98 ANIMALS OF THE PAST 



is pretty safe to say that it would not be far 

 from 20 tons, and that one would devour at 

 the very least something over 700 pounds of 

 leaves or twigs or plants each day more, if 

 the animal felt really hungry. 



But here we must, even if reluctantly, curb 

 our imagination a little and consider another 

 point : the cold-blooded, sluggish reptiles, as 

 we know them to-day, do not waste their en- 

 ergies in rapid movements, or in keeping the 

 temperature of their bodies above that of the 

 air, and so by no means require the amount 

 of food needed by more active, warm-blooded 

 animals. Alligators, turtles, and snakes will 

 go for weeks, even months, without food, and 

 while this applies more particularly to those 

 that dwell in temperate climes and during 

 their winter hibernation practically suspend 

 the functions of digestion and respiration, it is 

 more or less true of all reptiles. And as there 

 is little reason for supposing that reptiles be- 

 haved in the past any differently from what 

 they do in the present, these great Dinosaurs 

 may, after all, not have been gifted with such 

 ravenous appetites as one might fancy. Still, 



