Nizar Ibrahim: How we unearthed the spinosaurus

Prevodilac: Mile Živković Lektor: Milenka Okuka

These dragons from deep time are incredible creatures.

Ovi zmajevi iz davnih vremena su predivna stvorenja.

They're bizzarre,

Bizarni su,

they're beautiful,

predivni su

and there's very little we know about them.

i o njima znamo veoma malo toga.

These thoughts were going through my head

Ove misli prolazile su mi kroz glavu

when I looked at the pages of my first dinosaur book.

kada sam gledao po stranicama moje prve knjige o dinosaurusima.

I was about five years old at the time,

Tada sam imao oko pet godina

and I decided there and then

i tada sam odlučio

that I would become a paleontologist.

da ću postati paleontolog.

Paleontology allowed me to combine my love for animals

Paleontologija mi je omogućila da kombinujem

svoju ljubav prema životinjama

with my desire to travel to far-flung corners of the world.

sa željom da putujem u udaljene krajeve sveta.

And now, a few years later, I've led several expeditions

Sada, nekoliko godina kasnije, vodio sam nekoliko ekspedicija

to the ultimate far-flung corner on this planet, the Sahara.

do najudaljenijeg od udaljenih krajeva na ovoj planeti, Sahare.

I've worked in the Sahara because I've been on a quest

Radio sam u Sahari jer sam bio u potrazi

to uncover new remains of a bizarre, giant predatory dinosaur

da otkrijem nove ostatke bizarnog, ogromnog dinosaurusa,

called Spinosaurus.

grabljivice zvane spinosaurus.

A few bones of this animal have been found

Pronađeno je nekoliko kostiju ove životinje

in the deserts of Egypt

u pustinjama Egipta

and were described about 100 years ago by a German paleontologist.

i pre oko 100 godina ih je opisao nemački paleontolog.

Unfortunately, all his Spinosaurus bones were destroyed in World War II.

Nažalost, sve njegove kosti spinosaurusa uništene su u Drugom svetskom ratu.

So all we're left with are just a few drawings and notes.

Sve što nam je ostalo je nekoliko crteža i beleški.

From these drawings,

Iz ovih crteža,

we know that this creature, which lived about 100 million years ago,

znamo da je ovo stvorenje, koje je živelo pre oko 100 miliona godina,

was very big,

bilo veoma veliko,

it had tall spines on its back, forming a magnificent sail,

imalo je velike bodlje na leđima koje su činile predivno jedro,

and it had long, slender jaws, a bit like a crocodile,

vilica mu je bila duga i uska, pomalo nalik na krokodila,

with conical teeth,

sa zubima konusnog oblika

that may have been used to catch slippery prey, like fish.

kojim je možda lovio klizav plen, poput ribe.

But that was pretty much all we knew

Ali to je bilo sve što smo znali

about this animal for the next 100 years.

o ovoj životinji narednih 100 godina.

My fieldwork took me to the border region between Morocco and Algeria,

Moj terenski rad odveo me je

do graničnog predela između Maroka i Alžira,

a place called the Kem Kem.

do mesta zvanog Kem Kem.

It's a difficult place to work in.

To je teško mesto za rad.

You have to deal with sandstorms and snakes and scorpions,

Imate posla sa peščanim olujama i zmijama i škorpijama

and it's very difficult to find good fossils there.

i tamo je veoma teško naći dobre fosile.

But our hard work paid off.

Ali naš težak rad se isplatio.

We discovered many incredible specimens.

Otkrili smo mnogo sjajnih primeraka.

There's the largest dinosaur bone

Tu je najveća kost dinosaurusa

that had ever been found in this part of the Sahara.

koja je ikada pronađena u ovom delu Sahare.

We found remains of giant predatory dinosaurs,

Pronašli smo ostatke ogromnih dinosaurusa grabljivica,

medium-sized predatory dinosaurs,

dinosaurusa grabljivica srednje veličine

and seven or eight different kinds of crocodile-like hunters.

i sedam ili osam razlčitih vrsta grabljivica nalik krokodilima.

These fossils were deposited in a river system.

Ovi fosili su bili smešteni u rečnom sistemu.

The river system was also home to a giant, car-sized coelacanth,

Rečni sistem takođe je bio dom ogromnog celakanta veličine automobila,

a monster sawfish,

ogromne testerače

and the skies over the river system were filled with pterosaurs,

a nebo iznad rečnog sistema bilo je prepuno pterosaurusa,

flying reptiles.

letećih reptila.

It was a pretty dangerous place,

Bilo je to prilično opasno mesto,

not the kind of place where you'd want to travel to if you had a time machine.

tamo ne biste želeli da otputujete kada biste imali vremeplov.

So we're finding all these incredible fossils of animals

Pronalazili smo sve ove neverovatne fosile životinja

that lived alongside Spinosaurus,

koji su živeli u isto vreme sa spinosaurusom,

but Spinosaurus itself proved to be very elusive.

ali sam spinosaurus se ispostavio kao težak za uhvatiti.

We were just finding bits and pieces

Nalazili smo samo deliće

and I was hoping that we'd find a partial skeleton at some point.

i nadao sam se da ćemo u nekom trenutku pronaći delimičan skelet.

Finally, very recently,

Konačno, nedavno smo uspeli

we were able to track down a dig site

da pronađemo mesto za kopanje

where a local fossil hunter found several bones of Spinosaurus.

gde je lokalni lovac na fosile pronašao nekoliko kostiju spinosaurusa.

We returned to the site, we collected more bones.

Vratili smo se na lokaciju, skupili smo još kostiju.

And so after 100 years we finally had another partial skeleton

Tako smo nakon 100 godina konačno imali delimični skelet

of this bizarre creature.

ovog bizarnog stvorenja.

And we were able to reconstruct it.

I mogli smo da ga rekonstruišemo.

We now know that Spinosaurus had a head

Sada znamo da je spinosaurus imao glavu

a little bit like a crocodile,

pomalo nalik na krokodila,

very different from other predatory dinosaurs,

veoma drugačiju od drugih dinosaurusa grabljivica,

very different from the T. rex.

drugačiju od tiranosaurusa reksa.

But the really interesting information came from the rest of the skeleton.

Ali zaista zanimljive informacije dobili smo od ostatka skeleta.

We had long spines,

Imali smo dugačke bodlje

the spines forming the big sail.

koje su formirale veliko jedro.

We had leg bones, we had skull bones,

Imali smo kosti nogu, kosti lobanje,

we had paddle-shaped feet, wide feet --

široka stopala u obliku vesala -

again, very unusual, no other dinosaur has feet like this --

opet, veoma neobično,

nijedan drugi dinosaurus nema ovakva stopala

and we think they may have been used to walk on soft sediment,

i mislimo da su verovatno bili naviknuti na hodanje po mekoj podlozi

or maybe for paddling in the water.

ili veslanje po vodi.

We also looked at the fine microstructure of the bone,

Takođe smo posmatrali i finu mikrostrukturu kosti,

the inside structure of Spinosaurus bones,

unutrašnju strukturu kostiju spinosaurusa

and it turns out that they're very dense and compact.

i ispostavlja se da su veoma guste i kompaktne.

Again, this is something we see in animals that spend a lot of time in the water,

Opet, ovo je nešto što vidimo

kod životinja koje dosta vremena provode u vodi,

it's useful for buoyancy control in the water.

korisno je za kontrolu plovnosti u vodi.

We C.T.-scanned all of our bones and built a digital Spinosaurus skeleton.

Sve kosti smo stavili pod rendgen i napravili digitalni skelet spinosaurusa.

And when we looked at the digital skeleton,

I kada smo pogledali digitalni skelet,

we realized that yes, this was a dinosaur unlike any other.

shvatili smo da je ovo zaista jedinstven dinosaurus.

It's bigger than a T. rex,

Veći je od tiranosaurusa reksa,

and yes, the head has "fish-eating" written all over it,

i sve u vezi sa njim naglašava da jede ribu,

but really the entire skeleton has "water-loving" written all over it --

ali zapravo ceo skelet nam je govorio da on voli vodu -

dense bone, paddle-like feet, and the hind limbs are reduced in size,

guste kosti, stopala nalik veslima i smanjeni zadnji udovi

and again, this is something we see in animals

i opet, ovo je nešto što viđamo kod životinja

that spend a substantial amount of time in the water.

koje provode značajne količine vremena u vodi.

So, as we fleshed out our Spinosaurus --

Dok smo na našeg spinosaurusa nabacivali meso -

I'm looking at muscle attachments and wrapping our dinosaur in skin --

gledam vezivanje mišića i obmotavanje našeg dinosaurusa kožom -

we realize that we're dealing with a river monster,

shvatamo da imamo posla sa rečnim čudovištem,

a predatory dinosaur, bigger than T. rex,

dinosaurusom grabljivicom, koji je veći od tiranosaurusa reksa,

the ruler of this ancient river of giants,

vladara ove prastare reke džinova,

feeding on the many aquatic animals I showed you earlier on.

koji se hranio mnogim vodenim životinjama koje sam vam ranije pokazao.

So that's really what makes this an incredible discovery.

To je ono što ovo otkriće čini neverovatnim.

It's a dinosaur like no other.

To je dinosaurus nalik nijednom drugom.

And some people told me, "Wow, this is a once-in-a-lifetime discovery.

Neki ljudi su mi rekli: "Opa, ovo je otkriće života.

There are not many things left to discover in the world."

Na svetu nije ostalo još mnogo toga da se otkrije."

Well, I think nothing could be further from the truth.

Mislim da je istina daleko od toga.

I think the Sahara's still full of treasures,

Mislim da je Sahara još prepuna blaga

and when people tell me there are no places left to explore,

i kada mi ljudi kažu da nema više mesta za istraživanje,

I like to quote a famous dinosaur hunter, Roy Chapman Andrews,

volim da citiram čuvenog lovca na dinosauruse,

Roja Čepmena Endrusa,

and he said, "Always, there has been an adventure just around the corner --

a on je rekao: "Avantura je uvek bila tik iza ćoška,

and the world is still full of corners."

a svet je još prepun ćoškova".

That was true many decades ago

To je bilo istina pre mnogo decenija

when Roy Chapman Andrews wrote these lines.

kada je Roj Čepmen Endrus napisao ove reči.

And it is still true today.

Istina je i danas.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)