023 霸王龙：恐龙暴君

旁白 neutral

In 1902 a paleontologist named Barnum Brown found an exciting new fossil

1902年，一位名叫巴纳姆·布朗的古生物学家发现了一块令人兴奋的新化石。

旁白 neutral

He found it while he was on a fossil-hunting expedition in Montana, at a site filled with ancient rocks

他是在蒙大拿州一次化石采集探险中发现的，那里满是古老的岩石。

旁白 neutral

Brown was a very well-known and experienced fossil collector who had traveled all over the world hunting for dinosaur fossils

布朗是一位非常著名且经验丰富的化石收集者，他曾周游世界寻找恐龙化石。

旁白 neutral

And he had just discovered the remains of what is now considered the most famous dinosaur that ever lived: the Tyrannosaurus rex

而他刚刚发现的正是如今被认为是有史以来最著名的恐龙的遗骸：霸王龙。

旁白 neutral

The new fossil was located in solid rock

这块新化石位于坚硬的岩石中。

旁白 neutral

In the early days of paleontology, the methods for excavating, or digging out, a fossil were not very sophisticated

在古生物学早期，挖掘化石的方法并不很先进。

旁白 neutral

So Brown had to use dynamite to blast the rock into pieces

所以布朗不得不用炸药把岩石炸成碎片。

旁白 neutral

Then these broken rock fragments, which weighed hundreds of kilograms, were shipped to the Museum of Natural History in New York City

然后，这些重达数百公斤的破碎岩石碎片被运往纽约市的自然历史博物馆。

旁白 neutral

At that time the Museum of Natural History had one of the best dinosaur fossil collections in the world

那时，自然历史博物馆拥有世界上最好的恐龙化石收藏之一。

旁白 neutral

Henry Osborn, a museum curator and expert paleontologist there, studied Brown's newly discovered fossils

博物馆馆长兼古生物学专家亨利·奥斯本研究了布朗新发现的化石。

旁白 neutral

Osborn wrote the first scientific paper on the new dinosaur, and he also gave it its name: Tyrannosaurus rex or " tyrant lizard king."

奥斯本撰写了关于这种新恐龙的第一篇科学论文，并为其取名为霸王龙，意为“暴君蜥蜴王”。

旁白 neutral

The Tyrannosaurus rex — or " T. rex," as it was soon nicknamed — certainly seemed to deserve its name

霸王龙——很快就被简称为“T. rex”——似乎确实名副其实。

旁白 neutral

The skeletons Osborn studied revealed a huge and terrifying creature

奥斯本研究的骨骼显示，这是一种巨大而可怕的生物。

旁白 neutral

In adult form it was 15 meters from head to tail

成年霸王龙从头到尾长达15米。

旁白 neutral

It walked on its two back feet and stood almost seven meters high, sometimes weighing over six tons

它用两条后腿行走，站立时近七米高，有时体重超过六吨。

旁白 neutral

With a huge skull, and about sixty long, sharp teeth, the dinosaur could tear off more than two hundred kilograms of flesh in a single bite!

凭借巨大的头骨和约六十颗又长又尖的牙齿，这种恐龙一口就能撕下超过两百公斤的肉！

旁白 neutral

Osborn also realized that the Tyrannosaurus rex had lived during the late Cretaceous period

奥斯本还认识到，霸王龙生活在白垩纪晚期。

旁白 neutral

The Cretaceous period began 136 million years ago and ended 65 million years ago

白垩纪始于1.36亿年前，结束于6500万年前。

旁白 neutral

During this time palm trees, ferns, and flowering plants grew, but grasses had yet to evolve

在这个时期，棕榈树、蕨类植物和开花植物生长茂盛，但草类尚未进化出现。

旁白 neutral

Huge flying reptiles called pterosaurs flew overhead while frogs and turtles moved along below in the land and water

被称为翼龙的巨型飞行爬行动物在头顶翱翔，青蛙和乌龟在下方陆地和水域中活动。

旁白 neutral

The only mammals in existence at the time were very small, similar in size and shape to mice or rats

当时存在的哺乳动物都非常小，大小和外形类似小鼠或大鼠。

旁白 neutral

In this ancient world, the giant Tyrannosaurus rex was probably truly a lizard king!

在这个古老的世界中，巨大的霸王龙可能确实是一位蜥蜴之王！

旁白 neutral

Six years after his first discovery, Barnum Brown found another Tyrannosaurus rex at the Montana site

在首次发现六年后，巴纳姆·布朗又在蒙大拿州的同一地点发现了另一具霸王龙化石。

旁白 neutral

This second skeleton had more bones than the first one, so it was another exciting and useful discovery for the field of paleontology

这第二具骨架比第一具拥有更多骨骼，因此对古生物学领域又是一个令人兴奋且实用的发现。

旁白 neutral

Since Brown's early discoveries, more T. rex skeletons have been found

自布朗的早期发现以来，已出土了更多的霸王龙骨架。

旁白 neutral

In 1990 paleontologist Susan Hendrickson collected a skeleton that was the biggest and most complete skeleton ever

1990年，古生物学家苏珊·亨德里克森采集到了一具骨架，这是迄今最大、最完整的。

旁白 neutral

It was named Sue in Hendrickson's honor, and eventually sold to a Chicago museum for lots of money — about 8.4 million dollars!

为纪念亨德里克森，它被命名为苏，并最终以高价售予芝加哥一家博物馆——约840万美元！

旁白 neutral

In 2000, five more T. rex skeletons were excavated from the Montana site where Barnum Brown had discovered the first ones

2000年，在巴纳姆·布朗发现首批霸王龙的蒙大拿州遗址，又发掘出五具霸王龙骨架。

旁白 neutral

Some of these newer dinosaurs were very well-preserved, adding more information to experts' growing knowledge

这些较新的恐龙中，有些保存得极为完好，进一步丰富了专家们不断增长的知识。

旁白 neutral

As a clearer picture of the T. rex emerged, scientists learned that it had probably reached its full size at around age twenty, as humans do

随着对霸王龙的图像日渐清晰，科学家们了解到，它可能像人类一样，在20岁左右达到完全体型。

旁白 neutral

Its front legs were short but quite strong, and its back legs had three toes with claws

它的前肢短小却相当强壮，后肢有三趾，均带爪。

旁白 neutral

The T. rex probably ate smaller plant-eating dinosaurs, maybe hunting by hiding behind trees, waiting to attack its unsuspecting prey

霸王龙可能捕食体型较小的植食恐龙，或许会躲在树后，伺机袭击毫无防备的猎物。

旁白 neutral

With its sharp teeth, the T. rex could easily rip into food

凭借锋利的牙齿，霸王龙能轻易撕开食物。

旁白 neutral

But the dinosaur probably didn't just hunt for food

但这种恐龙大概不仅靠狩猎获取食物。

旁白 neutral

Instead it likely scavenged food as well, stealing it from other dinosaurs, and eating their leftovers

它很可能也会捡食腐肉，抢夺其他恐龙的猎物，吃它们剩下的残骸。

旁白 neutral

Bite marks found on the bones of several T. rex suggest that the T. rex may have even dined on other T. rex dinosaurs!

在一些霸王龙骨头上发现的咬痕表明，它们甚至可能同类相食！

旁白 neutral

Scientists have debated how quickly the T. rex could move

科学家们一直在争论霸王龙的移动速度。

旁白 neutral

They think it probably moved pretty fast — about 16-32 kilometers per hour

他们认为它可能跑得相当快——大约每小时16至32公里。

旁白 neutral

But because of its huge size, the Tyrannosaurus rex was not as fast as some smaller dinosaurs

但由于其庞大的体型，霸王龙的速度比不上某些小型恐龙。

旁白 neutral

Scientists have also carefully examined the T. rex's forearms

科学家们还仔细检查了霸王龙的前肢。

旁白 neutral

The arms were quite short compared to its massive body, and had two fingers attached

与它巨大的身躯相比，前臂十分短小，且只有两根手指。

旁白 neutral

These short arms might have been long enough for the dinosaur to grab prey

这些短臂也许足够长，能让它抓住猎物。

旁白 neutral

But they were definitely too short to reach its mouth

但它们显然太短，够不到自己的嘴。

旁白 neutral

So it's been difficult to figure out exactly how the T. rex used these small limbs

因此，要确切弄清楚霸王龙如何使用这些小肢体一直很困难。

旁白 neutral

Today, over one hundred years after Barnum Brown's exciting discoveries in Montana

如今，距离巴纳姆·布朗在蒙大拿州的激动发现已过去一百多年，

旁白 neutral

paleontologists have more sophisticated tools for the excavation and study of fossils

古生物学家们已拥有更先进的工具来发掘和研究化石。

旁白 neutral

But when it comes to the T. rex, they still have many more questions than answers

但关于霸王龙，他们的问题仍远多于答案。

旁白 neutral

Perhaps future fossil excavations will reveal more about this amazing and massive creature — Tyrannosaurus rex, the tyrant lizard king

或许未来的化石发掘会揭示更多有关这种惊人而庞大的生物——霸王龙，也就是暴君蜥蜴之王的信息。