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Just how did the Tyrannosaurus rex get from oversized chicken to the colossal beast we tend to see on the silver screen?
霸王龙的身材究竟是怎么从和硕大的鸡差不多长到我们经常在荧幕上看到的那种庞然大物的？
Well, we’re still digging for the answers.
嗯，这个问题的答案仍在研究中。
Outside the confines of Jurassic Park,
在侏罗纪公园之外的
real-life scientists are always updating our ideas about what dinosaurs may have looked like,
现实生活中，科学家们一直在刷新我们对恐龙模样的概念，
and we’re constantly being surprised by their findings.
他们的发现也不断给我们带来了惊奇。
Like these brand new digital reconstructions of what baby T. rex’s may have looked like,
比如，这些用全新的数码技术重建的霸王龙宝宝的模样，
giving us new insight into their life cycle.
就让我们对它们的生命周期有了新的认识。
And beyond our curiosity about their beautiful exterior,
除了我们对它们美丽外表的好奇，
related research has just revealed that an early, ancestral species of T. rex was actually tiny!
最近的相关研究表明，早期的霸王龙其实很小!
Like the size of a small deer!
只有一只小鹿那么大!
Turns out, the iconic T. rex is an enigmatic animal to understand.
事实证明，标志性的霸王龙是一种让人难以理解的动物。
To get us a little more situated in this story we talked with Mark Norell,
为了更好地了解这个故事，我们采访了马克·诺雷尔，
who’s been working on understanding the details of dinosaur life for his whole career.
他的整个职业生涯都在研究恐龙生活的细节。
He and his team have created digital reconstructions of T. rex hatchlings, and guys—they’re so cute.
他和他的团队制作出了霸王龙幼崽的数码复原图，非常可爱。
And covered in feathers!
而且它们浑身都是羽毛!
“Well, T. rex is kind of important because it's really an anomalous animal.
“其实，霸王龙是很重要的一种恐龙，因为它是一种比较反常的动物。
There's nothing else really like it at all.
其他动物中完全没有跟它们长得相像的。
And now that we're starting to get enough specimens of it
如今，我们逐渐有了足够的霸王龙样本，
that we can actually take and really understand, you know, quite a bit about things like, you know, its growth, you know, habits,
可以真正理解它们的某些个方面，比如它们是怎么长大的啦以及它们的习惯什么的,
and most dinosaur specimens we only have one specimen of most dinosaur species.
大多数种类的恐龙我们都只有一个标本。
But certainly with T. rex, you know, we have 46 pretty well preserved specimens now.”
但可以确定的是，我们已经有46个保存相当完好的霸王龙标本了。”
Until recently we didn’t have that much information about how the T. rex became the T. rex.
霸王龙如何变成了霸王龙？这个问题我们一直都没有很多的了解，直到最近。
We knew they were a top end predator for about 15 million years up until their extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period.
我们只知道在白垩纪末期霸王龙灭绝之前的1500万年里，它们一直是位于食物链顶端的一种掠食者。
But when we try to go backward, before their mighty reign of terror began,
但当我们继续往前追溯，考察他们在开始无敌的恐怖统治之前的情形时，
there’s about a 70 million year gap between giant T. rex
我们发现，巨型霸王龙和我们从侏罗纪时代的化石中发掘出来的，
and a medium-sized, primitive T. rex ancestor we’d been able to unearth from the Jurassic period.
一种中等体型的原始霸王龙之间出现了大约7000万年的时间断层。
There was just nothing in the fossil record to indicate to us how, when, and how fast T. rex went,
完全没有化石资料表明，用一位古生物学家的话来说就是，
from, in the words of one paleontologist, well, ‘wallflower to prom king’.
霸王龙是如何“从丑小鸭变成最受欢迎的舞会之王”，又是何时，以何种速度发生这种变化的。
So the chances of becoming a fossil are very, very, very, very, very small.
所以，它们成为化石的可能性就非常非常非常的小。
Chances of being a well preserved fossil is even much, much, much, much, smaller.
成为保存完好的化石的可能性更加更加更加更加小了。
So we're working with not only a poor record,
所以摆在我们面前的不仅是资料少得可怜这一问题，
but a record which is flawed, also in the sense that, you know, small animals don't preserve as large as big ones.
还要面临资料有缺陷这一问题，因为小动物的化石保存下来的部分不会像大动物那样大。
However—new fossils just unearthed in Utah are helping us put together the pieces.
然而，日前在犹他州出土的新化石能够帮我们将这些碎片拼凑起来。
These specimens are now thought to be the oldest Cretaceous tyrannosauroid remains ever discovered in North America,
这些标本被认为是在北美发现的最古老的白垩纪类暴龙化石，
and surprise!
还有一个惊喜!
They’re the much smaller and faster ancestor of the huge, lumbering T. rex we know and love.
因为体型更小、速度更快的它们刚好就是我们所熟悉并喜爱的那种体型庞大、行动迟缓的霸王龙的祖先。
This tiny ancestor of goliath is called Moros intrepidus, which cheerfully translates to “the harbinger of doom”.
这个“歌利亚”的小个子祖先叫“无畏摩罗斯龙”，意思就是“厄运的先兆”。
It took this team 10 years of incredibly persistent excavation to find this key organism,
该团队花了10的时间百折不挠地挖掘，才发掘出了这种至关重要的生物，
helping us not only piece together T. rex lineage,
他们的这一发现不仅帮我们拼出了霸王龙的谱系，
but also give us a sense of where they lived and how they migrated through an ancient earth.
也让我们了解到它们曾经在哪儿生活，以及它们是如何在一个古老的地球上迁徙的。
This update to the fossil record now tells us that at some point, the T. rex must have made the journey from Asia,
这一新发现的化石记录告诉我们，霸王龙一定是某个时刻从亚洲，
the home the very primitive tyrannasoid fossils we’d found previously,
也就是我们之前发现非常原始的暴龙化石的地方
to North America, where we’ve found this new in-betweener.
迁徙到北美这个我们发现新的中间形态的霸王龙化石的地方来的。
In addition to improving our understanding of where the T. rex came from and how it evolved over time,
这一发现不仅增进了我们对霸王龙起源及其进化过程的了解，
we’re also starting to revisit how they grew up.
也让我们重新开始审视霸王龙的成长过程了。
What happens in between a baby T. rex hatching and the full adult?
霸王龙宝宝成长为成年霸王龙的过程中发生了什么?
And WHY are its arms so tiny?!
为什么它们的胳膊那么迷你？
"It grew to adult size in about 19 years, which is pretty remarkable...
“霸王龙只需要19年的时间就能长到成年霸王龙的体型，这是非常了不起的……
So that, you know, T. rex could grow to, you know, its immense size,
为了能长到成年后的那种巨大的体型，
for a while it was growing over two kilograms a day for quite a while during its lifetime. So that's surprising."
它们一生中有很长一段时间是每天都会长两公斤以上的。这点倒是让人挺意外的。”
As babies, the little stumpy T. rex arms were more proportional to their body size,
幼年霸王龙那又短又粗的前臂和它们的体型还是比较相称的，
letting them hold on to wriggling prey, like their smaller tyrannosauroid ancestors.
能够帮助它们抓住挣扎的猎物，就像它们那体型较小的霸王龙祖先那样。
But as they had to pack on more and more weight even faster as they rose to prominence,
但随着它们的逐渐崛起，它们的体重增长得也越来越快了，
more of that development went to the head and neck, specially designed to brutally crush their prey...leaving the arms just...angin’.
但这个过程中发育更多的是它们的头部和颈部，这一进化是为了残忍地碾碎猎物……这样一来，它们的前臂就只能……在那儿吊着了。
The past ten years have been full of advancements to the computational and scientific tools paleontologists use to analyze fossilized remains.
过去十年里，古生物学家用来分析化石遗迹的计算工具和科学工具都取得了长足的进步。
Techniques like synchrotron radiation and Raman spectroscopy represent non-invasive imaging that let us see how the animals grew,
同步辐射和拉曼光谱等技术代表了能够让我们看到动物的成长过程，
to be able to see and count the layers of bone they put down every year.
能够让我们看到并计算他们每年增加的骨头层数的非侵入性成像技术。
"So on a computation and technology side really a lot of has changed."
“所以，计算和技术方面确实发生了很多变化。”
And it's changing really quickly now, just as we speak.
这会儿我们说话的时候，技术也在飞速发展。”
Advancements in both excavation and analysis are continuing for the T. rex niche of this field and paleontology in general—
针对霸王龙在这一带的生态位乃至整个古生物学的挖掘和分析技术都在继续往前发展——
we’re starting to look at the fossil record in new ways to help us gain a deeper understanding of well, everything.
我们也已经开始用新方式研究化石记录，帮助我们更深入地了解世间万物。
From the origins of these species to what they looked like, what they ate,
从这些物种的起源，到它们的样子，再到它们吃什么，
how they interacted with each other, even what the ancient atmosphere was like ...
他们是如何和彼此互动交流的，甚至是古代的生态环境如何的各种问题，
there’s just a wealth of information out there waiting to be dug up and discovered to tell us more about our world and understand how we got to today.
大量的信息等着我们去发现，从而告诉我们更多关于我们这个世界的信息，帮助我们了解我们是如何走到了今天的。
Might as well start with the T. rex, huh?
觉得这些问题归根结底还是要从研究霸王龙开始哈？
While we won’t be bringing dinosaurs truly back to life any time soon,
虽然我们短期内是不会让恐龙真正复活的，
the American Museum of Natural History is putting on quite the show with their T. rex recreations
但美国自然历史博物馆正在举办一场大型的霸王龙表演，
so if you’re in town you should check it out, or check them out online at the link in the description.
近便的话你也应该去看看，或者，你也可以打开视频介绍里的链接在线参观。
Let us know what your favorite T. rex fact is in the comments,
关于霸王龙，你最喜欢的是哪一点？快在评论中告诉我们吧。
and make sure you subscribe to Seeker to find out what paleontologists will unearth next.
还有，别忘了订阅我们的频道，了解古生物学家下一步的发掘计划。
As always, thanks for watching!
照旧要感谢大家的收看!
