群居行为帮助恐龙统治地球
Herd Behavior Helped Dinosaurs Rule the Planet
刘立军 供稿
TRANSCRIPT
This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.
Just like cows, sheep and bison roam in herds today, so, too, did plant-eating dinosaurs. And it appears they began flocking together much earlier than we used to think - just as the Jurassic period was beginning to unfold.
(This is) a critical time in the evolution of dinosaurs. (This is) pretty early on. So the idea is: this type of social behavior, may actually contributed to the evolutionary success of dinosaurs.
Jahandar Ramezani of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a geochronologist. In his words. I date things. And I date old things, things in the millions and billions of years - not the really young stuff.
In this case, Ramezani was dating tiny zircon crystals, in fact, in a fossil bed in Patagonia, near the southern tip of South America. Those crystals dated back to nearly 193 million years ago. And the fossils preserved there - an array of nearly 200 specimens of a plant eater named Mussaurus patagonicus - provide a snapshot of the dinosaur at all stages of its life. Eggs and hatchlings, clumps of juveniles and then - further out - adults.
So this kind of undisturbed distribution of fossils and this kind of age segregation basically shows these dinosaurs had a social structure. They lived in a colony. And everybody has got things to do - duties - with respect to the young and the juveniles.
The study - in the journal Scientific Reports - suggests dinosaurs developed complex social behavior 40 million years earlier than previously thought. And Ramezani says the work also advances long-standing questions about the social structure of dinosaurs.
Was it more like primitive taxa like the crocodiles? Or did it look like more evolved types of animals like birds and mammals? And we’re beginning to see that, yes, it looks more like a mammal- or more like a bird-type colony.
Whatever type of social structure it was, the scientists hypothesize that it helped large plant eating dinosaurs first spread across the planet - kick-starting tens of millions of years of dominion on Earth.
Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.
Adapted from http://www.kekenet.com/broadcast/202112/650166.shtml
VOCABULARY
1. bison n. a large wild animal of the cow family that is covered with hair. There are two types of bison, the N American (also called buffalo) and the European. 野牛（分北美野牛和欧洲野牛两类）。例如：a herd of bison一群野牛
2. geochronologist n. 地球年代学家
3. zircon n. 锆石
4. hatchling n. a baby bird or animal which has just come out of its shell 刚出壳的雏鸟（或小动物）
5. colony n. (biology 生) a group of plants or animals that live together or grow in the same place （同地生长的植物或动物）群，群体。例如：a colony of ants蚁群
6. with respect to: (formal, or business 商) concerning 关于；就……而言。例如：The two groups were similar with respect to income and status. 这两组在收入和地位方面是相似的。
7. taxa n. 分类(taxon的复数)
8. dominion n. (literary) authority to rule; control 统治（权）；管辖；支配。例如：Man has dominion over the natural world. 人类拥有对自然界的统治权。
QUESTIONS
Read the passage. Then listen to the news and fill in the blanks with the information (words, phrases or sentences) you hear.
This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.
Just like cows, sheep and bison roam in herds today, so, too, did plant-eating (Q1) ______________. And it appears they began flocking together much earlier than we used to think - just as the Jurassic period was beginning to unfold.
(This is) a critical time in the evolution of dinosaurs. (This is) pretty early on. So the idea is: this type of social behavior, may actually contributed to the (Q2) ____________________ of dinosaurs.
Jahandar Ramezani of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a geochronologist. In his words. I date things. And I date old things, things in the millions and billions of years - not the really young stuff.
In this case, Ramezani was dating tiny zircon crystals, in fact, in a fossil bed in Patagonia, near the southern tip of South America. Those (Q3) _____________ dated back to nearly 193 million years ago. And the (Q4) ______________ preserved there - an array of nearly 200 specimens of a plant eater named Mussaurus patagonicus - provide a (Q5) _______________ of the dinosaur at all stages of its life. Eggs and hatchlings, clumps of juveniles and then - further out - adults.
So this kind of undisturbed distribution of fossils and this kind of age segregation basically shows these dinosaurs had a social structure. They lived in a (Q6) _______________. And everybody has got things to do - duties - with respect to the young and the juveniles.
The study - in the journal Scientific Reports - suggests dinosaurs developed (Q7) _________________ 40 million years earlier than previously thought. And Ramezani says the work also advances long-standing questions about the social structure of dinosaurs.
Was it more like primitive taxa like the crocodiles? Or did it look like more evolved types of animals like birds and mammals? And we’re beginning to see that, yes, it looks more like a (Q8) ________- or more like a bird-type colony.
Whatever type of social structure it was, the scientists (Q9) ____________________ that it helped large plant eating dinosaurs first spread across the planet - kick-starting tens of millions of years of (Q10) _________________ on Earth.
Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.
KEY
Read the passage. Then listen to the news and fill in the blanks with the information (words, phrases or sentences) you hear.
This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.
Just like cows, sheep and bison roam in herds today, so, too, did plant-eating (Q1) dinosaurs. And it appears they began flocking together much earlier than we used to think - just as the Jurassic period was beginning to unfold.
(This is) a critical time in the evolution of dinosaurs. (This is) pretty early on. So the idea is: this type of social behavior, may actually contributed to the (Q2) evolutionary success of dinosaurs.
Jahandar Ramezani of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a geochronologist. In his words. I date things. And I date old things, things in the millions and billions of years - not the really young stuff.
In this case, Ramezani was dating tiny zircon crystals, in fact, in a fossil bed in Patagonia, near the southern tip of South America. Those (Q3) crystals dated back to nearly 193 million years ago. And the (Q4) fossils preserved there - an array of nearly 200 specimens of a plant eater named Mussaurus patagonicus - provide a (Q5) snapshot of the dinosaur at all stages of its life. Eggs and hatchlings, clumps of juveniles and then - further out - adults.
So this kind of undisturbed distribution of fossils and this kind of age segregation basically shows these dinosaurs had a social structure. They lived in a (Q6) colony. And everybody has got things to do - duties - with respect to the young and the juveniles.
The study - in the journal Scientific Reports - suggests dinosaurs developed (Q7) complex social behavior 40 million years earlier than previously thought. And Ramezani says the work also advances long-standing questions about the social structure of dinosaurs.
Was it more like primitive taxa like the crocodiles? Or did it look like more evolved types of animals like birds and mammals? And we’re beginning to see that, yes, it looks more like a (Q8) mammal- or more like a bird-type colony.
Whatever type of social structure it was, the scientists (Q9) hypothesize that it helped large plant eating dinosaurs first spread across the planet - kick-starting tens of millions of years of (Q10) dominion on Earth.
Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.
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