侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第26期:为什么没有吃掉尸体

 　　The teeth that were found near the T-Rex had been shed.

　　这些牙齿在霸王龙化石附近被发现。

　　But were the teeth broken during a battle, or could the Nanotyrannus have simply found the dead T-Rex and lost them scavenging on his remains¹?

　　但是它们是在战斗中脱落的，还是矮暴龙找到了霸王龙尸体进食的时候掉下了的呢？

　　The prehistoric² scene again provides some clues.

　　史前的场景再次提供了一些线索。

　　It is estimated that between 75 and maybe 90% of the baby Tyrannosaurus Rex was found.

　　据估计人们找到了幼年霸王龙百分之七十五到九十的身体。

　　If Nanotyrannus had been scavenging it for food, then we would expect that the majority of the bones would have been gone,如果矮暴龙是找到并进食其尸体这种情况下，大部分骨头都会不见，or at least the skeleton would been torn up and disarticulated.

　　最起码骨架应该被撕开并且变形。

　　But the fact that so much of the skeleton remained,不过因为骨架的大部分都完好，

　　and the pieces were found in relative proximity³ to each other tells me that Nanotyrannus was biting the baby T-Rex, but not eating it.

　　而且找到的骨头相互位置相对合适，这说明矮暴龙咬了幼霸王龙但是并没有吃它。

　　But why would a Nanotyrannus risk its life to attack a juvenile⁴ T-Rex but not eat it?

　　不过为什么矮暴龙会冒生命危险去攻击幼霸王龙却又不吃它呢？

　　Competition between predators⁵ has existed from the beginning of time.

　　掠食者间的竞争从一开始就已经存在。

　　Being able to out-compete your opponent is a way to insure your survival.

　　能够在竞争中胜出对手是保证生存之道。

　　Being faster, smarter or stronger gives you a competitive edge,更快速、更聪明或更强壮能让动物具有竞争优势，but in the case of Nanotyrannus, he could never compete with an adult Tyrannosaurus Rex.

　　不过对于矮暴龙来说，它绝不会跟成年雷克斯暴龙竞争。

　　It has no chance of killing⁶ an adult, so killing a baby is what it needed to do to survive.

　　要杀死成年霸王龙，它绝无机会，所以它为了生存需要杀死幼霸王龙。

　　But why it didn't eat it remains a mystery.

　　不过为什么它没有吃掉尸体是个谜。

　　Perhaps it was buried very quickly after death and the Nano just didn't have time to eat it,也许是因为尸体在死后很快被埋上了，矮暴龙没有时间吃掉它，or maybe something interrupted him before he could take advantage of that potential meal.

　　也许是有什么事情打断了它因而没来得及享用这顿美餐。

 

1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 prehistoric   

adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的

参考例句：

• They have found prehistoric remains.他们发现了史前遗迹。
• It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment.这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。

3 proximity   

n.接近，邻近

参考例句：

• Marriages in proximity of blood are forbidden by the law.法律规定禁止近亲结婚。
• Their house is in close proximity to ours.他们的房子很接近我们的。

4 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。

5 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》

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。