The Week Junior UK – 24 August 2019

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

YO

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.