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标 签：科普读物 生物世界
《征程:从鱼到人的生命之旅》是一部由三位来自不同国度的古生物学家还原与重建的中国古脊椎动物演化的历史，不仅回答了“我们从哪里来”，还让我们看到生命演化历程中充满的惊奇、偶然与不可思议。作者把这纵横5亿年的历史讲得生动有趣，恢弘而不失其细节，充满了形象的比喻和深刻的思考。本书特别聚焦了“从鱼到人”演化中的九个精彩转折，也值得读者悉心地品味。
这段史诗般的历程藉由15个有代表性的中国古生物群以及数万块珍贵的化石为凭证。一些我国特有的绽放着几亿年生命之美的高清晰化石图片和结构复原图系首次精心呈现，引领化石爱好者踏上远古生命的探秘之旅。同时，认知生命演化历程中的这些记录，正是古生物学的魅力所在。
Recommendation Abstract of
From Fish to Human—the March of Vertebrate Life in China
This is a history of vertebrate life in China reconstructed by three palaeontologists from three different countries, which not only answers the classic philosophic question: “where did we come from”, but also opens a window to the amazed, incidental and unimaginable world of the evolution of life. The authors narrate the 500 million year history in such a vivid and interesting way, spectacular but no loss of detail, while abounded with elaborate metaphors and deep reflections. The special focus of the book, the “Nine Key Transitions” in the evolution from fish to human, also deserves the readers’ scrutinization.
In this book, the historical march of vertebrate life in China is exampled by fifteen representative faunas which were based upon several hundred thousand fossil specimens as solid evidence. Some high resolution photos and structural reconstructions of fossils are presented for the first time, showing the typical Chinese beauty of life in the past hundred million years, and leading the fossil lovers into the exploration of prehistoric life. In the meanwhile, these evolutionary records of the march of life are also part of the charm of palaeontology.
舒柯文，加拿大维多利亚大学本科毕业，多伦多大学获得硕士，美国哈佛大学的博士毕业生。现为中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所副研究员，兼任学术刊物《古脊椎动物学报》的英文编辑。经常在中国和他的故乡加拿大进行野外古生物考察。不忙野外的时候会在研究所做恐龙和其他中生代脊椎动物的研究，或者努力学习汉语。这本书是他对古生物科普的首次主要尝试。
Corwin Sullivan is an associate research professor of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He completed his undergraduate education at the University of Victoria, Canada before going on to earn an MSc degree at the University of Toronto at Mississauga and a PhD at Harvard University. He is the English editor of Vertebrata PalAsiatica, the Institute’s peer-reviewed scientific journal. When not busy with fieldwork in China or his native Canada, he pursues research focussing on dinosaurs and other Mesozoic vertebrates at the Institute, and studing Chinese hard in leisure time. From Fish to Human: the March of Vertebrate Life in China is his first major science outreach effort.
王原，本科毕业于北京大学地质系古生物及地层专业，曾赴美留学，在中国科学院获得博士学位。现为中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所研究员，曾获中国国家自然科学奖和中国科学院杰出科技成就奖。发现和采集了很多重要的脊椎动物化石，喜欢研究化石青蛙和化石蝾螈。他倾尽心力担任的中国古动物馆馆长一职，决定了他还是讲述中国恐龙故事的高手。
Wang Yuan graduated from the Geology Department of Peking University and received his second MS degree in the US and his PhD from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is now a research professor of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, CAS, and serves as director of the Paleozoological Museum of China. He has been awarded China’s National Prize for Natural Sciences and the Outstanding Science and Technology Achievement Prize of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has discovered and collected many important vertebrate fossils, and loves to study fossil frogs and salamanders. As the diligent director of a palaeontological museum in China, he also excels at telling the stories of Chinese dinosaurs.
Brian Choo，生于新加坡，少年移居澳大利亚，本科毕业于默多克大学，在澳大利亚国立大学获得博士学位，后在中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所做博士后研究（2009-2013），现就职于澳大利亚弗林德斯大学。他的主要研究方向是志留纪和泥盆纪的化石鱼类，偶尔也发表一些中生代海洋爬行动物的论文。他还是位自学成才的画家，曾为学术论文、科普文章、博物馆展览、图书、电视纪录片等绘制古代生命的科学复原图。
Brian Choo, currently at Flinders University, was born in Singapore but moved to Australia at a young age. He graduated from Murdoch University and received his PhD at the Australian National University before going on to work as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, from 2009 to 2013. His research has focused primarily on fossil fishes from the Silurian and Devonian Periods, but he has also published occasional papers on Mesozoic marine reptiles. As a self-taught illustrator, he has provided scientifically rigorous life-reconstructions of fossil animals for academic papers, popular articles, museum exhibits, books and television documentaries.
Table of Contents
目录
Introduction
前言
Just as archaeologists can piece together much of the history of the Shang from the material evidence of oracle bones and bronze cauldrons, palaeontologists can use fossils to reconstruct the far longer and more outlandish history of life on Earth.
正如考古学家能够从发掘出的甲骨和青铜器中拼凑出商代的历史概貌，古生物学家也能够用化石信息重建更加遥远和奇异的地球生命史。
Before we Begin: Vertebrates, Deep Time and Fossils
从这里开始：脊椎动物、地史时期和化石
Skeletons that remain largely intact are rare and precious gifts from deep time to humanity.
那些基本完整无损的骨骼十分稀少，它们也是大自然的“深时”送给人类的珍贵礼物。
Part One Palaeozoic
Cold Blood and Scales
第一篇 古生代
冷血与鳞片的时代
第1章 The Chengjiang Biota: Dawn of the Vertebrates
澄江生物群：脊椎动物的出现
The forces of biological competition and predation, environmental change, and simple chance winnowed the field of early animal life, eliminating some creatures and thereby creating ecological space in which others could flourish.
生物竞争和捕食的力量、自然环境的改变，以及单纯的机遇在早期动物的生命中进行筛选，剔除了某些动物，也因此为其他动物的繁盛提供了生态空间。
[Key Transition 1: The Beginnings of the Backbone] 大事件1：脊梁骨的起源
What emerges clearly from the fossil record and the anatomy of modern hagfish, lampreys and sharks is that the evolution of vertebrae was not a sudden event.
化石记录以及现生盲鳗、七鳃鳗和鲨鱼的解剖结构明确地告诉我们，脊椎的演化显然不是一个突然的过程。
第2章 The Xiaoxiang Fauna: Fishing for Answers
潇湘动物群：“钓出”真正的答案
As greatly modified lobe-finned fish, we humans stroll about on our pelvic fins and use our pectoral fins to turn the pages of books like the one you are reading now.
我们人类其实就是一种“超级改进版“的肉鳍鱼，我们用“腹鳍”四处行走，并用“胸鳍”翻动书的书页，就像你现在正在做的这样。
[Key Transition 2: To Jaw-Jaw is Always Better] 大事件2 ：有颌的感觉真好
Vertebrates of different types use their jaws to crush the throats of prey animals, slice and grind their way through tough vegetation, and filter plankton out of seawater.
不同的脊椎动物用不同的方式使用它们的颌，有些用来咬破猎物的喉咙，有些切碎研磨植物，又或者从海水中过滤藻类。
第3章 The Zhongning Fauna: A New Breed of Vertebrate
中宁动物群：脊椎动物的新类型
Amid these remains of fierce predators and heavily armoured prey, a single jaw fragment measuring less than 10 cm in length and retaining only small denticles rather than true teeth might seem unremarkable.
就在这些凶猛的捕食者和重装甲的猎物的残骸之间，一段不起眼的颌骨化石隐匿其中。
[Key Transition 3: Fish Nearly Out of Water] 大事件3：即将离开水的鱼
The somewhat ironic upshot is that the first tetrapod limbs were probably used more for swimming than for walking.
值得玩味的是，最早的四足动物的四肢很可能更多地用于游泳而不是行走。
第4章 The Dashankou Fauna: Beasts and Belebey
大山口动物群：兽与蜥的世界
A particularly interesting beast from the Dashankou Fauna is the carnivore Raranimus dashankouensis, whose name means literally the “rare spirit from Dashankou”.
大山口动物群有一种有趣的动物叫大山口珍稀兽，直译就是“珍稀的大山口精灵”。
[Key Transition 4: The Egg, not the Chicken] 大事件4：先有鸡还是先有蛋
Next time you buy amniotic eggs in a supermarket, why not take a moment to appreciate the sophistication and adaptive value of the intricate biological structures that will soon be appearing on your dinner table?
下一次你在超市购买羊膜动物的卵时，在它们变成你的盘中餐前，何不花一点时间欣赏一下这一充满进化意义的，复杂而精巧的生物学结构呢？
Part Two Mesozoic
The Empire of Dinosaurs
第二篇 中生代
恐龙的帝国
第5章 The Guanling Biota: Life Among the Dangling Crinoids
关岭生物群：与摇曳的海百合伴生的生命
Complete crinoids are among the most spectacular of all invertebrate fossils, looking for all the world like flowers in some garden tended by undersea giants.
完整的海百合化石绝对属于现有无脊椎动物化石中最壮观的一景，它们看起来就好像由海底巨人精心照料的花园中的花朵一般。
[Key Transition 5: Back to the Sea] 大事件5：重返海洋
Ichthyosaurs, with their dorsal and caudal fins, went further in resculpting their bodies to suit the demands of the sea than perhaps any other amniotes except cetaceans.
鱼龙甚至长出了背鳍和尾鳍，这种为了适应海洋生活所做的身体改变，可能比除了鲸类以外的任何羊膜动物都走得更远。
第6章 The Lufeng Fauna: China’s Oldest Dinosaurs
禄丰动物群：中国最古老的恐龙
A single partial lower jaw represents perhaps the greatest mystery of the Lufeng Fauna.
禄丰动物群最大的谜团可能来自一件下颌骨化石。
[Key Transition 6: The Stealthy Rise of Mammals] 大事件6:：哺乳动物的悄然兴起
For nearly the first hundred million years of their history, mammals were inconspicuous, mainly insectivorous animals no larger than about one metre in body length, and for the most part much smaller.
在最初一亿年的演化历史中，哺乳动物毫不起眼，主要是食虫性的，身体长度不超过一米，而且在多数时间中其体长远远小于这个长度。
第7章 The Dashanpu Dinosaur Fauna: Giants on the Earth
沙溪庙动物群：地球上的巨龙
By Shaximiao times the dinosaurs had assumed pride of place in the march of vertebrate life, towering over other terrestrial carnivores and herbivores.
在沙溪庙动物群的时代，恐龙已经在脊椎动物的“大游行”中占据了首要的地位，远超过其他陆生的肉食和素食动物。
第8章 The Daohugou Biota: Preserved in their Finery
道虎沟生物群：地层中的华丽霓裳
A few decades ago, palaeontologists believed that almost all Mesozoic mammaliaforms were small, land-dwelling insectivores, and species from the Daohugou Biota have helped to temper that substantially correct but excessively broad generalisation.
几十年前，古生物学者们还在坚信几乎所有中生代的哺乳形动物都是小型、陆生、食虫的动物，但道虎沟的物种有助于调和这一虽然大体正确，但适用度被夸大了的归纳性结论。
[Key Transition 7: Into the Skies] 大事件7：飞上蓝天
By the time pterosaurs went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous, birds had already joined them as denizens of the Mesozoic skies.
当翼龙在白垩纪末灭绝时，鸟类已经成为中生代天空中的姣客。
第9章 The Jehol Biota: Feathered Dinosaurs!
热河生物群：带羽毛的恐龙!
The feathers are long enough to suggest that Yutyrannus would have been rather shaggy, a murderous fuzzball stalking the forests of the Early Cretaceous.
羽王龙很像一个外表蓬松的凶残杀手，鬼鬼祟祟地游荡在白垩纪早期的森林里。
[Key Transition 8: A Profusion of Urv?gel] 大事件8：美羽不怕多
Exactly how old feathers are, in evolutionary terms, is a matter of profound uncertainty.
从演化的角度观察，“羽毛的具体产生时间”是个很难回答的问题。
第10章 The Wangshi Fauna: A Vast Dinosaurian Necropolis
王氏动物群：巨大的恐龙墓场
Shandong is an appropriate setting for a rich trove of bones from a late chapter in the history of one of the greatest dynasties of all, that of the Mesozoic dinosaurs.
由此可见，这里作为中生代恐龙帝国余辉篇章的化石产地，的确十分合适。
Part Three Cenozoic
The Triumph of Mammals
第三篇 新生代
哺乳动物的大捷
第11章 The Qianshan Fauna: Life After the Apocalypse
潜山动物群：劫难后的新生
If niches in an ecosystem are like jobs in an economy, then mass extinctions create vacancies that are automatically filled by the first suitable candidates to step forward.
如果把生态系统中的生态位比做经济领域中的职场职位，那么生物大灭绝所创造的空位会自然而然地被那些最早适应的“求职者”所填补。
第12章 The Shara Murun Fauna: Hooves, Horns and Rams
沙拉木伦动物群：各种各样的蹄子和角
What Granger thought of lending his name to a large, and quite possibly aggressive and ill-tempered, Eocene herbivore is uncertain.
至于格兰杰博士对把他的姓氏授予这种巨型、好斗、脾气暴躁的始新世食草动物是什么心情，我们就不得而知了。
第13章 The Shanwang Biota: Almost Like Today
山旺生物群：往昔如今
Most of the major groups of vertebrates that dominate our modern world were already thriving in the Miocene, whereas the brontotheres and many other characteristic denizens of earlier Cenozoic epochs had long since succumbed to extinction.
现今统治地球的大多数脊椎动物的主要类群，在中新世时已经十分繁盛，而雷兽和其他诸多新生代早期的居民们则早已灭绝。
第14章 The Hezheng Biota: Horses, Hogs and Hyenas
和政生物群：马、猪和鬣狗们
However, the story of horses also exemplifies the baroque complexity of evolution, in that considerable diversification took place at every stage of the slow canter from Eocene horses to Equus.
马类演化的故事是典型的巴洛克风格——的确非常复杂：从只会慢跑的始新世马类到健步如飞的真马类，演化过程中的各个阶段都伴随着显著的多样性分异。
第15章 The Zhoukoudian Fauna: The First Beijingers
周口店古人类遗址：最早的“北京人”
The hyenas could easily have killed occasional Peking Folk or seized the bodies of individuals who had died of other causes, devouring them in the fissure and leaving only fragments of shattered bone.
鬣狗会很容易杀死偶遇的北京人，或把因其他原因死去的北京人尸体带回裂隙，大快朵颐，然后留下满地的碎骨。
[Key Transition 9: Ecce Homo] 大事件9：人类的黎明
In recent decades it has become clear from a variety of evidence, but above all from genetics, that humans are especially closely related to the African apes known as chimpanzees.
最近几十年越来越多的证据，特别是遗传学证据清晰地显示，人类与非洲的现生猿类——黑猩猩的亲缘关系特别近。
Concluding Thoughts: the March Continues, Under Fire
结语：演化在“枪林弹雨中”继续
A strong case can be made that a sixth mass extinction is unfolding in our modern world, as a result of human activity.
可以很有理由地说，由于人类的活动，我们现在的地球正在经历第六次大灭绝。
Afterword 后记
Further reading 延展阅读
Appendix 1: Locations of Major Vertebrate Fossil Sites in China
附录1：中国主要的脊椎动物（含人类）化石产地
Appendix 2: Chinese Museums that display fossils to the public
附录2：中国含古生物展陈的博物馆名录
Index of Genus Names Used in the Book
本书中使用的生物属名的索引
Key Transition 2: To Jaw-Jaw is Always Better
脊椎动物演化关键事件（之二）：有颌的感觉真好
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the most quotable English-speaking politician of the twentieth century, once opined that “To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.” Churchill was using the word “jaw” to refer to the endless chatter of diplomatic negotiation, but the original function of vertebrate jaws undoubtedly had more to do with feeding than communication. Predators had no interest in negotiating with their prey in the Palaeozoic seas.
作为20世纪中名言被引用得最多的政治家，英国前首相温斯顿?丘吉尔曾经说道：“动动下巴总好过动手”。他用“下巴”这个词表达的是无休止的外交谈判中的斗嘴，但脊椎动物的“下巴”的最初功能无疑更多地是用来进食而不是交流。当然了，在古生代的海洋中，猎食者可没有兴趣与它们的猎物进行谈判。
Jaws probably did not appear in the march of vertebrate evolution until sometime in the Silurian Period. Until that time all vertebrates were jawless, and several lineages of jawless fishes survived into the Devonian. Two jawless groups, the hagfish and lampreys, are still with us today. Hagfish are scavengers that tear into carrion with a protrusible tongue that bears teeth made of keratin, the protein that forms human hair and fingernails. Some lampreys do not feed as adults, but others use a similar tongue to feed on the flesh or blood of other fishes, to which they cling with a sucker-like mouth containing more keratinous teeth. Experiments on hagfish have shown that the protrusible tongue is surprisingly powerful, and effective at removing pieces of food and transporting them into and through the mouth cavity. Some fossil jawless fishes had either a fringe of small bony plates along one edge of the mouth, acting to scoop detritus from the sea floor or filter it from the water, or tooth-like mineralised structures inside the mouth or throat. A diverse range of successful feeding mechanisms has clearly existed among jawless fishes, past and present.
直到志留纪之前，脊椎动物的演化过程中还没有出现“颌”这一属性。在这之前，所有脊椎动物都是无颌的，有几个无颌鱼类的谱系存活到了泥盆纪。其中的两个类群——七鳃鳗和盲鳗，一直延续到了今天。盲鳗是食腐动物，它们用自己突出的、带角质齿的舌钻挖进腐肉中觅食，这种角质与构成人类头发以及指甲的物质是同一种蛋白质。一些七鳃鳗的成体并不进食，其他的则使用和盲鳗类似的齿舌取食其他鱼类的血肉。它们吸盘一样的嘴里长有更多的角质齿，能把自己固定在猎物身上。对盲鳗的实验发现它们突出的舌十分强壮有力，能够有效地扯下食物碎片送入口腔。一些无颌鱼化石的口缘长着细小的骨片，可以用来在海床上铲起碎片或从水中过滤碎渣；另外一些则在口腔内部或喉内长着经过矿化的齿状结构。显然无论在现生还是化石无颌类中，都已拥有了多种多样的、成功的进食机制。
Fig1. The funnel-like mouth of a modern lamprey, jawless but armed with small keratinous teeth for rasping through the skin of other fishes.
一条现生的七鳃鳗的口部，它没有上下颌，但有很多细小的角质齿，用于咬穿其他鱼的皮肤
However, jaws were an important innovation that opened up new functional possibilities and, in particular, must have ushered in a new age of successful predation by early gnathostomes. In jawed vertebrates the lower jaw, called the mandible, acts like a lever made of bone or cartilage. The mandible is connected by a hinge to the back end of the upper jaw, which in some fishes is itself mobile relative to the skull proper, and muscles can be used to rapidly raise or lower the mandible to close or open the mouth. Lowering the mandible quickly can draw in a sizeable volume of water along with any small prey that it may contain, the key manoeuvre in the “suction feeding” of many aquatic vertebrates, whereas raising the mandible quickly can trap prey in the mouth and forcefully drive teeth into the prey’s body.
然而颌的出现依然一个重要的创新，也开启了全新的功能，特别是开辟了早期有颌类动物成功捕食的新纪元。有颌脊椎动物的颌的下半部分称为下颌（或下颚），它由硬骨或软骨构成，像杠杆一样通过铰链结构与上颌的后端连在一起。在某些鱼类中，上颌与头盖骨的连接是可活动的。肌肉能够使下颌快速张合以控制口的开闭。迅速减低下颌能够将大量的水和其中的小型猎物吸入口中，而另一方面，对于很多水生脊椎动物来说，“吸入式进食”的关键策略，是快速抬升下颌将猎物困在嘴里，并把自己的牙齿用力地插入猎物的身体。
In evolution, new structures are commonly built by modifying pre-existing ones. In the case of jaws, anatomists long ago noticed a basic similarity to the gill arches of fishes, vertical bars of bone or cartilage that separate successive gill slits and support the gills themselves. Gnathostome gill arches are made up of multiple segments, and it is tempting to interpret the upper jaw and mandible as the two surviving segments of a highly modified gill arch. In the traditional account of the origin of jaws, the gill arches were all similar to each other in the jawless ancestors of gnathostomes, and the first arch in the series was transformed into the jaws.
在进化过程中，新的结构一般都是通过改造旧结构而产生的。在颌的演化问题上，解剖学家很久以前就意识到了它和鱼类鳃弓之间的基本相似之处。鳃弓是由硬骨或软骨构成的垂直的棒状结构，它分割连续的鳃裂并为鱼鳃提供结构性支撑。有颌类的鳃弓由多节构成，于是人们很容易假设上颌和下颌应该是高度衍变的鳃弓中保留下来的两节。对于颌的起源，传统观点认为在有颌脊椎动物的无颌祖先中，每一对鳃弓都十分相似，而其中的第一对鳃弓演化成了颌。
Fig2. The front part of a shark skeleton in side view. Each of the gill arches, structures made of cartilage that support the gills, has upper and lower portions. This is also true of the hyoid arch, which lies in front of the gill arches and helps to support the jaws. The jaws themselves look as though they might just have evolved from yet another "arch" at the very front of this series, the upper and lower jaws corresponding to the upper and lower parts of a gill arch or the hyoid arch.
鲨鱼的头骨前部，侧面观。每一个鳃弓（即支持鱼鳃的软骨结构）由上下两部分构成。鳃弓前面的用于支持颌骨的舌弓也是如此。从这张图看，颌骨似乎是从最前面的一个“弓”演化出来的：上颌骨和下颌骨似乎分别对应着一个鳃弓（或舌弓）的上部和下部。
However, studies of gene expression in the embryonic development of lampreys and gnathostomes fail to support this elegant scenario, suggesting instead that much of the gnathostome jaw apparatus is equivalent to structures surrounding the mouth of the lamprey rather than to the first gill arch. A major reconfiguration of the internal structure of the head clearly occurred in early gnathostomes and their close relatives among jawless fishes, but how jaws appeared as part of this reconfiguration remains a topic of extremely active research.
不过对七鳃鳗和有颌类的胚胎发育的基因表达的研究并不支持这一简单而精妙的方案，而是认为有颌类大部分的颌部器官应该与七鳃鳗的口周而非第一对鳃弓的结构相对应。头骨内部结构的一次重要重建明显发生在早期有颌类和它们的无颌鱼近亲中，但是颌的出现在这一重建中扮演什么角色依然是热议的话题。
Whatever their exact evolutionary origin, jaws have played an important part in the march of vertebrate life ever since their first appearance. Vertebrates of different types use their jaws to crush the throats of prey animals, slice and grind their way through tough vegetation, and filter plankton out of seawater. The utility of jaws, however, goes beyond feeding. Animals may use their biting ability to fend off attacking predators or do battle with rivals of the same species, and Winston Churchill was entirely correct to draw attention to the usefulness of jaws in oral communication. Ultimately, prime ministers and diplomats owe their ability to jaw-jaw to an anatomical innovation that appeared more than 400 million years ago.
不论颌的具体来源如何，它们自出现之日起，一直都在脊椎动物演化的进程上扮演着重要的角色。不同的脊椎动物用不同的方式使用它们的颌，有些用来咬破猎物的喉咙，有些切碎研磨植物，又或者从海水中过滤藻类。然而颌的作用远不止进食，动物可以用它们的啃咬技能反抗捕食者，或者和同种的竞争者搏斗，而温斯顿?丘吉尔对于颌在语言交流方面的看法肯定也毋庸置疑。最重要的是，4亿年多前的一次身体结构创新才使得现在的首相们和外交官们有了“动动下巴”的本领。
Fig3. Jaws are useful to a predator, as the osteichthyan Megamastax amblyodus of the Silurian Xiaoxiang Fauna demonstrates by biting down on a hapless galeaspid of the species Dunyu longiforus.
上下颌对捕食者而言绝对重要。这是志留纪潇湘动物群中的一条硬骨鱼——钝齿宏颌鱼捕食的场景，它用颌咬住了一条无助的盔甲鱼——长孔盾鱼
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