TPO 29 Integrated Task

Both the passage and the professor talk about the ways that one kind of dinosaurs, a.k.a Edmontosaurus, survived in The North Pole region during winters. While the writer proposes the idea of migration to south and puts forward three reasons to support it, the professor disagrees and claims that such reasons are not convincing.

First, the writer points out that the food regime of such dinosaurs was exclusively from plants but there were no plants at the North Pole. So, they must have migrated to the south. However, the professor rejects this reason by mentioning not only climate was warmer during that era but also there was 24 hours sunlight during summer seasons. As a result, the conditions were suitable for plants to grow. Also, they could have fed on the dead plants during winter seasons. In this sense, they didn't have to migrate to the south at all.

Second, the writer asserts that Edmontosaurus lived in herds which helped them to coordinate their migration. But again, the professor rejects this reason. She points out that living in herds have other benefits such as protection from predators as well. She goes on and provides the example of some kind of elk to strengthen her point.

Last but not least, the writer notes that these dinosaurs were capable of traveling long distances which helped them to reach warmer habitats. Nevertheless, the professor casts doubt on this reason. She notes that not all dinosaurs from the herd were adult and there were some non adults dinosaurs as well. Therefore, these dinosaurs couldn't travel for long distance and also rest of the herd couldn't leave them behind. Because they couldn't survive on their own.