時差N小時:罕見的寶藏

Most people searching for buried treasure would belooking for silver and gold, ancient coins or rareartwork.

大多數(shù)人尋找埋葬的寶藏多數(shù)是為了金銀，古幣或者稀有藝術(shù)品。

But scientists studying the extinct giant moa birdand its environment are looking for a different kindof artifact. Poop.

但是科學(xué)家研究滅絕的巨型摩亞恐鳥及其生存環(huán)境，是為了尋找一件特別的工藝品。糞便。

That's right. A treasure trove of information can befound in fossilized feces, commonly called coprolites. The Giant Moa of New Zealand is a greatspecies to study because they stood about nine feet high, weighed close to five-hundredpounds and some of their feces were over six inches in length.

對。在化石糞便(通常稱之為糞化石)中能發(fā)現(xiàn)海量的信息。巨型摩亞恐鳥生長在新西蘭，這類物種是極好的研究對象，因?yàn)樗鼈兏哌_(dá)9英寸，體重將近500鎊，它們的糞便有時也能長達(dá)6英尺多。

Now, that's a big piece of treasure. There were once ten species of moa birds in New Zealand,but they were hunted to extinction when Polynesians moved to the island in the 1500s. Theywere flightless birds, similar to ostriches and emus. Scientists assumed they were herbivores,eating a diet of plants and seeds. But it wasn't until they began studying moa coprolites thatthey discovered what the birds actually ate and how they affected their environment.

如今，這種糞便是巨大的寶藏。在新西蘭曾有十種摩亞恐鳥，但是在十六世紀(jì)波里尼西亞人入島后就被捕食殆盡。它們類似于鴕鳥和鴯鹋，不會飛?？茖W(xué)家認(rèn)為它們是食草動物，以植物和種子為食。但直到開始研究摩亞恐鳥的糞化石后，他們才發(fā)現(xiàn)這類鳥真正的食物是什么，以及它們?nèi)绾斡绊懮磉叺沫h(huán)境。

Scientists expected a bird as large as the moa would eat shrub and tree parts. Moa droppingstold a different story. Moas grazed mostly on tiny herbs no more than a foot high. Not only that,many of those herbs are rare or threatened today. Scientists think this is because while themoa ate the plants, it also swallowed seeds whole. Those seeds passed through the digestivetract and were scattered across the countryside to find new places to grow.

科學(xué)家們認(rèn)為像摩亞恐鳥這種體積的鳥類應(yīng)該會吃灌木叢和樹葉。摩亞恐鳥糞便另有故事。摩亞恐鳥主要咀嚼細(xì)碎的不過一足高的草本植物。不僅如此，其中許多草本植物很稀有，甚至瀕臨滅絕?？茖W(xué)家們認(rèn)為這是因?yàn)槟喛著B在食用植物的時候，同時吞下所有的種子。這些種子排出消化道后播撒在鄉(xiāng)村各地，然后在新的地方成長。

Moa poop has revealed important clues about the moa and its environment. Now, scientistshope to use what they've learned from the moa to make predictions about our own changingworld.

摩亞恐鳥糞便泄露了重要的關(guān)于摩亞恐鳥及其生存環(huán)境的線索，如今科學(xué)家們希望利用已知的情況來預(yù)測不斷變化的人類世界。