纪录片《恐龙的战争》 完美捕食（18）（在线收听）

Living as a hunter was not easy.

作为一个猎手并不容易。

The irony for many predators is they're very concerned about injuring themselves.

对许多捕食者来说最讽刺的是怕在捕猎时伤到自己。

Even the toughest, most well-armed meat eaters regularly come face-to-face with prey that can kill them.

即使最凶狠的，装备最精良的肉食者也会经常碰到能于它们抗衡的猎物。

Whether you have the jaws of Tyrannosaurus Rex or are armed to the teeth like a raptor,

无论你有雷克斯霸王龙一般强悍的双颚，还是有猛禽一样锋利的牙齿，

every hunt might just be your last.

每次捕猎都可能是最后一次。

The thing about predation is it's very dangerous, both for the prey and for the predator.

捕猎的过程非常危险，对于猎物和捕猎者都如此。

There are many specimens that had puncture wounds and open sores when they died.

许多标本上都有临死时被刺穿的或撕裂的伤口。

An injury, even a minor one, can stop a predator from hunting,

哪怕受到极小的一个伤都会影响捕猎，

a virtual guarantee of death by starvation.

随之而来的必然是饥饿致死。

The life of the carnivore was so hard.

食肉动物的一生如此艰辛。

They were beat up. They were all beat to hell before they became a fossil.

它们搏斗得很惨。在成为化石之前它们往往死得非常惨。

It's not like Africa or Asia today, where you have lots of smaller animals

不像现在的亚洲或非洲，有很多小型动物，

and there's one or two big things like elephants or rhinos.

只有一两种像大象或犀牛这样的大型动物。

We're talking about an entire landscape that's filled with herds of multi-ton herbivores.

我们所说的是整个地球都遍布身重数吨的食肉动物的时期。

For carnivores today, just as during the Cretaceous, staying alive is no mean feat.

对于今天的食肉动物来说，与白垩纪时期一样，生存是一大考验。

If we look at lives of living predators today, they're pretty short lives.

如果我们来看，现在的食肉动物它们寿命都非常短。

Each individual life does not span its potential.

每一个生命都逃不出命运的掌控。

Whenever they become older and weaker, they're more susceptible to injury,

一旦它们年老体弱就非常易受伤害，

and every time you hunt, you're putting your life on the line.

每次猎食都是对生命的考验。

In the world of dinosaurs, predators stop at nothing to survive.

在恐龙的世界里，捕食者要使尽浑身解数求得生存。

They use every tool in their arsenal, brains, eagle eyes, stealth flight, superhearing,

它们利用自身的所有优势，智慧的大脑，敏锐的双眼，诡秘的飞行，超强的听力

and an advanced sense of smell.

以及灵敏的嗅觉。

But in the end, those who live by the claw sometimes die by the claw.

但到最后，这些靠利爪生存的动物有时也会死在利爪之下。