意大利出土恐龙化石---改写当地史前记录(下)

Antonio is roughly the size of a small car, [but] Bruno is a meter longer - closer to the size of a larger minivan.

安东尼奥大概有一辆小型汽车那么大，但布鲁诺比安东尼奥长一米——更接近一辆更大的小型货车。

So Antonio is a complete skeleton and Bruno, it's 70 to 75 percent complete.

所以安东尼奥是一个完整的骨骼，而布鲁诺是完整骨骼的70%到75%的。

There is another skeleton which is still on the ground and waits to be completely recovered and prepared.

还有另一具骨骼仍留在地上，等待着被完全复原，准备着。

And this is actually—it's nicknamed Rocco and is potentially even bigger than Bruno.

这实际上是——它的绰号是罗科，可能比布鲁诺体型还要大。

The discovery of Bruno and Rocco have totally upended Antonio’s story.

布鲁诺和罗科的发现完全颠覆了安东尼奥的故事。

And so have other findings at the site.

现场的其他发现也是如此。

Dinosaurs were not the only fossil from the area.

恐龙并不是该地区唯一的化石。

We also find shrimps, plants. We find crocodiles.

我们还发现了虾化石、植物化石。 我们还发现了鳄鱼化石。

We find all sorts of dinosaurs which still are pending proper descriptions, flying reptiles like pterosaurs.

我们发现了各种各样的恐龙，但仍有待正确的描述，比如翼龙等会飞的爬行动物。

Chiarenza says he also imagines the region as a marginal marine area.

基亚伦扎表示，他还把这个地区想象成一个边缘海域。

You probably would have seen these dinosaurs like Tethyshadros potentially moving together, like in a group, maybe drinking in, you know, on a river [side].

你可能会看到这些像特提沙德罗这样的恐龙可能在一起行动，就像是成群结队，也许会在河边喝水。

The team also collected new data on the geology of the area.

该团队还收集了该地区地质的新数据。

They redated the rocks to 80 million years ago, which is 10 million years older than thought.

他们将这些岩石重新测定为来自八千万年前，比我们想象的要早一千万年前。

Which also led us to think that at the time, the paleogeography of the area was actually different.

这也让我们认为，在当时，该地区的地理实际上是不同的。

It wasn’t the islands archipelago that it was speculated before.

它不是之前推测的群岛。

But it was actually a more continuous with larger, more extended land masses that probably we're offering up connections between not only the western part of Europe and the eastern part of Europe, but with also Asia and eventually Africa.

但它实际上是一个更连续的，更大的，更广阔的陆地块，可能不仅提供了连接西欧和东欧的联系，也提供了连接与亚洲和非洲的联系。

So it probably was supporting more population of larger animals that had more available resources.

所以该陆地可能是为了支持更多拥有更多可用资源的较大动物的种群。

So what comes next in the new version of this Italian dinosaur saga?

那么，这部新版意大利恐龙传奇接下来会发生什么呢？

Chiarenza says he’s particularly interested in looking at what he and colleagues can learn from past changes in climate.

基亚伦扎说，他特别感兴趣的是，他和同事们可以从过去的气候变化中了解到什么。

Trying to learn which species might have been more sensitive to some climate change and trying to infer what did that might meant for their adaptations.

试图了解哪些物种可能对某些气候变化更敏感，并试图推断这可能对它们的环境适应意味着什么。

He says the next chapter in this story will be to parse out how changes in climate over time drove the distribution of dinosaurs across Europe, into Asia and in other parts of the world.

他说，这个故事的下一章将分析气候变化如何推动恐龙在欧洲、亚洲和世界其他地区的分布。

For 60 Second Science, I’m Emily Schwing.

科学美国人——60秒科学。我是艾米丽·施文。