史前生物的10大怪異特徵(下)

orex's Giant Nose

5.鼻王龍的大鼻子

Rhinorex means something like "King of the Noses" and Rhinorex condrupus doesn't disappoint. In an unlikely twist, paleontologists found its mostly complete skull in storage at Brigham Young University, where it had been largely forgotten since the '90s. After slowly digging it out of a block of limestone over the course of two years—a task which they liken to chiseling a cranium out of a driveway—the paleontologists were delighted to discover they had a whole new species on their hands.

Rhinorex的意思是"鼻子之王"，而崖埋鼻王龍這種生物一定不會讓你失望。令人難以置信的是，考古生物學家在楊百翰大學的儲藏室發現了這種生物最完整的頭骨，它居然被人們遺忘在上世紀90年代。古生物學家們花了兩年時間慢慢地從一塊石灰岩中挖掘出這塊頭骨——就像是在馬路上鑿出一個頭蓋骨——此後，他們欣喜地發現，他們手上拿着的是一個全新的物種。

Rhinorex condrupus is part of the hadrosaur family, consisting of dinos with prominent bony crests atop their heads. However, the rhinorex eschewed the distinctive crest, swapping it for a truly legendary schnoz. The odd dinosaur and its crested brethren roamed the primeval wilds of Utah around 75 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, where the Brigham Young specimen was possibly killed by a huge ancient one's sure why the rhinorex's proboscis is so pronounced, but it probably has nothing to do with a sense of smell. Instead of an olfactory advantage, the nose might have been used to attract mates, because you know what they say about guys with big noses.

崖埋鼻王龍是鴨嘴龍家族的一份子，這個家族的成員頭上都有突出的峯骨。但是，鼻王龍卻沒有這種獨特的峯骨，取而代之的是一個極爲神奇的大鼻子。約7500萬年前，也就是白堊紀時期，這種奇怪的恐龍和它有峯骨的同伴們漫步在原始的猶他州荒野上。這隻在楊百翰發現的恐龍很可能就在那裏被一隻巨大的古代鱷魚所殺。雖然沒有人知道爲什麼鼻王龍的長鼻子會如此明顯，但它可能和嗅覺沒有關係。如果不具備嗅覺優勢，那麼這鼻子或許是爲了吸引伴侶，因爲你懂的，據說大鼻子的人性慾較強。

Platypus Of Dinosaurs

4.恐龍中的"鴨嘴獸"

The T. rex has become a pop culture icon due to its terrifying awesomeness. Its evolutionary family includes some equally horrific relatives—but also at least one goofy cousin that probably wasn't invited to many reunions.

霸王龍形象恐怖，使人心生敬畏，因此成爲流行文化的標誌。它的進化家族中包含了一些同樣恐怖的親戚，但至少還有一個呆萌的表親。恐龍家族聚會時，這個呆萌的表親可能很少會收到邀請。

The Chilesaurus diegosuarezi is truly the platypus of dinosaurs, in that scientists responded to both with stunned disbelief. Just like its far-removed Australian counterpart, the Chilesaurus's anomalous body fooled some into thinking it was a mishmash of different animals. From its pelvis to its limbs, from its fingers to its claws, almost every body part could have, at a glance, come from a separate even though it's closely related to the fearsome T. rex, the Chilesaurus was a devout vegetarian. Aesthetically, its beak-like mouth was rather less threatening than its cousin's toothy snout. It was also decidedly smaller, with a maximum length of 3 meters (10 ft) and an average size no larger than your Thanksgiving centerpiece.

Chilesaurus diegosuarezi絕對是恐龍中的"鴨嘴獸"，因爲這兩個物種都讓科學家十分錯愕。和遠在澳大利亞的鴨嘴獸一樣，Chilesaurus不同尋常的體型使許多人誤以爲它是不同物種的混雜物。初一瞥，從盆骨到前腳，從手指到爪子，它身上幾乎每一個部位都像是來自不同的恐龍。儘管與恐怖的霸王龍是近親，但Chilesaurus恐龍卻是虔誠的素食者。從美學觀點上看，它鳥嘴般的嘴巴比起其表親外露的尖牙顯然溫和得多。它的體型也明顯要小很多，最長爲3米（10英尺），平均大小還沒有感恩節餐桌上的擺飾大。

Earliest Snake Ancestor

3.蛇類最早的祖先

Some creatures have been dramatically altered by the gradual, unceasing effects of evolution. Others, at least superficially, have remained unchanged. The progenitor of all snake-like things, which was recently discovered to have thrived in damp southern climes almost 130 million years ago, looked not too dissimilar from its modern descendants.

在日積月累、持續不斷的演化過程中，一些生物已經發生了巨大的改變。其他的一些生物則保持了原樣，至少在外形上如此。近來的研究發現：所有的蛇形生物都是在1.3億年前，潮溼的南方氣候下開始大量繁殖。它們的外形與其現在的後代並無太大差異。

Well, except for its hind limbs, that is. Yes, ancient snakes had tiny, adorable legs which tapered into bonafide ankles then diverged into individual toes. The proto-snakes that followed thereafter were probably nocturnal and had needle-like teeth with which to subdue prey before gulping them down like modern snakes. It doesn't appear that these early specimens strangled their victims a la boa constrictors, so this deadly technique must have been developed further down the timeline. Surprisingly, scientists don't know much about snake evolution, and they knew considerably less before this study. To reveal the amazing legged serpent, researchers employed fossil evidence, anatomic knowledge, and a recreation of ancient snake behavior.

好吧，除了後肢。是的，古代的蛇類有小而可愛的腿，這些腿後來演變出了真實的腳踝並分叉出獨立的腳趾。此後的原始蛇類很有可能是夜行性動物並且像現代的蛇類一樣，有針一樣的牙齒，以便在吞嚥獵物之前將其制服。似乎這些早期的蛇類並不會像大蟒蛇那樣捕殺獵物，這種致命的技術一定是隨着時間逐漸進化而來的。令人驚訝的是，科學家對蛇類的演化知之甚少，相當多的認識還是通過這項研究得來。爲了揭示這些令人驚歎的有腿蛇類，研究人員運用了化石證據、解剖知識，並且再現了古代蛇類的行爲。

Bat-Winged Early Bird

2.長有蝙蝠翅膀的早期鳥類

When paleontologists dusted off a mid-to-late Jurassic period creature and found it had wings, they were understandably stoked. As one of the earliest birds, the specimen, eventually named Yi qi, would offer a glimpse into the evolution of modern avians.

古生物學家在爲一個侏羅紀中後期的生物樣本除塵時，發現這種生物長有翅膀，這一發現令他們非常振奮。這個後來被命名爲Yiqi的樣本是最早的鳥類之一。它能夠讓我們一窺現代鳥類的進化。

But, to general surprise, the Yi qi had wings quite unlike modern avians. While reconstructing the partial skeleton unearthed in China, researchers found a patch of preserved membrane between its spindly fingers, leading them to conclude that it had creepy, bat-like wings. Or maybe even flaps like a flying squirrel. But definitely not bird Yi qi did have feathers, but apparently not where they counted most. Its clumsy wings offered none of the aerodynamic perks of feathered appendages, and it probably wasn't able to fly at all. Instead, it used its claws to climb trees before using its nasty membranous flaps to glide short distances between arboreal perches.

然而，出乎所有人的意料，Yiqi的翅膀完全不同於現代鳥類的翅膀。研究人員在對一個從中國採掘出的局部骨架進行還原再現時，發現它細長的手指間有一塊薄膜。這一發現讓他們推斷出這種鳥類長有可怕的類似蝙蝠的翅膀，抑或是像飛鼠那樣的翼膜，但絕不是鳥類用於飛行的翅膀。Yiqi確實有羽毛，但顯然這些羽毛並沒有價值。它這對笨拙的翅膀沒法給它提供飛行的幫助，因此它可能根本就不會飛。相反，它是先用爪子爬上樹，再借助翼形皮膜在棲木間滑翔一小段距離。

Ancient Creature Smaller Than Its Own Sperm

1.比自身精子還小的古生物

The extant ostracods are tiny crustaceans about 1 millimeter (0.04 in) in length. They're super prolific, look like plankton with whiskers, and one of their ancestors had some truly spectacular sperm.

現存的介形類動物都是大約1毫米（0.04英寸）長的甲殼綱動物，他們的繁殖能力非常強，看起來像是一些帶有鬍鬚的浮游生物。而它們的一位祖先卻擁有驚人的精子。

In an extraordinarily fortunate stroke of luck, researchers found a batch of 16-million-year-old sperm, perfectly preserved inside a female ostracod's reproductive tract. Soft tissues like sperm are ridiculously fragile. So to stumble upon a specimen of such detail and age is almost unheard of. To find that the specimens involved were immortalized post-coitus considerably boosts their the preserved sperm were bizarrely, comically large, up to 1 centimeter (0.4 in) in length, which makes them considerably longer than the ostracod itself. It's pretty rare in nature for an animal to boast sperm larger than itself, although some moths and fruit flies also share in this distinction. Sadly, scientists aren't sure why these unassuming animals pack .50-cal ammo for gametes, but they are duly impressed.

在一次非常偶然的機會下，研究人員幸運地發現了一些被完整保存在母體生殖系統中的精子，距今已有1600萬年。精子這樣的軟組織極易被破壞，所以，能夠發現保存如此完整且年代如此久遠的樣本，這幾乎聞所未聞。尤其還是這種在性交後就被永久存留在母體裏的樣本，更讓這次發現顯得彌足珍貴。此外，這些被保存下來的精子體積較大，長度也有1釐米（0.4英寸）左右，而且奇形怪狀，讓人感到很滑稽。這也說明這種甲殼綱動物的精子比它自身更長。儘管一些飛蛾和果蠅的精子也大於它們的自身體積，但在自然界裏，這一現象仍然非常罕見。遺憾的是，科學家們仍不能解釋爲什麼這種生性低調的物種要在卵細胞內塞滿0.5口徑的"子彈"，但這一發現還是給人們留下了深刻的印象。

審校：趙倩 編輯：旭旭 來源：前十網