18 



MIGHTY ANIMALS 



those days, he could have looked right over the top 

 of a good-sized three-story building. 



When the Dinosaur called Diplodocus reared up 

 in this fashion he must have presented a most 

 ridiculous sight. Stretching forty feet 

 along the ground was his tail; then 

 came his upright body twenty feet 

 in length ; next was his neck 

 reaching up twenty or 



twenty-five feet far- 

 ther. And at the 

 end of this neck was 



MODEL OF DIPLODOCUS AND MAN TO SHOW COMPARATIVE SIZE 



a head no bigger than that of a small horse. As for 

 his mouth, well, it is impossible to imagine enough 

 food being taken in through it to satisfy the appetite 

 of a creature which weighed nearly twenty tons. 



But perhaps Diplodocus did not have a large 

 appetite. Being a reptile, he may have been cold- 

 blooded and, like all reptiles now living, able to get 

 along without food for days at a time. His weak 



