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di-PLOD-oke-us                 DIPLODOCUS                      [Double-Beamed]
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    The answer to the question, "What is the longest animal ever to have 
walked on earth?" is the Diplodocus.  It stretched an incredible 90 feet from 
the tip of its snout to the end of its tail.
    The Diplodocus fed on the tops of trees and probably especially enjoyed
the newest and tenderest vegetation.  Recently some paleontologists have
suggested that the Diplodocus might have had a trunk like an elephant.  We
know from the fossil skulls that have been found that the Diplodocus' nostrils
were located in the same position as those of the modern whale, directly above
the eyes, at the top of the head.  Earlier, paleontologists had thought this
might indicate that the Diplodocus lived under water, using its snorkel to 
breathe. This now seems unlikely. The similarities between the Diplodocus'
skull and the modern elephant's are indeed remarkable.  Certainly a trunk would
have been useful for selecting the choicest leaves to eat.
    Though the Diplodocus was the longest, it was not the heaviest of all
animals.  That distinction belongs to its cousin the Brachiosaur.

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