动物的末日（2009）

二叠纪时期的地球
水龙兽
丽齿兽
丽齿兽
西伯利亚
西伯利亚暗色岩
南非
三尖叉齿兽
二犬齿兽
古鳄
西伯利亚暗色岩
水龙兽
水龙兽
丽齿兽
三尖叉齿兽
古鳄
什么事会让地球上的生物灭绝？
What would it take to exterminate life on Earth?
把所有生命几乎全部杀光？
To kill every living thing,
把整个世界变成一片死寂的荒地？
and turn the entire world into a barren wasteland?
两亿五千万年前
250 million years ago,
差点就发生这样的事情
it nearly happened.
这是史上有纪录以来最大一次火山爆发所造成的结果
The result of a volcanic apocalypse, unlike any ever recorded in history.
我们的地球是寒冷黑暗的宇宙中的一座保卫生命的堡垒
Our planet, a bastion of life in a cold dark universe.
但是当时只有死亡才能让幸存下来的少数物种重新开始
Nearly dies with only a few species left to start all over again.
这是地球生物所经历的最严重一次大灾难
This is the worst catastrophe life on Earth has ever endured.
谁能逃过动物末日中的大灭绝呢
Who will survive the great dying, on Animal Armageddon.
"生了病的大自然常常出现奇特的爆发"
"Disease nature oftentimes breaks forth and strange eruptions."
莎士比亚在1598年这么说道
William Shakespeare 1598.
两亿五千万年前 在被称为二叠纪的时代
A quarter of a billion years ago, in a time known as the Permian,
我们所熟悉的世界还没出现
the world we know didn't exist.
甚至连恐龙世界都还没有来临
In fact the world of dinosaurs didn't even exist.
这是恐龙在地球上出现的几百万年之前
This is millions of years before they appeared on Earth.
所有陆地都融合成一个超级大♥陆♥ 即泛大♥陆♥
All land is fused together into one super continent called Pangaea.
这个一亿五千多万年以来一直充当生命摇篮的地方
This place, the cradle of life for over 150 million years,
已经到了崩溃的边缘
is on the verge of collapse.
重要的是要了解二叠纪末时期的大灭绝
It's important to understand that the End-Permian extinction event
是生命最接近完全灭绝的一次
was the nearest life came to complete annihilation.
如果再严重一点的话 我们就不会在这边了
With a little bit more of a push, we would not be here,
什么东西都不存在了
nothing would be here.
但是这个时候的泛大♥陆♥还是个热带乐园
But for now though Pangaea is a tropical paradise,
到处是茂盛的针叶森林
filled with lush conifer forests,
清新的溪流
refreshing streams,
还有就像是从科幻小说里跑出来的奇特生物
and exotic creatures like something out of Science Fiction.
它们的模样跟它们的学名同样奇怪
Their shapes are as foreign as their names.
水龙兽
Lystrosaurus.
丽齿兽
Gorgonopsian.
三尖叉齿兽
Thrinaxodon.
还有二犬齿兽
And Dicynodon.
它们是像哺乳类的爬行类动物
They are the mammal-like reptiles.
像哺乳类的爬行类动物
Now like reptiles are
有点像是被遗忘了的脊椎动物
kind of the lost group of vertebrates,
它们被遗忘是因为
lost in the fact
它们没被拍成卖♥♥座的电影
that they've never had their own popular movie.
它们并不是哺乳类
They're not mammals
因为它们的骨骼结构跟哺乳类不一样
because they have differences in their bone structure.
它们也许是温血动物也许不是 但我们认为是温血动物
They may or may not have been warm-blooded, but we think they were.
它们也许是胎生动物 也许也不是
They may or may not have had live birth.
虽然我们认为它们或许也是胎生的
Although we think they may have done that too.
这里有个奇特而又不为人知的王国
There's a bizarre and little-known dynasty,
跟我们今天所认识的动物世界没有丝毫联♥系♥
almost entirely severed from the animal kingdom we know today.
想一下现在的非洲肯尼亚平原 你会看到大群的野生动物
Let's imagine now the African plain, Kenya, and you see vast herds of beasts,
它们从远处看就像是哺乳类动物
they would look like mammals from a distance all wildebeests.
但是你走近看时却不是
You get a closer and you see No,
这些根本不是哺乳类 只是类似哺乳类的爬行动物
these aren't true mammals, that all their men like reptiles.
到了二叠纪末期 这个被遗忘的世界充满了生机
At the end of the Permian period, this forgotten world is flourishing.
这时的地球一片平静与繁荣
Earth is a place of peace and prosperity,
是爬行类动物的伊甸园
a reptilian garden of Eden.
当时的世界要简单得多
The world was a lot simpler than,
因为我们很习惯的想到每个大洲都要有不同的动物
because we're used to thinking of different animals on each continent.
但是在二叠纪 每个地方的动物都是一样的
But in the Permian, everybody lived everywhere you find
从南到北 所有不同的地方动物都是一样的
the same creatures on land and different parts from north to south.
覆盖地球其它部分的温暖浅海也充满了生命
The warm shallow ocean that covers the rest of the planet is also swarming with life.
这个充满生机的世界怎么会变得如此恶劣
How could such a nurturing world become so hostile
以至于陆地和海洋生物有将近90％要永远灭绝呢？
that 90% of all animals on land and sea will vanish forever.
答案正在地壳下方约96公里的深处酝酿着
60 miles beneath the Earth's crust, the answer is brewing.
几千年来从地球深处不断涌出的超热熔岩
Superheated magma welling up for thousands of years,
像是创造了一个巨大的压力锅 并达到了即将爆♥炸♥的边缘
has created a pressure cooker, that's on the verge of exploding.
但是在泛大♥陆♥上的动物们过得很自在 不知道有场灾难即将降临
But Pangaea's inhabitants are blissfully unaware of what's about to happen.
在如今的堪萨斯州
All across what is now, Kansas,
成群的水龙兽在植被茂盛的平原上吃草
flocks of Lystrosaurus graze the plains.
这种跟猪差不多大小的动物
These hogs sized creatures
有尖锐的喙用来咬植物
have sharp beasts for pruning plant life,
也有很长的獠牙 还有锋利的爪子
A long tusks and claws
用来挖植物的根和块茎
for digging up roots and tubers.
它们丝毫不知道一场毁灭性的灾难即将来临
Oblivious that doomsday is coming,
继续过着平常的生活 并只顾着眼前的危险
they go about their lives, focused on more immediate dangers.
它们的最大威胁是丽齿兽
The greatest comes from Gorgonopsian,
是来自二叠纪时期的丛林霸主
king of the Permian jungle.
好吧 我们现在让一只丽齿兽复活
All right, let's bring the Gorgonopsian back to life.
假如我要这么做的话
But if I'm going to do this,
完成之后我会马上把它关进笼子里
I'm going to have him in the cage right there.
这个笼子一定要比鲨鱼笼更加坚固
You did more than a shark cage,
因为这种动物既庞大又凶猛
this is a big powerful animal.
它们一定是当时生态系统中最顶级的掠食者
They must have been the top predators of their ecosystem.
我看过这种动物的头骨
I've seen skulls of these things
大概有70多公分
that are about two and a half feet long,
比今天的狮子头骨大多了
so much larger than the lion's bone today.
单独觅食的丽齿兽有一头灰熊那么重
A solitary predator, Gorgon can weigh as much as a grizzly bear.
上颚长了一对约10厘米长的尖型犬齿
A pair of 4 inch canines protrudes from his jaw,
这是地球生物有史以来第一种军刀状牙齿
the first saber teeth in history.
水龙兽的数量非常多 因此就成了丽齿兽的主要食物
Lystrosaurus is are so abundant, they've become a mainstay of the Gorgon's diet,
就像非洲狮把角马当主要食物一样
much like the Wildebeest to the African Lion.
丽齿兽是捕猎专家 但却是很差劲的屠夫
Gorgon is an expert hunter, but a poor butcher.
丽齿兽有一口可以切割和咬住东西的利齿
Gorgonopsians have big sort of slashing and biting teeth,
但是它们并没有很多...好像并没有很多颚部肌肉
but they don't really have a whole don't..., truely hadn't a whole lot of jaw musculature.
当然狮子和狼是哺乳类
Of course lions of wolves are mammals,
哺乳类都有很多肌肉和活动自如的双颚
we all have multiple muscles and flexible jaws,
我们可以前后左右灵活地移♥动♥
we can move back and forward side to side.
但丽齿兽是典型的爬行类动物
The Gorgonopsians were classic reptiles,
它们的上下颚只能咬合
the jaws snap shut,
只能张嘴和闭嘴
open and shut.
像短吻鳄一样丽齿兽一口撕下一大块肉
Like an alligator, Gorgon clamps down,
但是它只能咬下一大块肉
but he can only shear off one piece of meat.
食物来源充足时 这不成问题
With food so easy to find this isn't a problem.
等它下次饿的时候还有很多猎物可以吃
There will be plenty more targets available the next time he's hungry.
丽齿兽走远了之后
With Gorgon long-gone,
温驯但饥饿的三尖叉齿兽悄悄地走了过来
a meek, but hungry Thrinaxodon slinks in.
这种像猫一样大小的食肉动物靠吃动物腐肉和昆虫维生
This cat-sized carnivore lives on scavenged meat, and insects,
栖息在阴暗的角落中
while dwelling in the shadows.
但是这种食腐动物的存活对我们人类的未来非常关键
But this scavengers survival will be crucial to our own future.
三尖叉齿兽是后来成为所有现代哺乳类动物的祖先
Thrinaxodon seems to give rise to all subsequent groups that become modern mammals.
如果三尖叉齿兽熬不过这次大灭绝的话
If Thrinaxodon doesn't get through this mass extinction,
我们现在就不能在这里交流了
we don't have this conversation.
这里或许有别的生物 但不会是我们人类
Maybe something else is here, but not us...
谁有能力熬过即将来临的大灾难呢？
Who will be equipped to survive the coming apocalypse?
5小时后测试即将开始
It just five hours, the test will begin.
纵观整个泛大♥陆♥ 在如今的西伯利亚地区
Across the supercontinent, in what it is now Siberia,
火山的压力已经快到顶点
volcanic pressure is coming to a head.
压力就在这片充满生机的常绿森林下累积
Building beneath an evergreen forest filled with life.
今天正在觅食的水龙兽和它的近亲二犬齿兽
Today the search for food has led Lystrosaurus and the closely related Dicynodons
有了奇怪而又不祥的发现
to a strange and ominous discovery.
不知道是什么东西 它散发出了具有硫磺味的臭气
Whatever it is, it exhales fouled sulfurous breath,
仿佛是从女巫药锅里调配出来的有毒化学物质
a witch's brew of toxic chemicals,
不同于之前那些生物所遭遇的情况
unlike anything these creatures have experienced before.
这些动物并不知道危险
Unaware of the danger,
还在仔细检查硬掉的黑色土壤
they probe the hardened black soil.
我们很难知道身处二叠纪末期会有什么样的感觉
Is very hard to knew what it would have felt like in the last days of the Permian,
当然如果你在西伯利亚暗色岩喷发点附近的话
certainly if you've been near to the Siberian Traps,