飞行巨兽（2011）

is actually the egg of a pterosaur.
就是翼龙的蛋
And although it’s squashed flat, it’s marvellously preserved,
虽然它被压扁了 但是由这个化石
so you can see details of the bone inside.
从中你可以看到骨头里面的细节
The head, as you’d expect with a bird head,
看到这个头 你会想到它是一个鸟类的头
is quite well formed.
确实还是很像的
It’s amongst these massive bones here.
它就混在这里这些骨头当中
But whereas a bird’s wings will hardly be formed at this stage,
但是鸟的翅膀不会在这一阶段形成
here, the pterosaur wings
这个是翼龙的翅膀
have got these well formed bones in them.
这些骨骼发育得很好
And that leads us to one extraordinary conclusion.
这让我们得出另外一个结论
A pterosaur chick, when it hatched,
一只新生的翼龙 当它孵化出来时
was almost immediately able to fly.
基本上立马就可以飞翔了
The bones of the pterosaur embryo reveal another extraordinary fact.
翼龙胚胎的骨骼揭示另一种不同的事实。
They develop in a way quite different from birds.
它们以和鸟类以完全不同的方式发育长大
And what is more, they continue to do so,
更有甚者 它们还继续这样发育
even after the young have hatched.
即使在小翼龙孵化之后
This led to some species becoming gigantic.
这样会使得这些物种变得更强大
Here, in the south western United States,
在美国的西南部
close to the Mexican border,
靠近墨西哥的边境
evidence was found of the largest animal ever to fly.
有关于世上最大的飞行动物的证据已经被发现
A pterosaur so gigantic,
如此巨大的一个翼龙
that for years, some scientists refused to believe
多年来 一些科学家都拒绝相信
that it could have existed.
它曾经存在过
Seventy million years ago,
7000万年前
the area was a hot, lush floodplain.
该地区是一个炎热 葱郁的河漫滩
I’ve come here to meet fossil hunter, Doug Lawson.
我来到这里拜访化石猎人 道格劳森
And here, Doug made one of the most remarkable discoveries
在这里 道格找到了一个
in the history of pterosaur research.
在翼龙的研究史上令人吃惊的发现
On the side of the sandstone hill was this one isolated ball.
砂岩山的另一侧有一个孤立的地方
And you might have thought, ”Well, it’s just another dinosaur,”
你会想到 那里有另外一只恐龙
except the material of this animal
这种动物的结构
was very thin, very light individual.
非常纤瘦 非常轻
And, uh, it was difficult because,
而且 这是非常困难的 因为
actually, if you thought it was pterosaur,
事实上 如果你想它是翼龙
then the bone that you were gonna be comparing it to
然后 你要拿去比较的骨头
was usually the size of a grain of rice.
通常是米粒大小
And this bone was bigger than a grapefruit.
而这根骨头是比柚子还大。
And it was covered with sandstone,
并且它被砂岩覆盖
so it was very difficult to see what it was.
所以很难看出它是什么东西
But I finally figured out that it was the wrist of the animal.
但我终于想通了 这是动物的手腕
And pterosaur wrists are unique.
而翼龙的手腕是独一无二的
So, given that, when we had these other
因此 当我们在这里
pieces of bone that we discovered in the location,
发现了其它的骨头之后
you’d come to understand how big that was.
你可以想象这个化石会有多大
This is just the upper arm bone of the specimen.
这仅仅是上臂骨骼标本
This… Yeah, yeah.
这是 对了
And looking at this you realise,
你意识到
“Wow, we have something that’s dinosaur sized.”
哇 我们有一些东西是恐龙般大小的
“But it’s a pterosaur.”
但是它是翼龙
Now, you could not have prevented yourself from saying,
现在你会情不自禁地问
“How big is this?”
它有多大啊
Oh, yeah, right. Then you’d say, “Wow…”
对了 你会说 哇
Okay, we’ve…
好了 我们
So, based on what we have, the estimate was about 50 feet.
根据我们有的资料 大概有50英尺
Wingspan? Yeah.
双翼展开的宽度吗 是的
Yeah, 50 foot wingspan.
双翼展开有50英尺宽
I mean that… That is gigantic. Oh, yeah, definitely.
我的意思是 这是非常大的 对 绝对的
ATTENBOROUGH: Mind blowing.
爱登堡：令人兴奋的
Did people believe it?
人们会相信吗
LAWSON: Well, there was some question.
劳森：额 有一些问题
No other pterosaur was even half the size of this one.
没有任何一种翼龙能长到它一半的大小
And the fact that something so large that could fly,
而事实上 这么大的东西如果能飞
there was almost an aerodynamic question of whether this could even be.
这甚至可以说关系到空气动力学的问题
ATTENBOROUGH: It was a truly astounding discovery.
爱登堡：这是一个真正惊人的发现
His creature had wings that were so large,
这种生物有着如此之大的翅膀
they could easily have spanned the width of this building.
它们可以很容易地横跨这个建筑
It lived 70 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period.
它生活在距今7000万年前 白垩纪时期
It stood 20 feet high.
它站着有20英尺高
So tall it could look a giraffe in the eye.
它如此高大 因此可以平视长颈鹿
This was Quetzalcoatlus.
这是风神翼龙
Named after the Serpent God of the Aztecs.
被命名为阿兹台克人的蛇神
It was probably a scavenger.
它很可能是一个食腐动物
Using its long neck to probe deep into the carcasses
用它的长长的脖子 把嘴巴深入到
of dead dinosaurs.
死亡的恐龙的尸体里
Any small animal foolish enough to get in its way
任何愚蠢小动物如果想来分一杯羹
was likely to meet a grizzly end.
那么就会满足了这些猎食者
But how did the giant Quetzalcoatlus get off the ground?
但巨大的风神翼龙怎么离开地面呢
The answer may be found inside the pterosaur arm bones.
可以在它们的手臂骨内找到答案。
There are two things you have to get right,
有两件事必须弄清楚
if an animal the size of a giraffe, like Quetzalcoatlus,
是否有像长颈鹿大小的动物 像风神翼龙
is to get into the air.
一样曾经飞上过天空
Weight and power.
它们也有着如此的体重和力量
And a close examination of the bones,
通过对骨骼的仔细检查
show how the pterosaurs did that.
可以显示它们是如何做到的
A scan of the arm bone of Quetzalcoatlus
对风神翼龙的手臂骨进行扫描
shows that just like those of other pterosaurs,
表明就像其它翼龙
it was hollow.
它是空心的
This animal was very lightweight.
这种动物是非常轻的
It may have been the size of a giraffe,
它可能有长颈鹿的大小
but it was no heavier than two human beings.
但是不会比两个人重
But at the very top of the arm, the bone is very different.
但是手臂上的骨头是非同寻常的
All these supporting struts line up in one direction.
所有这些支撑杆排列朝着同一个方向
And that gives us a clue as to how the animal got airborne.
这给了我们一个它们是如何升空的线索
The upper arms were reinforced
上臂被加强
so that they could withstand the sudden burst of great power
使它们能够承受突然爆发的巨大力量
without breaking.
而不会受损伤
The animal used all four of its limbs
它们使用四肢
as a giant catapult.
作为一个巨大的弹射器
To launch its body skyward at 35 miles an hour.
推射出的身体 以每小时35英里速度在天空飞翔
It used a quadrupedal launch.
四肢同时发力
But how did it actually fly?
但是它到底是怎样飞的呢
There is a practical way of finding out.
这里有一个切实可行的办法
A modern glider is about the same size as that giant pterosaur.
现代滑翔机的大小与巨型翼龙差不多
It too, has long slender wings.
它们都有着又长又细的翅膀
And it too, is extremely light.
而且它们都非常轻
This flying machine is so lightweight,
这种飞行机器异常的轻
it doesn’t even need an engine.
甚至不需要引擎就能飞起来
All it requires is a tow to get it into the air.
唯一要做的只是如何把它们放飞到空中
This is the nearest I will ever get to experiencing the magic
这是我最近遇到的一个
of Quetzalcoatlus in flight.
有关风神翼龙如何飞行的难题
With its giant wingspan,
它们有着超长的翼展
this was the largest animal ever to fly.
是有史以来最大的飞行动物
Quetzalcoatlus kept its wing beats to a minimum.
风神翼龙以极低的频率扇动翅膀
It was a living glider.
它们就是活生生的滑翔机
And it had much more detailed control
它们在某些细节的控制上
that even the most advanced and sophisticated of modern aircraft.
甚至要比现代先进的飞机还要好
(OVER RADIO) We are controlling our flight,
我们正在驾驶着飞机
using at least in part, our tail.
这飞机至少有一部分是参照着它们来的 比如尾翼
However,
当然
whereas powered aeroplanes have tails and birds have tails,
飞机和鸟类都有尾巴
advanced pterosaurs like Quetzalcoatlus
它们都比风神翼龙的要先进很多
didn’t have a tail.
因为它们没有尾巴
So, steering must have been much more difficult,
所以,它们飞行的时候转向会变得很困难
and would have required very considerable brain power.
这需要一个非常好的大脑来控制
But there was, people think, a payoff to that.
但是 事情总有相反的地方
Because without a tail,
就是因为它们没有尾巴
Quetzalcoatlus was even more manoeuvrable,
风神翼龙才会变得比我们现在坐着的飞机
than we are in this.
更有机动性
Quetzalcoatlus doubtless used many of the techniques
当然风神翼龙的许多飞行技术
employed by human glider pilots.
都被现代的飞行员所采用