Amargasaurus Profile

Amargasaurus Profile Name: Amargasaurus (Greek for La Amarga lizard:); pronounced ah-MAR-gah-SORE-us Habitat: Woodlands of South America Historical Period: Early Cretaceous (130 million years ago) Size and Weight: About 30 feet long and three tons Diet: Plants Distinguishing Characteristics: Relatively small size; prominent spines lining neck and back About Amargasaurus Most of the sauropods of the Mesozoic Era looked pretty much like most every other sauropod- long necks, squat trunks, long tails and elephant-like legs- but Amargasaurus was the exception that proved the rule. This relatively slim plant-eater (only about 30 feet long from head to tail and two to three tons) had a row of sharp spines lining its neck and back, the only sauropod known to have possessed such an imposing feature. (True, the later titanosaurs of the Cretaceous period, direct descendants of the sauropods, were covered with scutes and spiny knobs, but these were nowhere near as ornate as those on Amargasaurus.) Why did the South American Amargasaurus evolve such prominent spines? As with similarly equipped dinosaurs (like the sailed Spinosaurus and Ouranosaurus), there are various possibilities: the spines may have helped to deter predators, they may have had some kind of role in temperature regulation (that is, if they were covered by a thin flap of skin capable of dissipating heat), or, most likely, they may simply have been a sexually selected characteristic (Amargasaurus males with more prominent spines being more attractive to females during mating season). As distinctive as it was, Amargasaurus appears to have been closely related to two other unusual sauropods: Dicraeosaurus, which was also equipped with (much shorter) spines emanating from its neck and upper back, and Brachytrachelopan, which was distinguished by its unusually short neck, probably an evolutionary adaptation to the types of food available in its South American habitat. There are other examples of sauropods adapting fairly quickly to the resources of their ecosystems. Consider Europasaurus, a pint-sized plant eater that barely weighed a single ton since it was restricted to an island habitat. Unfortunately, our knowledge of Amargasaurus is limited by the fact that only one fossil specimen of this dinosaur is known, discovered in Argentina in 1984 but only described in 1991 by the prominent South American paleontologist Jose F. Bonaparte. (Unusually, this specimen includes part of Amargasaurus skull, a rarity since the skulls of sauropods are easily detached from the rest of their skeletons after death). Oddly enough, the same expedition responsible for the discovery of Amargasaurus also unearthed the type specimen of Carnotaurus, a short-armed, meat-eating dinosaur that lived about 50 million years later!

85 Synonyms for Help

85 Synonyms for Help 85 Synonyms for â€Å"Help† 85 Synonyms for â€Å"Help† By Mark Nichol There are so many ways to help at least eighty-five, I discovered. Here are that number of synonyms and idiomatic phrases for the verb help: 1. Abet: to actively help with an endeavor 2. Accommodate: to offer something, especially to help meet a need or want 3. Advance: to speed up the development of an initiative or cause 4. Advise: to recommend or warn 5. Aid: to provide something necessary to help 6. Alleviate: see relieve, and to help correct or remove a problem 7. Ameliorate: to make better or more manageable 8. Amend: to help by improving 9. Assist: to supplement an effort 10. Attend: to stand ready to help 11. Back: to help with actions or words, or to help financially 12. Backstop: see bolster 13. Bail out: to help someone suffering hardship; also, to abandon an enterprise 14. Ballyhoo: see hype 15. Bear a hand: see â€Å"lend a hand† 16. Be of use: see benefit 17. Befriend: to become a friend of 18. Benefit: to be helpful 19. Bolster: to help in order to strengthen 20. Boost: to physically help one up from below, or to help publicly; also, slang for â€Å"steal† 21. Buck up: see bolster 22. Buttress: to strengthen figuratively or literally 23. Care for: to help someone recover 24. Champion: to advocate or protect 25. Cheer: to make someone feel better through deeds or words; also, to applaud vocally 26. Comfort: to provide hope or strength, or to console 27. Contribute: to give financial or material help or to provide services 28. Cooperate: to proactively offer help, or to compromise 29. Counsel: see advise 30. Deliver: to convey something to another 31. Ease: to make easier 32. Embolden: to give courage to 33. Encourage: to inspire, or to help by offering a positive comment or making a helpful gesture 34. Endorse: to approve or recommend 35. Facilitate: to help enable something to occur 36. Favor: to give partisan help to someone 37. Forward: see encourage 38. Foster: see encourage and nurture 39. Further: see encourage 40. Go to bat for: see back 41. Guide: see advise, or to show or demonstrate 42. Hearten: see encourage 43. Hype: to provide extravagant publicity 44. Intercede: to become involved on another’s behalf 45. Launch: to help someone start an enterprise 46. Lend a hand: to provide material help 47. Meliorate: see ameliorate 48. Mentor: see advise 49. Minister to: to give help to, especially in terms of emotional or physical needs 50. Mitigate: see relieve and mollify 51. Mollify: to assuage, soften, or soothe 52. Nurture: to help develop 53. Oblige: to indulge a request for help 54. Open doors: to provide help through influence or recommendation 55. Palliate: to reduce discomfort or pain, or to excuse 56. Patronize: to provide help through influence or financial support 57. Plug: see promote 58. Promote: provide help by advertising or by enabling publicity 59. Prop up: see bolster 60. Push: to help in reaching an objective 61. Reinforce: see encourage, or to strengthen 62. Relieve: to remove a burden or obligation, or to take one’s place in performing a task 63. Remedy: see relieve 64. Rescue: to help someone or something harmed, in poor conditions, or in financial straits 65. Restore: to improve by returning to a previous, better condition, or to help rejuvenate 66. Revive: to bring back to life or former improved circumstances 67. Root for: to publicly make positive comments, or to applaud vocally 68. Sanction: to approve, especially in an official capacity; can also mean to ratify, or to censure) 69. Save: see rescue 70. Second: see assist and reinforce 71. See (something) through: to help accomplish or complete a task 72. Serve: to satisfy or supply needs or wants 73. Sponsor: see patronize 74. Stand by: see back 75. Stick up for: see back 76. Stimulate: see restore 77. Stump for: see promote 78. Succor: see relieve 79. Support: see assist and promote 80. Sustain: see assist and relieve 81. Take under (one’s) wing: see patronize 82. Treat: to care for 83. Stand one in good stead: see bolster 84. Uphold: see assist 85. Work for: to help accomplish a goal Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Beautiful and Ugly WordsWhat to Do When Words Appear Twice in a RowCareful with Words Used as Noun and Verb