Level 1 - Absolute Beginner
Scientists found a new animal from the time of the dinosaurs. It lived about 165 million years ago. Its name is Megacauda sungei.
It was about half a meter long. It had fur and it swam in water to catch food. It was a small hunter.
The animal was an early relative of mammals. Scientists say a part of its mouth, called the soft palate, helped it drink milk. Humans have this part too.
- dinosaur
- a huge animal that lived long ago
- fur
- soft hair on an animal
- hunter
- an animal that catches other animals
- mammal
- an animal that feeds its babies milk
- palate
- the top inside part of the mouth
- swim
- to move in water
- scientist
- a person who studies nature
- relative
- a family member
Level 2 - Elementary
A study published in the journal Nature describes Megacauda sungei, a small Jurassic animal that lived about 165 million years ago. It was around half a meter long and was a top predator that hunted in water.
Researchers from the University of Bonn, including paleontologist Thomas Martin, used CT scans to rebuild its body. The scans suggest it paddled with its front legs, steered with its back legs and moved its tail in waves. Its sharp teeth were made for cutting meat.
The scientists say its soft palate was a key change. This part separates the mouth from the throat, so an animal can swallow and breathe at the same time. That is needed for babies to suckle milk, which is a feature of all mammals.
- Jurassic
- the age of dinosaurs, about 200 to 145 million years ago
- predator
- an animal that hunts others
- journal
- a magazine for scientific studies
- CT scan
- an X ray picture that shows the inside of an object
- paddle
- to push through water with arms or legs
- throat
- the tube at the back of the mouth
- suckle
- to drink milk from a mother
- feature
- a special part or quality
Level 3 - Intermediate
Paleontologists have described Megacauda sungei, a roughly half meter long Jurassic mammal relative that lived about 165 million years ago and hunted prey in water. The research, published in Nature, was led by a team at the University of Bonn that includes Thomas Martin, with contributions from Zhe-Xi Luo.
CT based reconstructions suggest the animal paddled with its forelimbs, steered with its hind limbs and propelled itself with a wave like motion of the tail. Its canines were specialized and had three roots, and its cheek teeth were shaped to shear meat, a combination that points to a carnivorous lifestyle.
Martin argues that the real innovation was the soft palate, which divides the mouth from the throat and lets an animal swallow while still breathing. That arrangement makes suckling possible, and he links it to the later growth of the mammalian brain. The picture is complicated by earlier finds such as Castorocauda, a semiaquatic mammal about 164 million years old, so the claim of being the very first aquatic mammal remains debatable.
- reconstruction
- a model rebuilt from evidence
- forelimbs
- front legs or arms
- propel
- to push forward
- canine
- a pointed tooth near the front of the mouth
- shear
- to cut with a scissor like action
- carnivorous
- meat eating
- innovation
- a new development
- debatable
- open to argument
Level 4 - Advanced
A team at the University of Bonn, led by paleontologist Thomas Martin and including Zhe-Xi Luo, has described Megacauda sungei in Nature: a half meter long, Jurassic mammal relative that, about 165 million years ago, preyed on animals in water. The authors characterise it as an aquatic top predator and one of the earliest semiaquatic members of the mammal lineage.
Computed tomography reconstructions indicate that it paddled with its forelimbs, steered with its hind limbs and undulated its tail. Its trirooted canines and shearing cheek teeth betoken a predatory diet, and Luo suggests that such dental specializations helped early mammals radiate into carnivores, insectivores and herbivores.
Martin's most striking contention concerns the soft palate. By partitioning the mouth from the throat, it permits simultaneous swallowing and breathing, an arrangement without which suckling is impracticable, and he connects it, speculatively, to the subsequent enlargement of the mammalian brain. The superlative should be handled with care, however: Castorocauda, a semiaquatic Jurassic mammal of about 164 million years, was described in 2006, so whether Megacauda is truly the earliest remains contestable.
- lineage
- a line of descent from ancestors
- undulate
- to move in smooth waves
- betoken
- to be a sign of
- radiate
- to spread out into many forms
- contention
- a claim made in an argument
- partition
- to divide into separate parts
- impracticable
- not possible in practice
- contestable
- open to challenge
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