在已知世界之下
Beneath the earth we know
深藏着另一个世界
lie other worlds
不复存在
hidden from sight
消逝于岁月长河之中
lost in time
但有时我们能从残存的过去中
But sometimes we can glimpse a lost world
窥知些微真♥相♥
through remnants of the past
我们发现的肯定是头骨 右侧骨 你觉得呢?
We definitely got a skull.Lower right What do you think?
难说啊
It’s hard to say
这个故事由发现不可辨的骨头开始
This story begins with a discovery of unidentified bones
沉积层
Depositional environment
一队古生物学家
A team of paleontologists will try to figure out
试图辨别出骸骨是来自何种生物
whose bones they are
是哪个时代遗留下的
and what world they came from
确定时间段 这是开始
So we got a time frameThat’s a start
骸骨在堪萨斯被发现
They were discovered in Kansas-
现在这里大多是农场
mostly farmland today
曾几何时 此处是一片汪♥洋♥大海
But once Kansas lay beneath a vast sea
那是八千二百万年前
It was 82 million years ago
正处于恐龙时代
during the age of the dinosaurs
此时还有另一个巨兽的世界
But there was another world of giants on Earth
水下世界
a submerged world
一个由无数海兽和神奇生物统治的国度
where enormous reptiles ruled seas filled with incredible creatures

These
是从古至今最危险的大海
were the most dangerous seas of all time
没有谁是安全的
No living thing was safe
巨型海兽已经绝迹很久
The great marine reptiles disappeared long ago
他们的国度也不复存在
and time has buried their world
我们仍可以遇到那时的海洋巨兽
But any of us might still encounter a sea monster
巴迪
Buddy
毫无预兆地 遥远的过去回来了
As if from nowhere the distant past returns
科学家们不仅希望发现古生物化石
The scientists hope to find not just the fossil of an ancient creature
更想知道化石所承载的故事
but a story recorded in its bones
拿上工具
Grab your tools
雨水冲走部分灰岩露出这个
Rain washed some of the chalk away and exposed it
太棒了
This is great
他们发觉这很不寻常
They recognize it as something special
罕见的长喙龙
a rare Dolichorhynchops
俗称多利龙
a dolly for short
这是白垩纪晚期的一种海洋动物
It was a marine reptile of the late Cretaceous
比海豚略大
a little bigger than a dolphin
游泳健将
and a fast swimmer
为解读骨头里的故事
To unravel any story the bones may tell
他们翻查所有已知的海兽资料
the investigators will draw on everything they know about marine reptiles
对 看起来象黄昏鸟
Yeah it looks like Hesperornis
他们的化石初次发现至今已几十年
Their fossils have been found around the world over decades
他身长可能超过10米
It could have been over 30 feet long
我们带回实验室的母体物质显示
The matrix materials we’ve got in the lab seem to indicate-
这些发现会帮助研究小组
These finds will help the team
将长喙龙拼凑完整
piece together the story of the dolly
描绘他们当时在海中畅游的场景
and picture the moment in time when it swam in the sea
长喙龙所在的大海与现在大有不同
In many ways the dolly’s world was far different from ours
气候那时更温暖
The climate was warmer
海平面更高 海洋面♥积♥更大
Sea levels were higher and more of Earth was submerged
这只长喙龙应该生活在深海中♥央♥
This dolly would have lived in a vast inland sea
那时的大海把美洲一分为二
that cut North America in two
海洋动物在欧洲近海也时有发现
Marine reptiles were also found in the waters around Europe
那时的大♥陆♥是零星散布的岛屿
which was a scattering of islands
被海洋包围着
and throughout the world’s oceans
他们逐渐灭绝
In time they died out
海水退却
and sea levels retreated
暴露出大面♥积♥的海床
exposing vast areas of seabed
古海洋生物化石就在陆地相继出现
Fossils from the ancient oceans turned up on every continent
[澳大利亚南部 2002年]
在澳大利亚内陆的发现
A discovery in the Australian outback
给我们提供了长喙龙发源的线索
offers clues to how the dolly’s life may have begun
一致的骨骼结构表明
It seems to be laying out in a pretty consistent pattern
95%化石来自于幼体
95% of the fossils we’re finding here are the bones of juveniles
同一区域发现许多小型骨骼
So many small bones in one area
说明海洋动物群集浅滩哺育后代
suggests that marine reptiles gathered in protected shallows to give birth
而在北美发现的这只长喙龙的故事
And in North America that’s how the story of this dolly
由此展开
begins to unfold
想象一下 在淡蓝的浅滩
Imagine that one of the creatures in the shallows
一只怀孕的长喙龙
is a pregnant Dolichorhynchops
生下一只雄仔
She gives birth to a male
十八英寸 花色如同母亲
18 inches long and colored like his mother
和一只雌仔
and a female
颜色深些 眼下部有块浅色斑点
darker in color with light patches below her eyes
她的故事由此展开
And it’s her life we begin to follow
她和她哥哥是需要呼吸空气
She and her brother are air breathers
本能告诉她们生命中的第一分钟要怎么做
Instinct tells them what they have to do in their first minute alive
从一开始
From the beginning
小母龙和哥哥就要学习各种生存技能
the little female and her brother practice skills they’ll need one day
终究他们要离开安全的浅滩
when they’ll have to leave the safety of the shallows
前往危险的深海
for the dangerous seas beyond
如果她能存活
If she survives the perils to come
有朝一日 她会回到这里生养后代
she’ll return here one day and have young of her own
此时她已经发现争食者
Already she finds competition for food
这是黄昏鸟
There’s the Hesperornis
长喙里布满利齿却不会飞的鸟
a bird that can’t fly and has a beak full of sharp teeth
还有冥河龙
And the Styxosaurus
长喙龙的远亲
a distant cousin of the dolly’s
有超长的脖颈
with a supersized neck
成年冥河龙身长能达三十五英尺
An adult can reach 35 feet in length
其中大半是脖颈
more than half of it neck
体型让他们游不快
Its shape makes it a slower swimmer
可却是捕鱼好手
but it’s great for catching fish
小长喙龙遇到一群
The little dolly soon comes across creatures that move
从壳内喷水移♥动♥的生物
by pumping jets of water from their shells
他们是鹦鹉螺
They’re called ammonites
他们在古代海洋很繁盛
and they thrive in the ancient sea
他们不仅有着岩石般坚硬的外壳
They have rock-hard armor
还会别的防身术
and perhaps another defense
正如这只游的太近的小母龙
Swim too close like the little female
被喷了一脸的墨水
and get a face full of ink
但这阻止不了年轻的板果龙
But that doesn’t stop a young Platecarpus
把他们当作点心
when it wants a snack
鹦鹉螺一度繁盛
Ammonites were once abundant
他们的化石屡见不鲜
Their fossils have been uncovered often
甚至连德克萨斯的修路工也找到不少
even by a road crew in Texas
[德克萨斯州中部 1980年]
鹦鹉螺 到处都是
Ammonites A lot of’em
鹦鹉螺有许多种类
There were many kinds of ammonites
我们知道他们生存的年代
and we know when most of them lived
所以他们的化石如同时间标签
so their fossils are like markers in time
通过鹦鹉螺的化石
Identify an ammonite and you
推断附近物种的生存年代
date other less common fossils nearby
这方法确认了长喙龙生存的年代
That helps place dollies in the long history of marine reptiles
他们起源于约二亿五百万年前
It began some 250 million years ago
三叠纪
in the Triassic period
此时 陆地爬行类动物移居海洋
with land reptiles that moved into the sea
进化出脚蹼和鳍
They developed webbed feet then flippers
有些进化出防护甲
Some had elaborate armor
在侏罗纪 他们继续发展
Into the Jurassic they continued to evolve
直达深海
To see at great depths
有的眼睛大如餐盘
some had eyes the size of dinner plates
顶级猎食者 天生的霸王
top predators who grew immense and powerful
在白垩纪晚期发展到顶峰
reaching their peak in the late Cretaceous
接近恐龙时代末期
near the end of the dinosaur age
也正是长喙龙的时代
the very time when the Dolichorhynchops lived
几个月过去了
Months have passed
小母龙和哥哥正值豆蔻年华
The female and her brother are now juveniles

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