The sight of a crane inspired thoughts of more prehistoric things: animals of a gargantuan sort…sauropods…dinosaurs…inspirations for countless childhood dreams, fantasies, and on occasion, nightmares. Our understanding of prehistoric animals has changed, considerably. No longer are they visualized as show-witted, ponderous critters. No longer do we assume that they were, uniformly, cold blooded, though it’s likely that most of them were. No longer do we imagine them with tails dragging behind them. We know, beyond any shadow of a doubt that they used their tails as…well…posterior-mounted gyroscopes, and studies of spinal compression in the bones of one particular species seems to indicate a habit of flicking their tails like massive, fleshy whips. Bone-compression patterns in the fossils of both Apatosaurus (otherwise known as Brontosaurus) and Diplodocus indicate that members of these species might have cracked their tails like…well…like impressively big bullwhips. By analyzing fossils and developing computer models of sauropod tails, Drs. Nathan P. Myhrvold of the Microsoft Corporation, and Philip J. Currie of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology in Drumheller, Alberta struck up an email correspondence, did some science stuff, and determined that it’s more than likely that famous, long-necked sauropods not only cracked their tails like whips, but in doing so, established themselves as the first creatures on earth to break the sound barrier. Well, the first creatures on earth to allow specific parts of their anatomy to do that sound-barrier-breaking thing. Chuck Yeager remains well ensconced in his reputation as the first human to do so, but he’s not the first biological entity to do so. The findings surrounding the “supersonic tail” hypothesis (actually, only the tip of the tail would “flick” at supersonic velocities) have sparked controversy within the scientific community, and it’s likely that there’s something else at play behind the whole sound-barrier-breaking excitement rippling through dinosaur-land, but it brings a lot of other things into sharp focus. Dinosaurs, no matter what we think of them now, were probably far more interesting (and complicated) than we’ll ever know. Fossils aren’t in the habit of telling us very much, after all…not directly, at least. I thought of this because of a crane, seen looming over a bed of rubble at what was once a hospital (with a notorious reputation.) The crane made me think of a sauropod, a rather…metallic one. As I snapped this photo, I imagined a similarly sized, similarly proportioned reptilian thing, mincing its way through the growling, dusty destruction Corey, Kate, and I had gone to photograph. I amused myself with the sounds of Diplodocus and Brontosaurus songs, rumbling in some near-subsonic register, while the soft-stepping giants themselves, made their way in an easterly direction. (Contrary to popular rumor, dinosaurs didn’t lumber any more than elephants do. It would seem that lumbering around like drunken behemoths is something that only humans are able to manage…or dogs, if they’re particularly clumsy.) Sauropods, as fossil evidence suggests, measured their steps in a somewhat dainty fashion, which just goes to show…dinosaurs are likely far weirder than we’ll ever be able to imagine. This scene inspired such thoughts and a giggle as I imagined a crane mincing its way across a demotion site. I’d initially taken the photo in black and white, but after looking at it for a while I decided that a quasi-sepia treatment would do some good. As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great week.