Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/523

 Introducing the Moropus

Nature mixed up a horse, a rhinoceros and a giraffe and obtained — a moropus

��A CENTURY ago, Cuvier, the great French scientist, in laying down what is now known as his "Law of Correlation," stated that horns and hoofs distinguished only vegetarian animals. Claws belonged to flesh eaters, according to his law, and no animal which subsisted on a meat diet had hoofs.

This law of Cuvier 's was accepted for decades. Recently the discovery of a remarkable fossil has disproved it. In prehistoric days there was a grazing animal which had powerful claws instead of hoofs.

This animal, which has been called the Moropus, was an American beast, that roamed over what is now Nebraska. Its bones have been dis- covered in a remark- able fossil quarry - the Agate Spring- in the western part of that state. The American Museum of Natural History has been able to recon- struct the Mo- ropus. Mr. V Charles Lang

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��mounted the skeleton of the beast. A sketch of it as it appeared has been pre- pared by Mr. Erwin S. Christman who worked from directions given by Dr. Os- born and Dr. Matthew.

The animal is a strange combination of horse, rhinoceros, camel or giraffe, but it differs from them in having an enormous claw on each front foot and a smaller claw on each hind foot. The peculiarity of this possession lies in the fact th^t grazing animals do not require means of attack such as claws. They need their hoofs solely for moving about and not for at- tacking prey or for digging.

The teeth of the Moropus show that the animal browsed on vegetation, but what use he made of his big claws is still a puzzle. The feet and limbs of this animal were evidently stifif and clumsy, which excludes the possibility of his hav- ing used his claws much for fighting. For the same reason the foot was of only limited use in digging. Dr. Matthew believes that these claws were designed to aid the Moropus in scraping away sand in dry river beds, or in other places where he might make a waterhole in his quest for drink. It is thought that the country where he lived was not abundantly sup- plied with drinking-water in the summer.

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��One would imagine this animal to be called a "rhinocerhorse" or a "girafferos" or something like that, but his real name is Moropus and he lived at a time when the world was young

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