翻译题 One answer to the question, 'What ate dinosaurs?' is, obviously, 'Other dinosaurs.' Theropod predators like Tyrannosaurus and Allosaurus loom large in the imagination of every lover of prehistoric monsters, and their animatronic fights with the likes of Diplodocus and Stegosaurus are the stuff of cliche.     46    Science tries to look beyond the obvious, and at this year's meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology, held in Las Vegas, some of the speakers asked whether the top predators of the Mesozoic era really were all dinosaurs. Their conclusion was 'no'. Another group of reptiles, until recently neglected, were also important carnivores. And it is a group that is still around today: the crocodiles.
    That the past role of crocodiles (or, strictly, crocodilians, since they came in many sizes and shapes. not all of which resemble the modem animals) has been underestimated was suggested a few years ago by Paul Sereno.     47    Dr. Sereno, a paleontologist at the University of Chicago, uncovered a crocodile-dominated ecosystem from about 100m years ago in what is now North Africa. Besides, water-dwelling giants are similar to (though much bigger than) today's animals, he found a range of forms including vegetarians and species that ran on elongated legs—more like dogs than crocodiles. That discovery has prompted other fossil hunters to look elsewhere.     48    As a result, even the well-studied rocks of North America are revealing that dinosaurs did not have it all their own way in the ecosystems of the Mesozoic.
    The Cretaceous equivalent of zebra and antelopes—the victim species in every wildlife documentary about the dramas of the African savannah—were herbivorous dinosaurs called ornithopods. Frequently, these were taken by theropods, but not always.     49    When Ms. Drumheller and Mr. Boyd examined the bones 0f juvenile upper-Cretaceous ornithopods dug up in Utah they saw marks on one skeleton that looked suspiciously like those modem crocodiles inflict when biting and tearing at their prey. On examining these marks more closely, they found a crocodilian tooth stuck in one of them.
    It was not a large tooth. Its size suggests the animal which made it was no more than a meter and a half (about 5 feet) long. Such a predator would have been unable to take on an adult ornithopod. Nevertheless, this tooth is the first unarguable proof that crocodilians did indeed snack on dinosaurs.     50    Moreover, it helps to confirm suspicions that the other crocodile-bite-like marks that Ms. Drumheller and Mr. Boyd have discovered really are what they look like. By combining that with an analysis of the whole site, the two researchers argue that what they have; discovered is a dinosaur nesting ground that was being raided by crocodilians.

问答题     Science tries to look beyond the obvious, and at this year's meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology, held in Las Vegas, some of the speakers asked whether the top predators of the Mesozoic era really were all dinosaurs.

问答题     Dr. Sereno, a paleontologist at the University of Chicago, uncovered a crocodile-dominated ecosystem from about 100m years ago in what is now North Africa.

问答题     As a result, even the well-studied rocks of North America are revealing that dinosaurs did not have it all their own way in the ecosystems of the Mesozoic.

问答题     When Ms. Drumheller and Mr. Boyd examined the bones 0f juvenile upper-Cretaceous ornithopods dug up in Utah they saw marks on one skeleton that looked suspiciously like those modem crocodiles inflict when biting and tearing at their prey.

问答题     Moreover, it helps to confirm suspicions that the other crocodile-bite-like marks that Ms. Drumheller and Mr. Boyd have discovered really are what they look like.