Zdenek
Burian in 1941 painted a pair of Brachiosaurus that were completely
immersed in water (see above right). This notion of Brachiosaurus
as a bottom-walking surface-breather has an interesting history. Apparently the
idea was first proposed by Edward Cope around 1897, and Charles Knight did a
drawing at that time of such a snorkeling sauropod. The drawing was apparently
published in 1897 in the Century Magazine, a journal that our Library
does not hold, but twenty years later Henry F. Osborn and Charles Mook
reproduced the drawing in their monograph on Camarasaurus. The Knight
drawing, in its 1921 manifestation, can be seen below right.
When
Burian made his painting, the idea of an under-water sauropod was still
scientifically respectable. However, in 1951, K. A. Kermack, in a brief article,
pointed out that it was physically impossible for any creature to breathe at the
surface with its lungs submerged more than a few feet, because of hydrostatic
pressure. Certainly Brachiosaurus, with its lungs twenty feet down, would
have been utterly unable to bring air into its lungs. Nor would its
cardio-vascular system have had any chance of working. The notion of a
snorkeling sauropod was killed on the spot. Or should have
been.
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Sources:Augusta, Joseph; illustrated by Zdenek Burian. Prehistoric Animals. London: Spring Books, [1957]. This work is on display as exhibit item 48. |
| Kermack, K. A. "A note on the habits of
sauropods," in: Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 12,
vol. 4 (1951), pp. 830-832. This work is in the Library Collections,
but it is NOT on exhibit.
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  ©Linda Hall Library5109 Cherry Street Kansas City, MO 64110 Please direct comments to ashwortb@lhl.lib.mo.us
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