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(1770年 马斯特里赫特 荷兰)
这是圣彼得山的一个水平巷道 It was in one of the galleries of St Peter's Mount,
距主入口约500步远 at about 500 paces from the main entry
距地面有90英尺深 and at 90 feet below the surface,
采石工发现在一块石头里嵌有一具大型动物遗骨 that the quarrymen exposed part of the skull
挖开石头后露出了一部分颅骨 of a large animal embedded in the stone.
他们停下活儿 把这个发现告诉了霍夫曼博士 They suspended their work to tell of their discovery to Dr Hoffmann,
霍夫曼博士常年从采石场收集化石 who had for some years been collecting fossils from the quarries.
他说这是 Dr Hoffman, observing the specimen to be the most important
迄今发现的最重要的标本 that had yet been discovered,
他采取一切预防措施以保证标本完好无损 took every precaution to preserve it in one piece.
在成功移开 After having succeeded in removing
标本周围的一大块石头 a large block of stone surrounding it,
并切除多余石块减轻重量后 and reducing the mass to a proper condition,
东西被成功运至他家 it was transported to his home in triumph.
(1795年 国家自然历史博物馆 法国巴黎)
25年后 25 years later,
马斯特里赫特被法国革命军占领 after the occupation of Maastricht by the French Revolutionary Army...
你们终于到了 You are here at last.
先生们请过来 Please, gentlemen, take it.
这著名的化石在一个寒冷冬夜 ..the famous fossil shows up one cold winter night
出现在巴黎国家自然历史博物馆 at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.
小心点 东西很贵重 Be careful, it's priceless.
这个奇怪的东西 This strange thing
当时被称为马斯特里赫特未知动物 they called at the time "the unknown animal of Maastricht"
开始在科学界引起关注 started to raise interest among the scientific community.
这里! It's here!
往前走!往前走! Let's go, let's go!
再往前点 Little bit more.
放在桌子上 Put it on the table.
小心点! Be careful!
先生们 打开箱子 Gentlemen, open this chest.
对 打开 要特别小心! Yes let's open it. Be very, very careful!
先生们 现在一起用劲 Gentlemen, all together now.
他们那晚所发现的 What they discovered that night
与任何已知的活物都不同 looked unlike any known living creature.
有些人认为是鳄鱼 Some thought it was a crocodile.
也有人认为是鲸 Others believed it to be a whale.
它牙齿的形状 Neither the shape of its teeth
和颌的大小 nor the size of the jaws
都无法帮助他们确定它的真实身份 helped them to determine its true identity.
说是鳄鱼太大了 倒是比较像鲸 It's too big for a crocodile. A whale would be more appropriate.
那时距第一只恐龙被发现还有40年 Back then, that is 40 years before the discovery of the first dinosaur,
那时没人能想到在遥远的过去 nobody had ever thought that thousands of species could have lived
曾经活着的上万个物种消失了 and disappeared in a distant past.
但一切都将改变 But everything was about to change.
雷克斯海:史前世界之旅 SEA REX: JOURNEY TO A PREHISTORIC WORLD
我确信海洋恐龙还活着! I'm sure marine dinosaurs still exist!
很抱歉打断你的想法 小姐 My apologies for intruding upon your thoughts, mademoiselle,
严格地说 只有在陆地干地爬行的爬行动物 but, strictly speaking, only reptiles that walked on dry land
才叫恐龙 are called "dinosaurs".
如果它们生活在水下 就叫海洋爬行动物 If they lived under the water, they are called marine reptiles.
它们都消失于很久很久以前 And they all disappeared a very, very long time ago.
- 发生了什么? - 你会看到的 朱莉 - What happened? - You'll see, Julie.
(美国科罗拉多西南海岸 6500万年前)
6500万年前爬行动物统治着世界 65 million years ago reptiles ruled the world.
包括陆地 On land.
天空 In the air.
爬行动物也是所有海洋的国王 And reptiles were kings in all the seas as well.
可后来从外太空降临了一场大灾 But then came a great cataclysm from outer space.
一颗直径12英里的小行星撞击了地球 An asteroid 1 2 miles in diameter struck the Earth.
小行星释放出的巨大威力 This asteroid's massive impact unleashed the power
相当于100多个原子弹的力量 of more than 1 00 atomic bombs.
天空一片漆黑 地球气候剧烈变化 The sky went dark, and the Earth's climate changed drastically.
地球上70%的生命消失了 70 per cent of all life on the planet perished.
这是恐龙的末日 And, with the end of the dinosaurs,
也是爬行动物海洋统治期的末日 it was also the end of the reign of the reptile in the sea world.
你说…那是什么时候的事? And... when did you say that happened?
6500万年前 65 million years ago.
那么…人类就在那之后出现? So... then humans came right after that?
人类来的…要晚些 Humans will come... a little later.
多晚? How much later?
6500万年以后 65 million years.
你在开玩笑吧 You're kidding.
像我和你这样的现代人类20万年前才出现 Modern humans, like you and I, only appeared barely 200,000 years ago.
相对于地球的年龄 这是眨眼工夫 In comparison to the age of the Earth, that's a blink of the eye.
20万年前? 200,000 years?
在地质时期上 这是一瞬间 An instant, in geological time.
有些难以理解 对吧? Somewhat difficult to comprehend, is it not?
相对于上万 上千万 甚至上百亿年 Comparing thousands and millions and even billions of years.
你同意吗? Don't you agree?
呃… Um...
跟我来 朱莉 Then follow me, Julie.
你想让时间停下时就喊“停” And when you want to stop time, say "stop".
- 停? - 好 我们向后回到过去! - Stop? - All right, then. Forward to the past!
现在我们从开头慢慢开始 Now, let's start slowly, from the beginning.
地球形成于45亿年前 Earth forms four and a half billion years ago.
而后生命出现 但以微生物形式存在了30亿年 Then life appears but remains microscopic for three billion years.
这个时间螺旋 只有最后一旋使我们感兴趣 In this time spiral, only the last turn interests us
它通向我们的时间 that leads to our time.
我们把这想象成个时钟 Let's consider this as a 1 2-hour clock.
那么5.4亿年前 相当于2点 540 million years ago, at 2 o'clock,
古生代开始了 the Primary Era begins.
生命在各个环境中生长 进化 Life grows and evolves in every environment.
7点30 第二纪 也叫中生代开始 At 7.30 the Secondary Era, or the Mesozoic, begins.
这是爬行动物的时代 It is the age of reptiles.
包括著名的恐龙? Including the famous dinosaurs?
对 也包括会飞的和海洋的爬行动物 Yes, as well as flying and marine reptiles.
下一个也是最后一个是新生代 这是哺乳动物时代 The next and last era, the Cenozoic, is the age of mammals.
在这个时钟上 人 我们这微小物种 On this clock, Homo sapiens, our miniscule species,
只比12点早了8分钟出现 appears just eight seconds before 12.
中生代介于两大生态危机之间 The Mesozoic takes place between the two major ecological crises
危机导致地球上许多物种灭绝 that led to the extinction of many species on Earth.
最大那起在7点30 最后那起就在10点50处 The largest at 7.30, and the last, right there, at 1 0.50.
这引起了恐龙和大型海洋爬行动物的灭绝 That one caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and large marine reptiles.
那生命怎么开始的? But how did it start?
首先 你需要个显微镜 Well, first, you'll need a microscope.
35亿年前 Life on Earth starts in the water, as bacteria,
地球生命以细菌的形式起源于水 3.5 billion years ago.
慢慢地 这微型生命进化了 Slowly, this micro-life evolves.
而后 6.5亿年前 Then, 650 million years ago,
生命可以为肉眼所见 即软体动物 life becomes visible to the naked eye, soft-bodied organisms.
接下来的4亿年前 迎来了生命爆发期 The following 400 million years bring with them an explosion of life.
新形态形式出现 生命体积可观 New morphological forms appear, reaching considerable sizes.
最后 跟在鱼类后的两栖动物出现脚 And, finally, amphibians follow fish with feet
征服了陆地 to conquer terra firma.
3亿年前 第一批爬行动物出现在陆地上 300 million years ago, the first reptiles appear on land.
天空中 某些昆虫的翼展达到3英尺多 And in the sky, the wingspan of some insects reaches over three feet.
到古生代末 陆地和海洋满是生命 By the end of the Paleozoic, the land and the seas are bursting with life.
那是生物多样性的黄金时代 It is the golden age for biodiversity.
但这个时期以大灾难告终 But this period ends with gigantic cataclysms,
灾难灭绝了95%以上的物种 which exterminate up to 95% of the species,
是有史来最大的一次灭绝 the largest extinction of all time.
95%的物种?数目真庞大! 95% of the species? But that's enormous!
那之后肯定没留下什么了! Nothing much must have remained after that!
说的对 亲爱的 You're right, my dear.
大多数大型食肉动物都消失了 And most of the world's great predators have disappeared.
但生命继续着 But life persists.
海洋里 许多鱼类和软体动物还在 And in the seas many fish and molluscs remain.
海洋爬行动物呢? What about the marine reptiles?
它们的统治现在开始 Their reign begins now.
有三个不同类别 一个接一个统治世界海洋 Three different groups, one after the other, will rule the world's oceans.
第一是鱼龙 用尾巴游 First the lchthyosaurs, that use their tails to swim.
- 像鱼一样? - 很像鱼 - Like a fish? - Much like a fish.
而后是蛇颈龙 And then the Plesiosaurs,
用桨似的四肢在水里“飞行” that use their four paddle-like limbs to fly through the water.
而后是沧龙 波状移动 And next, the Mosasaurs, that use an undulating movement
类似…类似于蛇 similar to... to a snake.
这些动物统治海洋长达1.8亿年 And these animals ruled the seas for 1 80 million years,
贯穿中生代三个时期 throughout all three Mesozoic periods,
三叠纪 侏罗纪和白垩纪 Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous.
从三叠纪早期往后 From the early Triassic period onwards,
鱼龙统治海洋 Ichthyosaurs are the kings of the seas.
这段时期内 在水面上 During this time, above the water,
地球上的所有大陆合并 all the continents on Earth are joined together
形成单一一块陆地 in a single mass of land,
一块超级大陆叫做泛古陆 a supercontinent called Pangea.
到泛古陆的海岸去! Off to the Pangean coast!
(瑞士南部 2.3亿年前)
- 是瑞士? - 对 - Switzerland? - Yes.
那时 欧洲大部分还在水下 At this time, most of Europe is under water,
上面是浅浅的暖水海域 a shallow and warm sea.
在三叠纪中期 陆地上又热又干 没什么食物 In the middle Triassic, it's hot and dry on land with little to eat.
海洋里 生命再次勃发 In the sea, life flourishes again.
几类爬行物种又回到海洋环境 Several reptile species have returned to the marine environment,
靠丰富的食物供给繁荣 thriving on the plentiful food supply.
长颈龙拥有一项世界纪录 The Tanystropheus hold a world record.
与身体比例相比 它们的脖子在所有记载里最长 In proportion to their bodies, they have the longest necks ever recorded.
这个盾齿龙有扁平的牙齿 主要以贝克和软体动物为食 With its flat teeth, this Placodont mostly eats seashells and molluscs.
- 那不是海龟吗? - 根本不是 - Aren't those turtles? - Not at all.
但它们也进化出坚硬的盔甲 But they, too, have developed a tough armour
保护自己不受三叠纪大型食肉动物伤害 to keep them relatively safe from the great predators of the Triassic,
比如…幻龙 like... the Nothosaur.
13英尺多长 Over 13 feet long.
异常危险 游泳强手 Very dangerous, and an excellent swimmer.
但它可没机会追上混鱼龙 But it has no chance of catching up with a Mixosaurus.
- 那看着像海豚 - 除了是爬行动物之外 - It looks like a dolphin. - Except it's a reptile.
像今天的海洋哺乳动物一样 它也得到水面呼吸 Like marine mammals today, it, too, must come to the surface to breathe.
它属于鱼龙的一个大类 It belongs to the large group of lchthyosaurs,
统治海洋长达约1.5亿年! which will rule the seas for some 1 50 million years!
这个看起来小得什么都征服不了 That one doesn't seem quite big enough to rule anything.
也有大型鱼龙 There are also some very large Ichthyosaurs,
一些长达75英尺 有50吨重的 some measuring up to 75 feet long and weighing 50 tons!
比如沙尼龙 是其中最大的 Like the Shonisaurus, the biggest of them all.
哇! Wow!
和所有鱼龙一样 它们群居生活 Like all lchthyosaurs, it lives in groups
主要吃软体动物和小鱼 and mainly eats molluscs and small fish.
看着像海豚和鲸! They look like dolphins and whales!
对 它们的出生方式甚至相似 That's right. They're even born in a similar manner.
什么意思? What do you mean?
我们听听古生物学家藻谷良介的解释 Well, let's hear from an expert, the palaeontologist Ryosuke Motani.
他刚研究完德国一出名化石点 He has just finished studying some very fine specimens
的一些很精致的标本 from a famous fossil site in Germany.
许多鱼龙化石都发现于霍尔茨玛登 Many Ichthyosaur fossils have been found at Holzmaden
骨骼完好无损 with their bones intact
石块上甚至还有皮肤印迹 and even with the imprint of their skin on the rock,
这帮助我们辨识它们鳍的位置 which helped us to know the position of their fins.
有些鱼龙化石保存得如此完好 Some Ichthyosaur fossils are so well preserved
我们甚至可以看见 that we can actually see foetuses
母体内的胎儿 inside the mother's bodies,
有些正在出生 and some even being born.
和其他爬行动物一样 Unable to get out of the water
它们不能到陆地下蛋 to lay their eggs like other reptiles,
鱼龙在水里生产 Ichthyosaurs gave birth in the water.
小鱼龙尾部先出来 The babies came out tail first,
像今天的海豚 like dolphins today.
鱼龙的另一特征是眼睛巨大 Another one of the lchthyosaur's characteristics are its huge eyes,
由面包圈状的骨骼保护 protected by doughnut-shaped bones
可以承受极端水压 able to withstand extreme water pressure.
侏罗纪时代的一种鱼龙 大眼鱼龙 A Jurassic lchthyosaur, the Ophthalmosaurus,
在动物王国尤为突出 stands out in the animal kingdom
因为与身体比例相比 它的眼睛最大 as having the largest eyes in proportion to its body.
这些大眼睛 With these enormous eyes,
使它们在黑暗的海洋深处看清猎物 it could make out its prey in the darkness of great depths.
奇怪的是 Strangely enough, the Ichthyosaurs became extinct
鱼龙在白垩纪中期灭绝了 in the middle of the Cretaceous,
尽管它们惊人地适应海洋生活 despite their amazing adaptation to sea life.
可9千万年前灭绝的物种 But how can we know so much
我们怎么会了解这么多? about species that became extinct 90 million years ago?
或许因为留存了大量高质量的化石 Perhaps because of the large number and the quality of fossils left.
还有 当然 要感谢那些发现它们的人 And, of course, thanks to those who discovered them.
此刻我们在伦敦 这是最美的 Here we are in London, in one of the most beautiful galleries
中生代海洋爬行动物展览馆之一 devoted to Mesozoic marine reptiles.
法国专家娜塔莉·巴德目前在研究这些动物 Nathalie Bardet is currently the French expert on these animals.
早在恐龙被发现以前 A long time before dinosaurs were discovered,
化石收集者就知道海洋爬行动物遗骨 the remains of marine reptiles had been known to fossil collectors.
玛丽·安宁 Mary Anning.
20世纪早期 她还是个孩子时 In the early 1 9th century, she was a child
就在英格兰南部的多西特海岸 when she started to collect fossils around her home
她家的附近 收集化石 along the Dorset coast in southern England.
凭借着极度锐利的眼睛 During her lifetime, with an amazingly sharp eye,
她发现了在这伦敦自然历史博物馆展出的 she found some of the most famous fossils, Ichthyosaur and Plesiosaur,
一些最出名的鱼龙和蛇颈龙化石 exhibited here at the Natural History Museum of London.
迄今发现最完整的蛇颈龙骨骼之一 One of the most complete Plesiosaur skeletons ever found
是菱龙 was Rhomaleosaurus.
这早侏罗纪的食肉动物是强大的游泳者 This Early Jurassic predator was a powerful swimmer.
侏罗纪时期 During the Jurassic period,
海洋爬行动物的一个新类 蛇颈龙 占了上风 a new group of marine reptiles takes over, the Plesiosaurs.
在早侏罗纪开端 At the beginning of the Early Jurassic,
泛古陆开始分裂并逐渐漂散成为好几块 Pangea has started to break up and drift apart into different pieces.
天气还很热 但潮湿多了 It is still hot, but the climate is becoming much more humid.
这些条件特别适合 Such conditions are perfectly suited
生命在全世界繁衍 to the development of life all over the world.
这肯定比三叠纪看起来怡人得多 Now this sure seems more pleasant than the Triassic did.
侏罗纪被认为是恐龙的黄金时代 对吧? The Jurassic is considered the golden age of dinosaurs, isn't it?
事实上 这是生命普遍的黄金时代 In fact, it's the golden age of life in general,
对爬行动物尤为如此 and even much more so for the reptiles,
不管它们是在陆地 天空还是海洋 be they earth, flying or marine reptiles.
凭借四只强壮的“桨” With their four strong paddles,
蛇颈龙很快成为海洋新国王 Plesiosaurs soon become the new kings of the seas.
第一只被命名的恐龙叫斑龙 The first dinosaur to be named is Megalosaurus,
拉丁文意思是巨大的蜥蜴 which means "great lizard" in Latin.
对于一头30英尺长 胃口极大的食肉动物 A well-deserved name for a 30-foot-long carnivore
这个名字很相称 with a huge appetite.
菊石和箭石这些软体动物 经历了史无前例的繁盛期 Molluscs like ammonites and belemnites experience an unprecedented growth
是大多数海洋食肉动物的盘中餐 and are on the menu of most marine predators.
到晚侏罗纪时 一些动物达到创纪录体积 By the Late Jurassic, some animals reach record sizes,
像腕龙 100多英尺长 like the Brachiosaurus, over 1 00 feet long
有的比6只大象还重 and can weigh more than six elephants.
哥斯拉 这是这种大型海洋鳄鱼的昵称 Godzilla. That is the nickname given to this large marine crocodile
发现于安第斯山脉 discovered in the Andes.
背上有巨大骨质板的 With large, bony plates on its back,
剑龙 3吨重 食草动物 the Stegosaurus, a three-ton plant-eater,
与早期鸟类属同一时代 is a contemporary of the very first birds.
侏罗纪时期末 随着大陆继续漂移 At the end of the Jurassic period, as the continents continue to drift,
新海洋出现 蛇颈龙的新物种统治了深海 new oceans appear and new Plesiosaur species rule the deep.
滑齿龙很可能是 The Liopleurodon is most likely
中生代最大的海洋食肉动物之一 one of the largest ocean predators of the Mesozoic,
49英尺 或更长 measuring 49 feet or more.
这么大? That big?
这儿 这是它的一颗牙 送给你 Here. This is one of its teeth. It's for you.
谢谢! Thank you!
瞧 滑齿龙没理由害怕任何生物 You see, the Liopleurodon had no reason to fear any creature,
或许除了另一种滑齿龙 save perhaps another Liopleurodon.
(阿根廷安第斯山 1.57亿年前)
这有一对滑齿龙 Here is a pair of Liopleurodon.
雄的在试图讨好雌的 The male is attempting to court the female.
看她 50英尺长的纯肌肉 致命的桨状四肢 Look at her - 50 feet of sheer muscle, four deadly paddle-like limbs,
大约10英尺长的颌 里面的牙齿 and jaws about ten feet long that hold teeth
甚至比我给你的那颗还大 even bigger than the one l gave you.
在这个过程中 During this process,
雄性使得自己极易受到雌性的攻击 the male makes himself extremely vulnerable to the female.
看来起作用了 It seems to have worked.
既然她选择他为伴 Now that she's chosen him as her partner,
这一对就需要到更安全的沿海水域繁殖 the pair needs to head to the safer coastal waters to reproduce.
像鲨鱼一样 滑齿龙交配时 雄性『握紧』雌性 Like sharks, the male Liopleurodon holds on to the female while mating.
它们的幼崽几个月后会出生 Their young will be born in a few months.
怎么了? What happened?
好像是分开时她不经意弄伤了他的眼睛 It seems that upon separating she has accidentally injured his eye.
疼痛使他暂时失去知觉 The pain has made him lose consciousness for a while.
不过最后 In the end, though,
滑齿龙仍是能独自生存的超级食肉动物 the Liopleurodon remains a superpredator that lives alone.
侏罗纪时代末 At the end of the Jurassic Era,
它的地盘从欧洲跨到了南美 its territory spanned from Europe to South America.
这位是祖玛·加斯帕里尼 Here we are with Zulma Gasparini,
她在安第斯山脉发现了 昵称“哥斯拉”的海洋鳄鱼 who discovered the marine crocodile nicknamed "Godzilla" in the Andes.
过去很长一段时间内 人们相信 People believed for a long time
世界始终没变 that the world had always been the same as it is now.
只是到了1915年才有一位德国的 年轻科学家阿尔弗雷德·魏格纳 And it was only in 1 91 5 that Alfred Wegener, a young German scientist,
提出了革命性的理论 put forward a revolutionary theory
叫做大陆漂移 he called the "continental drift".
魏格纳用于支持理论的有力论据中 Among the solid arguments that Wegener used to support his theory,
有个生活在2.5亿年前的微小海洋爬行动物 a tiny marine reptile that lived 250 million years ago,
中龙 出人意料地成为关键点 the Mesosaurus, was to become unexpectedly important.
我们确实在大西洋两侧发现 Indeed we have found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean
这种动物的相同化石 identical fossils of this animal.
但考虑到中龙的小体积 But considering the small size of the Mesosaurus,
就像这个虚拟水族馆里的这样 like the one we have here in this virtual aquarium,
很明显 它们太小而没能力独自 it is obvious they were much too small to cross an ocean
横渡广阔的大西洋 as vast as the Atlantic on their own.
这必然得出结论:如果它们没横渡海洋 The conclusion is inescapable: if they did not cross the ocean,
那么这拥有它们化石的大陆 then the very continents that contained their fossils
肯定是分离了 must have separated.
(阿根廷安第斯山 1.57年前)
侏罗纪是巨型动物的时代 The Jurassic was the age of giant animals.
利兹鱼将近100英尺长 The Leedsichthys is approximately 1 00 feet long,
或许是有史以来最大的鱼 probably the largest fish of all time.
这些长颈蛇颈龙叫什么? What are these long-necked Plesiosaurs called?
它们是薄板龙 它们在吞食胃石 Those are Elasmosaurs. They're gulping down gastroliths,
用来帮助消化吞咽的石头 stones they swallow in order to help their digestion.
- 它们吃什么? - 软体动物和鱼 - What do they actually eat? - Molluscs and a lot of fish,
从它们长而锋利的牙齿可以判断出来 judging from their long, sharp teeth.
我相信这是之前受伤的 I believe that's the male Liopleurodon
那只雄滑齿龙 that was wounded some time back.
对 缺了只眼 这可不容易 Oh, yes. With one eye missing, it's not easy.
从大的同类在薄板龙骨骼上 From the deep bite marks
留下的很深的咬伤痕迹看 on Elasmosaur bones made by larger relatives,
似乎其他的滑齿龙运气好些 it would appear that other Liopleurodon were luckier.
3千万年后 克柔龙取代了滑齿龙 30 million years later, Kronosaurus took Liopleurodons' place
居海洋食物链顶端 at the top of the marine food chain.
克柔龙遗骨最先发现于 Kronosaurus remains were first discovered
澳大利亚 在20世纪30年代 in Australia during the 1 930s.
13英尺长的颅骨 A 13-foot-long skull
10英尺长的颌 装备有匕首似的牙齿 with 10-foot jaws, armed with dagger-like teeth.
本杰明·克尔博士将告诉我们更多蛇颈龙的情况 To tell us more about Plesiosaurs, here's Dr Benjamin Kear,
他是澳大利亚研究这些的专家 an Australian expert on these animals.
海洋爬行动物遗骨在每块大陆都有发现 Marine reptiles' remains have been found on every continent,
尤其是蛇颈龙的 particularly those of Plesiosaurs.
它们长达46英尺 是壮观的海洋爬行动物 Up to 46 feet in length, they were magnificent ocean-dwelling reptiles
靠四只巨型“桨”优雅地在水里“飞行” that flew gracefully through the water with four massive paddles.
蛇颈龙目大型而多样 The order Plesiosauria was large and varied.
大致分为两大科 It has been broadly divided into two superfamilies,
根据它们的总体身体结构 based on their overall body structure.
有些 得力于它们巨大的头和短而有力的颈 Some of them, thanks to their large heads and powerful, short necks,
是那时的超级食肉动物 如克柔龙 were the superpredators of their time, like Kronosaurus.
其他则完全相反 Others were the complete opposite,
头微小 颈长得过度 with tiny heads at the end of extra-long necks,
如薄板龙 such as Elasmosaurus.
蛇颈龙和恐龙延续的时间一样长 Plesiosaurs lasted as long as the dinosaurs,
直到白垩纪末 6千5百万年前 until the end of the Cretaceous, 65 million years ago.
白垩纪后期是中生代最后一段 The Late Cretaceous is the very last period of the Mesozoic Era,
是沧龙的时代 and it is the age of Mosasaurs.
地球陆地块 The land masses of the Earth
几乎到达如今的位置 have nearly reached their present positions.
美洲的内海退去 The interior seas of the Americas retreat
但欧洲仍有部分为浅水覆盖 but Europe is still partly covered by shallow waters.
(荷兰 6千5百万年前)
气候怎样? And what about the climate?
很接近今天的气候 但更暖和 Very comparable to the climate of today, but warmer.
真是到白垩纪海洋泡泡的好日子 你觉得呢? A beautiful day for a dip in the Cretaceous ocean, don't you think?
软体动物仍旧是大多食肉动物的最爱 As has been the case for millions of years,
上千万年来一直如此 molluscs are still a favorite meal for most predators.
那么白垩纪时还有蛇颈龙? So, the Plesiosaurs are still around in the Cretaceous?
确实还有一些 Indeed, there are some.
但它们不再居于海洋食物链顶层 But they are no longer at the top of the ocean's food chain,
那位置现在被这时代两个最大的食肉动物争夺 a place now disputed by the two greatest predators of this era.
在这个角落 白垩纪最大的鱼 In this corner, the largest fish of the Cretaceous,
23英尺长的鲨鱼 a 23-foot-long shark.
在这个角落 最强大的海洋爬行动物 侧齿龙 And in this corner, the most powerful marine reptile, the Prognathodon,
40英尺长的沧龙 a 40-foot Mosasaur.
看着像今天的大白鲨 It looks just like a great white of today!
确实 只是更大 Indeed, just larger.
可那鲨鱼绝对敌不过这个! But the shark is never going to measure up to that!
我们不能太肯定 瞧 它比对手有个明显优势 We can't be too sure. You see, it has a distinct edge over its opponent.
那鲨鱼不需要到水面呼吸 所以… The shark doesn't need to come up to the surface to breathe, so...
噢 好吧 Oh, well.
我跟你说过沧龙会赢的 I told you the Mosasaur was going to win.
这次 对 但不总是这样 This time, yes. But it wasn't always the case.
我们甚至发现沧龙骨骼里嵌着鲨鱼牙齿 We've even found shark teeth embedded in Mosasaur bones.
所以鲨鱼时不时地把牙齿插进它们体内 So the sharks did get their teeth into them from time to time.
顺便说一句 19世纪在矿井里发现的 By the way, wasn't it a Mosasaur that was found in a mine
那只不就是沧龙吗? back in the 1 8th century?
到了 很接近于那个矿井 Here we are, very close to the mine
1770年左右人们在那里发现了 著名的马斯特里赫特未知动物 where the famous "unknown animal of Maastricht" was found around 1 770.
和所有古生物学家一样 奥利维尔·瑞柏尔很熟悉这个故事 Like all palaeontologists, Olivier Rieppel knows this story very well.
1795年 马斯特里赫特的沧龙化石抵达巴黎时 In 1 795, when the fossilised Mosasaur of Maastricht arrived in Paris,
乔治·居维叶还是个26岁的年轻解剖学家 Georges Cuvier was a young, 26-year-old anatomist,
刚开始在自然历史博物馆工作 who had just started working there at the Museum of Natural History.
这颅骨是第一块被科学家 This skull was the first great fossil
彻底研究的巨大化石 ever to be thoroughly studied by scientists,
他们发现很难把这个生物归类 who found it quite difficult to classify this creature.
不过是乔治·居维叶提供了解法 But it was Georges Cuvier who would provide the solution
基于比较解剖学 based on comparative anatomy.
来自默兹河的爬行动物 沧龙 The reptile from the Meuse River, the Mosasaur,
是巨大的海蜥蜴 was a giant sea lizard,
巨蜥的近亲 a close relative of the monitor lizards.
但这一物种在时代开始前就完全灭绝 But this species became completely extinct before the dawn of time.
因此沧龙支持了居维叶的假说 And so the Mosasaur helped to support Cuvier's hypothesis
即几场宇宙大灾发生在地球上 that several universal cataclysms occurred on Earth
发生在遥远的过去 in the distant past.
某种程度上多亏这大型动物 And thanks in part to this large animal,
如今乔治·居维叶被视为古生物学家之父 Georges Cuvier is recognised today as the father of palaeontology.
(美国科罗拉多西南海岸 6千5百万年前)
白垩纪末 At the end of the Cretaceous,
穿越北美中部的内海道 the interior seaway running through the middle of North America
还没完全消失 had not yet completely disappeared.
那么 在大西洋另一侧也有鲨鱼? So, there are sharks on the other side of the Atlantic as well?
除海洋爬行动物外 它们遍布所有海洋 In addition to marine reptiles, they are found in all the oceans.
与恐龙相反 海洋动物没有疆界 Contrary to dinosaurs, marine animals don't have any borders.
这些是13英尺长的幼鲨 These are young, 1 3-foot-long sharks.
在海滩上下蛋好几小时后 这只海龟精疲力竭 After hours of laying her eggs on the beach, this turtle is exhausted.
易于成为饥饿鲨鱼的猎物 Easy prey for starving sharks.
啊…不过它们并不孤单 Ah, but they are not alone.
是沧龙 A Mosasaur.
这大型食肉动物 This large predator truly is
真是著名的雷克斯暴龙的海洋版 the marine equivalent of the famous T. rex.
沧龙将成为古海洋的最后统治者 The Mosasaur will become the last ruler of the ancient seas.
这是它的一颗牙 送给你 This is one of its teeth. It's for you.
古生物学之父
乔治·居维叶
要不是有化石 没人会想到 Without fossils, no one would have ever dreamed
地球形成前后经历了多个时期(乔治·居维叶) that there were successive epochs in the formation of the earth.
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