When Giants Go Mini: Size of Dinosaurs Surprises Paleontologists
When very small dinosaur bones were found in a rock mine in Germany’s Harz Mountains in 1998, (17)______ .
But paleontologist Martin Sander’s work shows that they were probably full grown! Named Europasaurus, they are the smallest of the giant dinosaur species ever found.
Growth marks on dinosaur bones are similar to growth rings on trees. The rings are far apart (18)______ . They form closer together as growth slows.
“It is precisely these tight compressed marks that we have discovered just beneath the surface of the fossil bones,” says Sander. So the Europasaurus fossils in the mine must have been from full-grown animals.
Why was Europasaurus, (19)______ , so much smaller than its cousins the brachiosaurs, which grew up to 148 feet (45 metres) long and weighed as much as a thousand humans?
Back 150 million years ago, most of Germany was underwater. Scientists think (20)______ , land and food there became more and more scarce. Europasaurus was forced to adapt to its shrinking habitat, so (21)______ .
Since 1998, an international team of scientists has carefully dug up more than 1,000 dinosaur fossils in the rock mine. It is one of the few places in the world (22)______ .
Ait evolved into a smaller animal needing less space and food
B which was slightly longer and heavier than a car
C where the bones and footprints of dinosaurs have been found together
Dpeople thought they were from baby dinosaurs
Ewhere trees grew up to one hundred metres
F that as the water levels began to rise
Gwhile the animal is young and growing quickly
H the struggle for survival will never end
