The Dangerous Book for Boys. Conn Iggulden
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and predators would have found them hard to spot among the forest ferns, very similar to today’s lizards. Some carnivores may have also had green or brown colouring, to help them sneak up on prey. Successful hunters like the Velociraptor may have evolved light sandy skin if they hunted in desert regions or brown savannah, just as leopards have done today.
Like modern crocodiles, dinosaurs laid eggs. Some dinosaurs would look after these until they hatched, like the Maiasaur, which means ‘mother lizard’. The evidence for this comes from the first one found in Montana, in a preserved nest containing regurgitated vegetable matter – suggesting that the parents returned to feed their babies as modern birds do. In addition, the leg bones of the fossilised babies do not seem strong enough to support the infants after birth, suggesting a vulnerable period spent in the nest. In comparison, modern-day crocodiles leave the egg as a fully functioning smaller version of the parent, able to swim and hunt.
In the skies of the Mesozoic, the reptile ancestors of birds ruled. There were many varieties, though most come under the species genus name of Pterodactylus – meaning ‘winged fingers’. Of all species on earth, the link to birds from the Mesozoic era is most obviously visible, with scaled legs, hollow bones, wings and beaks. Many of them resembled modern bats, with the finger bones clearly visible in the wing. As might be expected, however, the Jurassic produced some enormous varieties. The biggest flying animal that ever lived may have weighed as much as a large human being. It was called Quetzalcoatlus – named after the feathered serpent god of Mexican legend. To support its weight it had a wing span of 39 ft (12 m) – like that of a light aircraft. It was almost certainly a glider, as muscles to flap wings of that size for any length of time would have been too heavy to get airborne.
There were no icebergs in Mesozoic seas. In the strict sense of the word, there were no dinosaurs either, as dinosaurs were land animals. However, pre-historic oceans brimmed with a variety of strange and wonderful reptiles, like the giant sea serpent Elasmosaurus. The neck alone grew up to 23 ft (7 m) long and today people believe that ‘Nessie’, the Loch Ness monster, is a surviving descendant of an Elasmosaurus or some other plesiosaur, a similar breed.
Elasmosaurus
Extinction
Hundreds of different dinosaurs roamed the earth seventy-five million years ago, yet ten million years later they had all but died out. Only the birds, their descendants, survived and what happened is still uncertain. An enormous crater in the Gulf of Mexico was almost certainly caused by a giant asteroid hitting earth. The impact occurred sixty-five million years ago, at the same time that the dinosaurs disappeared. Soil samples from the boundary between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods – the moment of geological time known as the KT boundary – are found to be rich in iridium, an element commonly found in meteors and asteroids.
The asteroid would have hit earth at an incredible speed and dramatically changed the planet’s atmosphere. Huge clouds of rock and dust would have covered the sun, blocking out light and, crucially, warmth. Some animals lived through the changes; scorpions, turtles, birds and insects were just some of those resilient enough to survive. There is no definite explanation for why the dinosaurs vanished, although the asteroid strike is widely supported in the scientific community – at least for the moment.
AT SOME POINT, you may consider making a bow and arrow. Perhaps because of the British history of using longbows at Agincourt and Crécy, firing an arrow can be immensely satisfying – not to hit anything, even, but just to see it fly and then pace out the yards. The bow in this chapter sent a heavy-tipped arrow 45 yards (41 m), landing point first and sticking in.
Despite the fact that English archers at the battle of Crécy fired arrows three hundred yards (275 m), it was a glorious moment. The current world record is held by Harry Drake, an American, who fired an arrow in 1971, while lying on his back, to a distance of 2,028 yards (1854 m) – more than a mile (more than a km).
Don’t spoil such moments by doing something stupid with yours. The bow and arrow here could be used for hunting or target practice in a garden. Remember at all times that it is a weapon. Weapons are never pointed at other children.
Arrows and Arrowheads
You will need
Flint or bone for arrowheads.
Baked bean tin.
Strong scissors and penknife.
Straight 4 ft (1.2 m) lengths of springy wood – elm, ash or yew.
Straight 1 yd (0.9 m) lengths for arrows.
Thread, glue.
Crosshead screwdriver.
String.
Feathers, usually found, or bought from a butcher.
Strip of leather to protect fingers.
There are a number of ways to make an arrowhead. Stone Age man used flint and it is still intriguing to make a simple arrowhead with this material. Flint is the fossilised remnant of small organisms. It is extremely common in Britain and can be found both in the north and south, in Edinburgh, Yorkshire and Dorset. Our selection came from a ploughed field that was absolutely littered with pieces bigger than a fist. It is usually found with chalk – on what was once the bed of an ocean millions of years ago.
Find yourself a good big piece like the one on the right of the picture. One of the very few benefits of wearing glasses is that your eyes are better protected from shards. If you don’t wear glasses, look away as you bring it down sharply on another flint lump or wear goggles.
You’ll find that with enough of an impact, flint breaks like glass, forming razor-sharp edges that almost instantly suggest axeheads and arrows to you. We found that with a bit of luck, five or ten of these impacts would give you a handful of suitable pieces – shards that look as if they could be shaped into an arrowhead.
You may have seen pictures of Stone Age flints with a series of scalloped semi-circles around the edge. These circles are formed by ‘knapping’ (sometimes spelled ‘napping’), which is a difficult skill. Many people still do it as a hobby, producing ornate as well as functional arrowheads.
Using a pointed implement such as a small crosshead screwdriver, it is possible to nibble away at the sharp edge of a flint until the right shape is achieved. Place the flint on a piece of soft wood, with the edge touching the wood, then press the screwdriver head downwards against the very edge.
It’s a slow and tiring process, but it does work and if it was the only way to kill a deer to feed your family, the time would be well spent. A grindstone, patience and spit can also produce quite decent arrowheads, though without that classic look. A combination of the techniques would also work well.
Remember to leave enough of a ‘handle’ to bind into the arrow shaft – and expect to have a few break in half and be ruined before you have one you like.
The next one we produced with only a grindstone. It is very small at 3/4 in (17 mm) long – but much larger and the arrow range will