ANIMALS FROM THE LOST WORLD

ANIMALS FROM THE LOST WORLD

Nikunja Bihari Sahu

     The story dates back to nearly 200 to 145  million years from now when our Earth was just a baby and great land masses were colliding to form countries and continents. Volcanoes were spewing out gases and meteors blazed the sky.   Lightning flashed incessantly and thunders reverberated the ambience. Under these uncanny and hostile conditions of nature, lived a vast number of strange animals on our planet. These majestic animals ruled our Earth for a very long period of 165 million years. Nobody has seen them in flesh and blood nor met them ever as all of them had gone extinct in the course of evolution. These are our ancestors, the majestic reptiles called  Dinosaurs. Only their fossil remains discovered from various places of the world provide tell-tale evidence of their existence on our planet sometime very long ago in geological history.

       There was a diverse variety of dinosaurs living on the earth. While some were herbivorous, others were carnivorous by nature. Like animals of today, they fought against one another in their struggle for survival. They had their own adaptation and armoured protection for hunting and evading their enemies.

The largest carnivore that ever lived on the Earth, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, appeared nearly 85 to 65 million years ago. It was a fierce flesh-eating dinosaur that was making a feast of most other dinosaurs.  The dinosaur stood 4.6 to 6 meters tall and weighed nearly 5 to 7 tons. Although its forelegs were shorter and weaker, it walked on its strong hind legs with great ease and hunted its prey. With its immense jaws and dagger-like teeth, it captured its victims with awesome power before gulping them as food.

       While Tyrannosaurus was a massive carnivore, the Brachiosaurus, on the other hand, was probably the tallest and the largest herbivorous dinosaur ever inhabited our planet. It lived during the late Jurassic period nearly 155 to 145 million years ago. It was a plant-eater by nature and probably lived in herds. It weighed between 29.3 to 46.9 tons which was more than the weight of an elephant. It had a highly disproportionately structured body with a long snake-like neck over which placed a small head. It voraciously fed on the leaves of the tall trees easily by stretching its long neck to a considerable height from the ground.  

       Another voracious plant-eater was the Ankylosaurus that lived during the late Cretaceous period some  70 to 65 million years ago from now.  It measured nearly  7.5 to 10.7 m long and weighed 4,5 tons. It was an armoured dinosaur with hard bony plates on its back which no carnivorous animal could bite. It had a heavy club-like organ at the end of its long tail which it could sway vigorously to strike off the enemies with massive and lethal blows. 

    Another huge strange-looking dinosaur was the Uintatherium which looked like the rhinoceros of today. However, it was different from any rhinoceros ancestor species and had no descendants today. This herbivorous animal lived in the ancient forests of the period and was feeding mostly on tender leaves and shoots of plants. It weighed nearly 2.5 tons. Its legs were built robust to sustain its heavy body and was equipped with hooves on its feet. The males had large downward protruding canine teeth to distinguish them from the females.

    When the dinosaur civilisation had smooth sailing on the Earth,  conditions started changing nearly 2.4 million years ago. In a dramatic climatic reversal, the planet repeatedly underwent spells of several prolonged cold periods, as worldwide temperature dropped down drastically. This was known as The Ice Age in geological time scale.  Most part of the  Earth was covered with ice and snow and glaciers invaded the land. Most animals perished because of these harsh climatic conditions and their population decreased dramatically. However, some animals were lucky as they migrated from the Poles to the warmer equatorial regions and survived. However,  some other animals were provided with thick coats of fur around their bodies that protected them from the severe cold and they also survived the Ice Age.  The Wooly Mammoth and Glyptodon were two such Ice Age animals. 

       The Wooly Mammoth was an ancient mammal that lived in the Tundras of Asia, Europe and North America. They closely relate to modern-day Indian elephants. They had long, dense, dark hair and long curved tusks. Their ears and tails were short to minimise frostbite and heat loss from the body.. They used their curved tusks for protection against enemies and also for digging the snow for grass and other food.

   Another notable Ice Age animal was the Glyptodon. It was a heavily armoured armadillo with a dome-shaped armoured, helmet-like armoured head and rings of bony armour on its short tail. The animal had four short and sturdy legs and stood 1,5 m tall from the ground. Its armoured body offered protection against its predating enemies like the Sabre-toothed tiger, a fierce predator with sword-like teeth. 

    There were nearly 1000 species of dinosaurs in all that flourished for a long period of nearly 165 million years. However, when the dinosaur age was going on with full glory, they suddenly got extinct in a mass extinction from the face of our Earth 65 million years ago under mysterious circumstances. Some believed that the impact of a large asteroid from space could have catastrophically changed the climatic conditions wiping out the dinosaurs. Some believe that intense worldwide volcanic activity could have killed them. According to others, the small mammals which were evolving then, ate away the dinosaurs' eggs reducing their population significantly. Some also believe that the dinosaurs had not actually gone extinct, but had evolved into new forms unrecognisable today. 

Nikunja Bihari Sahu

Education Officer

Regional Science Centre

Bhopal