侏羅紀(jì)搏擊俱樂部 第165期:滅絕是進(jìn)化的正常結(jié)果

It exploded with the force of a million nuclear bombs and unleashed the power of the sun.

它爆炸的威力相當(dāng)于一百萬枚核彈，釋放出太陽的能量。

It set alight the entire biomass of earth and cooked the atmosphere.

它點(diǎn)燃了地球上全部的生物量，烘烤著大氣層。

What was once a vibrant planet became a wasteland where billions of life forms were vaporized and turned into ash.

原本活力十足的星球變成了一片荒原，數(shù)十億生命被蒸發(fā)變成了灰燼。

The final days, hours and minutes of the dinosaurs.

這就是恐龍的最后時刻。

Our planet's first mass extinction.

我們星球上的首次大滅絕。

They were the Earth's largest animals.

它們曾是地球上最大的動物。

New technology and forensic evidence helps paleontologists bring to life some of their final moments.

新的科技和現(xiàn)場證據(jù)如今幫助古生物學(xué)家們重現(xiàn)了它們生命中的最后時刻。

Four and a half billion years ago. The first life forms appeared.

四十五億年前。最早的生命形式出現(xiàn)了。

They've engaged in a battle for survival ever since, combating new predators, and environmental catastrophes.

從那時開始，它們就為了生存不斷地斗爭著，對抗新的掠食者和環(huán)境性的災(zāi)難。

While many were able to adapt, most species failed and were lost from existence.

很多物種能夠適應(yīng)的同時，多數(shù)物種失敗了最終在滅絕中湮沒。

Planet earth has faced 5 such extinctions.

行星地球面臨過五次這樣的滅絕。

When we look at the history of life, we see that there are many, many extinction events throughout the last four and a half billion years, that is, throughout the history of the earth.

當(dāng)我們在回顧生命的歷史時，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)在過去的四十五億年里，即在地球歷史上，有過很多很多滅絕事件。

The one with the dinosaurs, 65 and a half million years ago was a big extinction, but that wasn't even the biggest.

在六千五百萬年前恐龍的滅絕是一次大滅絕，不過它并非最大的一次。

There have been many that have been far worse.

有過多次比這嚴(yán)重得多的大滅絕。

Every once in a while, there's some really, really major events, what we call mass extinctions, where we lose lots of different species of many different ecological types.

每隔一段時間，就會有一些這樣真正的大事件，我們稱作大規(guī)模滅絕，地球失去過許多不同生態(tài)類型里的很多不同物種。

Plants, animals, predators, herbivores, sea animals, land animals.

植物、動物、掠食者、植食動物、海洋動物、陸生動物。

Extinction is the normal outcome of evolution.

滅絕是進(jìn)化的正常結(jié)果。

The fact of the matter is over 99% of all the organisms that have ever lived are extinct.

實(shí)際上情況是所有曾經(jīng)生活過的生物中，百分之九十九以上都已經(jīng)滅絕。

So it isn't unusual to become extinct, it's actually normal.

所以走向滅絕沒什么不尋常的，這是正常情況。

But there are certain periods in which there's more extinction than usual.

不過有些特定時期會有比比平常更多的滅絕現(xiàn)象。

We call these mass extinctions.

我們稱之為大滅絕。

Mass extinctions is gonna cover over an extended period, or they can happen in the blink of an eye.

大滅絕可能會持續(xù)一段時間也可能在眨眼間發(fā)生。

These mass extinction events can be seen in the fossil record.

這些大滅絕事件能從化石記錄中看出來。

You'll find the fossil remains of thousands of life forms in one layer of dirt, and then none of those same plants and animals in the layer directly above.

你可能會在一層泥土中發(fā)現(xiàn)數(shù)以千計(jì)生物化石遺骸，然后在上面的土層中卻沒有任何同樣的植物和動物。

So what that tells us, is something caused a lot of things to die between this time and that.

所以這告訴我們的是，有事件導(dǎo)致很多生物在這一時期和那一時期之間死亡。

Sometimes the distance between those layers of rocks can represent millions of years, and other times they can be months, weeks or even days.

有些時候這些石頭層之間的距離可能代表數(shù)百萬年，有些時候可能只是幾個月、幾周甚至幾天。

250 million years ago, one group of beasts would rise above all others and claim the world as their own.

兩億五千萬年前，一類動物從各種動物中脫穎而出獲得了在地球的統(tǒng)治地位。

It was the Mesozoic era, when dinosaurs reigned supreme.

那是在中生代時期，恐龍稱霸。

Before they were ultimately wiped out, they would evolve to become the fastest, cleverest, most successful animals on earth.

在它們?nèi)肯鲋埃鼈冞M(jìn)化成地球上最快、最聰明、最成功的動物。

There are two reasons why dinosaurs took over the planet.

恐龍能夠統(tǒng)治地球有兩個原因。

The first was their larger than average brains.

第一個是它們比平均水平更大的大腦。

Now compared to you and I, they are not that smart, but in their time, they were the most intelligent creatures on earth.

現(xiàn)在與你我相比它們沒那么聰明，不過在那一時期它們是地球上最聰明的動物。

But the main reason why they were so successful was because of the design of their hips and legs.

不過它們能夠如此成功的主要原因是它們髖部和腿部的構(gòu)造。

The reptiles and mammals of their time had legs that stuck out to the side of their body.

那一時期的爬行動物和哺乳動物腿是從身體側(cè)面伸出來的。

This meant that running was a bit more difficult because the entire body waddles from side to side.

這就意味著跑動會有些困難，因?yàn)檎麄€身體都在左右擺動。

But the dinosaurs carried their legs directly beneath their body, like we do.

不過恐龍和我們一樣腿部就在身體的正下方。

And this meant that they could run much faster and a lot more efficiently than anything else.

這說明它們能比其它任何動物都跑得更快也更高效。

So being faster and having the ability to run longer is what gave them a competitive edge that no other creatures could match.

能夠跑得更快并且跑得更遠(yuǎn)，給了它們其它生物無可比擬的競爭優(yōu)勢。