An Antediluvian Zoo= logical Garden,

Horowhenua Chronicle, 11 October 1911, Page 4

An Antediluvian Zoo= logical Garden,

Extinct monsters, done in plaster, often excite t'fio wonder of visitors tc our great museums of natural history. TJiey seem especially remarkable surrounded, as they usually are, iby tho museum furniture that would not survive ton minutes if the monsters wave alive. Much more natural and life-like are the groups of stuffed birds and animals arranged amid painted and 'built-up scenery in imitation of their native "haunts. ■•Somo of those ri.se almost to the <lcignity of works of art. It 'has been reserved for Carl Hagenbeck, tiu founder of tlie famous" animalpaTli at Stellingon, near Hamburg, to combine those two methods of representation and display life-lize restorations of prehistoric, creatures in the open, surrounded by natural scenery. Says Dr. Alfred Gradenwitz, who describes this wonderful antediluvian garden in Knowledge:— "These antediluvian cement models, made in artistic perfection by the well-known animal sculptor, Mr J. Pnlleniberg, -have been arranged in an -impro.ssive group round the shores of a beautiful little lake encompassed by abundant vegetation-. Moist of theni are seen standing by the water's edge amidst tho siwuhf. and treos. while huge crocodiles and weird creatures emerge from tlie lake itself. Scenes of battle between these monsters of bygone ages lend additional realism to their appearance. Every care was taken to investigate most' conscientiously all the bono finds and fossil imprints housed in the foremost museum of the. world, especiallv the American Museum of Natural History. Eacli model was submitted to the lending authorities in tho science of paleontology wherever necessary, suggested such alterations a.s might produce a perfect agreement with scientific, (lain. A fnscinatijig scouw (if Imi/tlo ollVrs itself to the" observer's eye :k ho roadies tho bridges crriMsing frko lakr. A inonsitor called CVritosaurii.s, which could bo dies(;ri!ied as a crocodile with huge kan-*a.roo-like hindle.gs and tail, is seen assailing another benst of the reptile class, the which. tho'iiuii by a. double row :if plains or spines up to n double lengtib down the centre of its back find bv spikos upon its tail, is likeiy to have been too clumsy in the long mil to iT.sisf- the attacks of its mow agile though considerably smaller enemy. A short way off Is seen m even much larger giant, called Nroiitosaurus, who has already suc2um!bed in the struggle of life." An Allosaurns, likowi.sc'a lizard of the same family, is gluttonously devourng the remains of his luckless herbivorous fellow who apparently was piite unfitted Jor any serious struggle. The triumphant dinosaur with Lts huge head ;uid large pointed teeth—as evidenced by the circumstances under Which ' 'its remains ! iave been found—was one of the •ulers of those times, and thanks to ts enormous fore-claws, so well adlpted fo-r lacerating, its powerful .ong hind-legs so admirably suited 'or jumping, was excellently'fitted to ?lay a domineering .part. " Tlie din-.isa-urs. generally speaking, constituted a family op land-dwelling replies with an astounding abun'dance if forms which are the more remarkible -as'the structure of their skeletons gives evidence of a continuous transition to the bird class of animals."

Among oilier animals in tin's renin rkal/le collection arc the great Igiranodon. 2» feet high, with its erect, bird-like gait and -bulky tail; our old friend tlio Dlplodociis, the lm-Qje fossil lizards Ichthyosaurus and Plosiosjuirus, plentifully pictured in the text-books of sroology, and many pi'iniitiA'o birds. ~WY> read again : "Between tlio place where the i Tgiinnodon stands, and that reserved for its follow, the Diplotlqeus, visitors ran watch a charming idyll of ten million years ago. A family of 'rhinoceros S'aurians' CTricorntops) has come to the lake, and the father lustily disports himself in tho water from wlwYh only hi.s head and sliiomldors are scon to emerge, while the mother with her little'one still lingers at the water's edge. Apart from the thick lizard tail, characterising them as reptiles, these strange animals strikingly remind us in general appearance of the nhinoceros of our day. Tho Triceratops jihad three horns, a beak like a, bird of prey, and a brond-toothedl frill surrounding its neck. . . . Quite a number of primitive birds (Archaeopten'x). which nro still closely related to the reptile class, are seen roosting hero and " there on. the rocks and nt the water's edge. The birds are r'hnrnetefised by a long tail, consisting o f the vertebrae to . which the large steering-feathers art fastened in a, row on cither side. The wing comprises three well-developed fingers, while some real 'bevelled teeth are still found afc the edges of tlio jaws. Remains and imprints of Archaeptoryx have been -unearthed at Solonhof, Germany, in the lithographic slate of the Jura formation. From tho middle of the lake is. seen to emerge the miajhty head of a bntrnchian, called. Mastodonsaurus, which was a member of a family common to the coal and trias formations. Wihiile the largest amphibia of our day hardly reach one and a half meters length, these antediluvian ancestors of theirs comprised some species whose skull alone measured one and a-half meters in length. . . Even <i fossil insect, siz., a giant dragon-fly of upward of two feet wing expanse, is represented at tho Stellingen Park. Elafooirate plans have been made for extending this antediluvian 'Zoo' by the addition of a number of new specimens belonging to all the known extinct animal families.