Talk:No Bones About It/@comment-45049394-20200703103925

It's too bad that Grandpa Lou didn't say this to the babies: "Hey, sprouts, you see T. rex's upper arm bone, called the humerus?  It was only fifteen inches long!". Given Grandpa Lou's fascination with the number 15, these prehistoric and present-day animals might interest him:

1. Euhelopus (one of the smaller sauropods at 3.5 tons): its 14-foot neck had at least 15 bones, or cervical vertebrae (humans, giraffes, and most other mammals, on the other hand, have only 7).

2. Shunosaurus (another fairly small sauropod at 4.25 tons): its tail was 15 feet long including the spiked club at the end.

3. Apatosaurus and Barosaurus: they each weighed at least 15 tons.

4. Aepyornis titan (the extinct elephant bird of Madagascar): it was 8.5 feet tall and weighed 530 pounds (it was flightless), and its eggs weighed at least 15 pounds apiece.

5. Teratornis incredibilis (a giant vulture of the Ice Age): its wingspan was at least 15 feet.

6. The flying fish: it can glide at 15 mph.

7. The snow leopard, blackbuck, gray wolf, Bactrian camel, warthog, and fallow deer: each of them can run 15 mph.

8. Wilson's storm petrel and the standard-winged nightjar: each of them can fly 15 mph.

9. The African rock python, oarfish, and great white shark: they are about 15 feet long apiece.

10. The North American river otter, the koala, the Hanuman langur, and the Japanese spider crab: they each weigh about 15 pounds.

11. The large slit-faced bat (a predatory bat of Africa): it has a 15-inch wingspan.

12. The naked mole rat of Africa and the Brazilian free-tailed bat: each of them can live for at least 15 years.

13. The pig-nosed river turtle of northern Australia and southern New Guinea: its carapace (upper shell) is at least 15 inches long.

14. The common wombat of southeastern Australia (including Tasmania), the capybara (of South America; it is the world's largest rodent), and the pygmy hog of northeastern India: each of them is about 15 inches high at the shoulder.

15. The African termite: colonies of these insects build earthen mounds that may be at least 15 feet tall.

16. The springbok (a gazelle of southern Africa): it can make horizontal jumps of at least 15 feet.

17. The ruby-throated hummingbird: it can fly 15 feet per second (10 mph), or 50 times its own length per second.