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来源【Discovery News】Human Ancestors Hunted by Prehistoric Beasts
译者epicwu THE GIST 本文大意 * Remains of our early primate ancestors suggest birds and mammals often preyed upon our distant relatives. × 灵长类祖先的化石表明，鸟类和哺乳动物经常猎杀我们的远亲(即灵长类祖先)。 * Predation can affect the behavior, group structure, body size and other characteristics of a species. ×捕食能够影响一个物种的行为、组织结构、体型大小和其他特征。 * Humans today may retain behaviors tied to our ancestors' likely past status as prey rather than predator. ×我们今天从祖先们那里继承下来的行为，在当初大多数是用来防止被捕食的。
Early humans may have evolved as prey animals rather than as predators, suggest the remains of our prehistoric primate ancestors that were devoured by hungry birds and carnivorous mammals. 早期人类更多的是作为一个猎物，而不是猎人。新发现的史前灵长类祖先化石验证了这一点， 他们经常被饥饿的鸟类和肉食哺乳动物吞食。 The discovery of multiple de-fleshed, chomped and gnawed bones from the extinct primates, which lived 16 to 20 million years ago on Rusinga Island, Kenya, was announced today at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology's 70th Anniversary Meeting in Pittsburgh. 在肯尼亚的鲁辛加岛，一种生活在距今1600万年到2000万年前的已灭绝的灵长类骨骼化石被发现了。这些骨头上充满了各种各样的肌肉缺失、被啃咬的痕迹。这些新发现今天被公布在了于匹兹堡举行的古脊椎动物学协会第七十次年会上。 At least one of the devoured primates, an early ape called Proconsul, is thought to have been an ancestor to both modern humans and chimpanzees. It, and other primates on the island, were also apparently good eats for numerous predators. 这些被吞食的灵长类中，至少有一种叫做Proconsul的猿被认为是人类和黑猩猩的共同祖先。他们和岛上其他的灵长类动物一起，显然是肉食动物的“盘中餐”。 "I have observed multiple tooth pits and probable beak marks on these fossil primates, which are direct evidence for creodonts and raptors consuming these primates," researcher Kirsten Jenkins told Discovery News. “在这些化石上我观察到了许多齿痕和鸟喙留下的痕迹，他们都是肉齿目动物和猛禽捕食这些灵长类动物的直接证据，”研究者Kirsten Jenkins说道。 Creodonts were ancient carnivorous mammals that filled a niche similar to that of modern carnivores, but are unrelated to today's meat eaters, she explained. The Rusinga Island creodonts that fed on our primate ancestors were likely wolf-sized. 肉齿目动物是古老的肉食性哺乳动物，虽然他们和今天的食肉动物很像，但（他们）其实没什么关系。她解释道，鲁辛加岛上的捕食远古灵长类动物的肉齿目动物只有狼那么大。 "There is one site on Rusinga Island with multiple Proconsul individuals all together and these are covered in tooth pits," added Jenkins, a University of Minnesota anthropologist. "This kind of site was likely a creodont den or location where prey could be easily acquired." “鲁辛加岛上有个地方有很多Proconsul个体，而且他们（身上）都有齿痕。”明尼苏达大学的人类学家Jenkins补充道。“这个地方似乎是哺乳动物的洞穴或者是猎物聚集地。” Analysis of tooth pits, de-fleshing marks, bone breakage patterns, gnawing and other damage to the primate bones indicate that raptors were also hunting down these distant relatives of humans. 通过对齿痕、肌肉缺失、骨头破裂模式、咬痕和其他损伤的分析，（科学家们）发现猛禽同样会捕获这些人类的远亲们。 "Primatologists have observed large raptors taking monkeys from trees," Jenkins said. "When a raptor approaches a group of monkeys, those monkeys will make alarm calls to warn their group and attempt to retreat to lower branches. The primates on Rusinga had monkey-like postcrania and likely had very similar locomotor behavior." “灵长类学家曾经观察到过猛禽捕捉树上的猴子，”Jekins说道。“当一只猛禽接近一群猴子时，猴子们会发出警报，并尝试撤退至较低的树枝上。鲁辛加岛上这些有着猴子般颅骨的灵长类动物似乎有着相似的移动行为。” The study presents the first evidence of raptor predation on fossil primates from Rusinga, which was part of the side of a large volcano 20 million years ago. 这项研究的第一项证据就是鲁辛加岛上的灵长类化石，两千万年前，鲁辛加岛是一个大火山的一部分。 Multiple ash layers suggest that eruptions killed countless animals from time to time. But when the volcano was inactive, the site supported a wooded area. 一层又一层的火山灰预示着火山爆发不时带走无数动物的生命。但一旦火山进入不活跃状态，这地方又会被树木所覆盖。 Jenkins is not certain what selective pressures predators placed on these very early primate ancestors to humans, but she said they "can affect behavior, group structure, body size and ontogeny (the life cycle of a single organism)." Jenkins无法确认这些捕食者强加给了这些灵长类祖先怎样的选择压力，但她可以确定“它们会影响行为、组织结构、体型和个体发育（一个单一生物的生命循环）” Robert Sussman, professor of physical anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, has long argued that primates, including early humans, evolved not as hunters but as prey of many predators, including wild dogs and cats, hyenas, eagles and crocodiles. 圣路易斯华盛顿大学的体质人类学家 Robert Sussman 长年为这一理论辩护——灵长类动物，包括早期人类，不仅仅是猎手，也是包括野狗、野猫、土狼、鹰和鳄鱼等食肉动物的猎物。 "Despite popular theories posed in research papers and popular literature, early man was not an aggressive killer," said Sussman, author of the book "Man the Hunted: Primates, Predators and Human Evolution." "Our intelligence, cooperation and many other features we have as modern humans developed from our attempts to out-smart the predator." “和发表在研究论文上的流行理论不同，早期人类并不是充满侵略性的杀手，”《Man the Hunted: Primates, Predators and Human EvolutionSussman》一书的作者Sussman说道，“现代人类的智慧、合作能力和很多其他的特性都是在不断智取食肉动物的过程中进化来的。” He added that the idea of man as hunter "developed from a basic Judeo-Christian ideology of man being inherently evil, aggressive and a natural killer." 他补充道人类作为猎手的理论是“建立在'基督教意识形态下，人类生来邪恶，充满侵略性，是天生的杀手'这一点上的”。 "In fact, when you really examine the fossil and living non-human primate evidence, that is just not the case," he explained. “实际上只要你仔细检查这些化石，或者是现存的非人类的灵长类动物，就可以发现这是错的，”他解释道。 Jenkins and her colleagues continue to excavate at Rusinga and nearby Mfangano islands, hoping to find more fossils -- especially those from birds -- so that the scientists can identify the species that were hunting the prehistoric primates. Jenkins和她的伙伴们仍在鲁辛加岛和附近的凡加罗岛上继续挖掘，希望能找到更多的化石——尤其是鸟的化石——这样科学家们就能够鉴定出这种能够捕食史前灵长类动物的物种了。 |
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