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"There were no elephants in South America before three million years ago, and the specimens we found have an age of 12 to 15 million years, so that was impossible," said Professor Jelle Reumer, who was part of the team that discovered the creature, which they soon determined to be a new type of whale. |
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耶爾．魯梅爾教授說：「南美洲在三百萬年前沒有象，而我們找到的樣本已有一千二百萬至一千五百萬年的歷史，所以不可能是象。」他所屬的團隊發現了這個生物，不久就認定這是一種新種類的鯨魚。 |
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Scientists dubbed the whale Leviathan Melvillei. |
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The name is a combination of the Hebrew word for sea monster -- livyatan -- and the name of Moby Dick author Herman Melville. |
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科學家把這種鯨魚稱為梅爾維爾鯨。這個名稱結合了希伯來文表示海怪的字──「livyatan」，以及《白鯨記》作者梅爾．維爾的名字。 |
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Reumer and his colleagues had been searching the deserts of coastal Peru about 300 kilometers south of Lima for whale fossils. |
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Sand shifted by strong winds exposed a three-meter long skull, about half the length of the modern blue whale's, a baleen whale that remains the largest creature known to have existed. |
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Unlike its toothless, plankton-eating cousin, this whale's jaws were lined with teeth 12 centimeters in diameter and 26 centimeters long. |
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魯梅爾和他的同僚原本一直在利馬以南三百公里左右的秘魯沿岸沙漠找尋鯨魚化石。沙子因強風吹襲而移位，結果暴露出一顆三公尺長的頭骨，約為現代藍鯨長度的一半。藍鯨是一種鬚鯨，是目前世界上所知最大的生物。藍鯨沒有牙齒，以浮游生物為食，但科學家發現的這種旁系的鯨魚顎骨上長滿了直徑十二公分、長度二十六公分的牙齒。 |
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To scientists, the enormous teeth indicate that the Leviathan Melvillei fed on large animals, most likely baleen whales, which were plentiful during the Miocene Age of around 15 million years ago. |
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According to Reumer, they may have lived and hunted much like today's modern orca, or "killer whale," though on a much larger scale. |
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Climate change most likely contributed to their disappearance, he said. |
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在科學家看來，巨大的牙齒表示梅爾維爾鯨獵食大型動物，尤以鬚鯨最有可能，因為在一千五百萬年前的中新世曾經有大量的鬚鯨。魯梅爾指出，梅爾維爾鯨的生活模式與獵食方式可能和當今的虎鯨──即「殺人鯨」──頗為相似，只不過規模大了許多。他表示最可能是氣候變遷造成這種鯨魚消失。 |
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"After the Miocene, it became relatively much colder. |
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At the same time the baleen whales became bigger probably to escape from predation from these animals, just the way elephants escaped predation by becoming bigger so they were not eaten by lions anymore." |
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「中新世之後，氣候相較之下變得寒冷許多。鬚鯨也在同時變得比較大，也許是為了躲避這些動物的獵食，就像大象也為了不再被獅子獵食而體型變大一樣。」 |
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