. The dinosaur book : the ruling reptiles and their relatives. Dinosaurs; Reptiles, Fossil. strong bodies and the length of their horns. Triceratops might face his adversary with lowered head, the long horns pointing for- ward to impale his foe, the huge frill, to which were attached the powerful neck muscles, flaring up behind as a protection for his neck and back. With a short rush his attack was one of great power. He needed it, in a world where Ti/rannosaurus was running rampant. Finally, some of the dinosaurs were pro- tected, or at least partially protected, by their great size. These we
. The dinosaur book : the ruling reptiles and their relatives. Dinosaurs; Reptiles, Fossil. strong bodies and the length of their horns. Triceratops might face his adversary with lowered head, the long horns pointing for- ward to impale his foe, the huge frill, to which were attached the powerful neck muscles, flaring up behind as a protection for his neck and back. With a short rush his attack was one of great power. He needed it, in a world where Ti/rannosaurus was running rampant. Finally, some of the dinosaurs were pro- tected, or at least partially protected, by their great size. These were the giant sauro- pods. They were so large that only the largest of contemporary carnivores even dared to attack them. Perhaps at that the carnivores were forced to limit their dep- redations to such of the giants as might be injured, or bogged down, or possibly to the little sauropods. It must always be kept in mind that the dinosaurs were reptiles. Being reptiles, their life was less well organized and less well directed than are the activities of the mammals so familiar to most of us. It is certain that the dinosaurs had a reptilian brain of comparatively lowly form and organization, so these were not what we would call "thinking ; Their daily round was largely a series of reflex actions, of responses to external stimuli. They muddled through life in a ponderous world. Not only was the brain of the dinosaurs of lowly form, but it was extraordinarily small, when one considers what huge ani- mals these reptiles were. It is a well-known fact, established many years ago, that large animals have smaller brains in comparison to their size than do small animals. For instance, an elephant weighing six tons has a brain weighing about ten pounds, which is approximately 1/10 of one per cent of the body weight. Compare the latter figures with those for a sheep, in which the body weight is about 75 pounds and the brain weight about three and a half ounces, in a ratio
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Keywords: ., bookauthoramericanmu, bookcentury1900, booksubjectreptilesfossil
