Questão 39 - UEFS Caderno 1 2010/2

TEXTO:

Jurassic fossil discovery

 

 

    A 150-million-year-old fossilized skull belonging to

a creature called a pliosaur has been unearthed along

the Jurassic Coast in Dorset in England.

    While dinosaurs roamed the land, pliosaurs terrorized

5 the oceans. These giant, crocodile-shaped creatures

were fearsome hunters, their immense jaws and

razor-sharp teeth made easy work of passing prey. Now

an 8ft-long skull has been found in Dorset by a local

fossil collector. And scientists say it could be one of the

10 biggest ever found, belonging to a creature that would

have measured up to 50ft long.

    Paleontologist Richard Forrest has been examining

the specimen. He says: ‘To get a whole skull like this is

like Christmas and Easter and everything rolled into one,

15 because we actually can see, yes this really was an

absolutely enormous animal, and realistically, probably

the most powerful predator that ever lived.’

    The fossilized skull has now been bought by Dorset

County Council using Heritage Lottery Funds. They plan

20 to eventually put it on public display.

MORELLE, Rebecca. Jurassic fossil discovery. Disponível em: . Acesso em: 30 maio 2010. 

When examining the creature’s skull, Richard Forrest