Shedding Light on the Dinosaur-Bird Connection

What dinosaurs still live among us today?

• herbivores like Apatosaurus

• carnivores like Tyrannosaurus rex

• birds

• reptiles

To organize this text, the author has divided it into sections. One of the sections has the subheading "Living Dinosaurs." What does the author contrast with a bird in this section?

• an Apatosaurus

• a T. rex

• a Sinornithosaurus

• a Citipati

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NGSS.MS-LS4-2

The skeletons of birds and non-bird theropods are similar.

What information in the text supports this claim?

• The skeletons of birds and non-bird theropods both include wishbones.

• The skeletons of birds and non-bird theropods both have tiny skulls.

• Many skeletons of birds and non-bird theropods have been found in the Gobi Desert

• Scientists have used computed tomography scans to create endocasts of the skeletons of non-bird theropods.

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NGSS.MS-LS4-2

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

Read this sentence from the text.

“In fact, birds and T. rex are close relatives.”

Based on the information in the text, what is another dinosaur that is probably a close relative of birds?

• Apatosaurus

• Stegosaurus

• Citipati

• Triceratops

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NGSS.MS-LS4-2

What is the main idea of this text?

• Some dinosaurs, such as Apatosaurus, were huge herbivores with small heads and long tails.

• Scientists can learn about extinct dinosaurs by studying fossilized teeth, footprints, and dung.

• Scientists are using endocasts to learn about the volume and shape of dinosaurs' brains.

• Based on a variety of evidence, scientists have concluded that birds are a type of dinosaur

Read these sentences from the text.

“When paleontologists compare a skeleton of a living bird to the fossilized skeleton of a non-bird theropod, like Sinornithosaurus, they see many similarities. They both have a hole in the hipbone, a feature that distinguishes most dinosaurs from all other animals. This feature allows an animal to stand erect, with its legs directly beneath its body. All theropod dinosaurs, including birds, have a furcula, also known as a wishbone. Another shared characteristic is the presence of hollow bones.”

What does the word “characteristic” mean here?

• quality or trait

• opinion or belief

• fossil or skeleton

• animal or dinosaur

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NGSS.MS-LS4-2

Read these sentences from the text.

“Feathers were once thought to have evolved for flight. The discovery of more and more non-flying dinosaurs with feathers disproved that explanation. For these dinosaurs, feathers may have served other functions, like gliding, insulation, protection, and display.”

What word or phrase could replace "like" in the last sentence without changing the sentence's meaning?

• after

• never

• instead of

• such as

What is a feature NOT shared by birds and non-bird dinosaurs?

• Brain similarities

• Skeletal Similarities

• Behavioral Similarities

• Flight Similarities

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NGSS.MS-LS4-2