Since his debut in 1954, the King of Monsters has rampaged across Tokyo, New York City, and Osaka to name a few.

自 1954 年首次出場，怪獸之王已經襲擊了東京、紐約和大阪，這些還只是一部分。

And over the years, he's gotten bigger, and bigger, and bigger.

幾年來他變得越來越大、越來越大。

The latest Godzilla is a record 119 meters tall, about six times taller than the tallest animal in history.

最新版的哥吉拉最高紀錄有 119 公尺，大概是歷史上最高的動物的六倍。

And to be fair, it's a fantasy film, not a nature documentary.

實話實說，這只是虛構電影，不是自然紀錄片。

But just how fantastical is a 36-story-tall lizard-dinosaur creature who breathes beams of atomic energy?

「一隻能夠噴射核能炮的 36 層樓高蜥蜴恐龍生物」，這種幻想究竟有多誇張？

Well, energy beams aside, Godzilla is actually even more unrealistic than you might think.

這樣說吧，撇除核能炮，哥吉拉本身就已經比你想的還要不切實際。

Now, Earth is no stranger to enormous animals.

的確，地球上出現過巨型生物。

Just look at the largest dinosaur, the titanosaurs, or today's blue whales, which reach up to 30 meters long and can weigh 200 tons.

看看最大的恐龍，泰坦巨龍，或是今日的藍鯨，牠能夠長到 30 公尺長、重達 200 噸。

Compared to them, Godzilla doesn't seem that impossible, right?

和牠們比起來，哥吉拉看來不是不可能，對吧？

These critters are massive on a scale that's just totally impossible.

這些生物根本不可能大到那麼大。

I mean, assuming, at least, they're made of anything even remotely like what we're made out of and follow any of the rules of biology, they are completely impossible.

我的意思是，假設牠們的生物組成和我們一樣而且遵守生物學規則，那牠們就是不可能存在的。

That's paleontologist Mike Habib.

這位是古生物學者 Mike Habib。

He's an expert in giant reptiles and also helps design fantastical creatures for TV and film.

他是巨大爬蟲類的專家，協助影視節目設計科幻生物。

And according to him, a creature like Godzilla could never exist in real life for multiple reasons.

據他所言，像哥吉拉這種生物根本不可能會真實存在，背後有許多原因。

First, he would be brain-dead long before he ever reached a city because his heart simply isn't large and powerful enough to pump blood to his head.

第一，他在抵達任何城市前就會先腦死了，因為他的心臟根本不夠大也不夠有力，無法將血運送至腦。

His heart would have to be thousands of tons and fill most of his chest.

他的心臟必須要重達幾千噸，而且佔據絕大部分的胸腔。

You'd have to have vessels that you could drive a car through, and he would need the energy consumption of a small power plant, probably, every minute in order to run it.

血管要大到可以讓一台車開過，而且他每分鐘消耗的能量大概需要一間小型發電廠。

Of course, he's nuclear-powered, so maybe he has the energy to spare.

當然啦，他仰賴核能，所以或許有多的可以用來噴。

In reality, large animals like titanosaurs got around this by walking on all fours with their heads held out in front of them, not held up high.

在真實世界，像泰坦巨龍這類大型動物用四肢走路，頭伸在前面，而不是高高舉著。

That way, they don't have to pump blood against gravity as far.

如此一來，血液的運輸就不會受重力影響太多。

But even if Godzilla did crawl across cities on all fours, he'd have another problem: movement.

但即使哥吉拉成功用四肢爬到城市，他還會面臨另一個問題：移動。

You see, whenever you lift your leg or arm, it's because your brain fires signals to the nerves in your leg and arm muscles.

是這樣的，當你舉起你的腿或是手臂，那是因為你的大腦傳送信號到你的腿部和手臂肌肉神經。

The fastest of these signals travel around 100 meters per second, so the message from brain to leg is virtually instantaneous.

最快的一種信號每秒行經 100 公尺，所以從大腦傳信號到腿簡直是一瞬間。

Not for Godzilla though.

但對哥吉拉來說就不是一回事。

It would take more than a full second for nerve signals to travel the length of his body.

神經信號要穿過他的全身簡直要耗費超過一秒。

Now, a second still sounds pretty quick, but in reality...

雖然一秒聽起來還是很快，但事實上 ……。

His nerve-conduction speed becomes so slow that he can't move.

他的神經傳導速度實在太慢，他根本移動不了。

It takes forever to do anything.

做任何事都要花許多時間。

Now, Godzilla does look pretty sluggish in the films, but it turns out, in reality, it would look more like this.

哥吉拉在電影裡看起來的確挺慢的，但在真實世界他其實應該更像這樣。

But even if Godzilla could move super fast, he wouldn't have time to fight enemies or demolish buildings because he'd be too busy sunbathing.

但即使哥吉拉可以動得超快，他也沒有時間和敵人對打或是摧毀建築，因為要忙著作日光浴。

All animals need a way to regulate body temperature.

所有動物都必須有辦法調節身體溫度。

Reptiles and other cold-blooded animals stay warm by basking in the sun.

爬蟲類及其他冷血動物藉著曬太陽保持溫暖。

But in Godzilla's case, heat from the sun would have to travel through meters upon meters of tissue to penetrate his hide and reach his internal organs.

但對哥吉拉來說，太陽熱能要先穿透他厚達幾公尺的皮膚才能到達他的內臟。

So to stay warm, he'd have to spend hundreds of hours straight sunbathing.

所以為了保持溫暖，他必須耗上幾百小時一直曬太陽。

But what if Godzilla were more like a mammal?

但要是哥吉拉是哺乳動物呢？

Like us?

像我們？

He wouldn't need to rely on the sun since we warm-blooded creatures produce our own body heat.

他就不需要仰賴太陽了，因為我們恆溫生物自己會產生體溫。

But unfortunately, that would cause yet another problem.

但不幸的是，那也會導致另一個問題。

But then he's so big, he probably cooks himself.

但話又說回來，他太大了，他大概會把自己煮熟。

His core temperature hits 300 degrees.

他的核心溫度會高達 300 度。

Yikes!

嚇死人啊！

And even if he somehow got around all these problems, his skeleton would still collapse under its own weight.

而且即使他克服了這些問題，他的骨骼也無法支撐自身的重量。

Now, Mike says he's a whopping 90,000 metric tons, and that skeleton's just not strong enough to support 90,000 metric tons of, well, anything.

Mike 表示，他的體重達九萬公噸，骨骼根本無法承受九萬公噸的 …… 任何東西。

Yeah, he would just crumple.

沒錯，他會直接倒地。

He'd just collapse.

會直接塌掉。

He'd be a very large pile of meat.

會變成一大攤肉。

Not a very intimidating picture.

看來不太有威脅性嘛。

In the end, Mike says Godzilla could only be about half as tall as he was in the original film before his poor heart would give out.

在最後，Mike 說哥吉拉只可能是電影中的一半大小，不然他可憐的心臟就會罷工。

But just because Godzilla's body is unrealistic doesn't mean it's bad.

不過就算哥吉拉的身體不切實際，並不代表他不好。

In fact, he's perfect for the role.

事實上，他是完美的選角。

He's tall enough to stalk past city skyscrapers, which give us iconic scenes like this.

他高得足以藐視地走過城市高樓大廈，也才有代表性的這一幕。

Just straight up magic in the modern world setting, and just go and enjoy it as such.

真的就是現代世界設定的魔幻場景，放寬心觀看，好好享受吧！