Brontosaurus

A Brontosaurus.

       Brontosaurus has been named the thunder lizard. He probably made an awful racket as he crashed around in marshes, crushing the plants and splashing in the water. Brontosaurus (bront-o-SAWR-us) was one of the giants among the dinosaurs. He weighed around thirty tons and was nearly seventy feet in length. A great amount of this length was due to his very long, whip-like tail and an extremely long neck. His very large and heavy backbone and ribs indicate that he was a very large animal. Some of the ribs of his skeleton are nearly seven feet long and six inches across. His leg bones are almost as thick as telephone poles. He must have needed thick leg bones to support his thirty tons of weight.

       His feet were broad and had large pads on them, somewhat like those of elephants today. He had five toes on each foot. There was a large claw on the inner toe of each front foot and on the inner toe of each hind foot.

       His head, far out on the end of his very long neck, seems tiny for such a large animal. Inside this small head was an even smaller brain, about the size of a baseball. He was not a thinking animal. His large size was a defense against some of the meat-eating dinosaurs, such as Allosaurus.

       Brontosaurus spent much of his time in the water, probably to escape from attacks by the meat-eating dinosaurs that lived on land. He may have found it easier to support his tremendous weight when half-floating around in swamps and lakes than when walking on the land.

       Remarkable dinosaur footprints have been found in Texas. Some of the footprints of the hind feet are 38 inches long and 26 inches wide. By studying a series of footprints, paleontologists actually know how these dinosaurs waded into the water. Brontosaurus first stood at the edge of the bank and floated his front legs, then gradually he eased his whole body into the water, and then, with a great shove from his hind legs, he floated off. As he gave the final push he left only the impression of the claws of his hind feet.

Charles R. Knight.

       Brontosaurus was a plant-eater, which can be told from the kind of teeth he had. He used his spoon-shaped teeth to crop off plants, and he probably didn't bother about chewing his food. He probably ate the soft plants that grew in the water. What an enormous amount of plants he had to eat every day to keep going! No doubt he spent his days just eating.

       His long neck must have been very useful as he browsed among the water-plants of the swamps and lakes. He was also able to reach out and nibble at leaves of bushes growing along the bank. He used his clawed feet to grub up plants and to help balance his thirty-ton body as he walked in the soft mud of the swamps. His legs and tail were not adapted for swimming as were those of the duck-billed dinosaurs. He probably was a wader rather than a swimmer. He may have spent long hours sunning himself on the banks of lakes.

       Our illustrations, except those for stories one and three, are photographs of murals by Charles R. Knight. Chicago Natural History Museum has a large collection of these famous restorations of prehistoric animals. An authority on dinosaurs has said that the Knight murals are worthy of constant repetition, for no better impressions of some of the former denizens of our land have ever been created...