he climate crisis may lead the human race to shrink in size, as mammals with smaller frames appear better able to deal with rising global temperatures, a leading fossil expert has said.

一位頂 尖化石專(zhuān)家表示，氣候危機(jī)可能導(dǎo)致人類(lèi)體型縮小，因?yàn)轶w型較小的哺乳動(dòng)物似乎能夠更好地適應(yīng)全球氣候變暖。

Prof Steve Brusatte, a palaeontologist at the University of Edinburgh, suggested that the way in which other mammals have previously responded to periods of climate change could offer an insight into humans’ future.

愛(ài)丁堡大學(xué)古生物學(xué)家史蒂夫·布魯薩特教授認(rèn)為，其他哺乳動(dòng)物此前在氣候變化時(shí)期的反應(yīng)可以預(yù)示人類(lèi)的未來(lái)。

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He likened the potential plight of people as similar to that of early horses, which became smaller in body size as temperatures rose around 55m years ago, a period called the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum.

他將人類(lèi)的潛在困境比作早期馬的困境，早期馬的體型隨著5500萬(wàn)年前氣溫的升高而變小，這一時(shí)期被稱(chēng)為古新世-始新世極熱事件時(shí)期。

Writing in The Rise and Reign of the Mammals, Brusatte notes that animals in warmer parts of the world today are often smaller than those in colder areas, an ecological principle known as Bergmann’s rule. “The reasons are not entirely understood, but it is probably, in part, because smaller animals have a higher surface area relative to their volume than plumper animals and can thus better shed excess heat,” he writes.

布魯薩特在《哺乳動(dòng)物的崛起和統(tǒng)治》一書(shū)中指出，當(dāng)今世界較溫暖地區(qū)的動(dòng)物通常比寒冷地區(qū)的動(dòng)物小，這一生態(tài)學(xué)原理被稱(chēng)為伯格曼法則。他寫(xiě)道：“我們還不清楚為什么，但部分原因可能是與大型動(dòng)物相比，體型越小的動(dòng)物，其體表面積與體積的比率則越大，因此可以更好地排出多余的熱量。”

Brusatte said that becoming smaller was “a common way that mammals deal with climate change”. He added: “That’s not to say every species of mammal would get smaller, but it seems to be a common survival trick of mammals when temperatures spike pretty quickly. Which does raise the question: if temperatures do spike really quickly might humans dwarf, might humans get smaller? And I think that’s certainly plausible.”

布魯薩特表示，變小是“哺乳動(dòng)物應(yīng)對(duì)氣候變化的常見(jiàn)方式”。他還表示：“這并不是說(shuō)每一種哺乳動(dòng)物都會(huì)變小，但當(dāng)溫度迅速升高時(shí)，這似乎是哺乳動(dòng)物常見(jiàn)的生存技巧。這確實(shí)提出了一個(gè)問(wèn)題：如果溫度真的迅速升高，人類(lèi)會(huì)變小嗎?我想這是很有可能的�！�

In a recent study, researchers studying human remains over the past million years have also suggested that temperature is a major predictor of body size variation, while scientists studying red deer have said that warmer winters in northern Europe and Scandinavia may lead to the body size of these animals becoming smaller.

研究數(shù)百萬(wàn)年前人類(lèi)遺骸的研究人員在最近的一項(xiàng)研究中指出，溫度是體型變化的主要預(yù)測(cè)因素，而研究馬鹿的科學(xué)家則表示，北歐和斯堪的納維亞地區(qū)的暖冬可能會(huì)導(dǎo)致馬鹿的體型變小。

However, not all experts agree that rising temperature causes mammals to shrink. Prof Adrian Lister, of the Natural History Museum in London, said the relationship shown by the recent human remains study is weak, while the strong correlations between temperature and mammal body size may often be down to the availability of food and resources.

然而，并非所有專(zhuān)家都同意溫度升高會(huì)導(dǎo)致哺乳動(dòng)物體型縮小的觀點(diǎn)。倫敦自然歷史博物館的阿德里安·利斯特教授表示，最近的人類(lèi)遺骸研究顯示兩者之間的關(guān)聯(lián)很弱，而溫度與哺乳動(dòng)物體型之間的密切關(guān)系可能往往取決于食物和資源的可獲得性。

Lister is also sceptical that humans will shrink as the climate heats. “We are not really controlled by natural selection,” he said. “If that was going to happen, you’d need to find large people dying before they could reproduce because of climate warming. That is not happening in today’s world. We wear clothes, we have got heating, we have got air conditioning if it is too hot.”

李斯特也對(duì)人類(lèi)體型會(huì)隨著氣候變暖而縮小的觀點(diǎn)表示懷疑。"我們并沒(méi)有真正受到自然選擇的控制。如果真的發(fā)生這種情況，需要有證據(jù)證明，體型大的人類(lèi)因氣候變暖滅絕了。這在當(dāng)今世界是不可能發(fā)生的。我們穿衣服，有暖氣，如果天氣太熱，我們還有空調(diào)。"

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