纪录片《巨龙的奥秘》 第13期 同生共死（在线收听）

Sites like these where many plant-eating dinosaurs have been killed in an accident

像这种植食恐龙集体死于意外的地点

lead paleontologists to believe these herbivores were living together in herds when they died together.

使得古生物学家相信，这些植食动物直到死前都是群居生活

With plant-eating dinosaurs, it's very frequent to find groups of animals preserved together in the rocks.

对于植食恐龙来说，成批的骨骼一起埋葬于岩石中是很常见的现象

Because they're all associated together closely, and they're mixed ages together,

因为它们都亲密无间，大大小小都聚在一起

that's good evidence they were living together as a herd.

这些证据都能充分说明，它们是群居生活的

Bone beds containing herds of plant-eating dinosaurs are common.

植食恐龙的骨骼化石群是很常见的

But there was no such convincing evidence that large meat-eating dinosaurs lived and died in groups.

但是并没有类似的证据能证明大型食肉恐龙也是同生共死

In the case of the early fossil finds of meat-eating dinosaurs,

根据早期发现的食肉恐龙化石

they sort of reinforce this idea of meat-eaters as solitary hunters.

他们更加确信了大型食肉恐龙独自狩猎的观点

People had only found individual specimens of each of the species.

人们每次只能找到某种恐龙的一具标本

They never found a group of assemblages, they never found a bunch of individuals together.

他们从来没有发现过一群食肉恐龙，或是聚在一起的食肉恐龙

All of the evidence indicated these predators lived and died as solitary hunters.

所有证据都显示，这些掠食动物是孤独的猎手

And if they were solitary hunters, no single carnivore, however big,

倘若它们真是独自狩猎，单凭一只食肉恐龙，无论它有多大

would have gone for a prey as huge as the giant herbivore, Argentinosaurus.

也不可能将巨大的植食恐龙--阿根廷龙变成它的腹中之物

It looks like the tantalizing idea of a clash of the titans down in Patagonia was doomed.

看来调足人们胃口的巴塔哥尼亚，巨兽之争纯粹只是天方夜谭

Or so most paleontologists thought.

至少大部分古生物学家是这么想的