侏羅紀(jì)搏擊俱樂部 第135期:長腿的優(yōu)勢

They moved with their front legs more oriented inward instead of like this, like we see in bears today, and that would have given them a more efficient gate.

當(dāng)它們進行移動時，前腿更向內(nèi)靠，而不是像我們?nèi)缃窨吹降男茴愡@樣，那就讓它們有更高的效率。

We now know that its long legs made it a top predator, a mammal that could run down its prey at long distances, particularly, bison.

我們現(xiàn)在知道它的長腿使之成為頂級掠食者，這種哺乳動物能夠長距離追逐獵物，特別是野牛。

With its long legs and huge size which meant a very long stride, it could probably run pretty fast and for quite a while.

有了長腿和巨大的體型，這意味著每一步都很大，它也許能夠跑得很快也能堅持很久。

So it had some chance of overtaking better runners, like bison would be the obvious, probably the prey of choice for this animal.

所以它有機會干掉很擅長跑動的獵物，比如公認擅長跑步的野牛，也許就是短面熊的獵物之選。

Soon, the raw power of the mega bear would become evident.

人們很快就發(fā)現(xiàn)這種巨熊蠻力十足。

As paleontologists continued to investigate, they realized that this animal was so massive, it even hunted and killed giant mammoths.

隨著古生物學(xué)家繼續(xù)調(diào)查，他們意識到這種動物非常巨大，甚至能獵殺巨大的猛犸象。

In Utah, there was a mammoth found, a mammoth skeleton found that had scratch marks on some of the bones that were the size and could have been done by the canines of a short faced bear.

在猶他州，曾經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)過一頭猛犸象，一個猛犸象的骨架，里面有些骨頭上有著劃痕，是短面熊犬齒的大小，可能是它的杰作。

And short faced bear remains were found along side this mammoth, so there is evidence that these animals were eating other animals.

而且這頭猛犸象的旁邊也發(fā)現(xiàn)了短面熊的遺骸，所以有證據(jù)表明這些動物在以其他動物為食。

This is a calcaneus or heel bone of a mammoth from Saltville, Virginia, the same site where we have recovered giant short faced bear remains.

這是猛犸象的跟骨就是腳后跟骨，出土于弗吉尼亞的索爾特維爾，在同一地點我們也發(fā)現(xiàn)了巨大的短面熊遺骸。

If we look at it from this angle, we can see this cut where this large canine would have gone through this bone.

要是我們從這個角度看，我們能看到這個切口，這里就是巨大犬齒咬進這塊骨頭的地方。

These are very dense bones, not a soft area of the skeleton.

這些是很致密的骨頭，并不是骨架里柔軟的部分。

And I can't think of anything else besides a giant short faced bear that could have caused something like this.

除了短面熊我想不到還有什么其他的東西能造成這種傷害。

The extent of the short faced bear's hunting territory is impressive.This bear was everywhere.

短面熊的狩獵領(lǐng)地大得驚人。這種熊無處不在。

The geographical distribution of giant short faced bears is across North America, from Alaska all the way down into Mexico and from coast to coast.

巨型短面熊的地理分布遍及北美洲，從阿拉斯加直到墨西哥，從東海岸到西海岸。

The only place that they were missing, until recently, was down in the very South-East.

直到最近，唯一沒發(fā)現(xiàn)它們的地方是最東南端。

Now we're finding that they were there: we've got some records from Florida and we've got some other records from the extreme South-East, so they were all over the place.

我們?nèi)缃褚呀?jīng)知道它們也曾在那里：我們在佛羅里達有一些記錄，我們在極東南端也有了一些其它記錄，所以它們到處都是。

Even more evidence of the bear's range was unearthed in California's La Brea Tar Pits, one of the richest sources of prehistoric bones in North America.

這種熊分布范圍的更多證據(jù)在加州的拉布雷亞瀝青坑被找到，那里是北美史前骨骼最富集處之一。

Rancho La Brea is a unique situation where we have oil that has come up through the ground, onto the surface and filled small cavities in the surface of the ground and set up a trap where animals would come in, get entrapped in this soil, muck with the asphalt, very sticky, would end up dying there, decaying there, and the bones being preserved by the oil itself.

拉布雷亞瀝青坑是一個獨特的地方，那里有石油從地下泛上來到達地表，并且填滿地面的小洞形成一個陷阱，動物們走進來，被困在土壤里，身上沾滿非常黏的瀝青，最終死在里面，在那里腐爛，而其骨頭則被石油保存下來。