The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1894-01-10
ANIMALS GROWING sMALLsR.


Elephants Of the Tertiary Period Monsters
Reside Those Of To-day.
Compared with their extinct allies Of
earlier periods of the earth's history, 10
may be- laid down as general rule that
the large animals OF the present day are
decidedly inferior ia point Of size. Dur
ing the later portion ~ the tertiary period,
for Instance before the incoming IL the
glacial epoch, when mammals appear TO
have attained their maximum develop
ment, there lived elephants alongside Of
which ordinary individuals Of the existing
species would have looked almost dwnrfs,
while the cave hear and the cave hyena
attained considerably larger dimensions
than their living representatives, and some
OF the saber toothed tigers must have
been considerably larger than the biggest
African lion or Bengal tiger
Again, the remains Of red deer, bison
and wild oxen. disiutorred from the cavern
and other superficial deposits of this com
try, indicate animals far superior In size
TO their degenerate descendants Of the pres
emit day, while some Of the extinct pigs
from the Siwahk hills Of northern India
might be- compared In stature to a tapir
rather than to an ordinary Wild boar. The
same story Is told by reptiles, the giant
tortoise Of the Siwalik hills, in spite OF its
dimensions having been considerably ex-
nggerated, greatly exceeding I'm size the
largest living giant tortoise Of either the
Mascarene or the Galapagos islands. The
latter rucks have also yielded the remains
OF "a long shouted crocodile. allied 10 the
gavial Of the Ganges, which probably
measured from 90 60 60 feet in length,
whereas 70 Is doubtful II any existing
member OF the order exceeds half the
smaller Of these dimensions. II, moreover,
we took into account totally extinct types,
such as the megatheres and mylodons OF
South America, and contrasted them with
their nearest living allies-in this instance
the sloths and ant eaters-the discrepancy
in size would be still more marked, but
such a comparison would scarcely be ana
logous 60 the above.
TO every rule thero Is, however, an ex-
ception, and there are a few groups OF liv-
ing large mammals whose existing mem
bers appear never TO have been surpassed
in size by their fossil relatives Foremost
amouC these are the whales, which now
appear 20 include the largest members Of
the order which have ever existed. The
so called white or square mouthed rhi-
noccros Of south Africa seems also 10 be
fully equal in size 10 any Of its extinct an
cestors, and the same is certainly true Of
the giraffe, which may even exceed all its
predecessors in this respect. Whether,
however, the fossil girafies were or were
not the equals in height of the largest in
lividuals Of the living species. there is no
question but that the latter is by far the
tallest Of all living mammals, and that IL
was only rivaled in this respect among ex-
tinct forms by its aforesaid ancestors.
Moreover, IL We exclude creatures like some
Of the gigantic dinosaurian reptiles Of the
secondary epoch, which, so 10 speak, gain
81 an unfair advantage as regards height
by sitting up on their hind legs in a kan
yaroolike manner, and limit our compari-
son to such as walk on all four feet in the
good old fashioned way, we shall find that
giralles are not only the tallest mammals.
but likewise the tallest of all animals that
nave ever existed knowledge. ,