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Tyrannosaurus rex. Tyrant king of the primordial forests.
霸王龙。原始森林里的暴君之王。
The apex by which all other predators are measured: a horrible, gaping maw with foot-long daggers for teeth, a voracious appetite for the flesh of lesser beings, and... ...feathers?
所有其他食肉动物被衡量的顶点都是：可怕的血盆大口，一英尺长的匕首般的牙齿，对小生物有着贪婪的胃口，还有......羽毛?
While it's still up for debate whether T-rex specifically had feathers, we've known for quite some time that birds evolved from dinosaurs.
虽然霸王龙是否真的长有羽毛仍然存在争议，但很长一段时间以来，我们已经知道鸟类是由恐龙进化而来的。
With that in mind, we know that feathers had to show up somewhere.
考虑到这一点，羽毛就一定是在某个环节出现的。
So, where did they come from?
那么，它们来自哪里呢?
The precursors of bird feathers were straight, dense, filament-like structures, which were mostly made of keratin, the same stuff your hair and fingernails are made of.
鸟类羽毛的前半部分是又直又密集的丝状结构，主要由角蛋白组成，你的头发和指甲也是由这种物质组成的。
Today, the typical feather consists of a central shaft, called a rachis, with serial paired barbs forming a flat, curved surface, which is called a vane.
如今，典型的羽毛由一个叫做羽轴的中心轴和一系列成对的倒钩组成一个平坦的、弯曲的表面，被称为叶片。
Each barb branches out into barbules, which link to one another by hooks.
每一个倒钩又分枝成小枝，小枝通过钩子相互连接。
This interconnected structure stiffens the vane.
这种相互连接的结构能让叶片变硬。
So, we understand how feathers evolved, but how do we know that dinosaurs had them?
所以，我们知道羽毛是如何进化的，但又是如何知道恐龙有羽毛的呢?
Well, in the 1990s, around the same time as a certain classic film showed us scaly, non-feathered dinosaurs, the first dinosaur fossils with feather-like structures were discovered.
20世纪90年代，一部经典电影向我们展示了有鳞的、没有羽毛的恐龙，大约在同一时间，第一个有羽毛结构的恐龙化石被发现了。
Since then, further discoveries have convinced some scientists that all dinosaurs had a feathery covering on some part of their body, kind of like how all mammals have hair, but only some are really hairy.
从那以后，进一步的发现使一些科学家相信，所有恐龙的身体的某些部位都有一层羽毛，就像所有哺乳动物都有毛发一样，但只有其中一部分才比较多毛。
While it seems that dinosaurs were growing feathers as 180 million years ago, they probably weren't the first creatures to have them.
虽然恐龙似乎在1.8亿年前就长出了羽毛，但它们很可能不是第一种长出羽毛的生物。
Pterosaurs, another group of archosaurs (or "ruling reptiles") like the dinosaurs, may have developed feathers earlier than their dino cousins did.
翼龙，与恐龙相似的另一群祖龙(或“统治爬行动物”)，可能比它们的恐龙表亲更早地进化出了羽毛。
Paleontology is still looking for clues, but feathers likely developed about 250 million years ago!
古生物学家仍在寻找线索，但羽毛很可能是在2.5亿年前演变出来的!
By the time dinosaurs jumped on the feather bandwagon, they were so last eon!
恐龙生长出羽毛的时候，已经是很落后的了！
Of course, just because dinosaurs had feathers doesn't make them any less fearsome.
当然，恐龙有羽毛并不会减少它们的可怕性。
But instead of picturing a giant lizard, you might want to start thinking of something with a bit more plumage.
但是，与其把它想象成一只巨大的蜥蜴，你可能要开始把它想成一只长有更多羽毛的动物了。
