North Slope Reading Passage Analysis

While the author of the article believes that Brachiosaurus were aquatic animals, the professor disagrees with this statement. The professor points out that in spite of the fact that some species of dinosaur would spend a great deal of time in water, there was no possible that Brachiosaurus were aquatic ones. To strengthen her point, the professor provides sufficient evidence respectively to the points made in the article.

Firstly, the professor suggests that although edmontosaurs fed only on plants, they do not have to migrate to warmer places. The sunshine lasted for twenty-four hours and the temperature and sunlight created an excellent condition for plants to grow. Even in winter, there are still nutrition left in the dead plants which can provide enough energy for edmontosaurs. It is not possible that edmontosaurs migrate south to survive the winter as the reading passage asserts.

How does Malcolm explain the problem with the computer dinosaur tracking method? What does this data confirm?

First and foremost, the author states that edmontosaurus fed exclusively on plants. But in the cold North Slope, it would have been no plants growing during the dark and cold winter. Therefore the edmontosaurus must have to move to the south region where it is warmer and more hospitable. On the contrary, the professor contends that 100 million years ago, the North Slope was

The question of what caused the extinction of megafauna during the Late Pleistocene period is one that archaeologists have struggled to answer for decades, but why should it matter? Discovering with certainty the cause of megafaunal extinction would

Sedimentary rocks interpret dinosaur habitats through encased environmental structures of the past. Through sedimentary rocks, paleoecologists’ can examine the arranged formation of sedimentary structures to specify what type of environment the dinosaurs’ lived in. An example of a specific sedimentary rock structure can be seen through formed weathering and ripple marks by how wind and sand formed distinct patterns in the past layered sediment. These arrangements provide interpretations on the structure of the sediment and the habitat of encased fossils, through modern day comparisons

The author and his colleagues chose to focus on 375 million year old rocks in their search for fossils because amphibians that look dissimilar to fish were discovered in 365 million year old rocks, while fish without amphibian characteristics were discovered in 385 million year old rocks. Thus, it is possible that the evolutionary intermediary, or the “missing link” between fish and amphibians, would be discovered in 375 million year old rocks, between the two time periods. The rocks examined were sedimentary in composition, as the gradual and relatively gentle formation of sedimentary rock under conditions of mild pressure and low heat are conducive to the fossilization of animal remains. Sedimentary rock is also often formed in rivers and seas, where animals are likely to live. This site provides a resource that describes means by which fossils are formed and how the fossil record may be interpreted, and shows some examples of fossils demonstrating evolution through geological periods: http://www.fossilmuseum.net/fossilrecord.htm. In 2004, Shubin and his colleagues were looking for fossils on Ellesmere Island, in northern Canada. This location was chosen because of its lack of human development, as well as of obstructing natural formations and life forms such as trees, which

Dinosaurs ruled the earth for over 65 million years and thankfully for the human race, they became extinct. Ultimately, only a major catastrophe could completely wipe out an entire species, let alone an entity of dinosaurs and the debacle on the causes of dinosaur extinction have flooded the minds of paleontologists for centuries. Geologist and zoologist Stephen Jay Gould published “Sex, Drugs, Disasters, and the Extinction of Dinosaurs,” to compare scientific and speculative causes of dinosaur decimation. Personally, I found this passage very informational and enjoyed reading it. Gould provides three theories that capture the reader’s curiosity, allowing room for pondering in one’s mind.

“Sex, Drugs, Disasters, and the Extinction of Dinosaurs” is written by Stephen Jay Gould, professor of geology and zoology at Harvard. This essay is one of more than a hundred articles on evolution, zoology, and paleontology published by Gould in national magazines and journals. It tells about scientific proposals for the extinction of dinosaurs – a confusing but an exciting problem that humanity tries to solve. By analyzing and describing each of the claims for the reptiles’ demise – sex, drugs, and disasters – Gould differentiates bad science from good science and explains what makes some theories silly speculations, while the other, a testable hypothesis.

These techniques led to the discovery of the boundary between the two eras. A single thin layer of clay found within predominantly limestone rocks established this. By comparing the marine life found in, above, and below the clay, the marine life, like the dinosaurs, had been terribly affected by the extinction event. The percentage of life in the upper layers was dramatically lower than that in the lower. This was far more compelling than what was suggested by dinosaur’s fossils.

The Iliad is an ancient Greek epic that depicts the conflicts of the Trojan War. Throughout the story, many smaller arguments take place between the characters of the epic. Like all stories, The Iliad is filled with literary devices to allow the readers to garner a better understanding of the motivations of each character throughout encounters. Translators have to maintain the nuances of each situation while accounting for an unavoidable skewing from the original passage. In reality, this means that translations differ. A key example of this occurring in the Illiad is during Odysseus speech attempting to rally Achilles to war. While both Fagles 's and Lattimore 's translations agree on Odysseus’s main points, their versions of the speech

My outside source for questions 3 and 4 is a journal by Pat Shipman titled Fossils. This journal was published in The New Scientist Vol. 215, Issue 2876, p. 8-16.

“A minority disputes this theory, arguing that other events-such as volcanic eruptions, sea-level changes or a series of impacts-were to blame for the spectacular loss of species that occurred at the transition between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods…”

Rapid climate change also ends up on the suspect list of possible dinosaur extinction events. During the latter part of the Cretaceous Period continents broke up causing volcanoes to erupt and fill the sky with gas and ash resulting in a drastic climate change (“Dinosaurs Climate Change and Biodiversity”). The shifting of continents changed the Earth’s landscape, altering weather patterns and overall climate (“Dinosaur Extinction Theories”). Also, over a long period of time, climate gradually changed. Ocean habits changed, temperatures grew much more extreme causing scorching summers and frigid winters (Norell, Dingus, and Gaffney). Radical temperature changes like these led to a green-house effect, making life for the dinosaurs a lot

During the middle to late Eocene and into the Oligocene epoch several other members of the equids, with distinct evolutionary changes, existed including the Orohippus, Epihippus, Mesohippus, and Miohippus. The Orohippus developed from the Hyracotherium and shared many of the same traits. One major change was that the first and second toes disappeared. Another significant change occurred in the teeth. The last premolar changed to become like a grinding molar. Also the crests were more defined showing that the Orohippus’s diet had changed to a tougher plant material. During the middle Eocene a descendant of Orohippus appeared. The Epihippus still resembled a dog-like animal. It had four padded toes on the front leg, and three on the back leg. However, the teeth changed more drastically with two of the premolars changing to grinding molars. Now there were five grinding cheek teeth with low crowns. As