Nizar Ibrahim: How we unearthed the Spinosaurus
Nizar Ibrahim: Cómo desenterramos al Spinosaurus
Nizar Ibrahim scours Northern Africa for clues to what things were like there in the Cretaceous period. A 2015 TED Fellow, he has spearheaded the recent search for the semi-aquatic dinosaur Spinosaurus. Full bio
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are incredible creatures.
son criaturas increíbles.
we know about them.
through my head
pensamientos por la cabeza
my first dinosaur book.
mi primer libro de dinosaurios.
to combine my love for animals
combinar mi amor por los animales
far-flung corners of the world.
más remotos del planeta.
I've led several expeditions
he dirigido varias expediciones
on this planet, the Sahara.
en este planeta, el Sahara.
I've been on a quest
a bizarre, giant predatory dinosaur
y gigantesco dinosaurio depredador
have been found
by a German paleontologist.
por un paleontólogo alemán.
were destroyed in World War II.
de su Spinosaurus fueron destruidos
a few drawings and notes.
about 100 million years ago,
hace unos 100 millones de años,
que formaban una magnífica vela,
forming a magnificent sail,
a bit like a crocodile,
como las de un cocodrilo,
to catch slippery prey, like fish.
resbaladizas, como los peces.
all we knew
between Morocco and Algeria,
fronteriza entre Marruecos y Argelia,
and snakes and scorpions,
de arena, serpientes y escorpiones,
good fossils there.
buenos fósiles allí.
especímenes increíbles.
más grande de dinosaurio
in this part of the Sahara.
predatory dinosaurs,
depredadores gigantes,
de tamaño mediano,
of crocodile-like hunters.
cazadores similares a cocodrilos.
in a river system.
en un sistema ribereño,
to a giant, car-sized coelacanth,
gigante, del tamaño de un automóvil,
were filled with pterosaurs,
cubiertos de pterosaurios,
to travel to if you had a time machine.
si tuviéramos una máquina del tiempo.
incredible fossils of animals
increíbles fósiles de animales
to be very elusive.
demostró ser muy escurridizo.
a partial skeleton at some point.
un esqueleto parcial en algún momento.
several bones of Spinosaurus.
halló varios huesos de Spinosaurus.
we collected more bones.
algunos huesos más.
had another partial skeleton
teníamos otro esqueleto parcial
Spinosaurus had a head
parecida a la de un cocodrilo,
predatory dinosaurs,
dinosaurios depredadores,
came from the rest of the skeleton.
vino del resto del esqueleto.
y los huesos del cráneo,
de remo, patas anchas,
dinosaurios tenían patas así...
dinosaur has feet like this --
used to walk on soft sediment,
para caminar en sedimentos blandos,
microstructure of the bone,
microestructura del hueso,
los huesos del Spinosaurus,
very dense and compact.
that spend a lot of time in the water,
que pasan mucho tiempo en el agua,
control in the water.
la flotabilidad en el agua.
and built a digital Spinosaurus skeleton.
un esqueleto digital de Spinosaurus.
at the digital skeleton,
era un dinosaurio único.
a dinosaur unlike any other.
"comer pescado" por todas partes,
written all over it,
"water-loving" written all over it --
"me encanta el agua" por doquier --
and the hind limbs are reduced in size,
extremidades traseras de tamaño reducido,
we see in animals
que vemos en animales
of time in the water.
considerable en el agua.
a nuestro Spinosaurus
and wrapping our dinosaur in skin --
envolviendo con piel al dinosaurio--
with a river monster,
ante un monstruo de río,
más grande que el T. rex,
acuáticos que mostré anteriormente.
I showed you earlier on.
an incredible discovery.
de este, un descubrimiento increíble.
this is a once-in-a-lifetime discovery.
descubrimiento único en la vida.
to discover in the world."
descubrir en el mundo".
further from the truth.
estar más lejos de la verdad.
está lleno de tesoros,
still full of treasures,
no places left to explore,
lugares por explorar, me gusta citar
Roy Chapman Andrews,
de dinosaurios, Roy Chapman Andrews,
an adventure just around the corner --
aventura a la vuelta de la esquina
está lleno de esquinas".
escribió estas líneas.
wrote these lines.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Nizar Ibrahim - PaleontologistNizar Ibrahim scours Northern Africa for clues to what things were like there in the Cretaceous period. A 2015 TED Fellow, he has spearheaded the recent search for the semi-aquatic dinosaur Spinosaurus.
Why you should listen
Paleontologist Nizar Ibrahim, a postdoc at the University of Chicago, wanted to uncover the mystery of the Spinosaurus, a gigantic predatory dinosaur whose only known remains were lost during World War II. After identifying a new skeleton at a dig in North Africa, Ibrahim made the landmark conclusion that the Spinosaurus may have been the largest carnivorous dinosaur to ever live. Its crocodile-like head, dense bones, short legs, and wide, paddle feet suggest it was a water dweller unlike any other. “The entire skeleton has water-loving river monster written all over it,” he says.
Ibrahim is a TED Fellow and a National Geographic Emerging Explorer.
Nizar Ibrahim | Speaker | TED.com