时差N小时 巨型昆虫的进化与消亡(下)

（单词翻译）

These changes, which gave birds greater facility for flight, made them more effective predators¹. It’s not difficult to imagine that they feasted on giant insects.

这些变化明显增强了鸟类的飞行能力，进而提高了它们的捕食效率。不难想象，他们开始将大型昆虫作为猎捕目标。

That’s one theory, at least. Another holds that rather than eat giant insects, prehistoric² birds simply out competed them. Both birds and giant insects ate smaller insects that existed alongside their super-sized cousins. Evolution may have enabled birds not only to dine on giant insects but also to consume smaller insects and deplete³ their competitors’ food source.

至少，这是其中的一项理论。另一种理论认为，与其说史前鸟类以巨型昆虫为食，不如说其淘汰掉了巨型昆虫。鸟类和巨型昆虫均以较小昆虫为食，而小型昆虫的栖息地又临近大型昆虫。进化后的鸟类不仅能够捕食巨型昆虫，同时还能捕食小型昆虫，从而消耗竞争对手——巨型昆虫的食物来源。