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Ostriches Offer Clues to Dinosaur Motion

想知道恐龙怎么跑的？——去看看鸵鸟吧。

Sometimes it seems there's only so much we can learn about dinosaurs. We can't know what their coloration looked like, we can't watch them interact with each other. We can only extrapolate from their remains. But now scientists say we can discern a hint of dinosaur movement – from ostriches.

有时候感觉我们对恐龙的了解恐怕就只有这么多了。我们不知道恐龙的肤色究竟是怎样的，我们无法观察它们之间是如何交流的，我们只能从恐龙的遗骸中做出推测。不过现在，科学家们声称，我们可以从鸵鸟身上来探索恐龙运动方式的蛛丝马迹。

The giant, flightless birds still have feathered forelimbs that scientists assumed were now solely used for display and temperature regulation. But researchers from Germany and Belgium carefully observed hand-raised ostriches, and modeled their movement in the surrounding air streams. They found that far from being useless in movement, the leftover wings help ostriches break quickly, turn, and zig-zag. The scientists presented their findings at the Society for Experimental Biology's annual conference in Prague.

鸵鸟这种不会飞的巨型大鸟一直保留着披有羽毛的翅膀（前肢），科学家们一直认为这仅仅是用于展示和调节体温。德国与比利时的研究人员仔细研究了张开翅膀的鸵鸟，并在周围的气流中模仿它们的运动。他们发现，鸵鸟在运动时，它们的翅膀可绝非一无用处，这些残余的翅膀帮助鸵鸟更快起步、转弯和跑之字形。科学家们在布拉格的实验性生物学年会上提出了他们的研究结果。

Ostriches are descendants of dinosaurs, and the researchers liken ostrich movements to those of bipedal dinosaurs. Paleontologists had previously thought that some dinos' small forelimbs had served to catch insects or rip flesh. But this new research shows dinosaurs may have used their forelimbs to help with quickness, stability and agility. Further study in this field could lead to more accurate ideas of what it once looked like when dinosaurs went dashing through their prehistoric landscape.

鸵鸟是恐龙的后裔，研究人员将鸵鸟的运动比作两足恐龙的运动。古生物学家先前曾认为一些恐龙的小小的前肢是用于抓昆虫或撕开猎物的肉。但这一新研究表明，恐龙或许会用它们的前肢使自己的动作更为迅速、稳定、敏捷、灵活。而在这一领域的进一步研究可能会对恐龙奔突疾走的史前景观作出更为准确的描绘。

-Cynthia Graber

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