
of the group. Although they differ extremely in some respects, they are
regarded as being more closely related to the carnivores than to the
herbivores of the second great branch of the tribe.
The unquestioned herbivores, constituting this second branch of the
dinosaurian race, also include both bipeds and quadrupeds. The better
known plant-eaters were large animals but not such monsters as
_Tyrannosaurus_ or _Brontosaurus_. Of the bipeds, _Trachodon_ is perhaps
best known. It is one of the duck-billed dinosaurs which had an average
length of about thirty feet. The duckbills were unarmored, active
animals, good swimmers as well as runners. They were prominent and
widely distributed during late Cretaceous time. Many skeletons have been
found in western North America. Natural casts and impressions of
mummified remains indicate that the hides were scaly and the feet
provided with webs between the toes. The bill was broad, flat, and
toothless, but the sides of the mouth were provided with a large number
of simple teeth closely arranged in parallel rows. The fine skeleton
exhibited in our hall is thirty feet six inches in length. Near
relatives of _Trachodon_, such as _Corythosaurus_ had hollow, bony
crests, combs, or tubular structures on top of the head. These may have
been of some service in connection with breathing while feeding under
water.
[Illustration: A Duck-billed Dinosaur of the Cretaceous Period
(_Trachodon mirabilis_)]
[Illustration: Stegosaur (_Stegosaurus stenops_)]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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