The Reading / Listening - Dinosaur Sounds - Level 2

Dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago. We don't really know what they sounded like. There are many movies with dinosaurs making all kinds of roars and screams, but these noises are just guesses that movie directors make. A new discovery has given scientists a better idea of what dinosaurs sounded like. The scientists examined a rare fossil from a dinosaur called an ankylosaur. The fossil is 78 million years old. It includes a record of the ankylosaur's voice box. The scientists think the shape of the creature's voice box means it probably made bird-like sounds.

The research was led by a dinosaur researcher at the Fukushima Museum in Japan. He did many tests on the shape of the fossilized voice box. He compared it with the voice box of birds, crocodiles and turtles. He now has an idea of what the voice box muscles looked like. The muscles controlled the sounds of the voice box. The research may mean that movies like Jurassic Park got it wrong. Tyrannosaurus rex probably made more of a tweeting sound, like a bird. Hollywood may have to change its scary roars in future dinosaur films to a tweet-tweet sound.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Dinosaur Sounds - Level 0 Dinosaur Sounds - Level 1   or  Dinosaur Sounds - Level 3

Sources
  • https://www.iflscience.com/spiky-armored-ankylosaurs-may-have-sounded-like-birds-according-to-a-rare-fossil-67719
  • https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/24/science/dinosaur-sounds-fossils.html
  • https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14840916


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. Dinosaurs died out
  2. We don't really know what
  3. There are many movies
  4. making all kinds of roars
  5. A new discovery has given scientists
  6. The scientists examined
  7. The fossil is 78 million
  8. it probably made bird-
  1. years old
  2. with dinosaurs
  3. a rare fossil
  4. like sounds
  5. 65 million years ago
  6. a better idea
  7. they sounded like
  8. and screams

Paragraph 2

  1. The research was led
  2. He did many tests
  3. He compared it with the
  4. He now has an
  5. The muscles controlled
  6. movies like Jurassic Park
  7. Hollywood may have to
  8. in future dinosaur
  1. voice box of birds
  2. films
  3. the sounds
  4. on the shape
  5. change its scary roars
  6. by a dinosaur researcher
  7. got it wrong
  8. idea

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago. We don't really know what (1) ___________________. There are many movies with dinosaurs making all kinds of roars and screams, but these noises (2) ___________________ that movie directors make. A new discovery has given scientists a (3) ___________________ what dinosaurs sounded like. The scientists examined a (4) ___________________ a dinosaur called an ankylosaur. The fossil is 78 million years old. It includes a record of the ankylosaur's voice box. The scientists (5) ___________________ of the creature's voice box means it probably made (6) ___________________.

The research (7) ___________________ a dinosaur researcher at the Fukushima Museum in Japan. He did (8) ___________________ the shape of the fossilized voice box. He compared it with the voice box of birds, crocodiles and turtles. He now has (9) ___________________ what the voice box muscles looked like. The muscles controlled (10) ___________________ the voice box. The research may mean that movies like Jurassic Park got it wrong. Tyrannosaurus rex probably made (11) ___________________ tweeting sound, like a bird. Hollywood may have to change its scary roars in future dinosaur (12) ___________________ tweet-tweet sound.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Dinosaursdiedout65millionyearsago.Wedon'treallyknowwhattheys
oundedlike.Therearemanymovieswithdinosaursmakingallkindsofro
arsandscreams,butthesenoisesarejustguessesthatmoviedirectorsm
ake.Anewdiscoveryhasgivenscientistsabetterideaofwhatdinosaurss
oundedlike.Thescientistsexaminedararefossilfromadinosaurcalleda
nankylosaur.Thefossilis78millionyearsold.Itincludesarecordofthean
kylosaur'svoicebox.Thescientiststhinktheshapeofthecreature'svoic
eboxmeansitprobablymadebird-likesounds.Theresearchwasledbya
dinosaurresearcherattheFukushimaMuseuminJapan.Hedidmanytes
tsontheshapeofthefossilizedvoicebox.Hecompareditwiththevoicebo
xofbirds,crocodilesandturtles.Henowhasanideaofwhatthevoicebox
muscleslookedlike.Themusclescontrolledthesoundsofthevoicebox.T
heresearchmaymeanthatmovieslikeJurassicParkgotitwrong.Tyrann
osaurusrexprobablymademoreofatweetingsound,likeabird.Hollywo
odmayhavetochangeitsscaryroarsinfuturedinosaurfilmstoatweet-t
weetsound.

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

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Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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