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1、Dinosaur behaviour恐龙行为Headbangers疯狂撞头的家伙Evidence of duelling dinosaurs战斗性恐龙的证据WORKING out how an extinct animal behaved when it was alive is tricky.对于灭绝的生物来说，要研究出它们存活时的行为是很棘手，But it is not always impossible,不过也不是完全不可能。as Joseph Peterson and Collin Dischlerof the Uni
2、versity of Wisconsin explained on October 17th to the Society of VertebratePalaeontology meeting held in Raleigh, North Carolina.10月17日，在北卡罗莱纳州罗利市举行的古脊椎动物学会议上，美国威斯康星大学的约瑟夫·彼得森和柯林·狄斯勒就对肿头龙的习性做出了一些解释。Pachycephalosaurs lived 65m years ago.肿头龙生活在6500万年前。As their name su
3、ggests, they had large, bony, domed heads.正如其名称所说，它们有巨大的、高隆的头骨。For years, it was assumed they used these to bash one another in the way that rams do now.多年来，人们一直认为肿头龙用头攻击同类，就像现在的公羊一样。Recently, though, a second suggestion has surfaced—that rather than for fighting, t
4、he domeswere for show; the dinosaur equivalent of a peacock's tail.不过最近有人提出另外一个假设：它们的大脑袋不是为了战斗，而是出于展示的目的—作用相当于孔雀的尾巴。Dr Peterson and Dr Dischler put these two theories into a head-to-head competition.彼得森和狄斯勒博士让这两种理论来了个头对头的正面对抗。To do so, they studied 102 pachycephalos
5、aur skulls, of various species.为此，他们研究了102只不同品种肿头龙的头骨。They found that 23 of these skulls had pits in them, and that these pits were similar both toeach other and to those found in the skulls of living animals that bash each other with theirheads.他们发现其中23只头骨上有凹坑。这些凹坑
6、彼此类似。而且现存的用头部撞击同类的动物中，头骨上的凹坑也与之类似。That supported the head-butting theory. The clincher, though, came when they createdcomputerised models of pachycephalosaur skulls and mapped the damage from each of theirpitted specimens on to these virtual skulls.这支持了头部冲撞理论。不过决定性的
7、证据来自于他们用计算机模拟的肿头龙头骨。他们将每个有坑样本的损伤部位标注在虚拟的头骨上。When they did this, they found that the pits were clustered—exactly as might be expected ifthey were the result of animals deliberately aiming at each other.这样操作后，他们发现凹坑聚集分布，正如人们假设的那样：是肿头龙故意用头部攻击彼此的结果。Intriguingly, they fo
8、und two patterns of clustering.有意思的是，他们发现凹坑有两种聚集图案。Those pachycephalosaurs with highly domed heads had pits on both the fronts and the bac
