Are dinosaurs really extinct？ Six little knowledge about dinosaur scientific research
CCTV News:Recently, villagers in Lufeng once again discovered dinosaur fossils. Since the first one was discovered in 1938, more than 200 relatively complete dinosaur fossils have been unearthed in Lufeng, Yunnan, spanning three periods of Jurassic. From the discovery of dinosaurs in the war-torn era to the present, many studies on dinosaur fossils have pushed China to the forefront of paleontological research. So, what’s the significance of dinosaur research? Are dinosaurs really extinct?
There were no flowers or grass in the early Jurassic world.
In 1938, the first dinosaur skeleton excavated, studied and assembled by Chinese himself — — Xu Shi Lufeng Dragon comes from Lufeng, Yunnan Province, and Lufeng is therefore known as the hometown of China’s fear of dragons. Recently, two dinosaur fossils have been found here.
According to scientists’ preliminary judgment, one of them is Lu Fenglong, with a height of about 3 meters and a weight of about 4 tons. He is about thirty or forty years old. Sex can’t be judged yet. You need dinosaur eggs or pregnant dinosaur bones to tell.
Through virtual reduction, we can see that there were no flowers and grass in the early Jurassic world, and the plants that grew were ferns that dinosaurs loved, as well as ginkgo and pine and cypress.
Dinosaurs were not extinct, but a branch of dinosaurs evolved into birds.
Are dinosaurs really extinct? Xing Lida, an associate professor at China Geo University, said that scientists found a large number of feathered dinosaur fossils in Liaoning, indicating that a branch of dinosaurs evolved into birds. In other words, dinosaurs did not die out, but flew in the sky. We can see that many behaviors of birds are very similar to those of dinosaurs.
The meaning of "social fear" in ancient times is not quite the same as today.
Dinosaurs living in the early Jurassic, food and clothing is no longer a problem, scientists believe that they have a new social pursuit.
You Hailu, a researcher at the Institute of vertebrate paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that from the fossils of dinosaur skulls, loong had a pair of thin "cockscomb" on his head, which may still be hollow. Obviously, it could not be used as a weapon, but as a decoration to communicate with his companions and show off himself.
In other words, dinosaurs in Jurassic period were actively socializing.
In the movie "Nothing Asked about the West", the prototype of the paleontologist is the discoverer of Lu Fenglong.
Xu Shi Lufenglong is a kind of herbivorous dinosaur that lived in the early Jurassic, and its discovery opened the prelude of dinosaur research in China.
There is such a clip in the movie "Nothing to Ask about the West": under the bombing of Japanese planes, teachers and students in The National SouthWest Associated University hid in caves to attend paleontology classes, and the prototype of the old professor was the discoverer of Lu Fenglong — — Yang Zhongjian, the founder of dinosaur fossil research in China, and this dinosaur model in class is Lu Fenglong.
In those difficult times, scientists in China did not stop exploring dinosaurs. Up to now, scientists in China have named more than 200 kinds of dinosaurs, and the ancient secrets left by those fossils are being revealed more and more. At the same time, the continuous research on these precious fossils has pushed China to the forefront of paleontological research.
What is the significance of dinosaur research?
Regarding the significance of dinosaur research, You Hailu, a researcher at the Institute of vertebrate paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the past is a key to the future, and dinosaurs are only a window to study past life. But through dinosaurs, we can cross these disciplines to really let us understand the process of biological evolution, especially what the nature of life is.
Minimalist dinosaur history
Existing fossil evidence shows that early dinosaurs appeared on land about 230 million years ago.
About 200 million years ago, the earth entered the Jurassic period, and dinosaurs stood out and dominated the land.
A large number of Jurassic dinosaur fossils have been unearthed in China, such as Lufenglong, Yunnanlong, Jinshanlong and loong in the early Jurassic, Chuanjielong and Shidailong in the middle and Mamenxilong in the late Jurassic.
About 140 million years ago, the earth entered the Cretaceous period, and the species of dinosaurs reached its peak.
About 66 million years ago, there was a dinosaur extinction event. All non-bird dinosaurs were extinct in this event, and the land overlord ceased to exist.