Overall, the dinosaur was darker on top and paler underneath – a classic case of countershading, or 3D camouflage.

总的来说，这只恐龙的上身颜色较深， 下身颜色较浅——这是反阴影或 3D 伪装的经典案例。

It's called countershading, and it would have helped this little herbivore blend in while walking through the sun-dappled forest.

它被称为反遮蔽，它可以帮助这种小食草动物在穿过阳光斑驳的森林时融入其中。

Now, this is a pattern called countershading and that's the focus of our paper now published in Current Biology.

这是一种被称作“反荫蔽”的图案，其也是我们发表在《当代生物学》上论文的重点。

This type of coloring is called countershading, and helps the dolphins camouflage themselves against predators trying to see them from above or below.

这种颜色被叫做反荫蔽，能够帮助海豚伪装自己，以免捕食者从水面上或者水面下发现它们。

However, the best countershading to be to balance the effect of illumination depends on the sort of light environment you're in.

然而，最佳的反荫蔽是为了平衡光照所带来的影响，这取决于你所处环境中的光照情况。

The white bellies of penguins match the sky, and their black coats, the depths of the ocean, in what is known as " countershading" .

企鹅腹部的白色与天空的颜色相一致，背部的黑色皮毛与海洋深处的颜色相一致，这也就是我们所说的“反荫蔽”。

That enables countershading, where the underside of the squid is lighter than the top, to eliminate a silhouette that a predator might spy from below.

这就实现了反荫蔽，使得乌贼的底面比顶部浅，消除了捕食者可能从下面看到的轮廓。

The fact countershading evolved at all means some predatory dinosaurs may have had vision similar to current animals that hunt.

反阴影进化的事实意味着一些掠食性恐龙的视力可能与目前的狩猎动物相似。

Animals living in bright, open areas like a savannah tend to have abrupt countershading, for example, while the diffuse lighting of forests favor a gradation.

例如，生活在明亮、开放区域（如大草原）的动物往往会有突然的反阴影，而森林的漫射照明则有利于渐变。

So, 3D camouflage has evolved in lots of animals to stay safe from hungry predators, but the exact pattern of countershading depends on their habitat.

因此，许多动物进化出了 3D 伪装， 以躲避饥饿的捕食者， 但反遮蔽的确切模式取决于它们的栖息地。

Just like forest-dwellers today, the countershading pattern produced by the dinosaur’s melanocytes was probably subtle, switching from dark to light fairly low on its body.

就像今天的森林居民一样，恐龙黑色素细胞产生的反阴影图案可能很微妙， 在其身体相当低的地方从暗色切换到亮色。

Then, they used computers to compare these photographs with the observed countershading from the fossil, to see which environment would’ve helped the dinosaur blend into the background.

然后，他们使用计算机将这些照片与观察到的化石反阴影进行比较， 看看哪种环境可以帮助恐龙融入背景。

But when the sun’s shining, an animal with countershading – darker on top and lighter underneath – looks more evenly colored, and doesn’t stand out as much from its background.

但是当阳光明媚时，带有反阴影的动物——上面颜色较深， 下面颜色较浅——看起来颜色更均匀， 并且不会从背景中脱颖而出。