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.



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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.”

Answer 1

In an objective summary of the passage “Pregnant Plesiosaur Fossil May Shed Light on Ancient Animal’s Behavior,” I would include key details such as the discovery of the first-ever fossil of a pregnant plesiosaur, the age of the fossil (78 million years), and the size of both the adult and the embryo. Additionally, I would highlight the significance of this finding in confirming that plesiosaurs gave birth to live young rather than laying eggs, which suggests social behavior similar to modern-day cetaceans. However, I would not include any subjective opinions or interpretations beyond the presented scientific findings, such as personal reactions to the discovery or speculation about the plesiosaurs' social structures beyond what the research supports.