“恐龙洞穴”揭示恐龙蹲伏行走

“恐龙洞穴”揭示恐龙蹲伏行走

Old photos from Mount Morgan’s sealed off ‘Dino Cave’ have shed light onto new and unusual Aussie dinosaur behaviours, thanks to University of Queensland research.

根据昆士兰大学的研究，来自摩根山封闭的“恐龙洞穴”的旧照片，揭示了澳大利亚恐龙新的和不寻常的行为。

For a decade, a Mount Morgan cave in central Queensland known for the highest dinosaur track diversity on the entire eastern half of Australia has been closed to the public, restricting research to the site.

10年来，昆士兰州中部的摩根山洞穴(Mount Morgan cave)一直没有对公众开放，限制了对该地区的研究。该洞穴以澳大利亚整个东部一半的恐龙足迹多样性最高而闻名。

Although UQ palaeontologist Dr Anthony Romilio has had success searching for images of the tracks, he has only recently been provided with new images of different dinosaur’s footprints at the site by the Mount Morgan Historical Museum.

虽然昆士兰大学的古生物学家安东尼·罗米里奥(Anthony Romilio)博士已经成功地找到了这些足迹的图像，但直到最近摩根山历史博物馆才向他提供了不同恐龙脚印的新图像。

“These photographs of fossil footprints have been on museum-display for years,” Dr Romilio said.

“这些化石脚印的照片已经在博物馆展出多年了。”罗米里奥博士说。

“Up until now, it was unknown what type of dinosaurs made these tracks or what the tracks meant.

“到目前为止，人们还不知道这些脚印是什么类型的恐龙留下的，也不知道这些脚印意味着什么。”

“A typical dinosaur track of this kind look like those made by birds, but these are shaped like broad-handled forks.”

“这类典型的恐龙足迹看起来像鸟类留下的足迹，但它们的形状像宽柄叉子。”

Upon further inspection, Dr Romilio revealed that the dinosaur must have created the tracks while crouched.

经过进一步的观察，罗米里奥博士透露，恐龙一定是在蹲伏时留下这些足迹的。

“It’s very strange behaviour, and we don’t yet know why it did this,” Dr Romilio said.

“这是非常奇怪的行为，我们还不知道它为什么会这样。”罗米里奥博士说。

“You can rule out predatory stalking behaviour, as this set of tracks was made by a two-legged plant eater called an ornithopod.

“可以排除掠食性跟踪行为，因为这组足迹是由一种叫做鸟脚亚目的两腿食草恐龙留下的。”

“And interestingly, this crouching dinosaur was taking bigger steps than other ‘normal’ walking dinosaurs.

“有趣的是，这种蹲伏的恐龙比其他‘正常’行走的恐龙迈的步子更大。”

“This unusual posture likely made the prehistoric animal more stable allowing them to quickly cross the muddy shore of an ancient lake.”

“这种不寻常的姿势可能使史前动物更加稳定，从而使它们能够快速穿过一个古老湖泊泥泞的岸边。”

Dr Romilio is keen to investigate this mysterious dinosaur despite all of the unknowns.

罗米里奥博士热衷于研究这种神秘的恐龙，尽管它还有许多未知之处。