PRIMORDIAL MONSTERS

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 August 1933, Page 5

PRIMORDIAL MONSTERS

GIANT. HIDEOUS CREATURES Huge and hideous creatures once existed on earth —fortunately before evolution had arrived at the point at which man appeared. z What would our feelings be if, when taking a quiet stroll on the margin of a large lake or river, we were suddenly confronted by a lizard GOft. in length and probably weighing more than 20 tons? Such were the dimensions of the brontosaurus, one of the giants formerly living in what is now known as North America. Its hind legs were elephantine in proportion, but the forelegs were much smaller. The (long, '.slender neck, which occupied about a quarter of the total length of the creature, terminated in a snake-like head, which was absurdly small when compared with tho body. Its footprint was a square yard in extent! It apparently lived in marshes and swampy places, where it fed’ upon aquatic plants. The extremely small size of the brain and tho slenderness of the spinal cord suggest that, it was somewhat stupid. Size does not in many cases furnish any clue to the character of these monsters. The- comparatively smaller ones were often the most, vicious, while some of the largest seem to have been particularly quiet—almost docile. South America, in the days of old, possessed a gigantic creature in the shape of the ground sloth, or megatherium, a cast of the skeleton of which may be seen in the British Museum in the act of grasping The trunk of a tree. The creature was about 18ft. in length. Many of its bones were much more massive than those of the elephant, the thigh bone being nearly three times as thick. The limbs were of tremendous strength, and the feet were armed with powerful claws. As in the case of the anteaten- it apparently walked with its toes doubled in.

A still more awful-looking' creature, though apparently harmless, was the stegosaurus, which was about 25ft. long. Fragments of the remains of one wen? found years ago m a brickfield at. Swindon, in Wiltshire, It was a. lizard-like creature, bearing a series of huge bony plates from two lo three feet in diameter, will) sharp spines, some of which were over two feel long. Its hind limbs were longer limn an average man. though the forelegs were much shot (er. The body appears to have been so much arched that, when the reptile walked its head and tail were close to the- ground, while the central plates upon the back stood more than 15ft. high. Its teeth wore small ami weak. If evidently fed upon soft plants.