The Red Cloud chief., 1920-08-05
s

B~V
Of wind from the side would blow 1t over. It is
ridiculous to think that an animal n hundred feet
long would have legs close together in the mid
die and have three-quarters of its length sticking
out In front and behind unsupported in the Dir.
My Idea Is that the brontosaurus was a reptile.
practically a crocodile, with a snake-like neck.
and not a mammal, that It carried Itself rs a
crocodile does, that Is. crawled on Its belly when
on land and did not walk on straight legs.
Il think 1t crawled with its neck drawn back
so as to strike like a cobra and most likely had
poisonous fangs. In fact, II was a big poisonous
lizard, and that 1t was brilliantly colored. like
them, and perhaps discharged poison through its
skin like a toad when irritated.
1.-THE best weapon to shoot It with would be
the magnified Mauser rifle, such as the Germans
used against tanks, only with an explosive shell
Instead OF an armor- piercer. II I were younger
/ 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 triceratOps, bro
alosaurus, tylosaurus and so on. One expert
writes to the press:
"The animal in question can not be a bromo-
surus, IL the Illustration in II. G. Wells book,
Outlines of History are correct. The illustra-
tons show a very different creature from the de-
scriptlons In the newspapers Of this one. What
this one really appears to be Is a triceratOps, only
that animal has two horns"
Another z~oologist heaps scorn on the entire
idea, asserting that while he believes there are
undiscovered animals living In the heart Of Africa,
he doubts that a dinosaur or any other primeval
beast exists anywhere today. He writes:
"The period In which they lived Is incredibly
remote as man 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 of
years involved and reckon In eras, an era being
anywhere from six to 40 millions OF years. They
call the first era ArcheOZOic; 1t Is ancient beyond
all knowledge. Then comes the PrOterozoic with
Its very primitive forms Of water life. lasting 80
millions Of years. The PaleOzoic, with Ash. nm.
~phibians and land plants, lasted As millions. The
MezOzoic, the age Of reptiles and amphibians and
of trees, saw the first mammals; It lasted 10 mil.
lions OF years. The present era, the Cenozoic. has
seen the rise and development of the highest mr.
ders Of plants and animals and the appearance OF
man its duration to date Is put at @ million yeors
SO that's what we are up against when we
talk of there being at large in Africa a survivor
Of the Age Of Reptiles.
Anyway. we know these reptiles actuo,,v
existed because we find their fossil remains prettv
much all over the world. Why, these fossils are
so thick out In Utah. u. S. A., that we have the
Dinosaur National monument. You see. once upon
q time, the waves OF an open sea rolled over m.
spot where now stands Longs peak (14,255 feetI
"King of the Rockies" In this sea sported the
marine monster of long ago and on its shores
lived the grotesque creatures OF the Age Of Rem
tiles Then the Rocky Mountains heaved them.
selves up and this great inland sea had to run Off
into the Arctic ocean and the Gulf of Mexico and
the Pacific. And then the rains washed down tho
mountains and filled up the plains with the
scOurings,
Some of the creatures I'm this inland sea cot
mired and their bones are now found petrifed in
a remarkably perfect state of preservation. And
It's no trick for a scientist who knows his bust.
ness to reconstruct an animal from bis huEM