纪录片《恐龙的战争》 完美捕食（13）（在线收听）

For a giant like Quetzalcoatlus, flight control is everything.

对于体型庞大的披羽蛇翼龙而言，飞行控制至关重要。

This flying reptile has one of the most advanced autopilot systems in natural history.

这种飞行爬行动物具有自然界历史上最先进的自动驾驶系统。

Imagine just for a moment that you're an animal with the wingspan of a small sailplane and you are turning yourself 90 degrees.

试想你自己是一只拥有小型滑翔机机翼那么大的翅膀的动物，你想转弯九十度。

That's not an easy maneuver to pull.

这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.

举个例子，飞行员依靠驾驶室里的各种设备来完成类似的操作。

Quetzalcoatlus has to have those instruments built in.

风神翼龙则将这些设备都装进了身体里。

A Quetzalcoatlus wing is covered with millions of tiny hairlike sensors.

它的翅膀上布满了上百万个细如发丝的感应器。

These microscopically small biomemory devices collect information, then send signals to the brain.

这些微小的生物存储装置收集信息并向大脑发出信号。

Their wing wasn't just an aerodynamic organ.

它们的翅膀不仅是飞行器官。

It was also a gigantic sensory organ capturing all kinds of aerodynamically relevant information about things

也是一个巨大的感觉器官，能捕捉各种空气动力学的相关信息，

like air speed, tension in particular parts of the wing.

例如气流，速度和翅膀某些部位的张力。

This data travels from the wing to the brain.

这些数据由翅膀传导到大脑。

Then in a split second, a Quetzalcoatlus makes minute adjustments to its wing shape and body position.

瞬间之后，风神翼龙便能对翅膀形状及身体姿势进行微调。

Proof of this advanced biotechnology is found in the flocculus, the area of the brain devoted to flight control.

这种复杂的生物反应的证据是在小脑绒球中发现的，这部分大脑负责控制飞行。

It's three times larger than in any bird today.

它比现代鸟类的同一部分大三倍。

There's a huge amount of math going on in the brain as it's making these subconscious calculations.

它在潜意识下的思维基于大脑中复杂的数学计算。

And what's key is that's happening all the time.

最关键的是，这种计算一直在进行。

It can never stop because these animals are in the air.

之所以不能停止是因为它们在天上飞。

And if there's any break in that process, the results are potentially catastrophic.

在飞行中受到任何干扰后果都可能相当惨重。

Nothing this large would achieve powered flight until the 20th century, 65 million years later.

直到六千五百万年后的二十世纪才出现了和它一样庞大的动力飞行物。

And Quetzalcoatlus still may hold the record for flight duration. Probably stay aloft for a week.

而风神翼龙仍是最长飞行时间的纪录保持者。也许能持续飞行一周。

Probably it could have gone for 25,000,26,000 miles in a single trip.

一次能持续飞行两万五到两万六千英里。

Quetzalcoatlus is one of the most unusual and terrifying carnivores to inhabit the earth.

风神翼龙是地球上最独特、最危险的食肉动物之一。

But unlike predators such as T. Rex and Deinonychus, this flying meat eater isn't searching for the big kill.

但与雷克斯霸王龙和恐爪龙这样的捕食者不同，这种飞行类食肉动物不喜欢大型猎物。

It scours the earth from above, tracking the small, the young, the defenseless...dinosaur hatchlings.

它居高临下，专门搜索幼小而毫无防备的刚出壳的小恐龙。