纪录片《恐龙的战争》 完美捕食（6）

A battle with Triceratops is more often than not a fight to the death.

与三角龙的决斗常常是生死之战。

This herbivore has evolved into a tank.

这种食草动物简直进化成了坦克。

Now, as a Tyrannosaur specialist, I don't like to admit this,

作为一名霸王龙专家，我不愿承认这点，

but in that situation, a Triceratops probably won, and it probably won on a regular basis.

但真要打起来，三角龙可能会获胜，并且通常获胜的都是它。

It looks as if this battle will end in a draw.

看来这场战斗要以平局告终。

The barbarian¹ of the Cretaceous walks away, empty-handed.

白垩纪的野蛮人空手离开了。

Because T. Rex are warm-blooded, they need to maintain their body temperature.

因为雷克斯霸王龙是温血动物，它们需要保持体温。

This means consuming huge amounts of energy, over a million calories every week.

这意味着能量的大量消耗，每周消耗超过一百万卡路里。

That's nealy 700 kilograms of raw meat needed for a good number of kills.

这相当于消耗在多次捕杀上的近700公斤生肉。

But there could be another way for T. Rex to get his meals.

但雷克斯霸王龙还能以其它途径获取食物。

Possibly by to steal a kill from a rival carnivore.

很可能是从其他食肉者那里掠夺猎物。

The reality is it's got all the tools of a predator²,

真实情况是它拥有捕杀者所有必需装备，

and those tools of a predator serve a scavenger³ equally well.

这些装备也可满足食腐动物所需。

One of those tools is its nose, the most sensitive found on any carnivorous dinosaur⁴.

其中之一就是鼻子，这是所有食肉恐龙身上最灵敏的部位。

I can tell you that that good sense of smell was awesome⁵ for finding carcasses,

可以说，灵敏的嗅觉是找到尸骸的绝佳工具，

and when it did, it ate those carcasses. A dead Triceratops.

找到之后它就会吃掉这些尸骸。比如三角龙的尸体。

For Tyrannosaurus Rex, scavenging comes with substantial risk.

对雷克斯霸王龙来说，吃尸骸要冒很大风险。

Muscling in on another creature's kill is not for the faint-hearted.

强取其它生物的猎物绝不是弱者所为。

But a T. Rex can take on almost any other meat eater, even another T. Rex.

但雷克斯霸王龙几乎会与任何其它肉食者争抢，甚至是同类。

And when it's Tyrannosaur versus⁶ Tyrannosaur, the winner takes all.

当霸王龙之间互相抢夺时，胜者将享用所有食物。

Cannibalism⁷ in nature doesn't seem to be a matter of pleasure. It's a matter of business.

自然界的同类相食可不是闹着玩。而是攸关生死的。

T. Rex meat is T. Rex food as well. It's protein.

雷克斯霸王龙的肉也可以成为同类的食物，它是蛋白质，

It's something that will help that individual survive to the next kill.

能让霸王龙一直坚持到下一次捕食。

Attacking another T. Rex may seem like suicide.

也许攻击另一头雷克斯霸王龙是在自寻死路。

But a creature with such a voracious⁸ appetite has to find food by any means.

但胃口如此之大的生物必须尽一切办法找到食物。

If you're a carnivore and there's meat there, you take advantage of it.

如果你是食肉动物，面前有肉的话你是绝对不会放过的。

In fact, paleontologists have found ample evidence of cannibalism in the bones of these giants.

事实上，古生物学家们在这些巨兽的骨骼里发现大量同类相食的证据。

We find tooth marks on the bones of T. Rex and parts of the bones missing on the T. Rex,

我们在雷克斯霸王龙骨头上发现齿痕还有骨头的缺失，

and clearly they were eaten by another T. Rex.

很显然是被另一只雷克斯霸王龙吃了。

There's nothing else that could have bitten those bones in half.

因为没有别的生物能咬断这些骨头。

1 barbarian   

n.野蛮人；adj.野蛮(人)的；未开化的

参考例句：

• There is a barbarian tribe living in this forest.有一个原始部落居住在这个林区。
• The walled city was attacked by barbarian hordes.那座有城墙的城市遭到野蛮部落的袭击。

2 predator   

n.捕食其它动物的动物；捕食者

参考例句：

• The final part of this chapter was devoted to a brief summary of predator species.本章最后部分简要总结了食肉动物。
• Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator.科摩多龙是目前存在的最大蜥蜴，它是一种令人恐惧的捕食性动物。

3 scavenger   

n.以腐尸为食的动物，清扫工

参考例句：

• He's just fit for a job as scavenger.他只配当个清道夫。
• He is not a scavenger nor just a moving appetite as some sharks are.它不是食腐动物，也不像有些鲨鱼那样，只知道游来游去满足食欲。

4 dinosaur   

n.恐龙

参考例句：

• Are you trying to tell me that David was attacked by a dinosaur?你是想要告诉我大卫被一支恐龙所攻击？
• He stared at the faithful miniature of the dinosaur.他凝视著精确的恐龙缩小模型。

5 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

6 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

7 cannibalism   

n.同类相食；吃人肉

参考例句：

• The war is just like the cannibalism of animals.战争就如同动物之间的互相残。
• They were forced to practise cannibalism in order to survive.他们被迫人吃人以求活下去。

8 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。