Endotherms are animals such as modern birds and mammals that keep their body temperatures constant. For instance, humans are endotherms and maintain an internal temperature of 37°C, no matter whether the environment is warm or cold. Because dinosaurs were reptiles, and modern reptiles are not endotherms, it was long assumed that dinosaurs were not endotherms. However, dinosaurs differ in many ways from modem reptiles, and there is now considerable evidence that dinosaurs were, in fact, endotherms.
Polar dinosaurs
One reason for believing that dinosaurs were endotherms is that dinosaur fossils have been discovered in Polar Regions. Only animals that can maintain a temperature well above that of the surrounding environment could be active in such cold climates.
Leg position and movement
There is a connection between endothermy and the position and movement of the legs. The physiology of endothermy allows sustained physical activity, such as running. But running is efficient only if an animal's legs are positioned underneath its body, not at the body's side, as they are for crocodiles and many lizards. The legs of all modern endotherms are underneath the body, and so were the legs of dinosaurs. This strongly suggests that dinosaurs were endotherms.
Haversian canals
There is also a connection between endothermy and bone structure. The bones of endotherms usually include structures called Haversian canals. These canals house nerves and blood vessels that allow the living animal to grow quickly, and rapid body growth is in fact a characteristic of endothermy. The presence of Haversian canals in bone is a strong indicator that the animal is an endotherm, and fossilized bones of dinosaurs are usually dense with Haversian canals.
The text lists the evidence to support the belief that dinosaurs were endotherms while the professor offers counterarguments against this belief. Moreover, she states at the beginning of her lecture that many scientists does not agree with the claims made in the text and have provided facts to oppose the theory presented in the passage.
First of all, she opposes the conjecture made in the text that presence of fossils in the polar regions corroborates the hypothesis of dinosaurs being endotherms. She says that the regions in which fossils are discovered were warm enough during the dinosaur era that non endothermic animals could have lived there. Furthermore, she argues that during the colder times dinosaurs might have migrated from these cold areas to warmer ones. Thus she is against the consideration of dinosaurs fossils found in polar regions as an evidence for the dinosaurs being endotherms.
Secondly, she talks about the position of legs in the dinosaurs' body structure. While the text proposes that as the body of endotherms supports physical activity, hence positioning of these legs underneath the body in dinosaurs suggests that they were endtherms, the professor argues against it by suggesting that the legs were positioned in this way to provide support for their massive weight and were not built for running. Hence, she is not in favor of using the body structure to support the idea of dinosaurs being endotherms.
Finally, she talks about growth rate of the dinosaurs and how it varied during colder and warmer periods. The text uses the presence of Haversian canals as a proof to make the conjecture of dinosaurs being endotherms. Even though the professor does not deny the presence Haversian canals in dinosaurs she is against the conclusion made in the text that as they support rapid body growth which is the characteristic of endothermy dinosaurs were also endotherms. Consequently, to offer counterargument she talks about growth rings. She posits that endotherms grows constantly during cold and warm periods but the presence of growth rings in the dinosaurs makes it evident that they did not. Hence they were not endotherms.
| Post date | Users | Rates | Link to Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-08-04 | elvin chik | 80 | view |
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Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 437, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Thus,
...d from these cold areas to warmer ones. Thus she is against the consideration of din...
^^^^
Line 7, column 690, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Hence,
...urs makes it evident that they did not. Hence they were not endotherms.
^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, consequently, finally, first, furthermore, hence, moreover, second, secondly, so, thus, while, as to, first of all
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 16.0 10.4613686534 153% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 2.0 5.04856512141 40% => OK
Conjunction : 6.0 7.30242825607 82% => OK
Relative clauses : 14.0 12.0772626932 116% => OK
Pronoun: 36.0 22.412803532 161% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 51.0 30.3222958057 168% => OK
Nominalization: 9.0 5.01324503311 180% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1823.0 1373.03311258 133% => OK
No of words: 351.0 270.72406181 130% => OK
Chars per words: 5.19373219373 5.08290768461 102% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.32839392791 4.04702891845 107% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.75963245781 2.5805825403 107% => OK
Unique words: 156.0 145.348785872 107% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.444444444444 0.540411800872 82% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 552.6 419.366225166 132% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.55342163355 103% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 8.0 3.25607064018 246% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 3.0 8.23620309051 36% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 1.25165562914 160% => OK
Conjunction: 0.0 1.51434878587 0% => OK
Preposition: 1.0 2.5761589404 39% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 15.0 13.0662251656 115% => OK
Sentence length: 23.0 21.2450331126 108% => OK
Sentence length SD: 73.4355651045 49.2860985944 149% => OK
Chars per sentence: 121.533333333 110.228320801 110% => OK
Words per sentence: 23.4 21.698381199 108% => OK
Discourse Markers: 8.33333333333 7.06452816374 118% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 2.0 4.19205298013 48% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 8.0 4.33554083885 185% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 2.0 4.45695364238 45% => More negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 5.0 4.27373068433 117% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.13628198198 0.272083759551 50% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0547079497677 0.0996497079465 55% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0428045438593 0.0662205650399 65% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0902423094664 0.162205337803 56% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0294375571702 0.0443174109184 66% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.7 13.3589403974 110% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 48.13 53.8541721854 89% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 12.3 11.0289183223 112% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 13.12 12.2367328918 107% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.38 8.42419426049 99% => OK
difficult_words: 80.0 63.6247240618 126% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 14.0 10.7273730684 131% => OK
gunning_fog: 11.2 10.498013245 107% => OK
text_standard: 14.0 11.2008830022 125% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Write the essay in 20 minutes.
Rates: 73.3333333333 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 22.0 Out of 30
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.