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The Time Machine

by H. G. Wells

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Which of the two skeletons in chapter 8 of The Time Machine is a mammal and what broader insight is Wells revealing about man?

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One of the skeletons is believed by the Time Traveller to be that of an extinct creature known as the Megatherium, one of the largest mammals to walk the earth. The Megatherium was like a giant land sloth with a long tongue like a tree sloth.

The statement Welles is making is that man has become like the dinosaurs and other extinct animals of the earth. It is part of his theme that warns mankind to watch out, or our species will find itself extinct as well.

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