评论
打印
The creature's full scientific name is Carcharocles megalodon.
这种生物的完整学名是巨齿鲨。
“Megalodon” means simply, “giant tooth,” derived from Greek.
“Megalodon”的简单意思是“巨型牙齿”，源于希腊语。
Fossil evidence of the megalodon occurs most often as giant shark teeth.
巨齿鲨的化石证据通常是巨大的鲨鱼牙齿。
Adult megalodon teeth may be as big as one’s palm.
成年巨齿鲨的牙齿可能和人的手掌一样大。
Some are even larger.
有些甚至更大。
Fossils suggest that megalodons lived in tropical and temperate oceans worldwide.
化石表明，巨巨齿鲨生活在世界各地的热带和温带海洋中。
The megalodon is often compared to the great white shark, but both species have descended along different, albeit closely related lineages.
人们经常将巨齿鲨与大白鲨相比较，但这两个物种的祖先虽然亲缘关系密切，但却不尽相同。
Sharks are known for their stability through evolution.
鲨鱼在进化过程中以稳定性而闻名。
And so, scientists believe that a day in a megalodon’s life would resemble that of other top predator sharks.
因此，科学家们认为，巨齿鲨的一天的生活与其他顶级食肉鲨鱼相似。
Here, the Isthmus of Panama-- the land that would connect North America with South America -- has not yet emerged from the ocean.
在这里，巴拿马地峡--连接北美和南美的陆地--还没有从海洋中出现。
A female megalodon surveys the area.
一只雌性巨齿鲨在观察这片区域。
She’s pregnant.
她怀孕了。
She came here to give birth.
她来这里是为了生孩子。
While we don’t know for how long, her pregnancy could have taken over a year.
虽然我们不知道她怀孕多久，但她的怀孕可能需要一年多的时间。
As some other large sharks do today, the mother shark gives birth to live young.
正如今天其他一些大型鲨鱼那样，鲨鱼妈妈生下了幼崽。
The mother shark is truly giant, about the size of a bus.
鲨鱼妈妈真的很巨大，大约有一辆公共汽车那么大。
And so these infant sharks are similarly big, about 2 meters or more from nose to tail.
因此，这些幼鲨的体型也很大，从鼻子到尾巴大约有2米或更长。
The mother may stay near her young, but her actions may not be about mothering.
母亲可能会待在她的幼崽身边，但她的行为可能与母亲无关。
Instead, she’s more about defending an area she may have used as a feeding ground.
相反，她更多的是捍卫一个她可能被用作觅食地的区域。
Hammerhead sharks feed here, too.
锤头鲨也在这里觅食。
And so, as she keeps territory for herself, she also keeps her babies safe from the hammerheads.
因此，在为自己保住领地的同时，她也保护自己的幼崽不受锤头鲨的伤害。
Even at birth, the infant sharks are formidable.
即使在刚出生的时候，幼鲨也是巨大的。
They’ll prey on smaller fish, mollusks, and on small marine mammals if they’re present.
它们会捕食较小的鱼类、软体动物和小型海洋哺乳动物(如果有的话)。
The mother, however, seeks larger prey.
然而，母亲寻找的是更大的猎物。
She is easily capable of killing sizeable marine mammals, like whales, because she is far bigger than they are.
她可以很容易就杀死像鲸鱼这样的大型海洋哺乳动物，因为她比它们大得多。
Tooth marks on fossil whale bones indicate deep megalodon bites.
鲸鱼骨头上化石的牙印表明巨齿鲸咬得很深。
The female bites and then shakes her prey.
雌性巨齿鲨先咬一口，然后摇晃猎物。
The serrated edges of her teeth cut heavy flesh like giant steak knives.
她锯齿状的牙齿像巨型牛排刀一样切开厚重的肉。
