侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第118期:挖出最古老的甲龙之一

Gastonia, built like a prehistoric tank, it's body covered in armor.

加斯顿龙，身上披盔戴甲仿若史前坦克。

Huge spikes jutted from its back and its tail worked like a chainsaw.

它的背后支出巨大尖刺尾巴简直如同链锯。

It lived alongside one of the most terrifying creatures on Earth - Utahraptor, a giant, supersized raptor.

它和地球上最恐怖的生物之一犹他盗龙，一种巨大的迅猛龙，一同生存。

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Some of its fossilized secrets are scientifically decoded as paleontologists explore whether these creatures were ever forced to fight for survival in the most brutal of terrains.

古生物学家在探索这些生物在最残酷的地形中是否曾被迫为了生存而战时，科学地解码它的一些石化的秘密。

They were the Earth's largest animals.

它们曾是地球上最大的动物。

New technology and forensic evidence helps paleontologists bring to life some of their final moments.

新的科技和现场证据帮助古生物学家们重现了它们生命中的最后时刻。

The mystery began in October, 1989. In Moab, Utah.

谜团出现在1989年十月。在犹他州的摩押。

Dinosaur expert Robert Gaston was on a routine search for fossils when he happened upon a discovery that would rock the prehistoric world.

恐龙专家罗伯特·加斯顿偶然做出的一个发现将震撼史前世界时，他正在进行例行的化石搜寻。

I was walking along the bottom of the mesa and the mesa had brightly colored bands of purple and green soils on it.

我在一个平顶山脚下走着，山上有紫色和绿色土壤，形成鲜艳的带状构造。

And so in walking along the bottom I found a piece of armored dinosaur askew in a piece of this green clay.

就在我在山下走的时候，我发现了一块带甲的恐龙斜插在一片绿色的黏土里。

And I could see where it had rolled down because it was a freshly eroded piece.

我能看出来它从哪里滚下来因为它刚刚风化不久。

So I followed that up to the layer where it appeared to be coming out and once I got to the layer, there were dinner plate size pieces of armor, you could see vertebra in the rock.

所以我就循迹找到骨头原本所在的那一土层，我一到那里就看到了餐盘般大小的骨甲，能在岩石中看见脊椎骨。

And so I knew that there was, you know, quite a bit of this animal in the ground there.

所以我知道这个动物很大一部分就在这地下。

Gaston had no idea he was about to unearth one of the earliest armored dinosaurs, a giant porcupine-like monster previously unknown to science.

加斯顿完全没有想到他将要挖出最古老的甲龙之一，一个此前科学所不知道的巨大的豪猪般的怪兽。

I realized that what I had found was scientifically significant fairly early on.

我很快就意识到这在科学上很有意义。

How significant, I didn't realize, but I knew that armored dinosaurs weren't really well known and because their bones are so distinctive being whole pieces of armor, it was easy to see that it was probably some type of animal like that.

我并不知道意义有多重大，不过我知道带甲恐龙不算太出名，因为它们骨头非常特殊是整片铠甲，很容易就知道它可能是某种那样的动物。

And so I began to realize the ramifications that, you know, not only was this thing, you know, fairly important, but it was going to shed a whole new light on a branch of animals that was poorly known in North America.

所以我开始意识到这些分支，不仅是这个东西，非常重要，而且它将照亮北美知之甚少的一个动物分支。