我们人类其实就是一种“超级改进版“的肉鳍鱼，我们用“腹鳍”四处行走，并用“胸鳍”翻动书的书页，就像你现在正在做的这样。

[key transition 2: to jaw-jaw is always better] 大事件2 ：有颌的感觉真好
vertebrates of different types use their jaws to crush the throats of prey animals, slice and grind their way through tough vegetation, and filter plankton out of seawater.
不同的脊椎动物用不同的方式使用它们的颌，有些用来咬破猎物的喉咙，有些切碎研磨植物，又或者从海水中过滤藻类。

第3章 the zhongning fauna: a new breed of vertebrate
中宁动物群：脊椎动物的新类型
amid these remains of fierce predators and heavily armoured prey, a single jaw fragment measuring less than 10 cm in length and retaining only small denticles rather than true teeth might seem unremarkable.
就在这些凶猛的捕食者和重装甲的猎物的残骸之间，一段不起眼的颌骨化石隐匿其中。

[key transition 3: fish nearly out of water] 大事件3：即将离开水的鱼
the somewhat ironic upshot is that the first tetrapod limbs were probably used more for swimming than for walking.
值得玩味的是，*早的四足动物的四肢很可能更多地用于游泳而不是行走。

第4章 the dashankou fauna: beasts and belebey
大山口动物群：兽与蜥的世界
a particularly interesting beast from the dashankou fauna is the carnivore raranimus dashankouensis, whose name means literally the “rare spirit from dashankou”.
大山口动物群有一种有趣的动物叫大山口珍稀兽，直译就是“珍稀的大山口精灵”。

[key transition 4: the egg, not the chicken] 大事件4：先有鸡还是先有蛋
next time you buy amniotic eggs in a supermarket, why not take a moment to appreciate the sophistication and adaptive value of the intricate biological structures that will soon be appearing on your dinner table?
下一次你在超市购买羊膜动物的卵时，在它们变成你的盘中餐前，何不花一点时间欣赏一下这一充满进化意义的，复杂而精巧的生物学结构呢？

part two mesozoic
the empire of dinosaurs
第二篇 中生代
恐龙的帝国

第5章 the guanling biota: life among the dangling crinoids
关岭生物群：与摇曳的海百合伴生的生命
complete crinoids are among the most spectacular of all invertebrate fossils, looking for all the world like flowers in some garden tended by undersea giants.
完整的海百合化石绝对属于现有无脊椎动物化石中*壮观的一景，它们看起来就好像由海底巨人精心照料的花园中的花朵一般。

[key transition 5: back to the sea] 大事件5：重返海洋
ichthyosaurs, with their dorsal and caudal fins, went further in resculpting their bodies to suit the demands of the sea than perhaps any other amniotes except cetaceans.
鱼龙甚至长出了背鳍和尾鳍，这种为了适应海洋生活所做的身体改变，可能比除了鲸类以外的任何羊膜动物都走得更远。

第6章 the lufeng fauna: china’s oldest dinosaurs
禄丰动物群：中国*古老的恐龙
a single partial lower jaw represents perhaps the greatest mystery of the lufeng fauna.
禄丰动物群*大的谜团可能来自一件下颌骨化石。

[key transition 6: the stealthy rise of mammals] 大事件6:：哺乳动物的悄然兴起
for nearly the first hundred million years of their history, mammals were inconspicuous, mainly insectivorous animals no larger than about one metre in body length, and for the most part much smaller.

在*初一亿年的演化历史中，哺乳动物毫不起眼，主要是食虫性的，身体长度不超过一米，而且在多数时间中其体长远远小于这个长度。

第7章 the dashanpu dinosaur fauna: giants on the earth
沙溪庙动物群：地球上的巨龙
by shaximiao times the dinosaurs had assumed pride of place in the march of vertebrate life, towering over other terrestrial carnivores and herbivores.
在沙溪庙动物群的时代，恐龙已经在脊椎动物的“大游行”中占据了首要的地位，远超过其他陆生的肉食和素食动物。

第8章 the daohugou biota: preserved in their finery
道虎沟生物群：地层中的华丽霓裳
a few decades ago, palaeontologists believed that almost all mesozoic mammaliaforms were small, land-dwelling insectivores, and species from the daohugou biota have helped to temper that substantially correct but excessively broad generalisation.
几十年前，古生物学者们还在坚信几乎所有中生代的哺乳形动物都是小型、陆生、食虫的动物，但道虎沟的物种有助于调和这一虽然大体正确，但适用度被夸大了的归纳性结论。

[key transition 7: into the skies] 大事件7：飞上蓝天
by the time pterosaurs went extinct at the end of the cretaceous, birds had already joined them as denizens of the mesozoic skies.
当翼龙在白垩纪末灭绝时，鸟类已经成为中生代天空中的姣客。

第9章 the jehol biota: feathered dinosaurs!
热河生物群：带羽毛的恐龙!
the feathers are long enough to suggest that yutyrannus would have been rather shaggy, a murderous fuzzball stalking the forests of the early cretaceous.
羽王龙很像一个外表蓬松的凶残杀手，鬼鬼祟祟地游荡在白垩纪早期的森林里。

[key transition 8: a profusion of urv?gel] 大事件8：美羽不怕多

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科普读物 海洋生物

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