A GIGANTIC HOOFED MAMMAL, SIVATHERIUM GIGANTEUM.
From the Sivalik Hills, Northern India.
An allied form, _Helladotherium_, is seen on the left]
In the Sivatherium we have a new type which seems to connect together
two families at the present time well marked off from each other,
namely, the giraffe and the antelope. Its teeth resemble those of the
former animal, while in its four horns it resembles a certain antelope
(Antilope quadricornis). The head in certain respects shows
resemblances to that of the ox, but the upper lip must have been
prolonged into a short proboscis, or trunk, like that of the tapir.
The form and proportions of the jaw agree closely with the
corresponding parts of a buffalo. But no known ruminant, fossil or
existing, has a jaw of such large size, the average dimensions being
more than double those of a buffalo. The skull is the best known part
of the animal, but Captain Cautley came across some of the bones of
the limbs.
[Illustration: Fig. 47.--Skeleton of _Sivatherium giganteum_.]
The Colossochelys atlas,[45] or gigantic fossil tortoise of India,
supplies a fit representative of the tortoise which sustained the
elephant and the infant world in the fables of the Pythagorean and
Hindoo cosmogonies. It is highly interesting to trace back to its
probable source a matter of belief like this, so widely connected
with the speculations of an early period of the human race.
[45] Greek, _Colossos_, Colossus, and _chelus_, tortoise. Atlas was
supposed to sustain the world on his shoulders.
The carapace, or buckler, of the shell of this crawling monster is
similar in general form to the large land-tortoises of the present
day.[46] The shell is estimated to have been at least six feet long.
The limbs were probably similar to those of a modern land-tortoise,
and the limb-bones are of huge size--a single humerus, or arm-bone,
measuring 28 inches. Probably the foot was as large as that of a
rhinoceros. A restored cast of a young individual stands at the West
end of the fossil reptile gallery, South Kensington (Stand Z on plan).
Length of the shield, 10 feet[47] (see Fig. 48).
[46] Giant tortoises of the present day live on islands--where they
have escaped competition with large carnivora and other foes--such as
the Aldabra group, N.W. of Madagascar, in the Mascarenes, which
comprise Mauritius and Rodriguez; and the Galapagos, or "Tortoise
Islands," off the coast of South America. When Mr. Darwin visited the
latter islands he saw the relics, as it were, of a family of huge
tortoises, which lived there in abundance a few years before, and was
able to verify many interesting facts which had been recorded by
Porter in 1813, who stated that some of those captured by him weighed
from 300 to 400 lbs., and that on one island they were 5-1/2 feet
long. Those of one island differed from those of another. Some had
long necks. After Mr. Darwin's visit the process of extermination went
on. At the present time it is most probable that the gigantic
tortoises are very rare where formerly they were so abundant. One of
these great tortoises is that of Abingdon Island, in the Galapagos
Archipelago, of which there is a fine stuffed specimen in the Natural
History Museum (Reptile Gallery). It has a very long neck, and a small
flat-topped head with a short snout. It weighed originally 201 lbs.
The Indian tortoises of the present day are not of large size. See the
fine specimens in the Natural History Museum--Reptile Gallery (left
wing of the building).
[47] Dr. Falconer's estimate was much too great, so that this model is
too large. Mr. Lydekker prefers to drop the generic term
Colossochelys, and call it Testudo Atlas. In length it was only
one-third greater than Testudo elephantina of the Galapagos Islands.
The first fossil remains of this colossal tortoise were discovered by
Dr. Falconer and Captain Cautley in 1835, in the Tertiary strata of
the Sivalik Hills. At the period when it was living--probably the
Pliocene--there was great abundance and variety of life on the scene,
for its remains were found to be associated with those of many great
quadrupeds, such as the elephant, mastodon, rhinoceros, horse, camel,
giraffe, sivatherium, and many other mammals. The Sivalik fauna also
included a great number of reptiles, such as crocodiles, lizards, and
snakes.
[Illustration: Fig. 48.--Restored figure of gigantic tortoise,
_Colossochelys atlas_, from the Sivalik Hills, Northern India.]
The greater part of the remains of the Colossochelys atlas were
collected during a period of eight or nine years, along a range of
about a hundred miles of hilly country. Consequently, they belong to a
large number of individuals, varying in size and age. They were met
with in crushed fragments, contained in upheaved strata, which have
undergone considerable disturbance, so that it is improbable that an
entire uncrushed specimen will ever be found. When the first
fragments, in huge shapeless masses, were found by the discoverers,
they were utterly at a loss what to make of them, and for many months
could do nothing more than look upon them in bewildered and nearly
hopeless admiration. But no sooner was the clue found to a single
specimen than every fragment moved into its place so as to form a
consistent whole.
It is not possible at present to say, with any degree of certainty,
whether this colossal tortoise survived into the human period; but at
least there is no evidence against the idea, and Dr. Falconer shows it
is quite possible that the frequent allusions to a gigantic tortoise
in Hindoo and other mythologies are to be explained on the supposition
that the creature was seen by the men of a prehistoric age. Other
species of tortoises and turtles that were coeval with the
Colossochelys have lived on to the present day. So have other
reptiles, for some of the crocodiles now living in India appear to be
identical with the forms dug out of the Sivalik Hills. In the absence
of direct geological evidence, we must fall back on traditions.
Now, there are traditions connected with the speculations of nearly
all Eastern nations with regard to the world (cosmogonies) that refer
to a tortoise of such gigantic size as to be associated with the
elephant in their fables. The question therefore arises--Was this
tortoise a creature of the imagination, or was the idea of it drawn
from a living reality? Besides a tradition current among the Iroquois
Indians of North America, referring to the important share which the
tortoise had in the formation of the earth, there are several cases in
ancient history bearing on the same point. Thus, we find in the
Pythagorean doctrine the infant world represented as having been
placed on the back of an elephant, which was sustained on a huge
tortoise. Greek and Hindoo mythologies were undoubtedly related to
each other, and accordingly we find in the Hindoo accounts of the
second Avatar of Vishnoo, that the ocean is said to have been churned
by means of the mountain placed on the back of the king of the
tortoises, and the serpent Asokee used as the churning-rope. Again,
Vishnoo was said to have assumed the form of the tortoise, and to have
sustained the created world on his back to make it stable. This fable
has taken such a firm hold of the Hindoos, that to this day they
believe the world rests on the back of a tortoise (see Fig. 49). In
the narratives of the feasts of the bird-demigod, Garuda, the
tortoise again figures largely, and Guruda is said on one occasion
to have appeased his hunger at a certain lake where an elephant and a
tortoise were fighting.
[Illustration: Fig. 49.--The elephant victorious over the tortoise,
supporting the world, and unfolding the mysteries of the _Fauna
Sivalensis_. From a sketch in pencil in one of Dr. Falconer's
note-books, by the late Professor Edward Forbes.]
These three instances, in each of which there is a distinct reference
to a gigantic form of tortoise, comparable in size with the elephant,
suggest the question whether we are to regard the idea as a mere
fiction of the imagination, like the Minotaur or the Chimæra, or as
founded on a living tortoise. Dr. Falconer points out that it seems
unlikely that such fables could have been suggested by any of the
small species of tortoises now living in India, and consequently is
inclined to think that the monster was seen by man many centuries ago,
long before he began to write history. We have already alluded to the
large number of mammalian forms of life that were contemporary with
the Sivatherium and Colossochelys, but if we examine this old Sivalik
fauna we find it presents several very interesting features. In the
first place, it exhibits a wonderful richness and variety of forms,
compared to the living fauna of India. Take the pachydermata, for
instance--an old order established by Cuvier to include the
rhinoceros, hippopotamus, elephant, etc.--and we find there were, in
the period under consideration, about five times the number of species
now known in India. Elephants and mastodons, too, of various species
abounded. So it is with the ruminants; besides a large number of
species allied to those now living, such as the ox, buffalo, bison,
deer, antelope, musk-deer, and others, there were giraffes and camels,
as well as the strange Sivatherium. And so it is with the other
orders, such as carnivora, rodents, insectivora, etc.
Secondly, this great and varied fauna of the past shows a striking
resemblance to that of India at the present day. Darwin found the same
resemblance in South America; and now it is accepted as a general law,
that the living fauna of a country resembles its extinct fauna,
especially that of the latest geological period. Dr. Falconer found
that India's living fauna is but, as it were, a remnant of that which
it once possessed.
Thirdly, this extinct Sivalik fauna presents a singular mixture of old
and new forms. And lastly, it points to a very different geographical
distribution of animals. Thus the giraffe, the hippopotamus, and the
ostrich are _now_ confined to Africa. Facts such as these serve to
throw light on the geography of the past; but we cannot stay to
enlarge on that subject here.
Much might be said about the fossil elephants and mastodons from the
Sivalik Hills, so fully described by Dr. Falconer, but since chapters
xiii. and xiv. deal with elephants, we must reserve our remarks till
then, only alluding here to one striking form from the Sivalik Hills,
namely, the Elephas ganesa, the tusks of which were more than ten feet
in length, and much less curved than those of the mammoth. A very fine
specimen of the head and tusks may be seen in the gallery of fossil
mammals in the Natural History Museum (Gallery I, Stand D).
With the following eloquent passage from Dr. Falconer's "Memoirs," we
take leave of the remarkable Sivalik fauna, hoping that future
geologists will endeavour to follow his example and bring to light yet
other "lost creations" from that region, so rich in fossils, yet
comparatively unexplored. Would that the English Government could see
their way to follow the example of the United States, and send out a
scientific expedition to explore this wonderful region! There can be
no doubt that a rich harvest lies waiting there to be reaped.
"What a glorious privilege it would be, could we live back--were it
but for an instant--into those ancient times when these extinct
animals peopled the earth! to see them all congregated together in one
grand natural menagerie--these mastodons and elephants, so numerous in
species, toiling their ponderous forms and trumpeting their march in
countless herds through the swamps and reedy forests! to view the
giant Sivatherium, armed in front with four horns, spurning the
timidity of his race, and, ruminant though he be, proud in his
strength, and bellowing his sturdy career in defiance of all
aggression! And then the graceful giraffes, flitting their shadowy
forms like spectres through the trees, mixed with troops of large as
well as pigmy horses, and camels, antelopes, and deer! And then, last
of all, by way of contrast, to contemplate the colossus of the
tortoise race, heaving his unwieldy frame, and stamping his toilsome
march along plains which hardly look over strong to sustain him!
"Assuredly it would be a heart-stirring sight to behold! But although
we may not actually enjoy the effect of the living pageant, a still
higher order of privilege is vouchsafed to us. We have only to light
the torch of philosophy, to seize the clue of induction, and, like the
Prophet Ezekiel in the vision, to proceed into the valley of death,
when the graves open before us and render forth their contents; the
dry and fragmented bones run together, each bone to his bone; the
sinews are laid over, the flesh is brought on, the skin covers all,
and the past existence--_to the mind's eye_--starts again into being,
decked out in all the lineaments of life. 'He who calls that which
hath vanished back again into being, enjoys a bliss like that of
creating.' Such were the words of the philosophical Niebuhr, when
attempting to fill up the blanks in the fragmentary records of the
ancient Romans, whose period in relation to past time dates but as of
yesterday. How much more highly privileged, then, are we, who can
recall, as it were, the beings of countless remote ages, when man was
not yet dreamed of! not only this, but if we use discreetly the lights
which have been given to us, we may invoke the spirit of the winds,
and learn how _they_ were tempered to suit the natures of these
extinct beings."