According to my preliminary analysis,
根据我的初步分析
it seems that these animals do not seem to show any differentiation between the dinosaurs from the Northern and Southern Hemisphere
在南北半球的这些恐龙之间,似乎并没有表现出明显的区别
and this is the time more or less directly before the final split of the Northern and Southern Hemisphere,
这段时期差不多刚好是在南北半球分裂之前
the final separation of North and South America.
也就是南北美洲分离之时
One continent, one type of meat-eater.
一块大陆,一种食肉恐龙
It was just as the vicariance theory predicted,
这正是地理分隔理论预测的结果
but then they had to compare dinosaurs for signs of vicariance from after the super-continent split up.
但他们还得比较大陆刚分裂后的恐龙,寻找地理分隔的相关证据
If the theory was right, there should be some differences between dinosaurs from the north and the south,
如果这一说法正确,那么南北恐龙之间必然存在着一些不同点
but because the split had only just happened
但是由于大陆刚分裂不久
these differences would only be slight and very hard to spot
这些差异非常细小,很难被发现
and at first he couldn't find anything significant.
一开始他们没能找到一点重要线索
In the end he looked again at the radioactive dinosaur.
最后他决定再次研究放射性的恐龙骨骼
Of all the fossils this was the youngest, from well after the super-continent split up.
它是所有化石中最年轻的,来自超大陆刚分裂之时。
Now the interesting thing about this fossil is
这块化石值得关注的原因是
that this comes from a part of the rock sequence that we actually now believe to be younger than the other fossils that we've seen
我们认为它挖掘出来的岩层比我们找到的其它化石的岩层都要年轻
and with this kind of fossils hopefully then we can answer the question,
有了这类化石,我们就有希望找到问题的答案。
whether the dinosaurs took different evolutionary pathways in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere.
南北半球的恐龙是否真的沿着不同的轨道进化。