侏羅紀搏擊俱樂部 第122期:發(fā)現潛在的掠食者

You really want to detect a predator before it gets close enough for you to be able to see it and so they potentially used other senses like the sense of smell.

它們確實會想在掠食者靠近得能夠看見之前就探測到它，所以它們潛在地使用其它感覺比如說嗅覺。

With its limited visual capability, Gastonia had to rely on a keen sense of smell and hearing to keep it alert of potential predators.

加斯頓龍因為視覺能力有限，必須要依賴敏銳的嗅覺和聽覺才能發(fā)現潛在的掠食者。

Based on modern animal behavior, scientists also consider an intriguing possibility of another early warning system.

根據現代動物行為，科學家也在考慮另一種早期預警系統有趣的可能性。

There are a lot of symbiotic relationships between animals today, and I have no doubt whatsoever that they existed in the past.

如今動物間有很多共生關系，我敢肯定過去也有這種現象。

Look at modern rhinos.

比如現代犀牛。

They have a poor sense of vision, so they rely on birds to alert them to approaching danger.

它們的視力很差，所以它們依靠鳥類來警告它們有危險靠近。

These birds in turn are protected from their own predators by the rhino.

這些鳥類反過來也被犀牛保護于它們自己的掠食者。

I think that small pterosaurs would have had the same symbiosis with Gastonia.

我認為小型翼龍可能會跟加斯頓龍形成同樣的共生關系。

They would have been protected by the Gastonia, and in return, they would have warned it of potential danger.

它們可能被加斯頓龍保護，反過來它們警告加斯頓龍潛在的危險。

But with its incredible array of defensive armor, why would Gastonia even need an early warning system?

不過有了這么出色的全副護甲，為何加斯頓龍還需要預警系統呢?

Its only vulnerability was its underbelly which was not armored, no creature could possibly have been strong enough or clever enough to prey on it.

它唯一的薄弱環(huán)節(jié)就是其沒有護甲的腹部，沒有哪種生物有那么壯或聰明能夠捕食加斯頓龍。

But 50 meters away, paleontologists found fossil evidence of exactly why Gastonia would have needed an early warning system.

不過50米開外，古生物學家發(fā)現的化石證據說明了，加斯頓龍究竟為什么需要預警系統。

In 1989, near the town of Moab in Utah, dinosaur hunter Robert Gaston discovered the remains of Gastonia, an armored dinosaur from the early Cretaceous.

1989年，在猶他州摩押鎮(zhèn)附近，恐龍獵人羅伯特·加斯頓發(fā)現一頭加斯頓龍的殘骸，這是白堊紀早期的一種有甲恐龍。

He had no idea that lying nearby was a second species, unknown to modern science.

他根本不知道另一個不為現代科學所知的物種就在不遠處。

Only this one was a predator.

只不過這是一個掠食者。

And scientists would soon discover this was no ordinary killer.

科學家們很快就會發(fā)現這不是普通殺手。