霸王龍的短小前肢到底用來幹什麼?(雙語)

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霸王龍的短小前肢到底用來幹什麼？（雙語）

2018-10-23 10:55

來源：紐約郵報

作者：

　　Running into a Tyrannosaurus rex in the wild would have been a truly frightening thing for just about any animal that roamed the Earth between 65 million and 80 million years ago, and for an obvious reason. The mighty meat-eater was huge and had a mouth built to turn bones into powder. If it snagged you with its jaws, you were probably going to have a bad time, but nobody was afraid of its puny little arms … or were they?

　　對於任何生活在6500萬到8000萬年前的地球上的動物來說，在野外遇到霸王龍是一件非常可怕的事情，原因很明顯：這隻巨大的食肉動物體形龐大，它的嘴巴能把骨頭變成粉末。如果它用下顎咬住了你，你可能會很痛苦，但沒人會害怕它的小胳膊……真的是這樣嗎?

　　As Live Science reports, a new study presented at a recent meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology took a close look at how T-Rex’s arms would have functioned, and it makes some bold predictions.

　　正如《生活科學》報導的，在最近一次脊椎動物古生物學會議上陳述的一項新研究仔細觀察了霸王龍的手臂是如何工作的，並做出了一些大膽的預測。

　　Just how T-Rex used its arms and for what purpose has been hotly debated for years. Some believe the arms didn’t do much of anything, while others have suggested that the tiny limbs flailed wildly with sharp claws that could have seriously injured prey or foes.

　　霸王龍是如何使用它的手臂的，出於什麼目的，這一直是人們多年熱議的話題。一些人認為手臂沒有什麼作用，而另一些人則認為這些細小的前肢瘋狂地揮舞著鋒利的爪子時，會嚴重傷害獵物或敵人。

　　This latest round of research approaches things from a different angle, seeking to determine the range of movement of the arms as a clue to their usefulness. The researchers studied the limbs of two distant modern relatives, the alligator and the turkey, for hints. What the team concluded is that the T-Rex could likely have turned its hands inward if it wanted to and it may have used its arms to hold prey in place or pull it closer

　　最新一輪的研究從一個不同的角度來研究真相，試圖確定手臂的運動範圍，作為手臂有用的線索。研究人員研究了鱷魚和火雞這兩種霸王龍現代遠親的四肢，以尋找線索。研究小組得出的結論是，如果霸王龍願意的話，它的手很可能會向內彎曲，它可能會用手臂將獵物固定在適當的位置或將獵物拉得更近。

　　The idea here is that the T-Rex knew its jaws were its most potent weapon and so it used its arms to keep prey at the perfect biting distance. We』ll of course never know for sure unless we could somehow watch a T-Rex or similar upright carnivore find a meal, but the researchers are confident in what the fossils and modern animals tell them about how the dinosaur could move its limbs.

　　這兒的看法是霸王龍知道它的下顎是最有力的武器，所以它用手臂將獵物固定在完美的撕咬距離。當然，除非我們能以某種方式觀察到霸王龍或類似直立食肉動物這樣捕食的，否則我們永遠無法確定。但研究人員通過對化石和現代動物的研究，很確信恐龍就是這樣使用前肢的。

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