侏羅紀(jì)搏擊俱樂(lè)部 第150期:死去犀牛標(biāo)本藏玄機(jī)

The first thing you notice is this big lumpy mass on the end of its nose, we call that a boss.

最先會(huì)注意到的是在它鼻子末端巨大的腫塊狀物，我們稱(chēng)之為圓凸。

Well, some paleontologists believe that it housed a gigantic horn like the horn of a rhinoceros.

有些古生物學(xué)家相信它有巨大的角，就像犀牛角那樣。

With almost every known dinosaur, their horns are made of bone, but in the case of pachyrhinosaurus, we think that, that horn could have been made of either hair or keratin like our fingernails and that stuff decomposes when the animal dies.

在幾乎所有的已知恐龍里，它們的角都是骨質(zhì)的，不過(guò)對(duì)于腫鼻角龍，我們認(rèn)為它的角要么是毛發(fā)構(gòu)成的要么是像指甲那樣的角蛋白，在動(dòng)物死去后，那些物質(zhì)會(huì)腐爛分解掉。

1012.jpg

A closer study of a modern rhinoceros would reveal that their horns attach differently to the skull than they did in Pachyrhinosaurus.

對(duì)現(xiàn)代犀牛的進(jìn)一步研究表明了它們的角與頭顱的連接方式與腫鼻角龍的并不一樣。

We actually got specimens of rhinoceros that had passed away in zoos and looked very closely at exactly how the horn attaches to the bone.

我們分析了在動(dòng)物園里死去犀牛的標(biāo)本，仔細(xì)地研究了它們的角與骨頭連接的方式。

The result of that shows that the structure that we see here in this rhino is actually not what we find in Pachyrhinosaurus.It's a very different kind of structure.

結(jié)果表明我們?cè)谶@頭犀牛這里看到的結(jié)構(gòu)其實(shí)和在腫鼻角龍身上看到的不同。是兩種區(qū)別很大的結(jié)構(gòu)。

Behind the boss, protecting the neck and shoulders, Pachyrhinosaurus sported its other distinguishing feature, a bony headdress called a frill.

在圓凸后面，腫鼻角龍還有另一個(gè)獨(dú)特的結(jié)構(gòu)保護(hù)著頸部和肩部，一個(gè)骨質(zhì)的頭飾，稱(chēng)為褶邊。

The frills were clearly functional because, I mean, this was something that was passed on from generation to generation.

褶邊顯然有用，因?yàn)檫@個(gè)可是一代代遺傳下來(lái)的。

It may have started off as a species recognition, sexual display mechanism, but both male and female have it, so I'm sure in the end it helped in terms of protection.

可能一開(kāi)始是種類(lèi)區(qū)分、性別展示手段，但是雌性和雄性都有，所以我認(rèn)為它肯定有保護(hù)作用。

If you're going to bring down a Ceratopsian, you're not going to be able to get it by the neck because there's nothing to grab on there but solid bone, that's this thick.

要是想放倒一頭腫鼻角龍的話(huà)，那么從頸部下手肯定不行，因?yàn)槟抢餂](méi)有可以抓住的東西，除了堅(jiān)硬的骨頭，那骨頭有這么厚。

By studying the bones at the site, paleontologists found another clue.

通過(guò)對(duì)化石場(chǎng)的骨頭進(jìn)行研究，古生物學(xué)家們發(fā)現(xiàn)了另一線索。

This herd consisted of all ages from the very young to full grown adults.

這群恐龍中，從非常幼小的到完全成年的，各種年齡段都有。

This cross section gave clues of how the Arctic dinosaurs' horn physically changed as they got older.

這一情況能讓我們知道北極恐龍的角在物理上如何隨著年齡增長(zhǎng)而變化。

One of the things that's really interesting when we look at these nasal bosses in these different Pachyrhinosaurs is that no two are alike, they're all different.

我們?cè)谟^察不同腫鼻角龍的鼻部圓凸時(shí)，確實(shí)有趣的事情之一是，沒(méi)有哪兩個(gè)是相似的，它們?nèi)疾灰粯印?/p>

That difference would tell a lot potentially about the animal's age, maybe about its sex, but also about its general health.

那個(gè)區(qū)別能告訴我們很多信息，可能關(guān)于動(dòng)物的年齡，也許能表明它的性別，但也許也關(guān)于它的大致健康情況。

These are all the kinds of parameters that animals are using to judge, whether it's a female judging a potential father for her children or potentially males sizing each other up for battle.

這些都是動(dòng)物們相互判斷時(shí)所使用的參考量，不管是雌性在選擇未來(lái)孩子的父親還是雄性在戰(zhàn)斗時(shí)相互估量。