科学家们研究了一具完整的恐龙骨化石

Scientists Study Complete Dinosaur Skeleton
科学家们研究了一具完整的恐龙骨化石
The first complete dinosaur skeleton was found in southern England in 1858. The bones belonged to a creature called Scelidosaurus.
1858年英格兰南部发现了第一具完整的恐龙骨骼化石。这些骨化石属于一种叫肢龙的恐龙。
The early British paleontologist Richard Owen incompletely described its body in papers that were published in 1861 and 1863. But for years, scientists did not pay much attention to Scelidosaurus.
早期英国古生物学家理查德·欧文在1861年和1863年发表的论文中对它的身体进行了不完整的描述。但多年来，科学家们并没有太多地关注肢龙。
That has now changed. Scientists have recently finished several careful studies of the dinosaur’s remains.
现在情况则有所不同。科学家们最近完成了对该恐龙遗骸的几项详细研究。
The findings suggest the creature had an unusual build.
研究结果表明这种生物有着不同寻常的体格。
University of Cambridge paleontologist David Norman recently published his fourth study on the Scelidosaurus. It appeared in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society of London.
剑桥大学的古生物学家大卫·诺曼最近发表了他的第四篇关于肢龙的研究。该研究结果发表在伦敦林奈学会的动物学杂志上。
Norman wrote that “this animal was discovered at a crucial time in the history of dinosaur research.” He added that until the discovery, “dinosaurs had only been known from scraps of bone and some teeth.”
诺曼写道：“这具动物遗骸在恐龙研究史上的一个关键时刻被发现，”随后他补充称，在发现它之前，“人们只见过恐龙的骨头碎片和一些牙齿。”
Scelidosaurus lived about 193 million years ago. It was an early member of the evolutionary family that led to the dinosaur group called ankylosaurs. Ankylosaurs were armored dinosaurs. Their bodies were so strong that they are sometimes called the tank dinosaurs.
肢龙生活在大约1.93亿年前。它是甲龙家族早期进化的成员。甲龙身负盔甲，因身体非常强壮有时会被称为坦克龙。
Scelidosaurus was about 4-meters-long. It had four legs and ate plants. It was covered in bony plates with hard, pointy spikes.
肢龙大约4米长，有四条腿，食草，身体被坚硬且尖锐带刺的骨盘覆盖着。
The one that died near what is now West Dorset, England was probably the victim of a flood. It probably drowned in the sea, with its body becoming buried in sand and dirt.
这只死于当今英格兰西多塞特附近的恐龙可能是洪水的受害者。它可能被淹没在大海中，导致尸体被沙子和泥土掩埋。
“It has lain in the collection of the Natural History Museum in London - researchers knew of it by name but it was not at all well understood,” Norman said.
诺曼表示：“伦敦自然历史博物馆收藏了它——研究人员知道它的名字，但人们根本不怎么了解它。”
I’m John Russell.
约翰·拉塞尔报道。