侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第76期:黑暗中的双眼

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　　在牙齿前后的齿面都有缺陷就是与对面牙齿相交错的地方。

　　What happens is that the root is anchored well into the lower jaw³.

　　实际情况就是这个牙根深深地嵌在其下颌骨上。

　　And then the crown is vertical⁴.

　　这部分牙冠是垂直的。

　　So this really makes sure the tooth doesn't wiggle around.

　　这就确确实实地保证牙齿不会晃动。

　　It's anchored well on the bone and the jaw is about this deep.

　　它非常结实地嵌在骨头上颌骨大概这么深。

　　These powerful, deep rooted, curved daggers⁵ were ideally suited for preying⁷ upon a variety of aquatic⁸ life.

　　这些有力、根深、弯似匕首的牙齿用来捕猎各种水生生物再合适不过。

　　This put the biting whale in direct competition with Megalodon.

　　这使得噬抹香鲸与巨齿鲨形成了直接竞争。

　　I think it was a top predator⁹, it was a very carnivorous animal and could have taken on or eaten anything it wanted to.

　　我觉得它是顶级掠食者，它是绝对的肉食性动物会随心所欲地攻击或捕食任何猎物。

　　The biting sperm¹⁰ whale of Japan is found in deposits that also have dolphins, other whale, very primitive¹¹ sea lion like animals.

　　在日本发现的噬抹香鲸所处的沉积层还有海豚、其它鲸类、非常原始的类似海狮的动物。

　　I think any one of these could have been part of its diet.

　　我觉得这些中的任何一个都可能在噬抹香鲸的菜单上。

　　It probably could have eaten fishes, squids, sharks, other kinds of small mammals as well.

　　它可能捕食鱼类、乌贼、鲨鱼还有其它各种小型哺乳动物。

　　So it probably had a very generalized diet.

　　所以它的食谱可能非常广泛。

　　Unlike the modern sperm whale, the fossil one had large, fully¹² functional¹³ teeth both on the upper and lower jaws¹⁴.

　　与现代抹香鲸不同，这副化石的主人在其上下颌都有巨大，实用的牙齿。

　　These teeth were specifically designed to lock onto prey⁶ with slippery scales.

　　这些牙齿有特别的设计能够锁住带有滑溜鳞片的猎物。

　　To help this whale find its prey in any water condition, the biting whale employed something unique - sonar.

　　噬抹香鲸有一门独家绝技帮助它在任何水下情况都能找到猎物，声纳。

　　They have very keenly developed echo location sonar sense associated with their brains that is a unique feature of toothed whales.

　　它们有与大脑相关的非常发达的回声定位声纳感觉，那是齿鲸独一无二的特点。

　　And sperm whales have it very developed to a very keen degree.

　　抹香鲸将其发展到了非常敏锐的程度。

　　The way sonar works is basically the animal would produce sound, and these sound waves travel out away from the skull¹⁵.

　　声纳的原理基本上就是动物会发出声音，这些声波从颅骨传出。

　　When the sound wave hits something, it bounces back to the animal,当声音碰到某种物体，就会反弹回到发声动物，and receptors in the skull sort of paint a picture of what's in front of it, where it is, what direction it's going, how large it is.

　　其颅内的接收器就像能画出图画一样，感知到前面是什么，它在哪里，在朝哪个方向前进，它的体型多大。

　　Sonar is like eyes in total darkness.

　　声纳就像是完全黑暗中的双眼。

　　The advantage of sonar is it allows you to make up for conditions of poor vision at night, in murky¹⁶ water.

　　声纳的优势是它能弥补在晚上或是浑浊的水中视野不好的情况。

　　And so it'd be very useful, because in near shore waters you tend to get a lot of sediments¹⁷ stirred up by waves,所以这非常有用，因为在离岸不远的水域里海浪常常会搅起很多沉积物，and so it tends to be a little bit murkier¹⁸ than you would find even slightly off shore.

　　所以跟离岸边远些的地方相比起来就会更加浑浊。

　　So it would be an advantage under those conditions.

　　所以在那样的条件下这就是一种优势。

　　But sonar was not just for finding food or seeing in the dark, it was a weapon that could kill.

　　不过声纳不只能用来发现食物或在黑暗中探测，它也是一种致命武器。

　　This sonar is normally used to help locate prey in the deepest, darkest parts of the ocean.

　　这种声纳通常用来帮助在大洋最深最黑暗的部分定位猎物。

　　But the whales could focus that sonar into a much tighter beam and use it like a battering¹⁹ ram²⁰ against potential prey and potential predators²¹.

　　不过鲸能够把声纳密集成一束把它当做攻城槌对付潜在猎物和潜在掠食者。

　　Sound travels faster and farther underwater than it does on top.

　　声音在水下比在水上传播得更快更远。

　　So if you're sitting somewhere and you hang a stick of dynamite²² 10 feet from your head and detonate it, it's gonna kill you, just because of the shock wave.

　　要是你坐在什么地方吊下一束炸药在离脑袋10英尺处并引爆它，仅仅是冲击波就能致你于死地。

　　Magnify that times 100 and it's not just going to kill you, it's going to liquefy you.

　　把那威力放大一百倍就不光会要了你的命，那能把你液化。

 

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