這是《動物王國大探險展》史前生命區的翼龍導覽。在此聆聽這群統治天空的飛行者。
上方可播放導覽語音。逐字稿與語音內容相同。
This is the pterosaur stop in the prehistoric gallery of the Animal Kingdom Grand Adventure Exhibition. Listen here to the flyers that once ruled the sky.
Play the narration above. The transcript matches the audio.
白堊紀晚期的天空裡，一隻翼龍正展開雙翼，滑翔在浩瀚海洋上，雙眼緊盯著下方的魚群。
翼龍不是恐龍，也不是鳥類的祖先，相反地，現代鳥類才是真正演化後的活恐龍。翼龍是獨立演化、專門適應飛行的爬行動物群，與恐龍是「姊妹群」的親戚關係，而非繼承恐龍家族的直系成員。牠們還是地球歷史上最早演化出真正動力飛行能力的脊椎動物，出現時間遠遠早於鳥類。翼龍和鳥類雖然都一樣能飛，但翅膀結構卻完全不同，翼龍是以發達的第四根指頭作為支撐桿，撐起強壯的皮膚薄膜，一孵化出來不需要學習，就能直接飛行謀生。
大多數人常誤以為翼龍是有著薄膜翅膀，長滿鱗片的爬行動物。但經科學界研究後證實，牠們其實全身有類似羽毛的結構，是擁有高新陳代謝率的溫血動物。
曾統治天空的翼龍沒有留下任何後代，在白堊紀末期就完全滅絕，消失在演化史上。
In the sky of the late Cretaceous, a pterosaur opens both wings and glides over the vast ocean, eyes locked on the schools of fish below.
A pterosaur is not a dinosaur, and not the ancestor of birds. On the contrary, modern birds are the true living dinosaurs after evolution. Pterosaurs are a group of reptiles that evolved on their own, built for flight; they are a sister group to the dinosaurs, kin, not a direct line of the dinosaur family. They were also the earliest vertebrates on Earth to evolve true powered flight, appearing far earlier than birds. Pterosaurs and birds can both fly, but the wing is wholly different. The pterosaur uses a developed fourth finger as a spar, stretching a strong membrane of skin. Once hatched, with no need to learn, it can fly and make a living.
Most people still think a pterosaur is a scaled reptile with membrane wings. Research has shown they in fact had structures like feathers over the body, and were warm-blooded animals with a high metabolic rate.
The pterosaurs that once ruled the sky left no descendants. At the end of the Cretaceous they went wholly extinct, and vanished from the history of evolution.