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Scientists: Ancient Creature Grew Quicker Than Expected

时间:2022-12-15 02:29:20

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Scientists: Ancient Creature Grew Quicker Than Expected

Long before the time of the dinosaurs1, an unusual creature called Whatcheeria was a top predator2.

New research is providing a deeper understanding of Whatcheeria, which lived around 330 million years ago during a time known as the Carboniferous period.

After a close examination of the creature's ancient bones, scientists were surprised to find that Whatcheeria did not grow slowly and continuously like modern reptiles4 and amphibians6. Instead, the creature grew quickly while young, like birds and mammals.

Whatcheeria was an early tetrapod, as the first land animals with backbones7 were known. These were the ancestors of today's land vertebrates – animals such as amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.

Spending much of its time in lakes and rivers, Whatcheeria reached about 2 meters long, making it the biggest predator at the time.

Megan Whitney of Loyola University in Chicago was the lead writer of the study that recently appeared in Communications Biology. She said, "Whatcheeria was not a slow... oversized amphibian5." It was, she added, an active predator that grew quickly in the early part of its life.

Whatcheeria's name comes from the nearly 400 fossils found near the small Iowa town of What Cheer. The creature had a large skull8 filled with teeth as well as large limbs. Whitney said it was the top "predator of its environment that included different kinds of ancient fish and sharks as well as other, smaller early tetrapods."

Unlike many early tetrapods, bones of Whatcheeria have been discovered from different points in the animal's life. "Bones act as storybooks, recording9 information about animals while they're alive. And one of the important pieces of information that is recorded in bone is how fast the animal is growing," Whitney said.

A careful study of pieces of thigh10 bones from nine Whatcheeria individuals showed bone growth over time.

"A key finding of this research is that we identified fast-growing bone in juveniles12 of Whatcheeria. This is important because it indicates that the growth strategy of this animal was similar to ours: grow fast while young and then slow down growth as you become an adult," Whitney said.

She added that this kind of growth has long been considered special to warm-blooded animals like mammals and birds. However, Whitney added, "what we were able to show here is that this strategy was used even at the earliest stages of our evolutionary13 history."

As a predator, Whitney said, Whatcheeria could have used a number "of hunting techniques." Researchers were not sure how much time the creature spent hunting on land or water. But the study showed that the animal could walk on land.

Ben Otoo is a co-writer of the study. He added that "Whatcheeria is a really nice demonstration14 that evolution isn't linear."

Words in This Story

predator -- n. an animal that lives by killing15 and eating other animals : an animal that preys16 on other animals

reptile3 -- n. an animal (such as a snake, lizard17, turtle, or alligator) that has cold blood, that lays eggs, and that has a body covered with scales or hard parts

amphibian – n. an animal (such as a frog or toad) that can live both on land and in water

limb -- n. a leg or arm

juvenile11 – n. not yet fully18 grown

strategy – n. a method for achieving a particular goal usually over a long period of time

stage -- n. a particular point or period in the growth or development of something

evolutionary -- adj. describes a process of slow change and development

linear – adj. : going from one thing to the next thing in a direct and logical way


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1 dinosaurs 87f9c39b9e3f358174d58a584c2727b4     
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》
2 predator 11vza     
n.捕食其它动物的动物;捕食者
参考例句:
  • The final part of this chapter was devoted to a brief summary of predator species.本章最后部分简要总结了食肉动物。
  • Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator.科摩多龙是目前存在的最大蜥蜴,它是一种令人恐惧的捕食性动物。
3 reptile xBiz7     
n.爬行动物;两栖动物
参考例句:
  • The frog is not a true reptile.青蛙并非真正的爬行动物。
  • So you should not be surprised to see someone keep a reptile as a pet.所以,你不必惊奇有人养了一只爬行动物作为宠物。
4 reptiles 45053265723f59bd84cf4af2b15def8e     
n.爬行动物,爬虫( reptile的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Snakes and crocodiles are both reptiles. 蛇和鳄鱼都是爬行动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Birds, reptiles and insects come from eggs. 鸟类、爬虫及昆虫是卵生的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
5 amphibian mwHzx     
n.两栖动物;水陆两用飞机和车辆
参考例句:
  • The frog is an amphibian,which means it can live on land and in water.青蛙属于两栖动物,也就是说它既能生活在陆地上也能生活在水里。
  • Amphibian is an important specie in ecosystem and has profound meaning in the ecotoxicology evaluation.两栖类是生态系统中的重要物种,并且对环境毒理评价有着深远意义。
6 amphibians c4a317a734a700eb6f767bdc511c1588     
两栖动物( amphibian的名词复数 ); 水陆两用车; 水旱两生植物; 水陆两用飞行器
参考例句:
  • The skin of amphibians is permeable to water. 两栖动物的皮肤是透水的。
  • Two amphibians ferry them out over the sands. 两辆水陆两用车把他们渡过沙滩。
7 backbones c4c409c030b485ea5d90968a63228387     
n.骨干( backbone的名词复数 );脊骨;骨气;脊骨状物
参考例句:
  • Why do hummingbirds and gorillas both have backbones? 为什么蜂鸟和大猩猩都有脊骨? 来自辞典例句
  • Simply adding bandwidth to the Internet backbones is not an answer. 只是简单的在互联网骨架上增加带宽是应付不了的。 来自互联网
8 skull CETyO     
n.头骨;颅骨
参考例句:
  • The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
  • He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去,跌裂了颅骨。
9 recording UktzJj     
n.录音,记录
参考例句:
  • How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间?
  • I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。
10 thigh RItzO     
n.大腿;股骨
参考例句:
  • He is suffering from a strained thigh muscle.他的大腿肌肉拉伤了,疼得很。
  • The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
11 juvenile OkEy2     
n.青少年,少年读物;adj.青少年的,幼稚的
参考例句:
  • For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人,他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
  • Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。
12 juveniles 257c9101f917ec8748aa5fc520c6a9e3     
n.青少年( juvenile的名词复数 );扮演少年角色的演员;未成年人
参考例句:
  • Do you think that punishment for violent crimes should be the same for juveniles and adults? 你对暴力犯罪的惩罚对于青少年和成人应一样吗? 来自生活英语口语25天快训
  • Juveniles Should we not exactly in need of such strength and conviction? 少年的我们难道不正是需要这种力量和信念吗? 来自互联网
13 evolutionary Ctqz7m     
adj.进化的;演化的,演变的;[生]进化论的
参考例句:
  • Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
  • These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。
14 demonstration 9waxo     
n.表明,示范,论证,示威
参考例句:
  • His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
  • He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。
15 killing kpBziQ     
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财
参考例句:
  • Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
  • Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。
16 preys 008ad2ad9007c4d7b3ecfb54442db8fd     
v.掠食( prey的第三人称单数 );掠食;折磨;(人)靠欺诈为生
参考例句:
  • His misfortune preys upon his mind. 他的不幸使她心中苦恼。 来自辞典例句
  • The owl preys on mice. 猫头鹰捕食老鼠。 来自辞典例句
17 lizard P0Ex0     
n.蜥蜴,壁虎
参考例句:
  • A chameleon is a kind of lizard.变色龙是一种蜥蜴。
  • The lizard darted out its tongue at the insect.蜥蜴伸出舌头去吃小昆虫。
18 fully Gfuzd     
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地
参考例句:
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气,然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

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