侏羅紀搏擊俱樂部 第118期:挖出最古老的甲龍之一

Gastonia, built like a prehistoric tank, it's body covered in armor.

加斯頓龍，身上披盔戴甲仿若史前坦克。

Huge spikes jutted from its back and its tail worked like a chainsaw.

它的背后支出巨大尖刺尾巴簡直如同鏈鋸。

It lived alongside one of the most terrifying creatures on Earth - Utahraptor, a giant, supersized raptor.

它和地球上最恐怖的生物之一猶他盜龍，一種巨大的迅猛龍，一同生存。

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Some of its fossilized secrets are scientifically decoded as paleontologists explore whether these creatures were ever forced to fight for survival in the most brutal of terrains.

古生物學家在探索這些生物在最殘酷的地形中是否曾被迫為了生存而戰(zhàn)時，科學地解碼它的一些石化的秘密。

They were the Earth's largest animals.

它們曾是地球上最大的動物。

New technology and forensic evidence helps paleontologists bring to life some of their final moments.

新的科技和現(xiàn)場證據(jù)幫助古生物學家們重現(xiàn)了它們生命中的最后時刻。

The mystery began in October, 1989. In Moab, Utah.

謎團出現(xiàn)在1989年十月。在猶他州的摩押。

Dinosaur expert Robert Gaston was on a routine search for fossils when he happened upon a discovery that would rock the prehistoric world.

恐龍專家羅伯特·加斯頓偶然做出的一個發(fā)現(xiàn)將震撼史前世界時，他正在進行例行的化石搜尋。

I was walking along the bottom of the mesa and the mesa had brightly colored bands of purple and green soils on it.

我在一個平頂山腳下走著，山上有紫色和綠色土壤，形成鮮艷的帶狀構(gòu)造。

And so in walking along the bottom I found a piece of armored dinosaur askew in a piece of this green clay.

就在我在山下走的時候，我發(fā)現(xiàn)了一塊帶甲的恐龍斜插在一片綠色的黏土里。

And I could see where it had rolled down because it was a freshly eroded piece.

我能看出來它從哪里滾下來因為它剛剛風化不久。

So I followed that up to the layer where it appeared to be coming out and once I got to the layer, there were dinner plate size pieces of armor, you could see vertebra in the rock.

所以我就循跡找到骨頭原本所在的那一土層，我一到那里就看到了餐盤般大小的骨甲，能在巖石中看見脊椎骨。

And so I knew that there was, you know, quite a bit of this animal in the ground there.

所以我知道這個動物很大一部分就在這地下。

Gaston had no idea he was about to unearth one of the earliest armored dinosaurs, a giant porcupine-like monster previously unknown to science.

加斯頓完全沒有想到他將要挖出最古老的甲龍之一，一個此前科學所不知道的巨大的豪豬般的怪獸。

I realized that what I had found was scientifically significant fairly early on.

我很快就意識到這在科學上很有意義。

How significant, I didn't realize, but I knew that armored dinosaurs weren't really well known and because their bones are so distinctive being whole pieces of armor, it was easy to see that it was probably some type of animal like that.

我并不知道意義有多重大，不過我知道帶甲恐龍不算太出名，因為它們骨頭非常特殊是整片鎧甲，很容易就知道它可能是某種那樣的動物。

And so I began to realize the ramifications that, you know, not only was this thing, you know, fairly important, but it was going to shed a whole new light on a branch of animals that was poorly known in North America.

所以我開始意識到這些分支，不僅是這個東西，非常重要，而且它將照亮北美知之甚少的一個動物分支。