GREAT DINOSAURS 



109 



long; legged, mostly large or of gigantic size. Some were inoffensive 

 herbivorous creatures, others active and ferocious beasts of prey. Some 

 went about upon all fours; others walked or ran upon the hind legs. 

 One group had large heads with powerful horns; another group was 

 completely covered with bony armor plates. 



In the wall case on the left is a portion of the skeleton of the dinosaur 

 Diplodocus; this was the first of these specimens to be unearthed by the 

 The Dinosaur Museum, while on the right are the skeletons of several 

 Diplodocus kinds of dinosaurs obtained from the Cretaceous formations 

 of Alberta, and mounted as they lay when three million years ago their 



ifffj 



mm: 



Section of the skin of Trachodon showing the small scutes with which the animal 

 was covered. About natural size. 



carcasses were buried in the sand and mud which in the course of ages 



was gradually converted into the sandstones and shales through which 



the Red Deer River cuts its way. 



The gigantic skeleton in the center of the hall is the huge extinct 



reptile, the dinosaur Brontosaurus, found in the Jurassic beds of Wyo- 



_ mine. It is mounted in a walking or wading position, for 



Brontosaurus . . ° ,. , , , .... • , ., 



it is believed to have been an amphibious animal. About 



two-thirds of the skeleton is the original petrified bone, the rest modelled 

 from other specimens. It is sixty-six feet eight inches in length, sixteen 

 feet in height and is estimated to have weighed, when alive, thirty-five 

 tons. Brontosaurus is one of the largest giant reptiles and as is indicated 

 by its teeth was herbivorous, probably living on the rank water weeds of 

 the nearly sea-level marshes of Wyoming. Contrasted 

 with the herbivorous Brontosaurus is the carnivorous dino- 

 saur Allosaurus, mounted to represent the animal feeding on the fallen 



Allosaurus 



