This animal provides physical evidence that the jaws of the animals from the north and the animals from the south were different
这些动物提供了自然证据,北半球动物的颚骨与南半球动物是不一样的
at this time and it provides probably the only clue that we have for this in South America.
这一次提供的或许是我们在南美洲找到的唯一线索
This is a unique specimen. It's fantastic.
这是唯一的标本。太奇妙了。
As the super-continent split, the jaw showed that mammals in the southern continent
正如颚骨显示的结果,随着超大陆的分裂,南方大陆的哺乳动物
were evolving separately from those in the Northern Hemisphere.
与北半球的哺乳动物开始分道扬镳
This was evidence that vicariance was beginning in the mid-Jurassic, at least for mammals,
这就是地理分隔开始于中侏罗世的证据,至少哺乳类是如此
but was there proof of vicariance in the dinosaurs?
那么是否也有关于恐龙地理分隔的证据呢
To find out they needed fossils from different times in the mid-Jurassic.
为此,他们必须找到中侏罗世各个时期的化石
We need dinosaurs from just before the break up of the continent
我们需要大陆分裂前的恐龙化石
and just after the break up of the continent and that is what we have here.
和大陆分裂后的恐龙化石,我们在这儿找的就是这些
So they carefully dug out the fossils
于是他们小心地挖出化石
and encased them in plaster to protect them on the long journey back to the lab.
用石膏包住它们,以免在运回实验室的长途中受到损坏
Only then could the analysis begin.
之后,他们才开始分析研究。