Pregnant Fossil May Shed Light on Animal Behavior"

Question

Pregnant Fossil May Shed Light on Animal Behavior"
by PBS NewsHour

Scientists have pieced together the first-ever fossil of a pregnant plesiosaur, a giant Mesozoic sea reptile from the Cretaceous Era, with an embryo still inside.

The animal, which roamed the seas 78-million years ago, is about 15-feet long—the length of a minibus—and bones indicate that the baby plesiosaur would have been as long as six feet when born.

The finding, published in the online edition of the journal Science on Thursday, is definitive evidence that the giant sea creature gave birth to single, live offspring, rather than laying eggs, like most reptiles, says paleontologist and lead author F. Robin O’Keefe. This reproductive behavior also indicates that the animals were gregarious social creatures that cared for their young, similar to toothed whales or dolphins, according to the paper.

Question
Use the passage “Pregnant Plesiosaur Fossil May Shed Light on Ancient Animal’s Behavior” to answer the question.

Write 4–5 sentences in which you explain what you would include and not include in an objective summary of “Pregnant Plesiosaur Fossil May Shed Light on Ancient Animal’s Behavior.”

(4 points)

GPT-4o mini · Answer

In an objective summary of “Pregnant Plesiosaur Fossil May Shed Light on Ancient Animal’s Behavior,” I would include the key findings of the study, such as the discovery of a pregnant plesiosaur fossil with an embryo inside, and the significance of this finding in demonstrating that plesiosaurs gave birth to live young instead of laying eggs. It's important to mention the estimated size of both the adult and the embryo and to highlight the implications regarding the social behavior of plesiosaurs, suggesting they cared for their young like modern marine mammals.

However, I would not include any overly detailed descriptions or interpretations that could introduce bias, such as how the fossil was discovered or the specific methodologies used by the researchers, as this information doesn't contribute to the main summary of the findings. Additionally, I would avoid personal opinions or emotional language that might color the scientific conclusions drawn from the fossil evidence.