24 August 2019•The Week Junior
This week’s big news
O
ne of the biggest dinosaur hunts in decades has
begun inWyoming, US. An international team
of scientists, including palaeontologists (people who
study fossils) fromLondon’sNatural History Museum,
aretaking part in the dig to look for dinosaurremains
in an area known as the Jurassic Mile. It’scalled this
because of the number of fossils from the Jurassic
period–which took placebetween 199 and 145
million years ago–that have already been found
there. Theexpedition to dig up this land has been
called Mission Jurassic.
The Children’sMuseum of Indianapolis (TCMI)
has signedadealtoe xplorethe 2.6-square-kilometre
site for the next 20 years. That may sound likea
long time, but Professor Phil Manning, who is part of
the team, said,“There’sprobably enough dinosaur
material heretokeep athousand palaeontologists
happy forathousand years.”
Mission Jurassic has already unearthed four
sauropods. These wereplant-eating dinosaurs that
wereamong the largest animals ever toroam Earth.
The scientists have also found dinosaur footprints
and theremains of plants that dinosaurs would have
eaten. However,Manning believes that this only
scratches the surfaceofwhat could be found.
One exciting area is arock formationcalled the
Morrison. Dr Susannah Maidment, from the Natural
History Museum, says parts of itcontain fossils from
the likes of stegosaurus, brachiosaurus, brontosaurus
and allosaurus. The team is also hoping to discover
brand new species of dinosaurs there.
To help them, the palaeontologists areusing
all sorts of methods to determine whether or not
something isadinosaur fossil. One of their more
unusual tricksistolick it, because the material on
dinosaur fossils stickstoy our tongue.
IT’SANAMAZINGWEEKFOR...
AHAPPYBIRTHDAY
When Ben Bird,abinman from Kidderminster
in Worcestershire,found out thatalady on his
round, Dorothy Ballard,wascelebrating her
100th birthday,hedecided to do something
nicefor her.Hesurprised the great-great-
grandmother withabirthdaycake,and one
of his workmates filmed the moment.
Biggest dinosaur hunt
in decades begins in the US
ON THE
CO
VER:GETTY IMAGES
·REX SHUTTERSTOCK.
ON THIS
PAGE:TRUSTEES OF THE NATURAL HISTOR
YM
USEUM AND EMIL
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STERLOFF/
EMMA BERNARD
·REX SHUTTERSTOCK
·REUTERS
·GETTY IMAGES
·SWNS.COM
President Trump tries
to buy Greenland
T
he US president, DonaldTrump,has said that
he wants to buy Greenland, the world’slargest
island. Greenland, in the North Atlantic, is part of the
Kingdom of Denmark, but it has its own government.
The island hasapopulation of about 56,000 and
lies between the Atlantic Oceanand the Arctic. The
US military has had an air base theresincethe Second
World War. The island has plenty of naturalresources,
likeoil and gas, and precious stones likediamonds
and rubies. It is also home torare-earth metals, which
areused to makebatteries,computers and gadgets.
Trump’scomments have been met with anger
and ridicule. The Danish prime minister Mette
Frederiksen said the ideawas“absurd”.She added
that“Greenland belongs to Greenland.”Kim Kielsen,
Greenland’sprime minister,said the islandwasnot
for sale. On 21 August,Trump cancelledavisit to
Denmark over the issue.
PresidentTrump is not the first US president to
try to buy Greenland. The USconsidered buying
Greenland in 1867, and in 1946, President Harry
Truman offered Denmark £80 million for it.
SIMONE BILES
This week, US gymnast Simone Biles became
the first woman tocomplete the triple-
double incompetition. This verycomplicated
move involvesabackflip with one twist,
quicklyfollowed by another with two twists.
Youcanwatch her performing the incredible
move here: tinyurl.com/TWJ-Biles
33
THESESCRABBLE CHAMPIONS
Reuben Moisey,11, has won the European
Youth Scrabble Championship.Hewas given
aspecial prizefor playing the wordzaniest,
which gave him 120 points. His brother
Joshua became the Under-Eight Scrabble
World Champion in January.Their dad
said, “Weplay together at home and it’sa
challenge tokeep up with my own children.”
Dr Susannah Maidment
digsforfossils.
WOW
!
Some saur
opoddinosaurs
weighe
dcloseto
00 tonnes,
which is ne
arly^10
times
thewe
ightof
the heav
iest
African
elephant
everfo
und.
Greenland is
notforsale.
Simone Biles
Afossil of a
sundancefish.