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For a giant like Quetzalcoatlus, flight control is everything.
對于體型龐大的披羽蛇翼龍而言，飛行控制至關重要。
This flying reptile has one of the most advanced autopilot systems in natural history.
這種飛行爬行動物具有自然界歷史上最先進的自動駕駛系統。
Imagine just for a moment that you're an animal with the wingspan of a small sailplane and you are turning yourself 90 degrees.
試想你自己是一只擁有小型滑翔機機翼那么大的翅膀的動物，你想轉彎九十度。
That's not an easy maneuver to pull.
這可不是一件容易的事。
Human pilots, for example, rely on instruments in their cockpit in order to do things like that.
舉個例子，飛行員依靠駕駛室里的各種設備來完成類似的操作。
Quetzalcoatlus has to have those instruments built in.
風神翼龍則將這些設備都裝進了身體里。
A Quetzalcoatlus wing is covered with millions of tiny hairlike sensors.
它的翅膀上布滿了上百萬個細如發絲的感應器。
These microscopically small biomemory devices collect information, then send signals to the brain.
這些微小的生物存儲裝置收集信息并向大腦發出信號。
Their wing wasn't just an aerodynamic organ.
它們的翅膀不僅是飛行器官。
It was also a gigantic sensory organ capturing all kinds of aerodynamically relevant information about things
也是一個巨大的感覺器官，能捕捉各種空氣動力學的相關信息，
like air speed, tension in particular parts of the wing.
例如氣流，速度和翅膀某些部位的張力。
This data travels from the wing to the brain.
這些數據由翅膀傳導到大腦。
Then in a split second, a Quetzalcoatlus makes minute adjustments to its wing shape and body position.
瞬間之后，風神翼龍便能對翅膀形狀及身體姿勢進行微調。
Proof of this advanced biotechnology is found in the flocculus, the area of the brain devoted to flight control.
這種復雜的生物反應的證據是在小腦絨球中發現的，這部分大腦負責控制飛行。
It's three times larger than in any bird today.
它比現代鳥類的同一部分大三倍。
There's a huge amount of math going on in the brain as it's making these subconscious calculations.
它在潛意識下的思維基于大腦中復雜的數學計算。
And what's key is that's happening all the time.
最關鍵的是，這種計算一直在進行。
It can never stop because these animals are in the air.
之所以不能停止是因為它們在天上飛。
And if there's any break in that process, the results are potentially catastrophic.
在飛行中受到任何干擾后果都可能相當慘重。
Nothing this large would achieve powered flight until the 20th century, 65 million years later.
直到六千五百萬年后的二十世紀才出現了和它一樣龐大的動力飛行物。
And Quetzalcoatlus still may hold the record for flight duration. Probably stay aloft for a week.
而風神翼龍仍是最長飛行時間的紀錄保持者。也許能持續飛行一周。
Probably it could have gone for 25,000,26,000 miles in a single trip.
一次能持續飛行兩萬五到兩萬六千英里。
Quetzalcoatlus is one of the most unusual and terrifying carnivores to inhabit the earth.
風神翼龍是地球上最獨特、最危險的食肉動物之一。
But unlike predators such as T. Rex and Deinonychus, this flying meat eater isn't searching for the big kill.
但與雷克斯霸王龍和恐爪龍這樣的捕食者不同，這種飛行類食肉動物不喜歡大型獵物。
It scours the earth from above, tracking the small, the young, the defenseless...dinosaur hatchlings.
它居高臨下，專門搜索幼小而毫無防備的剛出殼的小恐龍。
