科技美国大学生在埃及发现新恐龙化石成佳话

Students ‘Make History’ with New Dinosaur¹ Find in Egypt

Researchers have discovered the remains² of an up until now unknown dinosaur in Egypt’s Western Desert.

The researchers say the long-necked, plant-eating dinosaur was about the size of a city bus.

A group of scientists from Mansoura University in Egypt’s Nile Delta³ area found the remains of the creature. They believe it lived about 100 million years ago.

The group says the find is important because it is one of the few dinosaurs⁴ from that period in Earth’s history ever found in Africa.

The recently-discovered dinosaur is being called “Mansourasaurus Shahinae.” It was named after the university and a founder⁵ of its paleontology department.

Hesham Sallam, the team’s leader, worked with four Egyptian and five American researchers. They wrote a report on the discovery. It was published January 29 in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

Sallam said, now that his team has found a plant-eating dinosaur, it makes sense that they should try to find a meat-eating dinosaur.

“As in any ecosystem⁶, if we went to the jungle, we’ll find a lion and a giraffe. So we found the giraffe, where’s the lion?” he asked.

Find does not appear to support earlier theories

Experts say the discovery could help scientists better understand a period in Africa that they know little about. That period is called the Mesozoic Era.

Earlier theories suggested that African dinosaurs developed independently from ones in Europe.

But the researchers say the fossilized skeleton⁷ of Mansourasaurus appears to be very similar to European dinosaurs of the same time period. They say this suggests there may have been a land bridge between Africa and Europe at the time.

Other researchers have found the remains of large dinosaurs in Egypt. In 2001, an American team from the University of Pennsylvania published a report on their discovery of a similar dinosaur. However, that dinosaur, called Paralititan Stromeri, was much bigger than Mansourasaurus and the two creatures may not have lived at the same time.

Mansourasaurus is believed to have been the size of an African elephant and, including its tail, was about 10 meters.

The find was the result of hard work and long searches. The group looked around the Western Desert for five years before finding the partial skeleton in 2013.

Sallam said he and a group of graduate students were traveling to a local university when they saw a good place to hunt for bones. They later returned to the place and searched an area covering several kilometers.

Then, one of the students made a discovery. Sallam said he knew immediately that it would be something important from her telephone call.

“She even called me on the phone because I was about two kilometers away from her. And she told me, ‘Doctor, there are a lot of bones, come and see them.’ So, I went, and I saw that it was a partial skeleton of a dinosaur. That, for us was a very big thing.”

Sallam told his students, “If this comes out as I expect, your names will go down in history.”

Now there are hopes that the discovery will bring more financial support for paleontology research in Egypt.

Sallam added that he is pleased that the find can help make science real to people who may not think about it often.

“I mean, we’ve made the average Egyptian man, or the Arab man, talk about dinosaurs,” he said.

I’m Mario Ritter.

Words in This Story

founders⁸ –n. a person who creates or establishes something

paleontology –n. the study of ancient bones

fossilized –adj. organic materials that have been buried and changed so that minerals have replaced all of what was once tissue

1 dinosaur   

n.恐龙

参考例句：

• Are you trying to tell me that David was attacked by a dinosaur?你是想要告诉我大卫被一支恐龙所攻击？
• He stared at the faithful miniature of the dinosaur.他凝视著精确的恐龙缩小模型。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

4 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

6 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

7 skeleton   

n.骨骼，框架，骨干，梗概，提要

参考例句：

• A long illness made a skeleton out of him.长期的卧病使他骨瘦如柴。
• Her notes gave us just the bare skeleton of her theory.她的笔记只给我们提供了她的理论的梗概。

8 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句