TEXT C Once found almost entirely
in the western United States and in Asia, dinosaur fossils are now being
discovered on all seven continents. A host of new revelations emerged in 1998
that promise to reshape scientists’ views of dinosaurs, including what they
looked like and when and where they lived. It is doubtful that
Tyrannosaurus Rex had lips or that Triceratops had cheeks, says Lawrence Witmer,
an assistant professor of anatomy at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Witmer was
a leading researcher for a study on dinosaur anatomy that was presented at the
annual meeting of the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology, which concluded on
October 3 in Snowbird, Utah. Witmer’s study reached its
conclusions by using high-tech computerized axial to mograply (CT or CAT) scans
along with comparative anatomy studies. For example, the theory that Triecratops
and similar dinosaur species had cheeks was based on past comparisons with
mammals such as sheep. But Witmer’s carful analysis found the structure of the
triceratops jaw and skull made it more likely that Triceratops had a beak like
that of an eagle. Witmer said that scientists should use birds and crocodiles as
models when researching the appearance of dinosaurs. In early
October scientists announced that they had confirmed the diseovery of a new type
of ceratopsian dinosaur. The dinosaur’s hones, found in New Mexico in 1996, are
forcing paleontologists to rethink their theories about when ceratopsians
migrated to what is now North America. Scientists previously
thought that ceratopsians, the group that included the well-known Tricer amps,
arrived in North America from Asia between 70 million and 80 million years ago.
During this time, the late Gretaceous Period, the earth’s two supercontinents --
Laurasia in the north and Gondwanaland in the south -- were in the process of
pulling apart, cutting dinosaur populations off farm each other and interrupting
migratory patterns. The fossilized bones, found by
eight-year-old Christopher Wolfe and his father, paleontologist Doug Wolfe of
the Mesa Southwest Museum in Arizona, date to about 90 million years ago. This
could mean that ceratopsians originated in North America and migrated to Asia
rather than the reverse, paleontologists said. Doug Wolfe named the important
new species of dinosaur Zuniceratops christopheri after his son.
An expedition from the Universities of Alaska in Anchorage and Fairbanks
has discovered a region in remote northern Alaska so rich in fossilized dinosaur
tracks that team members dubbed it the "dino expressway". The trampled area was
found during the summer of 1998 in Alaska’s North Slope near the Brooks
Range. The team found 13 new track sites and made casts from the
prints of five different types of dinosaurs. The rock in which the prints were
found dates to more than 100 million years ago, or about 25 million years older
than the previously discovered signs of dinosaurs in the Arctic region.
Paleontologists said that the new findings provide important evidence that
dinosaurs migrated between Asia and North America during the early and
mid-Cretaceous Period, before Asia split off into its own continent.
Two rich fossil sites in the hills of Bolivia have been recently
discovered, exciting paleontologists and dinosaur buffs. This discovery includes
one of the most spectacular dinosaur that was ever found. The
discovery of a large site in the mountain region of Kila Kila in southern
Bolivia was announced in early October. Here scientists found the tracks of at
least two unknown species of dinosaur. These included a large quadruped
(four-footed) dinosaur that was probably about 20m (a bout 70ft,)
long. The other site, located not far from the Bolivian city of
Sucre, was uncovered in a cement quarry by workers several years ago but was not
brought to paleontologists’ attention until the mid die of 1998. The site
features a vertical wall covered with thousands of dinosaur prints representing
more than 100 different species. The tracks date back to between 65 million and
70 million years ago. Since dinosaurs are believed to have died out around 65
million years ago, the prints were likely made by some of the last dinosaurs on
earth. Scientists speculated that the tracks were made at the
edge of a lake or swamp and were then hardened and preserved. The rock
containing the tracks was then pushed into a vertical position over millions of
years of geologic activity. Dinosaur eggs have also been found at the site,
which paleontologists are working to preserve before it falls victim to erosion.
Paleontologists hope to study the site and learn about the diet and physical
characteristics of the dinosaurs that are represented there. The discovery of dinosaur fossil sites in Bolivia is exciting because of the following reasons EXCEPT ______.
A.they are found in continent other than Asia and North Continent B.the largest dinosaurs in the world are found in this discovery C.there are some unknown species of dinosaurs found this time D.the dinosaurs were believed to be some of the last ones on earth