File:The dinosaur book - the ruling reptiles and their relatives (1945) (20768715430).jpg

Title: The dinosaur book : the ruling reptiles and their relatives
Identifier: dinosauruli13colb (find matches)
Year: 1945 (1940s)
Authors: Colbert, Edwin H. (Edwin Harris), 1905-2001; Germann, John C
Subjects: Dinosaurs; Reptiles, Fossil
Publisher: New York, N. Y. : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: IMLS / LSTA / METRO

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huge spikes, presumably intended to serve as a pointed reminder to any other dinosaur that might venture closer than was con- sidered proper by Mr. Stegosaurus. Whether the plates along the back served as a really effective protection to the spinal column is a question which at this distant date cannot be very satisfactorily answered. At least they were decorative. This dinosaur is famous, among other things, for the small size of his brain. In- deed, this was a peanut-headed reptile, if ever there was one,—an animal bigger than an elephant, with a brain about the size of a walnut. It is a remarkable fact that the brain of Stegosaurus was actually 20 times smaller than the enlargement of the spinal cord in the hip, which served to control the movements of the heavy hind limbs and the powerful tail. Which has given rise to the quaint, and somewhat fanciful story that this dinosaur had two sets of brains—an idea charmingly perpetuated by the late Bert Leston Taylor, a columnist on the Chi- cago Tribune. THE DINOSAUR "Behold the mighty dinosaur, Famous in prehistoric lore, Not only for his power and strength But for his intellectual length. You will observe by these remains The creature had two sets of brains- One in his head (the usual place), The other at his spinal base. Thus he could reason 'A priori' As well as 'A posteriori.' No problem bothered him a bit He made both head and tail of it. "So wise was he, so wise and solemn, Each thought filled just a spinal column. If one brain found the pressure strong It passed a few ideas along. If something slipped his forward mind 'Twas rescued by the one behind. And if in error he was caught He had a saving afterthought. As he thought twice before he spoke He had no judgment to revoke. Thus he could think without congestion Upon both sides of every question. Oh, gaze upon this model beast, Defunct ten million years at least." —Bert Leston Taylor It wasn't quite as bad as all that, but at any rate Stegosaurus must have been pretty much a walking automaton, without much of what might be called original thought. Ankylosauria The Cretaceous armored dinosaurs were the ankylosaurs, somewhat less startling in appearance than the stegosaurs but perhaps somewhat more effectively protected. These ORNATE ARMOR helped to protect Palaeoscincus (center foreground) from other dino- saurs of his time. To the left is Trachodon, to the right (middle distance) Corythosaurus and (farther away) Parasaurolophus. In the center background are two Struthiomimus Restoration by Charles R. Knight, copyright The Chicago Natural History Museum
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