飞行巨兽（2011）

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: Birds today are the masters of the skies.
大卫·爱登堡爵士：如今 鸟类是天空的主人
But they were not the first creatures to fly,
但是它们不是最先学会飞行的生物
and they are certainly not the biggest.
当然它们也的确不是体型最大的飞行者
The first large animals to leave the ground
第一只离开地面的大型动物
were so extraordinary
是绝对非凡的
they’re almost beyond imagination.
它们几乎想象超出了我们的想像
They were reptiles.
它们是爬行类动物
Pterosaurs.
翼龙
They evolved into a huge variety of species.
它们演变出了很多不同的种类
Some, the size of aeroplanes,
一些和飞机大小差不多的
were the largest creatures ever to fly.
是生物史上最大的飞行者
They could travel half way around the world in a single flight.
它们飞行一次可以穿越半个地球
And the pterosaurs’ extraordinary abilities
由于翼龙的这个非凡的能力
enabled them to dominate the skies of the prehistoric Earth
使它们能够主宰史前地球
for a 150 million years.
大约1.5亿年前的天空
But, why did these magnificent beasts take to the air in the first place?
但是 为什么这些庞大的兽类最先占据了天空
How did they fly?
它们是怎样飞行的
And why, after such success, did they vanish?
为什么 这样的成功后 它们又消失了
Something very remarkable happened around 220 million years ago.
约2.2亿年前一些异乎寻常的事情发生了
The planet then was a very different place.
那时候的地球是一个非常不同的地方
It was much drier, for a start,
最初 它是非常干燥的
but, in the tropics there were rainforests,
不过在热带地区有大♥片♥雨林
and then, as now,
就像现在一样
they were the focus of a great deal of varied wildlife.
那里聚集了大量的各种各样的野生动物
In the detail however, they were very different.
然而在某些地方 它们有很大不同
Most notably, there were no large creatures in the air.
最值得注意的是 那时天空中没有大型的动物
No bats. No birds.
没有蝙蝠 没有鸟类
The stage was set for a remarkable advance
这个阶段是一个了不起的进步
in the history of life.
在生命的历史长河中
At that time, the only animals that could fly were insects.
在那个时候 唯一能在天空中飞翔的动物是昆虫类
They were tempting food for reptiles.
它们是爬行动物最喜爱的食物
But if a reptile were to catch them,
但是如果爬行动物需要抓到它们
it, too, would have to take to the air.
它们也会不得不进入空气中
And a hint, of how they might first have done so
它们最先是如何做到的
can be seen in an animal that is alive today.
通过今天依然存活的这些动物也许可以得到暗示
This little lizard called Draco,
有一种叫德拉科的小蜥蜴
is found throughout the forests of Southeast Asia.
它们生活在整个东南亚的森林里
And it must certainly have had, in the far distant past,
在遥远的过去 它一定存在过
lizard ancestors and cousins
蜥蜴的祖先和近亲
that looked very much like it.
和它长得非常相似
Like them, it finds it food, insects, throughout the forest.
和它们一样 德拉科在整个森林里寻找昆虫作为食物
And to do that, it has to get around.
要做到这一点 它不得不到处奔波
And it has a very interesting way of doing that.
它有一个非常有趣的方式来做这件事
Draco is an excellent climber.
德拉科是优秀的攀爬者
Light in weight and with powerful gripping claws,
重量轻且具有强大的夹持爪
it can run along the branches of the highest trees
它可以沿着高大的树木的枝条上奔跑
in pursuit of its prey.
来追捕它的猎物
But Draco faces a problem.
但是德拉科面临着一个问题
How can it travel from one tree to the next
它怎么从一棵树移♥动♥到下一棵
without going all the way back down to the ground and then up again?
而不是通过回到地面再重新爬上去的方式
The way it has evolved of doing so, gives us a clue
它演变出了这样一个方法 为我们提供了一个线索
as to how early reptiles may first have taken to the air.
来解释早期爬行动物是怎样进入天空的
It jumps.
它们从身一跃
But it does more than just leap.
但是不止是飞跃
It extends the width of its body
它还扩展了其身体的宽度
by opening flaps of skin along its flanks,
通过沿着两翼打开皮肤上的皮瓣
and they enable it to glide.
使得它们能够滑行
Draco may give us the right idea
德拉科也许给了我们正确的观点
as to how gliding, flying, amongst the reptiles started.
来解释爬行动物最初是如何滑行 如何飞翔
But one thing is certain.
但是有一点是可以肯定的
Flapping flight, powered flight,
振翅飞行 使用自身力量来飞行
remained the preserve of the insects for a very long time.
很长一段时间里仍然只是昆虫才具有的
And then, one group of reptiles developed even that.
之后 一些爬行动物甚至也进化到了这一步
And the evidence of how they did so is really very intriguing.
证明它们是如何做到的却真的是很耐人寻味
This is Dorset, on England’s south coast.
这就是多尔塞特 在英格兰南部海岸
And this is where my journey into the past begins.
而这也是我回到过去之旅的开始
A 90 mile stretch of shoreline here
这里的90英里长的海岸线
can tell us a lot about the evolution of flight.
可以告诉我们很多关于飞行的演变
This is the Jurassic Coast.
这是侏罗纪海岸
Its rocks are full of fossils of prehistoric creatures,
它的岩石充满了史前生物化石
including evidence of the first backboned animals ever to fly.
其中包括有史以来第一个脊椎动物飞上天的证据
But wasn’t until the 19th century
但直到19世纪
that scientist started putting together those clues
科学家才开始把这些线索整合起来
to form a detailed picture
形成一系列详细的图片
of one of the most dramatic periods
这也使之成为了有史以来
in the whole of the history of life.
最引人注目的一段历史
And they had an unlikely ally.
它们还有一个听上去令人难以置信的盟友
A middle aged woman from the local town,
一个当地小镇的中年妇女
who used to come out to scour these cliffs for those clues.
她经常来这里从冲刷过的悬崖中找寻线索
She’d come in all weathers,
她风雨无阻
but particularly, after there had been heavy storms,
尤其是在暴风雨之后
which might have removed some section of the cliff,
因为悬崖上的某些岩石的位置可能会被移♥动♥
and so exposed specimens that no one had ever seen before.
所以有些从来没有人见过的化石就会暴露出来
Her name was Mary Anning.
她的名字叫 玛丽·安宁
Mary is, for me, the heroine of this remarkable story.
玛丽 这个不平凡的故事中的女主角
She had an almost unbelievable talent for unearthing fossils.
她有着几乎令人难以置信的发掘化石的天赋
In the early 1800s, science was still the preserve of men.
在19世纪的初期 科学家依然是只有男性
Yet, what she managed to unearth,
然而 她成功地挖掘出的东西
brought academics flocking to her hometown of Lyme Regis.
使学术界人士纷纷涌向她的家乡莱姆里吉斯
So extraordinary were her achievements
她的成就是如此的奇特
that some called her, ”The Princess of Palaeontology”.
以至于有人称她 古生物公主
When you consider Mary Anning’s status,
当你考虑到玛丽·安宁的地位
a woman from a working class background,
一个劳工阶级背景的女人
with no formal education to speak of,
没有受过正规教育
it may seem strange that she acquired such a prestigious reputation,
可能会觉得她获得这样一个著名的美誉会看起来很奇怪
until, that is, you see what it was that she discovered.
但是你要是看到了她的发现你就不会这样认为了
The Natural History Museum in London.
伦敦自然历史博物馆
It holds one of the most comprehensive collections of fossils in the world.
它拥有着世界上最全面的化石收藏馆之一
And those Mary Anning discovered
那些玛丽·安宁的发现
are among the very best, and the most important.
是其中最好的也是最重要的
A whole section of the museum is filled with her finds.
博物馆中有一整片区域都充满了她的发现
Most of the creatures she collected were giant aquatic reptiles,
她收集的生物大多是巨型水生爬行动物
fish eating monsters that dominated the seas.
以吃鱼为主的海洋怪兽
But she found other things, too.
但是她也发现了其它的东西
One of them in particular is the key to our story.
尤其是其中之一是我们故事的关键
In 1828,
在1828年
Mary Anning made one of her most sensational discoveries.
玛丽安宁取得她最轰动的发现之一
This is it.
这就是它
It’s a small animal,
这是一个小型动物
but its head is missing,
然而它的头部缺失了
and its spine is missing,
它的脊柱也没有了
but what remains is fascinating.
但是留下的部分依然令人着迷
Here’s its pelvis,
这里是它的骨盆
its upper leg, its lower leg,
这是它的大腿和小腿
and there is its foot with its toes.
那里是它的带着脚趾头的脚
And here is its arm,
这里是它的手臂
which ends with a hand with fingers.
并且连着着手和手指
Except that one of these fingers is hugely elongated,
除了这些 一根手指被拉得很长
it runs all the way along here.
它一直伸到这里
And Mary Anning probably realised what that meant.
我想玛丽·安宁可能意识到了这意味着什么
It meant that that long finger supported a wing.
这意味着那根更长的手指支撑了一个翼
And as more specimens were discovered,
而随着越来越多的标本被发现
it was realised that this was certainly a reptile with a wing,
人们意识到这肯定是一只带有翼的爬行动物
so, it was called ”Pterosaur”.
所以它被取名为翼龙
”Winged lizard”.
翼蜥
Mary Anning had found the blueprint
玛丽·安宁找到了
for the first large animals ever to fly.
有史以来最早学会飞行的大型动物的蓝图
A creature that set the pattern
一种生物打破了这个
for a whole new phase of aerial evolution.
空中飞行的全新演变的格局
It lived 200 million years ago,
它生活在距今2亿年前