評論
打印
Keeping this predator airborne at altitudes as high as 10,000 feet
將龐大的身軀保持在一萬英尺的高空
requires a 12-meter wingspan, an accurate guidance system, and near-perfect eyesight.
需要12米的翼展精確的導航系統和超常的視力。
What we see is an enlarged eyeball, an enlarged eye socket, and the processing centers of the brain,
我們看到的是巨大的眼球和眼窩大腦的運算中心，
the optic lobes, were also very much expanded.
視葉也都是非常龐大的。
Its four-inch retina is packed with over a billion light receptors and registers
四英寸大的視網膜布滿過十億個光束接收器和記錄器，
as much as four times the detail of the human eye.
是人眼精細程度的四倍。
A Quetzalcoatlus can also see a spectrum of light invisible to humans...ultraviolet.
風神翼龍也能看到人類看不到的光紫外線。
The urine of their prey absorbs U.V. rays and then reflects them back.
獵物的尿液會吸收并反射紫外線。
This creates a lighted trail leading straight to their quarry.
風神翼龍依靠這些光線直接追蹤到獵物。
These animals had very highly developed gaze stabilization mechanisms,
它們擁有高度發達的凝視穩定機制，
allowing to keep their target fixed and in focus, within the cross hairs, if you will, as they were moving through space.
使它們在飛行過程中能精準地將目標鎖定在它們的十字準線之內。
The secret to gaze stabilization is hidden in the inner ear.
如此穩定的凝視能力，其奧秘在于它的內耳。
Three interconnected tubes form what are called semicircular canals.
三個互相連通的軟管構成內耳半規管。
Fluid fills each canal, and small hairs detect the tiniest movement.
每個半規管中都充滿液體細小的絨毛，可感應到極微弱的變動。
As a Quetzalcoatlus' head moves during flight, signals are sent directly to the eye muscles.
風神翼龍在飛行中轉動頭部時眼部肌肉直接接收信號。
The eyeballs adjust, keeping an image fixed and perfectly in focus.
眼球迅速調整繼續精準地盯住獵物。
From 300 meters in the air, a Quetzalcoatlus can pick out a T. Rex nest and even count the number of chicks.
在300米的高空中風神翼龍就能找出雷克斯霸王龍的巢穴甚至數清有幾只幼龍。
I think that a big pterosaur on the ground would've been spooky because they would be moving around on all fours.
翼龍在地面上看起來一定很嚇人。因為它們用四肢行走。
They'd probably have those sort of quick, precise movements like birds, but they'd be huge.
它們像鳥類一般行動迅速而靈敏，但體型卻比鳥類龐大。
