TPO=31
A fossil skeleton of a dinosaur called Sinosauropteryx, preserved in volcanic ash, was discovered in Liaoning, China, in 1996. Interestingly, the fossil included a pattern of fine lines surrounding the skeletal bones. Some paleontologists interpret the lines as evidence that Sinosauropteryx had feathers. However, critics have opposed the idea that Sinosauropteryx was a feathered dinosaur, citing several reasons.
First, the critics point out that the fine lines may not even represent functional structures of a living dinosaur, but rather structures that were formed after the animal’s death. After the animal died and was buried in volcanic ash, its skin may have decomposed into fibers. The skin fibers then became preserved as lines in the fossil; the lines were misinterpreted as evidence of feathers.
Second, even if the fine lines are remains of real structures of a Sinosauropteryx, scientists cannot tell with certainty what part of the dinosaur’s anatomy the structures were. Many dinosaurs had frills, ornamental fan-shaped structures growing out of some parts of their bodies. Some of the critics argue that the lines surrounding the skeleton are much more likely to be fossilized remains of frills than remains of feathers.
A third objection is based on the fact that the usual functions of feathers are to help animals fly or regulate their internal temperature. However, the structures represented by the lines in the Sinosauropteryx fossil were mostly located along the backbone and the tail of the animal. This would have made the structures quite useless for flight and of very limited use in thermoregulation. This suggests that the lines do not represent feathers.
The lecturer refutes all three arguments in the passage about the fossils of Sinosauropteryx that are preserved in volcanic ash. The reading claims that the fine lines surrounding the skeleton are less likely to be its feathers. However, the professor challenges all these arguments. She has counter-arguments for each of these assumptions and states that the Sinosauropteryx was a feathered dinosaur.
First of all, the passage shows that the lines surrounding them are the decomposition of the dinosaur's skin. The professor disagrees with this. She states that the paleontologists couldn't find these structures in other animals that are buried at the same site.
Second, the reading says that most of the dinosaurs had frills growing out from their body like feathers. Sometimes the experts may misinterpret them as feathers. But the professor casts doubts on this. She says that a specific protein called beta carotene is present in feather structures. But the frills don't have this protein. The traces of this is accessible from the sites that prove that this was a bird dinosaur.
Finally, the writer of the reading says that the feathers are located along its backbone and tail suggestive of they are non-functional as birds used them for flying or regulating their body temperature. On the other hand, the professor disproves this argument by mentioning the display function of the feathers in a bird other than flying. The lecturer, for instance, added that peacocks had colorful and long feathers for attracting mates and that are not used for flying. Likewise, the Sinosauropteryx had orange or white feathers that are well preserved in volcanic ash strongly proves that they had feathers not solely function to fly.
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Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 24 in 30
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 17 12
No. of Words: 280 250
No. of Characters: 1422 1200
No. of Different Words: 142 150
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.091 4.2
Average Word Length: 5.079 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.886 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 97 80
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 78 60
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 60 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 34 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 16.471 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 7.389 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.588 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.307 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.504 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.115 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 4 4