96 MIGHTY ANIMALS 



never lost it. The reason for this may be that all 

 mammals suckle their young instead of leaving them 

 to feed themselves as best they can, after the manner 

 of the reptiles. And a young animal protected and 

 fed in this way stands a better chance of growing 

 up strong and vigorous than do the young of reptiles. 

 To-day the most powerful animals in the world are 

 mammals while the reptiles have to take a subor- 

 dinate place. , 



The kingdom over which the Dinoceras exercised 

 his brute authority was made up of many animals 

 of different forms and sizes. Some were flesh eaters, 

 but most of them, like the Dinoceras, lived on plants 

 and roots. There were big, heavily-built, vicious 

 creatures resembling the bear; and others, less 

 fierce, were somewhat like the tapir. Still others 

 were similar to the cat, the wolf, or the fox. 

 Moles were digging industriously in the earth. 

 Monkeys were swinging from the branches of trees 

 and hiding within the big-leaved foliage. And an 

 ancestor of the horse, no bigger than a fox terrier, 

 was running briskly about. When this small creature 

 happened to get in the pathway of a Dinoceras, he 



