H☆Mさんの おぼえた日記 - 2017年11月4日(土)

【Old News Is New Again】 -Week 4 / Radio English Conversation-

[Japan's largest dinosaur fossil discovered]
A Japanese research team has found a fossil of a herbivorous duck-billed dinosaur in Mukawa-cho, Hokkaido. It is the largest entire skeletal body of a dinosaur ever found in Japan.

The fossil was found in a layer of soil belonging to the Late Cretaceous Period, or about 72 million years ago. It is about 8 meters long from head to tail and its waist height is about 3.5 meters.

The team says the discovery of such a complete skeleton from the Late Cretaceous is a first for Japan. They add it is also the first full-body fossil of a plant-eating dinosaur in the country.

They say the fossil will give significant information about the lives of dinosaurs as well as the environment of the period when dinosaurs thrived. (2017/4/28)


【Question】
[Where was the fossil of a duck-billed dinosaur found?]
　A: In Mukawa-cho, Hokkaido.
[How big is the fossil?]
　A: It's about 8 meters long from head to tail and its waist height is about 3.5 meters.
[When was the Late Cretaceous Period?]
　A: About 72 million years ago.

【True/False】
[The fossil is the largest entire skeletal body of a dinosaur ever found in Japan.]　⇒True.
[The skeleton is the first full-body fossil of a meat-eating dinosaur in the country.]　⇒False. It's a plant-eating dinosaur or a herbivorous duck billed dinosaur.

【words and phrases】
[a herbivorous duck-billed dinosaur] 草食のハドロサウルス(カモノハシ竜/カモのくちばし恐竜)
[skeletal body] 全身骨格
[layer of soil] 地層
[the Late Cretaceous Period] 白亜紀後期
[its waist height] 腰までの高さ
[a complete skeleton] 骨格
[plant-eating] 草食の、⇔[meat-eating] 肉食の
[dinosaurs thrived] 繁栄する