TPO 04 Integrated Writing Task Endotherms are animals such as modern birds and mammals that keep their body temperatures constant For instance humans are endotherms and maintain an internal temperature of 37 C no matter whether the environment is warm or

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TPO-04 - Integrated Writing Task

Endotherms are animals such as modern birds and mammals that keep their body temperatures constant. For instance, humans are endotherms and maintain an internal temperature of 37°C, no matter whether the environment is warm or cold. Because dinosaurs were reptiles, and modern reptiles are not endotherms, it was long assumed that dinosaurs were not endotherms. However, dinosaurs differ in many ways from modem reptiles, and there is now considerable evidence that dinosaurs were, in fact, endotherms.

Polar dinosaurs

One reason for believing that dinosaurs were endotherms is that dinosaur fossils have been discovered in Polar Regions. Only animals that can maintain a temperature well above that of the surrounding environment could be active in such cold climates.

Leg position and movement

There is a connection between endothermy and the position and movement of the legs. The physiology of endothermy allows sustained physical activity, such as running. But running is efficient only if an animal's legs are positioned underneath its body, not at the body's side, as they are for crocodiles and many lizards. The legs of all modern endotherms are underneath the body, and so were the legs of dinosaurs. This strongly suggests that dinosaurs were endotherms.

Haversian canals

There is also a connection between endothermy and bone structure. The bones of endotherms usually include structures called Haversian canals. These canals house nerves and blood vessels that allow the living animal to grow quickly, and rapid body growth is in fact a characteristic of endothermy. The presence of Haversian canals in bone is a strong indicator that the animal is an endotherm, and fossilized bones of dinosaurs are usually dense with Haversian canals.

The reading passage and the professor both discuss about whether dinosaurs should be classified as endotherms. The author says that dinosaurs are endotherms. The professor believes that there is strong evidence that dinosaurs are not endotherms.
The author mentions that certain dinosaurs lived in polar regions, and only endotherms could have adapted to that particular climate. The professor points out that the polar region was much warmer than it is today, and it is warm enough to have been home to dinosaurs. Furthermore, dinosaurs have the option of either migrating to even warmer areas or turning into hybrids such as reptiles.
The author thinks that the leg position of dinosaurs proves dinosaurs are related to endotherms. The professor refutes this idea by arguing that in order to grow to large sizes, dinosaurs would have to adapt to this leg position to support their heavy weight. In fact, dinosaurs didn’t evolve to this leg position to run constantly to maintain their temperature like endotherms.
In addition, the author notes that Haversian canals are abundant in dinosaur bodies, suggesting that this is a feature shared by all endotherms. The professor, on the other hand, believes that there are growth rings in dinosaurs' bodies, indicating that dinosaurs don't grow rapidly in cool environments. In other words, dinosaurs experience periodic growth based on the outside temperature. As a result, it is contradictory to classify dinosaurs as endothermic based on just one feature.

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No. of Sentences: 13 12
No. of Words: 240 250
No. of Characters: 1239 1200
No. of Different Words: 129 150
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 3.936 4.2
Average Word Length: 5.162 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.705 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 96 80
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Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 18.462 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 5.956 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.462 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.409 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.409 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.145 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 1 4