飞行巨兽（2011）

To maintain our height, we need to find a thermal.
为了保持现在的高度 我们需要许多热能
That’s those columns of warm air that rise from patches of the landscape,
起飞时需要很多的热空气
that heat well in the sun, like patches of rock.
那些热能都来自于太阳 储存在石头里
You can tell where they are,
你可以找到那些热能在哪
because white fluffy clouds form at the top of them.
因为它们的上空总会有洁白的云朵
And there’s one over there, and we’re going to have to get to it
比如那里就有一块这样的地方 我们必须飞过去
if we’re going to maintain our height.
才能够继续维持现在的高度
It’s been estimated that by exploiting thermals,
我估计正是利用了热气流
Quetzalcoatlus could travel some 10,000 miles in a single flight.
风神翼龙才能够一次飞行一万英里以上
And that is almost half the circumference of the entire planet.
这几乎是整个地球周长的一半
It might even be that like some eagles today,
它们更类似于现代的鹰类
these flying giants undertook long migratory journeys every year.
这些飞行怪兽每年都要进行长途迁徙
And so, a 150 million years after they had first appeared,
因此 对于1.5亿年后才出现的鹰类来说
the pterosaurs were at their most spectacular.
翼龙是那个时代空中的一道亮丽的风景
And then, suddenly, they vanished.
但是之后不久 它们突然就消失了
A meteor that crashed into Earth 65 million years ago
6500万年前一颗陨石坠落在地球上
is often blamed for the extinction of the dinosaurs and the pterosaurs.
这是史学家对于恐龙灭绝的公认的说法
But the truth is that their fate was already sealed
事实上它们的命运
millions of years before that moment,
在千万年前的那一刻已经决定了
by the early birds that had been evolving in their shadow.
它们已经逐渐演变为了早期的鸟类
It was the birds that rose from the ashes of that meteor.
这是鸟类进化史上的一次飞跃
They occupy all the niches that the pterosaurs once did.
它们占据了翼龙曾经飞翔过的天空
So, why did birds survive and the pterosaurs die?
但是 为什么鸟类生存了下来而翼龙灭绝了呢
Birds had one great advantage over the pterosaurs.
鸟类有一个很大的优势
Their rigid flight feathers
它们翅膀上长着较硬的羽毛
meant that their wings had no need to be anchored to either
意味着它们飞行时翅膀不再需要牵连到
their flanks or their legs.
身体侧部和腿部
So, birds could run,
因此 鸟类可以奔跑
and walk, and pounce,
走路 和扑击
whatever they needed to do,
它们所需要做的
to collect their food in almost any of the land’s environments.
仅仅是在地球上的各个地方找到食物而已
No pterosaurs, encumbered by their skinny wings,
没有任何一种翼龙可以担♥保♥它们瘦弱的翅膀
could wade like flamingos.
可以扇动得像火烈鸟那样
Birds today
如今的鸟类
have evolved into thousands of different species,
已经演变出了数千个不同的种类
flying with many different techniques.
它们运用各种不同的技巧在空中飞翔
But it was the pterosaurs
但是对于翼龙来说
that were first into the air.
它们才是天空的第一位主人
It was they that solved the fundamental problems of flight.
正是它们首先解决了如何飞向蓝天这一难题
And in their prime,
在翼龙全盛的时代
they reached a grandeur,
它们达到了一个
that the birds still can’t match.
鸟类至今任然无法比拟的高度
The dynasty of the pterosaurs lasted over a 150 million years.
翼龙王朝一直持续了超过1.5亿年
We human beings have only been around for about two.
我们人类出现的时间大约只有它们的百分之二
But only now, are we beginning to appreciate to the full
直到今天 我们才开始充分认识了
the wonders and the splendours of those pioneers of flight,
这些神奇的 绚丽多姿地飞翔在天空中的先驱者
the pterosaurs.
它们就是翼龙