Scientists Study Complete Dinosaur Skeleton
2020-09-07
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1The first complete dinosaur skeleton was found in southern England in 1858.
2The bones belonged to a creature called Scelidosaurus.
3The early British paleontologist Richard Owen incompletely described its body in papers that were published in 1861 and 1863.
4But for years, scientists did not pay much attention to Scelidosaurus.
5That has now changed. Scientists have recently finished several careful studies of the dinosaur's remains.
6The findings suggest the creature had an unusual build.
7University of Cambridge paleontologist David Norman recently published his fourth study on the Scelidosaurus.
8It appeared in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society of London.
9Norman wrote that "this animal was discovered at a crucial time in the history of dinosaur research."
10He added that until the discovery, "dinosaurs had only been known from scraps of bone and some teeth."
11Scelidosaurus lived about 193 million years ago.
12It was an early member of the evolutionary family that led to the dinosaur group called ankylosaurs.
13Ankylosaurs were armored dinosaurs.
14Their bodies were so strong that they are sometimes called the tank dinosaurs.
15Scelidosaurus was about 4-meters-long.
16It had four legs and ate plants.
17It was covered in bony plates with hard, pointy spikes.
18The one that died near what is now West Dorset, England was probably the victim of a flood.
19It probably drowned in the sea, with its body becoming buried in sand and dirt.
20"It has lain in the collection of the Natural History Museum in London - researchers knew of it by name but it was not at all well understood," Norman said.
21I'm John Russell.
1The first complete dinosaur skeleton was found in southern England in 1858. The bones belonged to a creature called Scelidosaurus. 2The early British paleontologist Richard Owen incompletely described its body in papers that were published in 1861 and 1863. But for years, scientists did not pay much attention to Scelidosaurus. 3That has now changed. Scientists have recently finished several careful studies of the dinosaur's remains. 4The findings suggest the creature had an unusual build. 5University of Cambridge paleontologist David Norman recently published his fourth study on the Scelidosaurus. It appeared in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society of London. 6Norman wrote that "this animal was discovered at a crucial time in the history of dinosaur research." He added that until the discovery, "dinosaurs had only been known from scraps of bone and some teeth." 7Scelidosaurus lived about 193 million years ago. It was an early member of the evolutionary family that led to the dinosaur group called ankylosaurs. Ankylosaurs were armored dinosaurs. Their bodies were so strong that they are sometimes called the tank dinosaurs. 8Scelidosaurus was about 4-meters-long. It had four legs and ate plants. It was covered in bony plates with hard, pointy spikes. 9The one that died near what is now West Dorset, England was probably the victim of a flood. It probably drowned in the sea, with its body becoming buried in sand and dirt. 10"It has lain in the collection of the Natural History Museum in London - researchers knew of it by name but it was not at all well understood," Norman said. 11I'm John Russell. 12Will Dunham reported on this story for Reuters news agency. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor. 13________________________________________________________________ 14Words in This Story 15dinosaur - n. one of many creatures that lived on Earth millions of years ago 16crucial - adj. extremely important 17scrap - n. a small piece of something that is left after you have used the main part; a very small amount 18evolutionary - adj. relating to the process by which organisms are believed to have developed from earlier forms 19We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.