Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1906-01-16
EEN FOSSIL MONSTER FOUND
PARTS OF REX TYRANNosAuRuS
BOUND FOR NEW YORK
MUSEUM.

He Was Flesh Eater of the Cretace-
GUS Period, SO Feet Long, and Car
red His Head 19 Feet From the
Ground-Preyed.on the 10 Ton Tri-
ceratops.
tops.
Tyrannosaurus Rex is the name con
ferred on newly discovered monster
whose bones, or most CT them, have
been dug out of the rocks in northern
Montana. He is an ancient beast CT
massive proportions who has been
hiding his bones in a mountain OF
rock for hundreds and hundreds of
years. Not much is known, but scien,
fists are doing what they can to
learn his records.
Old Tyrannosaurus was certainly
the king of beasts, If the men who
dug up mis- remains know what they
are talking about. and they are ex-
perts at things of this kind. He was
a flesh eating land animal and the
largest thus far known in this world
His remains are now on their way
to New York, Grated carefully and
marked Handle with care" They
will be set up in the American Mu
scum of Natural History in this city
Thither in a few months children and
grownups may go and look at old Ty
and thank their stars that they were
not of his day.
Prof. Henry F. Osborn is the cura
tor of the Department of Vertebrate
Palaeontology of the American Mu
scum of Natural History, and it was
through his efforts that this king OF
saurians was recovered.
How he came to get on the trail
is an interesting story. A few years
ago Director Hornaday of the New
York. Geological Park went to northern
Montana on hunting trip. While he
was there he found a fossil horn He
brought lit back to this city with him
and took it to Prof Osborn.
is it Of any value?" he asked.
'Of no great value of ITSELF re-
piled Prof Osborn, "but of exceeding
value as a clue. We have had many
stray bones of this animal and your
find may lead us to place where
there will be parts of the beast which
We have not found yet"
The animal to which the horn be
longed was the triceratops, herbivor
Gus beast The summer following the
return of Director Hornaday the mu-
scum despatched an expedition to the
same section of Montana to see If
other remains of the triceratops could
not be located. This expedition was
in charge Of Barnum Brown, an exper
able remains of the triceratops, a ten
horned animal.
n his search he and his party found
also few bones of what appeared to
be an animal of an entirely different
kind. The new found bones showed
plainly that they had belonged to a
flesh eating dinosaur. They were
found ia hard sandstone and were ex-
u dClSQ Will 5IOdC OlluCulIy"
Prof. Osborn thought that addition,
al excavation would reveal other parts
of this carnivorous beast, and last
summer a new expedition with Mr.
Brown in charge was sent out on mis-
quest. The first specimens were
found under a cliff, and careful prep
arations were made to explore this
cliff thoroughly. The cliff was clear
ed first and then delicate blasting was
begun from the top downward.
1t wasn't losg boccre other remains
of this king Of beasts were unearthed
It was officially announced yesterday
that representative parts of the en-
tire body have been recovered.
It has been possible to estimate
his size with reasonable exactness,
the scientists say. From the end OF
his tail to the tip of his nose ne
measured about thirty-nine feet. The
distance from his skull, as normally
poised to the ground would be about
nineteen feet. A drawing showing
the comparative size of this king of
beasts and the human skeleton is now
on exhibition at the museum. They
compare like common hen and an
ostrich.
When the monsters remains are
examined by palaeontologists they
hope to be able to tell how much
flesh he consumed in a day, what the
size of his brain was, how long he
lived and in what period of the close
of the age of reptiles he fought for
existence. The happy hunting ground
of the palaeontologist is in the West.
Skeletons of bygone days are yet I'M
covered there, but it is hard to find
them. Many have been uncovered
through accident. Hunters and pros
pectors can gain fame and money
when they find a curious bone project
ing from rock by leaving the bone
alone, locating the spot and sending
word to the American Museum of
Natural History.
This latest find is considered of so
much Importance 20 science that it
has necessitated a reclassification of
the carnivorous dinosaurs of the Gre
taceous geological period. Tyrannos-
aurus now becomes the name of a new
genus. These flesh eating dinosaurs
show themselves to have been more
diversified than had been supposed.
Their particular hobby seems to have
been to make life miserable FOL all
the herbivorous dinosaurs of the
period.
Rex tyrannosaurus, so the scientists
say, liked nothing better than to at
tack the three horned triceratops. one
of the most interesting of the dino
saur family, a fine skeleton of which
has recently been set up in the Nation
al Museum at Washington. TriceI-
atops was hefty brute, too, about
twenty-five feet in height and about
twice the size of an elephant. Prof.
Osborn gives it as his opinion that
even if triceratops had three horns
which could be used as a batterine
ram, he was easy prey for tyranno-
saurus rex. The pair certainly ought