鯨魚(yú)從未長(zhǎng)得比現(xiàn)在更大

鯨魚(yú)從未長(zhǎng)得比現(xiàn)在更大

Both toothed and baleen (filter-feeding) whales are among the largest animals ever to exist. Blue whales, which measure up to 100 feet (30 meters) long and can weigh over 150 tons, are the largest animals in the history of life on Earth.

齒鯨和須鯨都是現(xiàn)存最大的動(dòng)物之一。藍(lán)鯨身長(zhǎng)可達(dá)100英尺(30米)，體重可達(dá)150多噸，是地球生命史上最大的動(dòng)物。

Although whales have existed on this planet for some 50 million years, they only evolved to be truly gigantic in the past five million years or so. Researchers have little idea what limits their enormous size. What is the pace of life at this scale, and what are the consequences of being so big?

雖然鯨魚(yú)在這個(gè)星球上已經(jīng)存在了大約5000萬(wàn)年，但它們只是在過(guò)去的500萬(wàn)年左右才進(jìn)化成真正的龐然大物。研究人員不知道是什么限制了它們巨大的體型。在這個(gè)尺度上，生活的節(jié)奏是怎樣的?

As scientists who study ecology, physiology and evolution, we are interested in this question because we want to know the limits to life on Earth, and what allows these animals to live at such extremes.

作為研究生態(tài)學(xué)、生理學(xué)和進(jìn)化的科學(xué)家，我們對(duì)這個(gè)問(wèn)題很感興趣，因?yàn)槲覀兿胫赖厍蛏仙臉O限，以及是什么讓這些動(dòng)物生活在如此極端的環(huán)境中。

In a newly published study, we show that whale size is limited by the largest whales' very efficient feeding strategies, which enable them to take in a lot of calories compared to the energy they burn while foraging.

在一項(xiàng)新發(fā)表的研究中，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)鯨魚(yú)的體型受到了最大的鯨魚(yú)非常有效的進(jìn)食策略的限制，這種策略使它們能夠攝入大量的卡路里，而不是在覓食時(shí)消耗的能量。