动物的末日（2009）

with animal life caught in the crossfire.
大危机已经来临
Armageddon has arrived,
地球再也不会像之前那样生机勃勃了
Earth will never be the same.
三亿七千七百万年前
It's three hundred seventy seven million years ago,
来自超级地幔柱的那些滚烫岩浆正在无情地进攻着我们的地球
and an enemy from within a super-plume of boiling rock is laying siege to our planet.
像这样的大灾难造就了我们现在所熟知的世界
Disasters like this forged the world as we know it now.
如果没有发生这场大灾难 地球就会大不一样
Have this cataclysm not happened, Earth would be very different.
在如今西伯利亚的喷发中心点附近
At ground zero, near what is now Siberia,
原本兴盛的动物王国被夷为平地
a thriving Animal Kingdom has been reduced to rubble.
但这才刚刚开始
And this is just the beginning.
岩浆喷射的范围越来越大 直径达到了数千公里
The enemy is expanding its hold into a ring of fire, thousands of miles in diameter.
不但发生了火山喷发和熔岩流
Not only did we have some volcanic eruptions with lava flows,
还触发了频繁的地壳活动
we also had greater rates of plate tectonic activate.
因此海床在不断地延展
So a lot more seafloor spreading is going on,
新的海洋地壳随着海底火山的喷发而形成
formation of new oceanic crust, submarine volcanism occurring.
受损的不只是地球的地壳
But the Earth's crust is not the only crashed,
超级地幔柱还毒害着海洋
the superplume is also poisoning the oceans.
炽热的岩浆跟海水交互作用
Once the hot lava interacts with seawater,
就会在海水里产生很多有潜在毒性的化合物
can generate a lot of potentially toxic compounds within the in the seawater.
例如会有很多金属
You would have had a lot of metals for instance,
像银 金 铬 铁 镁等等
like silver, gold, chromium, iron, magnesium and so on.
污染就像原♥子♥弹♥爆♥炸♥之后产生的辐射一样蔓延
But contamination spreads like radiation after an atomic blast.
新生命首当其冲受到影响
New life is the most vulnerable.
在意大利南部
In Southern Italy,
现在是新翼鱼产卵的季节
it is spawning season for Eusthenopteron.
跟现代的三文鱼一样
Like modern-day salmon,
无数新翼鱼每年来到这里产卵
thousand journey here every year to breed.
这些灵活掠食者的大小跟一个人差不多
These agile creditors are nearly as big as a man,
而且咬合力惊人的大
and have a nasty bite.
它们称为肉鳍鱼
They're called lobe-finned fish,
因为它们的粗短鱼鳍是现代肢体的先驱
because of their stubby fins precursors to actual limbs.
泥盆纪时期的肉鳍鱼
The lobe-finned fishes of the time during the Devonian,
它们的肢体就跟我们的四肢一样强壮
had lambs much more like our limbs in terms of being robust.
到产卵季节时
During spawning season,
附近几公里的新翼鱼就会聚集起来
all the Eusthenopterons from miles around gathered.
它们丝毫不知道灾难已经降临
They have no clue disaster has struck.
它们一心只想着寻找有魅力的另一半
The only thing on their minds is finding an attractive mate.
母鱼排出卵子之后 就由公鱼授精
Females release eggs and males fertilize them.
但是受精卵在有毒的海水里很快就死了
But in these toxic seas larvae quickly die.
它们的数量会慢慢减少
Slowly this will chip away at their population,
直到最后完全绝种
until finally they are gone for good.
超级地幔柱喷发已经过了八千年
It is now eight thousand years since the war began,
但是在大灭绝的时间表上 这只是一瞬间而已
the blink of an eye in the time scale of a mass extinction.
海洋陷入了生死的挣扎
The oceans are locked in a life and death struggle,
而这时死神已经侵入大气层
but now death spreads to the atmosphere.
从下方而来的袭击者释放出了几十亿吨♥有毒的气体
The enemy below releases billions of tons of toxic gas,
其中的大部分是二氧化碳
mostly carbon dioxide.
空气中温室气体的浓度 正在缓慢而又稳定地增加
Slowly, but surely the air grows thick with greenhouse gases.
气温正在逐渐升高
Temperature spike.
洋流完全陷入停顿
Ocean currents grind to a halt.
我们现代的洋流靠着热力重新分配的力量驱动
We drives currents in the modern day is heat redistribution.
温暖的热带气流要流到寒冷的地方
The warm tropics try to make their way up to the clod,
寒冷的北方气流要流到热带增加温度
the cold arctic ties a warm itself by heading down to the tropics,
这样就造成洋流和强风
that causes water currents to causes great wind.
但是如果两极温暖 热带也温暖
If you have a worm pole and warm tropics,
就没有任何力量推动洋流 也没有任何力量产生风
there's nothing driving current, there's nothing driving wind.
洋流就完全停止了
The world goes stagnant.
死神在全球各地伸出让人窒息的魔爪
All around the globe, death takes a smothering paw.
我们完全可以假设当时全球温度升高
We really could posit the world temperatures went up,
地表气温急剧上升
we're seeing a huge run up in temperature.
赤道上的海水温度竟然高达32℃
The oceans are an astonishing 90 degrees Fahrenheit at the equator,
相比之前急剧增加了10多度
a dramatic increase of 20 degrees,
海洋变得奄奄一息
the sea is dying.
所以这问题的根源就是高温
So we're talking hot tip temperatures here,
这里的温度远远高于这些珊瑚礁所能接受的温度范围
that would have been far beyond the envelope of survivability for these reefs.
因为这些珊瑚礁是在非常凉爽的气温下生长的
because these reefs that developed in water temperatures that were you know much much cooler.
地球在这场大战中似乎没有什么胜算
It seems mother Earth may be losing the war,
如果地球真的输了
and if this war is lost,
一个不可思议的突破就可能永远也不会出现
and an incredible breakthrough may never happen.
那就是我们的祖先从海洋迁徙到陆地
Our ancestors transition from water to land.
这些动物
These creatures
包括称为提塔利克鱼的奇妙鱼类
including a remarkable fish called Tiktaalik,
开始察觉到它们的世界出现了变化
are starting to sense the change in their world.
它们现在在如今为格陵兰岛海域的河床上
In the riverbeds of what is now Greenland,
发现它们的栖息地正随着气温升高而逐渐消失
they know that as temperatures rise, their homes are evaporating.
但是它们有所防卫
But they have a defense.
一种革命性的适应能力或许可以帮助它们逃过灭绝的命运
A revolutionary adaptation that may help them survive, the apocalypse.
这个物种感受到危险 于是就展开了漫长的旅行
Sensing the danger, this family sets out on a long journey.
它们大迁徙的目的地就是没有任何水生动物到过的地方
But their exodus takes them where no aquatic animal has ever gone,
就是水上的世界
out of the water.
它们长出了能呼吸空气的原始肺部
Primitive air breathing lungs kick in.
简单的腕骨就能让它们能从地面支撑身体
Simple wrist bones propel them off the ground.
这种神奇的动物是第一种在陆地上行走的脊椎动物
This amazing creature is the first vertebrate to walk on land.
这正是它们所需要的优势
This is just the advantage they need to survive an ordeal,
并得以熬过持续几千年之久的苦难日子
that will last for thousands of years.
提塔利克鱼是真正的水生鱼类
Tiktaalik is a perfect link
跟最早期陆地两栖动物之间的过渡物种
between the truly aquatic fish and the earliest amphibians on land.
我们看到鱼类变成四足动物
Here we're seeing a fish that is moving towards this tetra-pod,
我们可以从它们的四足上
four-legged condition,
第一次看到这些骨骼
from its four legs we can see for the very first time
怎么演变成肱骨 即前臂的桡骨
how the bones are going to work themselves into the humerus, the radius of four arms.
所以提塔利克鱼很多方面上的特征都是古生物史上的伟大发现
So Tiktaalik is this great great discovery in the history of paleontology for many reasons.
提塔利克鱼有很多前所未见
Tiktaalik has many never-before-seen
为了适应陆地生活而进化出的关键特征
traits key for living on land,
包括眼睛在顶上的扁平头部
a flattened head with eyes on top,
可移♥动♥的颈部
immovable neck,
还有强有力 附有弹性的附属肢体
and strong but flexible appendages.
提塔利克鱼很酷的一点是
One of the cool things about Tiktaalik
它们的喉咙部位也有一系列骨质条状物
is that it also has a series of bony bars in this throat region,
这些在现代鱼身上支撑了一系列鳃丝 形成鱼鳃呼吸系统
that in modern fishes support the series of gill filaments for gill's respiration.
所以它很像现代的肺鱼 鲟鱼和鲑鱼
So quite literally like modern lungfish, as well as sturgeon and salmon,
以及各种其它的鱼类
and a variety of other living forms.
提塔利克鱼其实是具有双呼吸系统的动物
Tiktaalik was quite literally a double breather,
它们可以用鳃或是肺呼吸
it could breathe using both gills as well as lung.
但是面临大灭绝时 提塔利克鱼并不一定能存活下来
But in the grip of mass extinction, Tiktaalik survival isn't a sure thing.
完全失控的全球变暖迫使它们到处流浪
Runaway global warming will force them to wander,
不断寻找稳定的栖息地 用来觅食 繁殖和养育后代
always searching for a stable home to feed, reproduce and raise their young.
对于泥盆纪时期的任何鱼类来说
It certainly would have been a great advantage for any Devonian fish
很重要的优势就是可以从一个环境恶劣的水池
to be able to move from one nasty pond
迁移到比较大 环境没那么恶劣的水池
to perhaps a bigger less nasty pond.
陆地上已经出现真正的昆虫了
Through insects were on the land, lots of scorpions,
有很多蝎子 蜈蚣 马陆之类 还有其他很多种虫子
centipedes, millipedes, lots of bugs.
那如果你是鱼的话 从一个水池迁移到另一个水池时发现
and if you're a fish and you're trying to make it from one pond to another and just on the way,
"哦天哪 有好多好吃的"
Oh my gosh, fish food.
能进食一些昆虫 当然再好不过了
And you munch up a couple of these guys all of the better.
所以离开水面或许能得到保护
So getting out would have been protection,
或许还可以找到繁殖的新地点
getting out would have been getting you to maybe a new place to reproduce.
但是最重要的是能找到新的食物来源
But getting out would have given you a new food source.
提塔利克鱼或许在这个不断变化中的世界找到了一点依靠
Tiktaalik may have some traction in this changing world,
但是灭绝还是近在咫尺
but it's still just one breath away from extinction.
只要走错一步 整个物种就会灭绝
One false move and the whole species will be gone,
当然我们也会跟着消失
and our own existence would disappear with it.
其它住在淡水里的动物就适应得没有这么好
Other freshwater inhabitants are not so well adapted.
其中包括沟鳞鱼
Including Bothriolepis,
它们是世界上数量最多的鱼类之一
one of the most abundant fish in the world.
沟鳞鱼在我的想象中就像穿着盔甲的鱼
Bothriolepis it is my best vision of what the fish in a suit of armor with look like,
或者是像龙虾的鱼类
or a fish that thinks it's a lobster would look like.
它们移♥动♥的速度并不是很快
They would not have won any speed derby of any sort.
但是另一方面 它们的装甲很厚 很难杀死它们
And the other hand, it would have been armored to the point that it would been very difficult to kill it.
但是这种保护良好的鱼也抵挡不住不断变化的环境
But this well-protected creature is vulnerable to the changing environment.
每年夏季的滂沱雨季让它们栖息的河川和溪流泛滥