Fast forward 115 million years to the town of Bridger in south-central Montana.

推进到一亿一千五百万年前，在蒙大拿州中南部的布瑞杰镇。

It was paleontologist John Ostrum's last day of a summer searching for fossils.

正是古生物学家约翰.奥斯特伦姆夏季搜寻化石的最后一天。

He had no idea that he was about to make a significant discovery in dinosaur carnage.

他并不知道自己就要做出与恐龙大屠杀相关的重要发现。

He spotted several shiny black bones protruding from the ground.

他忽然看到几根突出地面的黑色骨头。

Taking advantage of what little light remained, he and an assistant began to remove as many bones as they could.

利用夕阳的余晖，他和助手尽最大努力去挖出骨头。

They find one that was unusual.

他们发现了一个奇怪的骨头。

Among the fossils was a deeply curved, sickle shaped claw.

这块化石上有一个很弯的镰刀型爪子。

The bones were from a predator.

这根骨头来自于掠食者。

Ostrum continued to unearth more bones.

奥斯特伦姆继续挖掘出更多骨头。

With each one he realized he'd found the remains of a Deinonychus - a Raptor!

随着出土的每根骨头，他意识到自己找到的是恐爪龙——迅猛龙！

Deinonychus belongs to a group of dinosaurs we nickname the Raptors. The scientific name is Dromaeosaurs.

恐爪龙是一类被我们叫做迅猛龙的恐龙。学名为驰龙。

Raptors have a couple of different features that make them different from other predators.

迅猛龙有几个特别之处让它区别于其它的掠食者。

Number one, it was the design of their tail.

其一就是它尾部的构造。

Their tail is held stiff by a series of interconnecting bony rods that sort of locked the vertebra in place.

它们的尾巴很硬实，一些列互相紧扣的骨棒让尾部的脊椎骨紧连在一起。

This stiff tail acted like a balancing pole.

这种硬实的尾巴像是一根平衡杆。

The dinosaur was able to change directions quickly, he could jump, he could leap into the air, He was an incredible animal.

这种恐龙可以迅速改变方向，它可以跳跃，甚至能腾空而起，是一种了不起的动物。

But the most distinguishing feature of a Raptor was the killing claw on its foot.

但迅猛龙最显著的特点是它脚上的猎杀爪。

It's an oversize claw on the second digit of each foot that was held upright when the Raptor was walking.

迅猛龙脚上最大的第二根脚趾在它们走路时会竖起来。

But when he spotted his prey and he leaped on top of it, that claw sort of acted like a mousetrap.

不过当它们发现猎物时它们会纵身而起，那根爪子就像捕鼠器一样。

It would swing forward, and this dinosaur could slice you open while he's hanging onto you.

它能向前方戳刺，这种恐龙可以挂在猎物身上把猎物撕开。

I think if we tried to look at Deinonychus in terms of living animals, we couldn't really come up with a match.

我想如果要在现在找到类似恐爪龙的动物，恐怕是没有与之匹配的。

However, if we combined the characteristics of the Tasmanian Devil and the wolverine and a ferocious eagle, I think we might have a general glimpse of what it must've been like.

但如果我们综合塔斯马尼亚袋貛，狼獾和以及雄鹰的特点，就大概能看到恐爪龙的影子了。