The Ultimate Prehistoric Survivor - Thrinaxodon

[@BenGThomas]

As mentioned in the video, we're involved in a project that takes its name from this remarkable little beast - the THRINAKS Project, a field school run by palaeontologists at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg to train future African palaeontologists who would otherwise not have the opportunity to get this experience working in the field. However, to run the school this year they need to raise enough money through crowdfunding and have asked us to help them achieve this. If the crowdfunding is successful, Doug and I will be invited to join the team on the expedition in South Africa as they explore the famous Permian and Triassic rocks of the Karoo Supergroup. While there, we’ll be recording the entire thing to make a series of videos for everyone on KZbin to enjoy and to show people what fieldwork is really like. There are more details on the crowdfunding page, so if you’d like to see this happen please do donate if you can! www.ulule.com/thrinaks-2021-feat-ben-g-thomas/

[@Bahouudis]

I hope everything goes well!

[@osmosisjones4912]

Wonder if Thrinaxodon was monotreme

[@osmosisjones4912]

Maybe they have very little hair .

[@niklasstone7919]

Is there a way to to donate some money without having a creditcard? I'd really like to help to make this happen, but i only have paypal

[@Kammerliteratur]

Great project!

[@davearbuthnut241]

I'm 73. You look like you're 15, but your incredible knowledge speaks of lifetimes. Never lose your enthusiasm!

[@Pirategod23]

Ouch that’s kinda like a burn

[@davearbuthnut241]

@@Pirategod23 Absolutely the opposite. I'm in awe of you!

[@ravenouself4181]

@@davearbuthnut241 Give my man some credit, he looks 20 at least.

[@alejandrorojas6835]

Very wholesome

[@arthas640]

I had the opposite problem, I've looked 30 since i was 15.

[@musicbyoakly]

15:35 So, does that mean in 40 years we will get a "The Scientific Accuracy of The Scientific Accuracy of Walking With Dinosaurs"?

[@andecap1325]

Yes! Because we don't worship facts as we know them now to be eternal truths. Science unlike religion can change its rules as knowledge increases.Ofcose churches are forces to change when some beliefs became illegal....lol

[@COLT6940]

@@andecap1325 my tip for muh lady.

[@MINGOSAURAUS]

@@andecap1325 cringe

[@guyofoofs4931]

@@MINGOSAURAUS cry about it

[@MischieviousJirachi]

@@MINGOSAURAUS ? What their grammar was a bit over the place, but what they said actually makes sense.

[@bahghoul]

Ah, how I adore proto-mammals. We don't seen nearly enough of them in the media.

[@sawyere2496]

I love therapsids so much

[@paterpater100]

Its so cool to imagine mammals that were so similar to reptiles

[@sawyere2496]

@@paterpater100 critters.

[@SupersuMC]

If you ask the furries nicely enough (and can afford the commissions), we'll be happy to oblige. ;-)

[@bahghoul]

@@SupersuMC ...fuck no.

[@smackarel7]

To quote a great man: "Life, uh, finds a way."

[@richardlewin9282]

Great indeed🤓

[@anthonybrown3198]

Goldbloom?

[@north6502]

@@anthonybrown3198 Peter 👁👄👁

[@stillnobuddy]

@@anthonybrown3198 Goldblum, by way of Ian Malcolm : )

[@chriswentz5197]

My mans

[@kiera_rdh6697]

The reproductive process of dozens of offspring but only 3-4 survive is VERY similar to Tasmanian Devils. They give birth to up to 40 pups at a time but the mother only has 4 teats, so only the fastest 4 who make it first and latch on get to live. Yet they still exhibit parental behavior to those 4. Great video as always!

[@markykid8760]

Fascinating. Poor little devils.

[@Banz_24]

1:14 that paleoart is so amazing

[@erosion2205]

Doge

[@maxaltenkirch1022]

The ancient ancestor of doge

[@TheCabalOnMars]

Doge 0.5

[@firefrog101]

The origin of fur in stem-mammals is one of the greatest questions of paleontology yet to be answered. I'm rooting for you finding some rare skin impression fossils in South Africa.

[@arthas640]

I've always wondered about that since the closest thing to fur we've found is the fuzz on some insects and arachnids or fuzzy feathers. Some dinosaurs had fur like feathers called "dino fuzz" by cool kids and "proto feathers" by nerds but since dinosaurs, bugs, and mammals arent directly related and they each developed their fur independently its a tough one to find out. Most protomammals are portrayed as hairless with leathery skin, then suddenly mammals had hair. I've heard that it had to do with dinosaurs and archosaurs out competing large mammals/proto mammals so mammals evolved into burrowers and that hair helped as insulation, to protect the skin, and to shed dirt. Still, looking back at the specimins we have its like one day we had stem mammals and proto mammals with leathery skin then suddenly we have hairy mammals

[@Dragrath1]

@@arthas640 Yeah presumably there had to be some intermediary for instance I imagine its possible that it might have been localized or present only during a particular life stage at some point.

[@arthas640]

@@Dragrath1 my first thought would be "well they must have gone from fuzzy feathers, lost the shaft, and just had the fuzz" but feathers appeared on a separate evolutionary branch. Our earliest common ancestors with dinosaurs/birds and mammals was so far back that we're likely looking at some reptile like creature with scales and feathers didnt appear until after that divergence so there must have been some divergence where scales turned into hair and hair like feathers at the same time with dinosaurs (and birds) keeping the fuzzy feathers and modern feathers and mammals developing hair. I've always wondered, since there are both hollow and solid hairs and hollow and solid feather shafts, and since both hair and feathers have a similar round shapes, and they both grow from similar pores that they must have had some common source. So at some point either reptiles grew hair that evolved into feathers or grew feathers that evolved into hair. The only information I've ever managed to come across were simple theories and hypothesis. There are some people that say that there are impressions on some reptile like animals that looks like they could be hair or whisker like filiments but even those are incredibly vague and faint. There are also some scientists who've come up with theories of how a single filament formed, then turned into multiple filaments iwth one base, then a shaft with multiple fililemts, then eventually we got feathers meaning feathers and hair started off as hair but that's just a theoretical evolutionary process and isnt seen directly in the archeological record.

[@Gildedmuse]

@@arthas640 Is it possible that whatever gene is associated with hair and feathers are distantly related? I mean, obviously, the easier answer is convergent evolution, but isn't it also possible that whatever genes would eventually come to form "hair" and "feathers" had some older relative. We're finding out today that so many genes have multiple purposes when expressed in different ways. It makes sense to me that instead of all convergent evolution being thought of as simply 'similar pressures manage to randomly form the same variations of DNA mutation' that at least some of them might be because a particular gene that has evolved in similar but distant ways to someone else with the same gene. I mean, there could be only so many ways a gene can express a mutation without, you know, being deadly, I assume... So it's possible they are great great great⁹⁹ ancestors of the same gene, isn't it?

[@Vicus_of_Utrecht]

Just look how Earth has been drastically cooling the last 55 million years. Fur insulates. Three (sic) you fucking go. Fur. Boom. Jesus it's not that hard to understand why.

[@matthiasfreiburghaus4202]

Thank you for creating some high quality synapside related content. I feel this branch of the animal kingdom is kind of underappreciated in the tube paläo community.

[@thedoruk6324]

Prehistoric *Opposums* are the All mighty and Ascended Superior lifeforms has been officially confirmed!

[@Armoless]

I like to imagine a world where they became the dominant animal and we have like.. Buffalo laying eggs like platypus or possums the size of elephants. Humans with pouches and long faces lol

[@oogaboogabe3464]

I'm sorry, but I believe crabs hold that title. Everything, everything becomes crab. Carcinization is eternal

[@thedoruk6324]

@@oogaboogabe3464 *convergent evolution* is the game humanoid sapience is the name so Star Trek aliens confirmed

[@Armoless]

@Eastern fence Lizard Big oof!

[@ExtremeMadnessX]

@Eastern fence Lizard Sarah Jessica Parker "joke"? In this year? At this time of day? In this part of KZbin? Localized entirely within this comment section?

[@leonardogurney5488]

Oh! That burrow with the Thrinaxadon and Bromostega was on PBS Eons! 😲

[@42ZaphodB42]

Yeah, it is an absolutely amazing fossil. There isn't many like it. One in a million.

[@leonardogurney5488]

@@42ZaphodB42 INDEED my fellow Paleo-Fanboy! 😎

[@badgergaming7086]

this is one of my favorite prehistoric animals! very epic

[@leonardogurney5488]

INDEED, an underrated and fascinating creature!

[@antoniorenteria6799]

11:15 that prairie dog is an absolute unit who looks like they’re itching for a coyote to just try something

[@tlshortyshorty5810]

He be carryin doe

[@richardanderson8696]

Another fascinating video. This whole area of stem-mammals and proto-mammals is something I think a lot of people don't really know about. I didn't really know/appreciate that before the dinosaurs, there were significant predators such as the Gorgonopsids. I just had this vague notion that mammals were small, burrowing creatures that did not truly thrive until the dinosaurs died out. One of your earlier videos on Therapsids was something of a revelation to me, rather like discovering an entirely new, major chapter in a book I'd mistakenly thought I knew the plot outline of.

[@Sawrattan]

They also look more monstrous than dinosaurs. Dinosaurs have a sort of grand elegance like birds or giant tortoises, whereas pre-dinosaur beasts looked like a cross between a komodo and a pitbull and a giant shrew.

[@googleuser3163]

This is all well and good, but why do Sponges and Cnidarians never get any recognition for their extreme survival? Jellyfish haven't changed much since the early Cambrian.

[@thecornfieldiii2069]

well they don't really get up to much

[@googleuser3163]

@@thecornfieldiii2069 They kinda kill a lot of people. That's definitely doing something.

[@womtv69]

Cnidarians and Sponges have been found in the Precambrian, but yes, they deserve more recognition.

[@googleuser3163]

@@womtv69 Absolutely correct, but most cnidaria and porifera found their current body plans in the Cambrian which is why I chose that period :)

[@blondbraid7986]

@@womtv69 Well, at least sponges get recognized for being good to scrub yourself with in the shower...

[@hyperactivehyena]

One thing that gets me a little bit about these arguments about integument and parental care is the idea that these things would have just- showed up in their fully functional form one day? It doesn't make sense that a cynodont would have whiskers immediately capable of the sensory action mammals now use them for, it would first need to develop the structures and then develop more infrastructure to support/make those things useful. Why would it ever develop nerve structures for 'whisking' if it didn't have anything to 'whisk' with in the first place? And to me- early mutualistic den sharing between adults and babies seems like the way that parental care would have *started* as a strategy, not an indication that it wasn't happening at all. Cynodonts perhaps laid huge clutches of eggs, allowing the babies to fend for themselves- and those that make it to a larger size are the ones that end up forming a closer bond with other adult animals they come in contact with.

[@5daboz]

Also, feeding young with milk probably didnt develop yet because even platypus feeds its young by sweating milk, so it is unlikely anything more specialised would be developed at that time.

[@duneydan7993]

Nice to see more light on the Thrinaks prodject and the work of Julien Benoit!

[@presidenttogekiss635]

I just have to say I´m glad he started showing his face, because GODDANM this man is handsome. He literally looks like a fairy tail prince.

[@feraligodzilla5390]

This is not the first time he showed his face though

[@williansnobre]

@@feraligodzilla5390 people will be glad for every single time.

[@seamusoblainn]

Thirsty... 🤣

[@apexiv6919]

He has such dull eyes though. Looks so bored

[@captainclipy6236]

@@apexiv6919 he’s british

[@carrioncrow13]

Okay, but regardless of whether or not those proto-mammals had full-body fur and whiskers in real life, the artistic renditions of Thrinaxodon in this video are just plain adorable.

[@qwertyuiop1st]

I suspect that the Cynodont lineage found it really easy to evolve having hair and that it evolved several times in several lineages - but not all.

[@Andrey.Ivanov]

Your videos are always so informative and make such a good job of overviewing different topics. Great job as always.

[@celestebredin6213]

So glad to see these discussed again. This stuff is fascinating ‼️ Thank you ‼️

[@ZwamTekMusic]

your voice narrating has gotten better, ben. :) Lovely to see you clearly learned (and still learning even!

[@ZwamTekMusic]

the camera shots are lovely addition too!

[@shawncharton9416]

I have never heard the word "whisker" used as a verb before. Noice!

[@celestebredin6213]

Grateful to scientists who share this fascinating stuff🤝‼️

[@leonardogurney5488]

To Ben, Yu are the man! I too wish to endeavour myself into PALEONTOLOGY when I'm old enough! Your videos certainly help out in my quest of palaeontological study! Thank yu for creating such heart warming videos on the ancient life that once surrounded us all! Thanks again, By, Leo C. Gurney 😁😇😎👋👍👍👍

[@pattyoneill91]

I just finished your whales evolution video and I got to say I think citations are some of the most fascinating creatures it's insane they evolved from these little weird wolf deer things to like Giant whales

[@Dr.IanPlect]

'citations'?! Cetaceans!

[@EternalEmperorofZakuul]

I'll still never forgive the dinosaurs for preying on my mammal ancestors

[@PassingArcturus]

For Odin brother.

[@PassingArcturus]

We must wipe all reptilians from existence.

[@MixedScales]

It's why I eat chicken

[@stephenlitten1789]

@Eastern fence Lizard Turducken - f*ck 3 dinosaurs with one roasting dish

[@Fairygirl-q6g]

@@PassingArcturus You mean eat chicken. I think dinosaurs were more relate to birds then dinosaurs.

[@calvingrondahl1011]

Interesting investigation of micro details in fossils. Brilliant presentation Ben.

[@ericvulgate]

it is so wonderful how much we can know from these ancient traces. this is a fantastic time for those interested in science.

[@iamgroot3403]

Thank you for continuing to create such informative content! ❤️

[@valpayne2963]

I’m blown away by your videos. Your knowledge and passion is wonderful. Although I don’t understand much of what you say, you’ve opened my eyes to this incredible world and the work that has and is going in to explore these ancient organisms. I had no idea our planet was so richly populated. I continue to learn and thank you for creating the videos.

[@brent9504]

Dude, you're amazing. Great delivery, great touches of humor, fantastic editing and information organization... and every video you do is damn entertaining. The best natural history channel out there. Bravo!

[@polloleche7719]

Absolutely blows my mind. I love learning about egg laying proto mammals. Pre dinosaur animals fascinate me ..

[@roku3216]

The first image shown of Thrinaxodon looks like it just told the punchline of a joke. Adorable!

[@Abahrelgazalia]

This is why I love this channel - well researched, thorough, nuanced but still accessible, and not afraid to correct yourselves when you make a mistake. Four or five times in this video you mentioned something and I'd think, 'ah, but it's more nuanced than that, what about this other paper...' and then you'd mention that other paper.

[@jeff_hall]

Keep making these longer form videos! I watch all of the 7DOS videos, but these are my favorites! Thank for all of your hard work everyone!

[@johnazaz]

Thank you for this valuable insigth in the past of the planet ! First of your videos I watch and already suscribed

[@tobuslieven]

10:43 Come out of burrow after the meteor, "Was Earth always this bad? Hard to say if it's getting worse, or better."

[@robertprevett4337]

I am quite impressed. Not only by the depth and breadth of your research but also the way you can pronounce these scientific words. Just fantastic!

[@catfoodtaste]

Synapsidgirl is one of my favorite paleo-artists, always glad to see their work in your videos :]

[@geraldpena5895]

You are so good and so informal I love your videos they make me smarter you are very thorough with your presentations

[@asteagueche1613]

Well done ! I really enjoy your talks and they well match what I learned in paleontology many years ago, lovin it!

[@celestebredin6213]

This stuff is THE BEST ‼️👍

[@wildtoonproductions4427]

Cool video, teaching us about this evolutionary turn since the great dying. It cool to learn about this mammal relative

[@leonardogurney5488]

Thrinaxodon, the ULTIMATE PALEOZOIC underdog!!! 😎😎😎💙💙💙

[@maxfochtmann9576]

Спасибо Вам большое. Я слышал об этих животных 55 лет назад на Вузе.

[@mikesnyder1788]

This is one of my favorite areas of interest in the field of synapsid development. Heck yes I would burrow too after that crazy wipeout following the Permian Great Dying. Absolutely love this video and I have watched it several times. Keep up the excellent work and warm greetings from across the Big Pond!

[@ShepStevVidEOs]

Although I haven't been able to find much information on the Siberian Traps specifically, their ancient forming and modern ecology is one of my main interests and curiosities.

[@thatebsguy4253]

Another interesting video great job lads :)

[@dalailarose1596]

They're adorable & I love them & you can't tell me otherwise 😝

[@cristianmolina8148]

This channel is amazing; very detailed and interesting data..just missed the crazy guy with blue jacket; hilarious

[@otherpatrickgill]

creatures who don't care much for their young typically produce many offspring in areas where resources (food, water, shelter) are plentiful. In a shared burrow environment only shelter would be plentiful, meaning that the young would be in competition with adults for food and water, and at a district disadvantage. I would suggest that if reproduction took place inside the burrows, a degree of parental care is implied.

[@sharondornhoff7563]

Communal egg-laying is another possible explanation for so many being in one burrow. There are turtles that do that today.

[@Yezpahr]

9:01 Uncovering these crosslinks, like deducing the fact whiskers didn't exist in one group but do exist in the other, feels like a 6/5 difficulty Sudoku puzzle, but with a 3d tree-like structure made of Sudoku's.

[@emilydowd-arrow3751]

Best of luck with the crowd-funding project! You deserve the opportunity.

[@KenSoHappyClegg]

One of your best videos. Lots of different evidence, with really amazing examples. Makes me wonder if all advanced civilizations, maybe millions of years old, eventually move underground permanently to survive repeated surface global disasters and mass extinctions

[@boyinblue.]

Thank you for all the work you put in, ever since I was about 9 years old I've loved educational shows. Mainly animals of current date but I enjoyed dinosaurs which led me to paleontology, I get so much joy out of these videos. Especially the ones about early hominids or hominids from the Pleistocene era (I'm a big lover of Jean Aule’s “children of the earth series.)

[@mattsavigny6084]

Ok, now I need a sitcom starring a thrinaxodon and a broomistega as odd roommates.

[@dancaffee9654]

I love this channel. Well-produced and super informative. Keep’em coming Ben!

[@purplehaze2358]

To put into perspective how bad the great dying was, it completely eclipsed the death toll of the KT mass extinction.

[@fgialcgorge7392]

I really hope you guys get to go. After years of watching you on here I'd say you deserve it. On a side note, I'd love to see some more spotlights on specific species or genus. Notounglulats would be amazing. Been waiting for one of those for years from someone.

[@TheTrilogy082]

Great video bro. Permian animals are so interesting. And the relationship between how a group of synapsids became Mammals and such.

[@dynamosaurusimperious2718]

Basically Thrinaxodon may be as cool as Tyrannosaurus,Smilodon,or Deinisuchus. But it's still a pretty cool prehistoric pre-mammal, Also wish y'all a good day,and this was an awesome video.

[@pettiguy2702]

The ultimate prehistoric survivor; Doge

[@werh227]

1:14 this is oddly super adorable.

[@DaraM73]

Wow, great video. (Although this is the most scientific “cat video” I’ve ever seen on KZbin.)

[@freeponyrides]

Your comment wins 🏆

[@tylerlogan4747]

Truly a great video~

[@2nostromo]

One of your best... thank you!

[@ehfoiwehfowjedioheoih4829]

Absolutely amazing video!!

[@nightgoblinspearman]

Love this channel

[@MrStephen777]

Broomistega + Thrinaxodon sharing same burrow for mutual protection. Very frustrated i couldn't add this example of mutalism in my exam a long time ago,

[@thinkbolt]

"Objectively adorable?" 13:31

[@harrywoodman2988]

I love Ben's deco.... sketches and shells

[@kimsikoryak3830]

Careful and intelligent presentation, as usual. Well done. This is pretty dense stuff, so slowing down the pace of your presentation a bit would, I think, be a good idea. Yes, I frequently pause and replay bits to give me more of a chance to process before going on to the next thing. Still, a more relaxed pace is something you might want to consider.

[@NoIce33]

Oh great. Now I feel Iabsolutely must use the phrase "objectively adorable" in some seminar or conference presentation.

[@exiegelastweekgamer1571]

Thrinaxodon should be the basis of a new BBC documentary. We can call it Walking After Dinosaurs.

[@leonardogurney5488]

HELL YEA!!! 🤩🤩🤩✊✊✊

[@42ZaphodB42]

Thrinaxodon lived before the dinosaurs or while they were rising to the top.

[@vamp97]

Great vid as always :) thanks for keeping education free

[@stevesellers-wilkinson7376]

That was brilliant - really interesting... I love your channel! 😀

[@ardentaxiom]

You guys do such a great job with your channel and content, I'm grateful that I found it. I learn new things in every episode. My nephew turns 7 this year and he's been fascinated by paleontology for the past few years. He can already name more "dinosaurs" than I ever could, he's also been able to experience fossil digs. Last year for his birthday I bought him a real fossil collection, which included fossilized poo 💩 🤣😂😅. Unfortunately, his parents pulled him out of school last year to homeschool him in creationism, so now his perception of evolution is not entirely compatible with natural history and our modern understanding of time. He's a brilliant kid though and I think that he will realize the Earth is not a few thousand years old, lol, no matter what his parents are trying to teach him. Evidence doesn't lie, people do. Not sure if you guys still plan to be producing content when he's old enough to access your channel, but if you are and he's still into paleontology then you best believe I'll be sending him your way ✌

[@amoscardoza5253]

Hi Ben! I do like your style. Keep up the great content

[@Firespirit7]

really enjoy your content @BenGThomas. I really like these videos that explore different ancient lineages. Hope to enjoy more...ceratopsids hint hint.... 😁

[@eacalvert]

Yes a new video ❤️

[@thetophatnerd2664]

I don’t have any money or live in Europe I do support you for this

[@iaw7406]

"Ultimate prehistoric survivor": doesnt last past the early Triassic.

[@KO_Star_boi]

It is so cool that we have this stuff

[@stefanostokatlidis4861]

So it was something like between a hedgehog, an bearded dragon and a quoll.

[@tinamclaughlin1991]

Make it happent! Good Luck!

[@ericvulgate]

fur and warm bloodedness go hand in hand, same as feathers.

[@miquelescribanoivars5049]

Many Dinosaurs have no integument but were clearly endothermic to some extent.

[@megaswenson]

Great Ammonite wallpaper!

[@AquaticFlapper125]

I love how cute they are

[@imdangrow]

1:10 that's an ancient doge you can't tell me otherwise

[@dennismason3740]

Tubular Brains. My new band.

[@Serjohn]

great grandpa right here, where are my christmas gifts thrinaxodon

[@sanroma2768]

to everyone who likes metal and this kind of themes I personally recommend The Ocean, fantastic group to learn about the earth history

[@FriedEgg101]

Fascinating vid.

[@HaRDc0r3z]

dude, i love your videos. just sayin'... thanks for making them.

[@Crakinator]

The resilience of nature is so amazing. A small amount of lucky animals survive a devastating extinction event, and their ancestors will eventually repopulate the entire globe.

[@OpEditorial]

The main reason it's depicted as having fur and whiskers is simple: most people like dogs, that's why thrinaxodon looks like a staffy without ears.

[@paleoph6168]

That thumbnail tho........👀