NOVA
The Four Winged Dinosaur
Name: ________________________
Period: __________ Date: ________
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1. What kind of fossil did Xu Xing find in the box? _______________________________________
2. What feature did the fossil have? ___________________________________________________
3. What country have they found some of the most spectacular fossil discoveries? _____________
4. What were the fossils described by Mark Norell buried in? _______________________________
5. Why couldn’t the arms of these dinosaurs function as wings? ____________________________
6. In what country was the Archaeopteryx fossil found? ___________________________________
7. What did the “new dinosaur” in Montana have on each foot? ____________________________
8. What did Jacques Gauthier use to construct the family tree for dinosaurs? __________________
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9. Give one example of how feathers could have been useful before flight.____________________
10. What strange thing did Xu Xing notice about the fossil? _________________________________
11. What did Xu name the four-winged dinosaur? ________________________________________
12. What is the difference between the “ground-up” and the “arboreal” ideas for the evolution of
flight? ________________________________________________________________________
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13. What evidence supports that Microraptor is a dinosaur? _________________________________
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14. Why was Microraptor most likely a glider instead of a flyer? _____________________________
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15. How many specimens of Microraptor have been found? _________________________________
16. What factors make it difficult to create an accurate 3-D model of the Microraptor? ___________
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17. When they send the bones to Harvard for a second opinion, what do they conclude about the
bone structure? _________________________________________________________________
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18. Why does the “stand-off” between the two groups of scientists continue? __________________
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19. Where do they go to test the model? _______________________________________________
20. What two things do the sensors on the model measure? ________________________________
21. Which position worked best? ______________________________________________________
22. Why does this position support an arboreal origin of flight? ______________________________
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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/microraptor