纪录片《恐龙的战争》 极限生存（10）

Sauroposeidon does almost everything by instinct including rearing, or more accurately¹, not rearing its children.

波塞东龙做任何事几乎都是出于本能，包括抚养后代，更准确地说是，根本不抚养其后代。

It may seem cruel to just dig a hole and leave your eggs and wander on.

挖个坑，产了卵就走了，这看起来好像挺残酷的。

But it's a very effective means of reproduction if you can afford to make lots of babies.

不过这是种很有效的繁殖方式，前提是你得下足够多的蛋。

We know that the sauropods were not taking care of their newly hatched babies.

我们知道蜥蜴类动物不会照顾刚破壳的新生儿。

We don't find the newly hatched babies with the adults.

我们在成年龙身边找不到新生儿。

Scientists believe Sauroposeidon's gargantuan² size makes incubating eggs a physical impossibility.

科学家认为波塞东龙的庞大体型使得它们根本没法孵蛋。

When you're running, say, 60,80 feet in length, and your eggs are only about the size of a cantaloupe, the size difference makes it so hard to be gentle.

比如你有大约六十或者八十英尺长，而你的蛋只有哈密瓜那么大，这种大小差距下根本无法做到轻手轻脚。

I think sauropods like sauroposeidon are just too big to be able to control where their body mass is going to be.

我认为波塞东龙这种蜥蜴类动物实在太大了，所以没法控制自己的身体。

You know, they aren't... They don't have the brain capacity to understand where their butt³ is at the same time as where their head is.

它们无法...它们没有这样的头脑同时去想屁股在哪儿，头又在哪儿。

With its mammoth⁴ size and limited intellect, Sauroposeidon relies on a totally different method than Tyrannosaurus rex to raise its young.

由于其巨大的体型和有限的智力，波塞东龙运用与霸王龙完全不同的方式来抚养后代。

In its life-span, a mated pair of Sauroposeidons might produce thousands and thousands of eggs and only maybe a couple or three are going to survive to adulthood⁵.

一对波塞东龙一生能产下成千上万的蛋，可是只有为数不多的两三只能活到成年。

So, what that tells us is that almost all of the offspring are being killed and eaten by predators⁶.

所以这告诉我们，其大部分后代都被肉食性动物给吃掉了。

Basically, you're flooding all the carnivores with so much food that they can't eat it all, and so there's bound to be some survivors⁷.

从本质上来说，你为食肉动物提供这么多食物，多到它们都吃不完，那就一定会有存活下来的。

Sauroposeidon's approach to its young sounds brutish and cruel, but it isn't.

波塞东龙对其后代的方法听起来很残暴又野蛮，但事实并非如此。

Sauroposeidon, like sea turtles, for example, seems to have tried to overwhelm the predators with just sheer numbers of offspring.

波塞东龙就像海龟一样要用后代巨大的数量优势战胜那些肉食性动物。

They're not just all laying their eggs within a few weeks of each other.

它们并不是用几周的时间来下蛋。

They're all trying to lay their eggs on the same night or two.

而是在一两个晚上下完所有蛋。

And one of the reasons is so that they can overwhelm the predators.

原因之一就是这样它们就能战胜捕食者。

If you have a food resource that's available in vast numbers but only for a very limited time, it's hard for predators to eat all of them.

如果食物数量极大，但只有很短一段时间，那捕食者很难一下子全都吃完。

Like sea turtles, who from the moment they hatch, they are on their own.

而海龟从出生那一刻起就得自力更生了。

For predators, hatching time is a veritable feast. Even so, the strategy works.

对捕食者而言，孵化期是一场饕餮盛宴。即便如此，繁殖战略还是起了作用。

Carnivores gulp⁸ down virtually every hatchling. But a few do make it.

捕食者几乎吃完了所有的小海龟。不过还是有几只幸存下来。

Not even the most voracious⁹ feeders can kill them all.

就连最贪吃的捕食者也不能把它们吃光。

1 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

2 gargantuan   

adj.巨大的，庞大的

参考例句：

• My gargantuan,pristine machine was good for writing papers and playing solitaire,and that was all.我那庞大的、早期的计算机只适合写文章和玩纸牌游戏，就这些。
• Right away,I realized this was a mistake of gargantuan proportions.我立刻意识到这是一个巨大的错误。

3 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

4 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。

5 adulthood   

n.成年，成人期

参考例句：

• Some infantile actions survive into adulthood.某些婴儿期的行为一直保持到成年期。
• Few people nowadays are able to maintain friendships into adulthood.如今很少有人能将友谊维持到成年。

6 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

8 gulp   

vt.吞咽，大口地吸（气）；vi.哽住；n.吞咽

参考例句：

• She took down the tablets in one gulp.她把那些药片一口吞了下去。
• Don't gulp your food,chew it before you swallow it.吃东西不要狼吞虎咽，要嚼碎了再咽下去。

9 voracious   

adj.狼吞虎咽的，贪婪的

参考例句：

• She's a voracious reader of all kinds of love stories.什么样的爱情故事她都百看不厌。
• Joseph Smith was a voracious book collector.约瑟夫·史密斯是个如饥似渴的藏书家。