Fossil records suggest only flightless birds survived when T-rex was wiped off the Earth. Birds had to rediscover flight after the meteor strike that killed off the dinosaurs, scientists say.
The cataclysm 66 million years ago not only wiped out Tyrannosaurus rex and ground-dwelling dinosaur species, but also flying birds, a detailed survey of the fossil record suggests. As forests burned around the world, the only birds to survive were flightless emu-like species that lived on the ground.
“Looking at the fossil record, at plants and birds, there are multiple lines of evidence suggesting that the forest canopies collapsed,” said Regan Dunn, a member of the team from the Field Museum in Chicago, US. “Perching birds went extinct because there were no more perches.”
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
照片:維基共享資源
The six to nine-mile-wide meteor struck the Earth off the coast of Mexico, releasing a million times more energy than the largest atomic bomb. Hot debris raining from the sky is thought to have triggered global wildfires immediately after the impact. It took hundreds or even thousands of years for the world’s forests of palms and pines to recover.
Fossil records from New Zealand, Japan, Europe and North America, all show evidence of mass deforestation. They also reveal that birds surviving the end of the Cretaceous period had long sturdy legs made for living on the ground. They resembled emus and kiwis, said the researchers.
“The ancestors of modern tree-dwelling birds did not move into the trees until the forests had recovered from the extinction-causing asteroid,” said Daniel Field, from the University of Bath and a co-author of the paper published in Current Biology. “Today, birds are the most diverse and globally widespread group of terrestrial vertebrate animals — there are nearly 11,000 living species,” he added. “Only a handful of ancestral bird lineages succeeded in surviving the mass extinction event 66 million years ago, and all of today’s amazing living bird diversity can be traced to these ancient survivors.”
The team are now focused on reconstructing the recovery of bird populations and how new species emerged and thrived in the ecological niche left by the extinction of dinosaurs.
(The Guardian)
科學家指出,化石紀錄顯示,當暴龍從地球上滅絕後,只有不會飛的鳥禽存活下來。在造成恐龍滅絕的流星撞擊後,鳥禽必須重新學習飛行。
一份詳細的化石紀錄調查報告指出,六千六百萬年前發生的這場大災變,不僅徹底造成暴龍和其他陸棲恐龍滅絕,也造成飛行的鳥類滅亡。隨著世界各地的森林都起火燃燒,唯一存活下來的鳥禽是像鴯鶓;這類不會飛行、生存在地面上的物種。
美國芝加哥菲爾德博物館研究團隊的成員雷根‧鄧恩表示:「仔細觀察植物與鳥類的化石紀錄,許多證據顯示當時的林冠紛紛倒塌。」他指出:「需要棲木停歇的雀形目也因此絕種,因為那時已經沒有棲木了。」
當時,一顆直徑達六到九英里的流星在墨西哥沿外處撞上地球,釋出超過最大原子彈威力一百萬倍的能量。從天而降的炙熱灰燼,被認為在撞擊後旋即在全球各地引燃多處野火。世界各地的棕櫚樹林和松樹林直到數百年,甚至是數千年後,才漸趨復原。
從紐西蘭、日本、歐洲,以及北美洲等地蒐集的化石紀錄,全都呈現出大規模森林破壞的痕跡。這些化石紀錄也顯示,從白堊紀末期存活下來的鳥禽,具有適合在陸地上生活、修長而健的腿骨。研究人員表示,這些鳥類相近於今日的鴯鶓;與鷸鴕。
這篇論文發表於學術期刊《當代生物學》,共同作者之一丹尼爾‧菲爾德表示:「一直到森林從滅絕性的小行星災難中恢復過來後,現代樹棲鳥類的祖先才又棲息到樹上去。」來自巴斯大學的菲爾德補充說:「今天,鳥禽類是種類最多且全球分布最廣的陸棲脊椎動物群體──近乎一萬一千種。」不過,「在六千六百萬年前的大滅亡中,只有少數幾種古代鳥禽類的後裔成功存活下來,今日讓人驚艷的鳥禽類多樣性全部都能追溯到這些古老的倖存者。」
這組團隊現在的研究焦點在重建當初鳥禽類群體恢復數量的過程,以及後來新物種如何從恐龍滅絕留下的生態棲位中浮現,並繁衍增長。
(台北時報章厚明譯)
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
It’s no secret that Japanese people have a deep affection for noodles. Like in the rest of East Asia, noodles are an important staple food, second only to rice. Japanese people have enjoyed noodles for over 1,000 years. The first noodles came from China and were introduced around 800 CE. As time passed, noodles in Japan not only became widespread but also developed some unique Japanese characteristics. The three most popular types of noodles in Japan are ramen, soba, and udon. Ramen, typically made from wheat flour, is usually thin and firm. The dough is kneaded and left to
Rice is an essential ingredient in Taiwanese cuisine. Many foods are made of rice, adding more variety to our cooking, such as rice cake, or “gui.” Wagui is made by steaming rice flour batter in a bowl. The term “gui” refers to a type of food made from rice, while “wa” refers to a bowl. The pronunciation of “gui” in Taiwanese Hokkien is similar to the word for “nobility” in Chinese, so it is common for people to prepare various types of gui, including wagui, as offerings to the gods or ancestors,. 米是台灣重要的主食,用米製成的食品十分多元,豐富我們的飲食,如米做成的「粿」。粿的意思是米做成的糕點,碗粿是將在來米漿倒入碗中蒸熟,因而得名。粿因為音同「貴」,因此碗粿等粿食常用作供品祭拜神明和祖先。 nobility (n.) 高貴,高尚;貴族 offering (n.) 供品 While Taiwan may not be
Continued from yesterday(延續自昨日) https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang As with many aspects of Japanese culture, there is etiquette to follow when you enjoy noodles. To fully experience noodles like a local on your next visit to Japan, consider these simple guidelines. First, be careful where you put your chopsticks. Don’t leave them sticking up in the broth or set them at the side of the bowl. When you have finished eating or if you’re taking a break, place them on the chopstick rest next to the bowl. Also, it is impolite to wave chopsticks around or bring them above mouth-level. Second, don’t take too