Meet The “First Giant”

Some dinosaurs1 were as long as three school buses！ These dinosaurs， called sauropods （蜥腳類(lèi)恐龍）， had very long necks. They were the biggest animals ever to live on land. Now scientists have found a new kind of dinosaur that lived before the biggest sauropods. It was smaller than they were， but it was still really big. The scientists named it “First Giant”.

How did “First Giant” get so big？ The scientists found it had extra2 air in its body. This air helped it breathe and stay cool. The biggest sauropods had extra air too， but “First Giant” had something they did not. There were times in its life when it grew very quickly. Dinosaurs had many ways to become big！

“第一只巨獸”現(xiàn)身

一些恐龍的長(zhǎng)度能夠媲美三輛校車(chē)！這些巨獸屬于蜥腳類(lèi)恐龍，有較長(zhǎng)的脖子，也是目前陸地上出現(xiàn)過(guò)的體型最大的動(dòng)物。近日，科學(xué)家們發(fā)掘出一具新的恐龍化石，更新了巨型恐龍出現(xiàn)的最早時(shí)間。這只恐龍的體型不如家族其他成員大，科學(xué)家將其命名為“第一只巨獸”。

巨型恐龍是如何能夠長(zhǎng)到如此巨大的呢？研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，它們的身體中存在額外的氣囊，可以為這種龐然大物提供更多氧氣，并使其保持較低體溫。目前已知的蜥腳類(lèi)恐龍都有類(lèi)似的構(gòu)造，但“第一只巨獸”的發(fā)現(xiàn)還為科學(xué)家們提供了更多證據(jù)。這種恐龍的骨骼化石表明，它們會(huì)像樹(shù)木一樣周期性、季節(jié)性地生長(zhǎng)，即在一段時(shí)間內(nèi)快速生長(zhǎng)，然后停止?？磥?lái)，恐龍們進(jìn)化體型的方式有很多。

（Coocoo / 編譯）

Have you heard？

If you love dinosaurs， you are living at the right time. People are finding dinosaur bones all over the world. About once a week， people discover bones from a new kind of dinosaur.

研究小背景

如果你是恐龍愛(ài)好者，那可真是生對(duì)了時(shí)代。如今世界各地都在不停出土新的恐龍骨骼化石，頻率幾乎高達(dá)每周一次。