The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1920-08-06

of wind from the side would blow 1t over. 1t IL
ridiculous to think that animal hundred feet
long would have legs close together in the mid
d1e and have three-quarters Of its length sticking
out In front and behind unsupported in the air.
My idea Is that the brontosaurus a reptile,
practically crocodile, with a snake-lIke neck.
and not a mammal, that 1t carried itself as a
crocodile does that is, crawled its belly when
on land and did not walk straight legs.
u think 1t crawled with Its neck drawn back
so as to strike like cobra and most likely had
poisonous fangs. In fact, 1t a big poisonous
lizard, and that 1t brilliantly colered, like
them, and perhaps discharged poison through its
skin like toad when irritated.
The best weapon to shoot 1t with would be
the magnifed Mauser rifle, such the Germans
used against tanks, only with an explosive shell
Instead of an armor-percer. II were younger
l should be Off after him.
Anyway. the monster Is sufficiently real to
have set the scientists disputing about his posi-
bility, his identity and his looks. They call him
all sorts OF Observation-Disclosures, trceratops bro
alosaurus tylosaurus and on. One expert
writes to the press
1.-The animal in question can not be bromo-
surus. II the illustration In H. G. Wells book.
Outlines of History, correct The iuustra-
lions show very different creature from the de-
scriptions In the newspapers Of this one. What
this one really appears to be Is trceratops only
that animal has two horns"
Another zooogist heaps scorn on the entire
idea asserting that while he believes there are
undiscovered animals living In the heart of Africa
he doubts that dinosaur any other primeyal
beast exists anywhere today. He writes:
''The period In which they lived is incredibly
remote counts time. Their bones are
found in the strata Of the Eocene period The
brontosaurus was remarkable for his very small
head and small brain cavity. His whole skull was
no larger than his neck bone The name means
thunder beast, and one species was well over fifty
feet in length and weighed probably twenty tons
or more"
The evolution OF man has been a long process
so long that the biologists and other scientists
prefer to dodge the question of the millions NJ
years involved and reckon in eras era being
anywhere from six to As millions of years. They
call the first Archeozoic; 1t is ancient beyond
all knowledge. Then comes the Proterozoic with
Its very primitive forms Of water life lasting 93
millions Of years. The Paeozoic with fish am
phibians and land plants. lasted 40 millions The
Mezozoic. the age Of reptiles and amphbians and
Of trees saw the first mammals; It lasted 18 mil,
lions Of years. The present era, the Cenozoic has
seen the rise and development Of the highest or.
ders Of plants and animals and the appearance Of
man its duration to date Is put at million vear,
SO that's what we up against when we
talk of there being at large In Africa a survivor
OF the Age Of Reptiles.
Anyway, we know these reptiles actnauv
existed because we find their fossil remains pretty
much all the world Why these fossils arc
so thick out In Utah, u. s. A., that we have tho
Dinosaur National monument. You see. once mo,
a time the waves Of an open rolled over tha
SPOT where stands Longs peak (14255 feetl
king of the Rockies" In this sea sported ,ha
marine monster Of long ago and on its shoree
lived the grotesque creatures OF the Age of Rem
tiles Then the Rocky Mountains heayed Thorn,
selves up and this great inland had to run or
into the Arctic ocean and the Gulf Of Mexico and
the Pacific And then the rains washed down the
mountains and filed up the plains with the
scourngs
Some of the creatures In this inland sea got
mired and their bones are now found petrfed In
a remarkably perfect state of preservation And
It's no trick for a scientist who knows his bust
ness to reconstruct animal from his bones