Question

The dodo is among the most famous extinct creatures, and a poster child for human-caused extinction events. Despite its bad name, and the fact that the species was alive during recorded human history, little is actually known about how this animal lived, looked, and behaved. A new study of the only known complete skeleton(骨架) from a single bird takes advantage of modern 3-D laser scanning(掃描) technology to open a new window into the life of this famous extinct bird.

The study was presented at the 74th Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Estrel, Berlin. Leon Claessens, Associate Professor at the College of the Holy Cross, and lead researcher on the study said that, "the 3-D laser surface scans we made of the fragile dodo skeletons enable us to reconstruct how the dodo walked, moved and lived to a level of detail that has never been possible before. There are so many outstanding questions about the dodo bird that we can answer with this new knowledge."

A complete dodo skeleton, found by an amateur collector and barber, Etienne Thirioux, on the island of Mauritius between 1899 and 1917, has remained unstudied, even though it is the only complete dodo skeleton from a single individual bird known to exist. All other skeletons are incomplete combinations, meaning that they are gathered from more than one individual. In addition, Thirioux constructed a second, partially combined skeleton, which contains many bones that also belong to a single bird. "Being able to examine the skeleton of a single, individual dodo, which is not made up from as many individual birds as there are bones, as is the case in all those other combined skeletons, truly allows us to appreciate the way the dodo looked and see how tall or fat it really was," said Juilan Hume, of the Natural History Museum UK, a co-author on the study.

The scans were performed on site in Durban, South Africa, and allow examination of the biology of this mysterious extinct bird in detail for the first time. Using the newest digital tools and techniques, the scans provide an insight into how the flightless dodo may have developed its giant size, and how it walked and lived in its forest home. According to Kenneth Rijsdijk, a biologist from University of Amsterdam, “the skull of the dodo is so large and its mouth so strong that it is easy to understand that the earliest naturalists thought it was related to sharks and other birds of prey（猛禽）, rather than the pigeon family.”

1.The underlined phrase “a poster child” in Para. 1 is closest in meaning to “ ”.

A. a typical example

B. an endangered animal

C. a child who puts up posters on the board

D. a child posted in a newspaper as an advertisement

2.The researchers study the dodo skeleton to find out .

A. ways to save the dodo

B. the dodo’s living habits

C. the bird’s natural habitat

D. the cause of the dodo’s extinction

3.What is special about the dodo skeleton found by an amateur collector?

A. It is gathered from more than one individual.

B. It reminded unstudied between 1899 and 1917.

C. It is the only complete dodo skeleton from a single individual bird.

D. It can be examined with 3-D laser scanning technology.

4.What is the purpose of the author in writing this passage?

A. To call people’s attention to wildlife protection.

B. To criticize humans for the extinction events.

C. To introduce a new way of studying the dodo.

D. To give tips on how to study extinct creatures.

Answer 1