侏羅紀搏擊俱樂部 第105期:肉食者的美餐

The landscape of modern Utah scarcely resembles the landscape of 156 million years ago, when Allosaurus ruled supreme, there were fewer mountains.

現(xiàn)代猶他州的地形跟一億五千六百萬年前大相徑庭，在異特龍稱霸之時，那里沒多少山脈。

And seasons as we now know them did not exist.

我們如今熟悉的季節(jié)當時并不存在。

And there was water everywhere. Rivers, ponds and lakes covered much of the state.

那時到處都是水。河流、池塘和湖泊覆蓋著當時的整個猶他州。

The entire flood plain was probably scattered with with these rivers, with ponds and lakes, and large meadows.

整個澇原可能都點綴著河流、池塘、湖泊和大片的草場。

There were a lot of fairly large trees. Trees were probably 100, 200 feet tall.

有很多相當高大的樹木。這些樹高達100,200英尺高。

Lots of ferns, lots of cycads, lots of ginkkos, plants be interesting plants, but of course none of them flowering plants, or grasses, or fruits, or anything like that.

有很多蕨類，很多蘇鐵，很多銀杏，都是有趣的植物，不過當然它們中沒有花、草、水果之類的植物。

Fossilized dinosaur bones are often found in sediment created by rain or flood.

恐龍骨化石經常能在大雨或洪水形成的沉積物中發(fā)現(xiàn)。

This sediment provides crucial information.

這種沉積物提供了關鍵信息。

Different types of physical environments produce different sorts of sediment.

不同類型的物理環(huán)境會產生不同類型的沉積物。

And we can go out in the modern world to look at a stream valley versus a desert, versus open plains, and each of them has a different pattern of sediment being produced and therefore different types of sedimentary rocks or structures.

我們可以去現(xiàn)代世界觀察河流峽谷對比沙漠，對比開闊平原，它們每一種都會產生不同類型的沉積物因此會有不同的沉積巖或沉積結構。

Also, the plants vary from environment to environment.

同樣，植物在不同環(huán)境里也各不相同。

As so we can look at whether we are seeing ferns, or herbs, or trees, or other remains of fossil plants to reconstruct the living environment.

所以我們能參考看到的是蕨類，還是草，或樹木，或是什么別的植物化石遺跡來重建當時的生存環(huán)境。

By extracting oxygen, and carbon isotopes from the sediment and analyzing their chemical make-up, geochemists can deduce temperature, humidity, and even weather conditions from prehistoric world.

通過在沉積層里提取氧和碳的同位素，并且分析其化學構成，地化學家能夠推測出溫度、濕度、甚至是史前世界的氣候條件。

And by adding all these bits and pieces together, we can create a much bigger picture of past climates and past atmospheres, and therefore, past environments.

把這些零零碎碎的各種信息加起來，我們就能構造出過去氣候和大氣更為廣闊的圖景，繼而了解過去的環(huán)境。

Throughout the Jurassic period, the earth climate was hot and humid.

在整個侏羅紀時期，地球氣候又熱又濕。

This created a super-sized world. Tree in Utah reach an average of 25 meters.

這形成了巨物天地。在猶他州的樹木平均高二十五米。

During the Jurassic era, they could reach 42 meters, fueled by the abundance of water and oxygen.

在侏羅紀時期，充足的水分和氧氣的滋養(yǎng)下，它們能達到四十二米高。

This lush environment provided a banquet for plant eating dinosaurs who in turn, became a banquet for the new species of meat eaters, like Allosaurus.

這種蔥郁的環(huán)境為植食恐龍?zhí)峁┝耸⒀?，它們也轉而成了異特龍這樣的肉食者的美餐。

More advanced in both brain and brawn, it literally ate its competition into extinction.

無論腦力還是體格都更出色，它簡直把它的對手吃到了滅絕。

One of the main competitors of Allosaurus was Ceratosaurus.

異特龍的主要競爭對手之一是角鼻龍。