Every Time Echolocation Has Evolved

[@mistingwolf]

This may be a weird one, but could you investigate protractible claw development? I think that would be a cool thing to see on this channel.

[@idle_speculation]

I know about cats, fossa, and grey foxes, but has it occurred outside Carnivora?

[@mistingwolf]

@@idle_speculation Ooooo, that's a great question!

[@Wobkerer]

Do a video about claws and thier evolution in particular

[@kinderblutsaufenderreptiloide]

@@idle_speculation There are some Geckos with retractable claws, too.

[@beastmaster0934]

Schizotheriine chalicotheres evolved protractable claws too. To help keep their claws sharp for pulling down branches, as well as defending them from predators.

[@thedoruk6324]

As far as I know. Cetaceans specifically some dolphins and Sperm whales are the most notoriously known examples of actively *weaponizing* their echolocation ability. I mean sperm whales could be so dangerous that many people advise swimmers to immediately surface if they see one.

[@eschwarz1003]

yes true. They dont seem to do that though. (sperm whales)

[@thedoruk6324]

@@eschwarz1003 I mean it is also terrifying imagine you fascinated by seeing a sperm whale and it blasts a sonar blast and than everything will be game over

[@Mrbfgray]

Ever come across blind ppl who use echolocation? Amazing.

[@LOL-zu1zr]

@@eschwarz1003they can do that accidentally

[@aceundead4750]

​​@@Mrbfgraythere was a guy who used echolocation of sorts to skateboard since he was blind. He'd listen for the changes of the sounds of the tires echoing off the skate park to ensure he didnt crash and even be able to ride on the round walls

[@WaterShowsProd]

About 17 years ago when I was editing scholastic/educational videos, I edited one about a young boy who had gone blind from optic nerve cancer. He claimed to use echo-location by clicking his tongue. The director and I used to talk about the likelihood that he was really able to do it, and while the footage looked compelling, the director did say that especially when he got tired he would bump into furniture. So, the section on blind people developing echo-locating ability was a particular surprise. Sadly, the cancer returned and the boy died before the video was released.

[@darrenharkat]

I saw that same video as a kid in Belgium! It was so interesting! 😃

[@Jay_Kay666]

What was completely forgotten is that some plants communicate with bats by reflecting and modifying their calls. Plants such as marcgravia evenia, mucuna holtonii and espostoa frutescens tell bats that here is food. Nepenthes hemsleyana pitchers are an advert for a cheap motel to spend a day in.

[@Man_Flippin_Pentagrams]

Fascinating. Thanks for pointing them out.

[@Brickstorming]

I can imagine that echolocation is such a widespread ability because almost all animals with some hearing capability are theoretically able to use it to some extent, even those who don't need to or aren't commonly known for it (for example humans), Thus making it easy to evolve as soon as selective pressure makes it a neccessary advantage, for example for nocturnal animals. If humans can utilize echolocation within the lifetime of one individual, I can imagine it to be a pretty fast-evolving ability under the right circumstances.

[@SoulDelSol]

Just being able to tell where a sound is coming from is ability we already have. We can tell distance and direction pretty well with sounds in environment. So making a noise that has high likelihood of reflection is hardest part

[@jeffzeiler346]

Yeah, it's not really that impressive. Creatures like humans can develop it and use neuroplasticity to inform our sight capacity - so basically, anything with vocalizations, ears and vision capabilities can utilize this ability. No big deal

[@Gothead420]

There was a blind kid in the "Blindenstudienanstalt" where I used to do civil-service, who did exactly that...flicked his tongue to make a clicking sound to navigate roughly, he told me.

[@Seikefy]

There is a blind human that does use something similar to echo location, you can look for it on youtube and its wild as fuck

[@guifdcanalli]

If you mean widespread between mammals, maybe. Between animals in general, heck no Only mammals can truly abuse the hearing sense because of the three boned middle ear giving us access to high frequences way easier than any other family of animals. In fact in every other tetrapod family, only 2 species of birds, the Oilbird and a species of Swiftlet bird, can echo locate and its not even close the quality of bat and cetacean abilities. Take a time to think about, birds are way more diverse than mammals, with more than 10.000 species worldwide and yet TWO evolved echolocation, this ability is insanely difficult to appear in non mammalian animals

[@AbominableAnenome]

I think the evolution of gliding or non powered flight is interesting. You’ve got the fairly obvious flying squirrels and sugar gliders and the lesser know colugos, but then there are also frog, lizard, and even snake species that have some sort of gliding ability. The three mammals all have similar membranous flaps between the front and hind limbs but the herpetological examples use completely different parts of their body.

[@theunholyadventurer2376]

then you'd have to go into the numerious gliding dinosaurs and even further back, the many gliding reptiles in the triassic

[@miguelpedraentomology6080]

​@@theunholyadventurer2376tbh recently most of these "gliding dinosaurs" have been discovered to be perfectly capable of powered flight.

[@roastbeast3275]

i would love to see a vid on every time tusks (large specialized teeth that sit outside of the mouth) have evolved. its mostly ungulates but there’s a lot of animals that tried the funky big teeth strategy

[@tatyanataylor44]

Yes like narwhals, babirusas, and musk deer

[@zddxddyddw]

@@tatyanataylor44 And don't forget about sabertooth cats, Thylocsmilus and the many Permian creatures that also had big tusks (like Lystrosaurus).

[@__--__]

24:14, As someone who can echo-locate, I can say that what you expect to locate and you can locate is extremely counterintuitive. So I think that's a big reason sighted people are handicapped. If there's a wall, you might not be able to locate it if there's a tree off to the side. Since sound is a wave, reflections from the tree intercept reflections from the wall. If you have vision, then it's unintuitive cause when the sight of the wall is unobstructed, it's hard to imagine that a tree to the side of the wall impacts what you hear. I can tell you something visually ignorable like the fluffiness of a carpet can make the sound profile of a room completely completely different

[@__--__]

If there's a better explanation for why objects to the side mean I can't hear things in font of me, I'd love to hear it. I made up the reasoning, but I can hear the differences clear as day

[@eypandabear7483]

@@__--__ I‘m not an acoustics expert, and this is speculation, but I could imagine that you pick up on the left-right ear phase difference in the echo. A wall, if far enough away, will return a “flat” echo (approximately planar waves). The echo from a tree would preserve a spherical wavefront over larger distances. Meaning: your left and right ear hear different parts of the reflected wave at the same time. Perhaps your brain picks up on this phase contrast and ignores the flat “boring” echo from the wall as background noise. And the time delay between the echos might not be enough for you to separate them. Like I said, this is speculation, so take it with a grain of salt. In terms of physics, there are three major differences between sight and your echolocation: 1) sound wavelengths are comparable to the size of objects in our environment, so wave physics is more important. 2) we usually see the reflections of a more or less stable light source, while you hear the echo of a short, sharp transient (click). 3) light is so fast that it’s instantaneous for everyday purposes, while sound has a delay long enough for you to perceive. It would be interesting to learn how you perceive different echos like trees vs walls, if that can be described adequately in words.

[@__--__]

@@eypandabear7483 Thank you, that sounds good to me, nice explanation. Walls are very simple, (now get ready for the most incoherent explanation) Imagine everything's a mirror, but you can only see yourself. Like if a wall reflects up to the sky, you can't see it. So corners are very easy to see, since there's always an angle that will reflect back at you Trees are kinda weird, from a distance, you can hear them fine (a bit static-y), but once you're underneath them, it's like being covered by a blanket. If there's a wall in front of me and unobstructed, just being under a tree means I won't be able to hear it. By far the weirdest echoes are from corrugated surfaces tilted away from me. I hear a chirp, like a bullet ricochet or a bird... why? The hardest to explain though is between two walls, the sound obviously lasts longer, because it bounces back and forth, but like, it *feels* stagnant, like it's doing more than just staying longer

[@Infernoraptor]

Wow! Good video idea! I had no idea about the different echolocation modes in bats. I'm glad that human echolocation was brought up. I'd be fascinated to see studies on how the brain restructures during that learning process (presumably, after FMRIs get quietter.) Also, if whales use jaw-assisted hearing rather than ear-only to exholocate, does that mean marine reptiles might have had access to that method? As a suggestion, maybe another convergence video on electro reception might make sense (pun intended).

[@CZPanthyr]

I am seriously enjoying your convergent evolotion series. Keep doing the awesome work.

[@goyoelburro]

I was taking a nap and thinking about echolocation and that it has evolved in mammals many times, but wondering about ancient reptiles, etc. *Then I wake up to find this video! I love it!*

[@LOL-zu1zr]

The algorithm is working as intended

[@LilitheAmara]

Convergent evolution is one of my favorite topics, so I am always excited when a new video in this series drops 😄

[@billyr2904]

Here we go again, another rabbit hole of evolution! Please can you make a video about times that tetrapods have lost their limbs (aka things that have evolved into snakes).

[@DeadlyPlatypus]

As someone with a lot of experience around pronghorns, not only are they related to giraffes, but they are the only horned animal whose horns "fork" AND they're the only horned animal that sheds their horns. They're crazy cool animals.

[@danieldelaney1377]

I thought they were goat relatives

[@davids82605]

This convergent evolution serie is already an awesome idea, but I would have never thought about doing something on echolocation, that is just pure delight

[@just_a_guy9688]

8:44 yin and yang bats! I love how biologists sometimes just name things this way lol.

[@il0917]

Bioluminescence, fluorescence, extreme camouflage, venom, and gliding would all be interesting convergent evolution topics with a wide diversity that id love to see covered

[@56Seeker]

There's been numerous examples of birds flying to safe environments and then losing the power of flight. Has the same happened to bats? Is there some small island mammal that could truthfully be called a flightless bat?

[@vinny184]

there are lots of instances of bats being the only mammal in a place but they have never secondarily lost the ability to fly. Bats are probably not as adaptable as birds, maybe because they feed on specific food sources.

[@hart-of-gold]

There are bats in New Zealand that can still fly but spend much of the time on the ground and their wings are adapted to keep the membrane out from under their wrists.

[@LOL-zu1zr]

It just shows how much of a trade off flying is for safety.

[@eVill420]

Birds have the ability to turn into dinosaurs, bats just become deformed mice

[@squirrel_killer-]

Bats are pretty recent on the evolutionary scale. Only around 60 million years if we're generous and deliberately overshoot to predict un discovered specimens, probably closer to 52 million however. Birds evolved flight around 150 million years ago, and losing flight in a secondary manner that has convincing evidence on short notice doesn't show up anywhere I could find until around 66 million years ago. Though another study predicts that number might be closer to 65 or 64 million years ago. Birds were losing flight while bats were figuring it out. There's also just more species of bird giving them more chances to get weird compared to bats. Losing flight in birds is also very rare. Almost all flightless birds are related in specific families, and almost all those families have certain specific traits that are found in their flying members that make the step to a surface bound lifestyle something that can be worked into due to already living a lifestyle that needs very little flight. It also took a long while to develop the earlier traits that lead to secondarily losing flight in the first place. For example penguins seemed to evolve their aquatic lifestyle before losing flight, as an example of something that leads to flightlessness. There's also an argument that certain burrow dwelling species of bird might actually be on their way to flightlessness, just as an example of the type of prerequisite required for it to happen. Bats, being so comparatively recent, just haven't had a chance to develop towards a niche far enough to lose flight, though some species seem to be on their way. It just hasn't had enough time to happen. The first step needed would be for a more terrestrial species to evolve. Something suitable for spending long amounts of time walking, which has happened, or bats who prefer to climb rather than fly. After that give it some time. It seems to be happening, just we're not there yet.

[@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana]

There should probably be an entire series on every time plants 🌱 have evolved into trees 🌳🌲. They keep on doing it, even in lineages which are usually completely non-tree like. Orchids stand out as a major exception, as they are the second largest group of angiosperms, but have no trees (though a few shrubs). Likely because of their tiny seeds and the fact they often specialise in growing outside of the soil (e.g. on other plants or on rocks). (Some orchid-like-flower trees are called Orchid Trees but they are not orchids.) It would likely take multiple episodes just to get though the colossal number of cases. Another major episode/series could be every time photosynthesis has evolved. Most of the examples would be a protist, fungi or animal evolving to gain a photosynthesising endosymbiont, such as Symsagittifera roscoffensis.

[@ricardoludwig4787]

20 hour video that needs to be remade every other year because plant philogynies are incredibly messy

[@Transblucency]

​@@ricardoludwig4787Interesting. I have a pretty major gap in my knowledge around the phylogenetics of plants and I bet I'm not the only one. I hope there will be a video at some point summing up what we currently know (at a high level) that would include information like that, as well as why we currently think this is the case...

[@arkurianstormblade4109]

I'd love to see convergent evo video on long necks! especially on the very first animals to ever adapt to that kind of body plan

[@bird2034]

Just wanted to say love your videos and deeply appreciate how you always have accurate captions!

[@louisvictor3473]

It seems to me that "echolocation" itself isn't rare or even a feature itself, but a by product of being able to hear and a behavior (a how to use that hearing, it is a brain pathway thing). If you can hear and derive some positional information from it, and if you can emit sounds that can bounce back to you from other objects, that is some form of echolocation. What is more rare is dedicated/priamry echolocation. That is, organisms focusing on and refining this behavior so that it can be a primary form of environmental navigation when used rather than complimentary to a much more dominant sense, or physically evolving body parts to allow additional forms of hearing/sound detection to further speciliazie in this behavior.

[@arthurheine5631]

some people also have managed to learn the ability of echolocation!

[@thedoruk6324]

+arthurheine5631 I heard those! There are even well documented examples of them. Like there was some person from Turkey managed to become a painter despite being blind and even able to walk around freely by using his ability to echolocate

[@LOL-zu1zr]

It’s not the same as hearing

[@WillArtie]

I LOVE these videos. So much wonderful info with a touch a humour and much passion. xxx

[@gianlucaconsiglio8335]

Awesome. More convergence please! How bout the convergence of filter feeding for the next one?

[@babsds0]

I guess it's possible that the common ancestor of all living mammals used echolocation to get around considering that mammals initially evolved as small nocturnal animals.

[@hawkbartril3016]

That was amazing you guys, please keep it up, you been putting out some interest grabbing video. Not many doing the area that you cover, very cool thanks muchly

[@riverandres2392]

OOOh I would LOVE to see an episode about all the times electroreception and electrogenesis have evolved!

[@speedy29676]

Thanks!

[@OldieBugger]

Thank you, this was very interesting.

[@jeremythomas8252]

Great to see this very well researched video reach 100k views!

[@KarthickSendurSarwaan]

Loved the video ❤ , I guess the convergent evolution of 'eyes' or any visual receptor , would be a pretty cool to make a video

[@Zilch.0]

18:45 I could be wrong, but aren't shrews and bats fairly closely related? If so, doesn't that suggest that rudimentary echolocation is an ancestral trait and that their common ancestor likely was capable of some level of echolocation?

[@tcray8599]

Several things. First, you forgot hippos. There is a theory among certain zoologists that they are able to echolocate. Second, in 2019 I went blind for a year and a half and I practiced echolocation to a limited degree. It's hard to explain, and people have asked me how I did it but the best I could describe it was that you make a sharp noise and you can just sense where the sound bounces and while it's not precise, it does allow you to maneuver in your environment and locate items such as a glass of water. Personally I think all mammals carry the potential for echolocation but since our sight organs are the prominent sense we don't tend to use it instead focusing on the sense that provides us with the best layout of our surroundings. Just thoughts is all.

[@tcray8599]

Btw, I had the cataract surgery with LASIK and now my eyesight is 20/20 and my echolocation skills have similarly degraded

[@theunholyadventurer2376]

it makes sense that possibly almost all mammals can do it to a certain degree because both bat and cetatean ear hairs are motified to a certain degree to be able to better echolocate, and since every mammal has ear hairs it could be why almost all echolocators are mammals.

[@pencilpauli9442]

Brilliantly informative video, thanks! Nature is just the best!

[@3characterhandlerequired]

19:02, that's not restricted to shrews, unless I and one. I once when I was a kid navigated thru a glass maze in amusement park using high pitch short yell to figure out if the route is dead end or not. Didn't fail me even once. So that kind of "echolocation" only requires a good hearing and capability to produce short high pitch sound. It is pretty far from actual echolocation though, but I see why it could develop multiple times individually considering how easy the most primitive form of it is to do.

[@bluestormpony]

He does say later that humans are capable of doing it too

[@MoeOuan666]

Indeed. I think it could be a argued that most if not all mammals have echolocation, If you define echolocation broadly enough (spatial navigation using sound, allowing obstacle detection without contact nor light). If you look at it like this, advanced echolocation is bound to happen for any mammal who need to move fast in places with no visibility, and it should evolve quite fast cause the base system is already in place.

[@CossackGene]

There's a horse named Endo The Blind who had both eyes surgically removed and whose owner worked really hard to assist and train him through that (many horses are unable to adapt and have to be put down in these cases). He's now surprisingly good at navigating trail obstacles and so on, even without vision. His person suspects that he can echolocate with the sound of his own hoofbeats.

[@tashi321]

i feel like a very broad one like Wings would make an interesting one. going over major groups and differences in how different wings work

[@KellyClowers]

That's a great overview, thanks!

[@johnmoore8599]

Bioluminescence is a nice example of convergent evolution. It may be broader as well.

[@christosdoesthings]

every time things have evolved into crocodiles could be a cool and easy one, as theres so many easy to find examples. Already off the top of my head i can think of spinosauroids

[@tturi2]

convergent evolution is like natures cod meta

[@StopScience]

Great video. Thank you !

[@stefanostokatlidis4861]

Humans can be trained to echolocate as well, and the precision of human echolocation is spectacular. Probably all animals that are able to perceive directional sound in higher frequencies, have a basic ability, for this. it is just that some lineages specialized on this much more. Now, if we stretch the definition of echolocation to include tapping, humans do use it quite often to identify hollow structures, bad nuts and more.

[@dafttool]

There’s a blind guy who has been teaching other blind people how to echolocate (using tongue clicks, & listening to their echo) for at least 30 years. He’s been conducting classes on it since he was a teenager. He can ride a bike, go through a maze with obstacles, identify road curbs & the size & position of vehicles in the road. I’m absolutely sure you could find videos of him on KZbin as he’s been doing it for decades. I think I first saw him in the late 80s/early 90s.

[@PomaiKajiyama]

Suggestion for next convergent evolution video: Binocular Vision!

[@jamessanchez8291]

Good work. Thank you from Albuquerque.

[@tmate88-j8y]

I'm trying to design an ai that can evolve based on its environment and I really enjoy your videos! Gives me inspiration for making creature designs that make sense and knowing more about why evolution selected certain traits is awesome insight! It helps me design a good fitness function the more I understand how traits are rewarded or discouraged. Love this channel! Thanks for sharing your content with us 🙏

[@jf4106]

Video suggestion: vermification, every time animals became worms Basically when animals became elongated to be able to squeeze through thigh spaces(some molluscs, eels and other fish, caecilians and other amphibians, etc.). You could make either a section about ophidization(reptiles becoming snakes) or make a separate video for it.

[@S-T-E-V-E]

Do you think there's a case for arguing that Giraffes and Sauropods are an example of Divergent Evolution? I saw the old Planet Earth clip of Giraffes fighting using their neck and head as a Club to batter each other into submission and it led me to wonder if Sauropods used their Neck's in the same way to compete for Mates by either clashing necks or using their head's as a Club?

[@Aleiza_49]

Convergent evolution is one of the most interesting phenomenon in evolutionary biology to me. I love these videos! For me, I wish there were still extant Ichthyosaurs... it'd be cool to see a reptilian dolphin irl 😆

[@rachelwebber3605]

Flight! Flight! Flight! My ornithology courses and just about every book on avian flight always talks about the "requirements" for flight, an inevitable lists traits that other lineages don't have - such as needing a large keel bone, the absence of teeth, or laying eggs instead of going through prolonged pregnancies. Neither bats nor pterosaurs have keel bones, bats, many pterosaurs, and some early birds all had/have teeth, and bats go through pregnancy, give birth to unusually large pups, and often carry the pup during flight despite their already large size.

[@humandrill7046]

Best co evaluation video yet

[@johnnybhoy4278]

Excellent video as usual. I like the longer format.

[@thinking_toomuch]

Great video and cool shirt!😁

[@xotekissu9938]

You really do spoil us!!

[@LiSa.N.J]

Fascinating subject. Great info. Evolution is amazing.

[@jeffcooper3434]

Thank you for pronouncing larynx correctly.

[@jessejarmon2100]

Hm, I wonder if any other reptiles besides birds might have evolved echolocation. Considering that Anurognathid pterosaurs occupied a similar niche to modern bats and probably looked similar to swifts (which as the vid discussed, several species of swift evolved echolocation), then it stands to reason that this group of pterosaurs are good candidates as possible echolocating animals.

[@gerardtrigo380]

One wonders if echo location ever evolved in other groups, for example the pterosaurs and marine reptiles.

[@idle_speculation]

AFAIK, mammals seem to be the only group to ever take hearing this far, with not just ear drums and canals, but middle ear bones and mobile pinnae as well.

[@ray1956]

Great video excellent work 😀👍🏿

[@bostonmetalclips]

Great video! I learned a lot.

[@Hudunkachud1320]

How about creatures that evolved to specialize in movement involving jumping? Grasshoppers, frogs, kangaroos etc.? Might be something there and could be interesting. Great video as always! Edit: spelling

[@cerboris521]

Hey Ben. When did fleshy ears first evolve? Love to see a video on this.

[@realfishscience7842]

I love your shirt! Where did you get it?

[@MacroLore]

I would love to know why caffeine has evolved so many times independently

[@mattheide2775]

❤ that I can hear the bats "squeak" before I can see them. At sunset when the insects are thick in the air is the best time😊

[@scvcebc]

When I was a child, I discovered that I could tell when I was swimming up to the end of a pool by making a moaning sound while I swam underwater with my eyes closed. As I approached the pool wall, the sound I could hear changed! I knew about dolphins and echolocation, but was amazed that I was able to do something similar. It works best if your head is completely submerged. Experiment with different sounds deep in your throat. Next time you are in a swimming pool, try it!

[@purecaffine5796]

Omg, I've been listening to 1-2 years old videos when you've been posting this whole time?? Where tf have I been???

[@megazillasaurus]

Every time animals evolved to give birth

[@The_PokeSaurus]

Thats a really good one!

[@Aerostarm]

Vivipory, that’s a good video idea

[@AwakeAtTheWheel]

I can’t believe that was more than 30 minutes long, it flew by! Super interesting. 🍻

[@sunnysuryani5674]

He's got such rosy red cheeks, he looks like a doll. Video is great too

[@Simon-fg8iz]

I came for heaps of interesting knowledge, as usual, but I was not ready to learn that sonic hedgehogs are real!

[@Jasonfallen71]

Fascinating. The bat v moth stuff I find quite remarkable. I wonder if hummingbirds have echolocation ability after seeing them listed next to another bird that has it.

[@pokemonviolet5418]

I've always wanted to echolocate. Bat's have always been my favorite animal and I thought if would be so cool to experience the world like they do. I've come close--when there is a drone sound, I can hear vague shapes and materials, enough to tell the difference between people in the dark. But this video has made me realize, I do actually echolocate! Like an aye aye with wood, I tap on fruit and use the sound to determine how ripe it is based on the clarity of the echo. Thanks for helping my lifelong dream come true!! 😅😅

[@rileywebb4178]

The evolution of sight could also be interesting, if I recall correctly, squids evolved sight differently...

[@aceundead4750]

It would be interesting to see all the times bipedalism has evolved.

[@Briefiology]

It seems that we humans are much more inspired by what animals do. They really are an example for us and will continue to be so.🤩

[@oldcowbb]

maybe the visual cortex is more like spatial cortex, it just happens that we process spatial perception using visual information

[@GamingIs4life]

i currently cant afford anything to watch planet earth 3 but this gets close to scratching that special part of my brain. thank you for all your research

[@redneckchemistry]

There might not be enough examples for this, but I'd be cool to see how many times blood evolved

[@idle_speculation]

Could you make a video on synapsids(more accurately theriodonts) developing into semi-aquatic otter/beaver-ish things? It’s happened over and over even going back to therocephalians like Procynosuchus!

[@zacharyboardwell7265]

flight and extended gliding would be an interesting convergent evolution to discuss, snakes would also be an interesting one if you count things like stoats and such with elongated bodies and reduced limbs for burrow hunting

[@napalmholocaust9093]

You should do compound eyes. They came and went and reappeared a few times. Giant tortoises were more common with 16 species in Victorian times, now.. 4? They might be all related. My aquarium fish (Congo rope fish) has legit snake scales by the look or it, scales, horns and otsteoderms would fill some time.. what about folding wings or gastralia. Venom still has curious beginnings in dinos, is that settled, convergent or some long dormant genes of a common ancestor? Any recent finds pushing venom grooves back again? Kinda unrelated is scorpion venom, they are tetraploidal (if that is 2 complete sets in every cell), that stuff is over 400 different peptides and aminoacids and whatever else compared to 100 or even 20 in snakes. What about nails? It is kinda odd if you think about it, that we didn't end-up with claws like 99% of every other critter to roam the earth. If a new edition of "Analysis of Vertebrate Structure" by Hildebrand exists, it might give you some comparisons to expand on also. My ed. is late 80's or 90's. Still good, but undoubtedly out of date in some places.

[@tramenari]

Please do an "Every time things have evolved silk" episode

[@Seisry2]

silk probably evolved only once since it is a very specific protein

[@grahamjones8126]

A great programme!

[@jameshose5043]

thank you one of the best ever

[@Foxiepawstotti]

The artwork for the stem odonticetes (spelling?) is hilarious, big smiley, toothy dolphin types chasing a turtle that looks terror stricken lol!

[@sab1751]

Great vid guys.

[@anthonys3892]

How could you not get excited about convergent evolution? Maybe I’m just a nerd

[@dforrest4503]

Great video!

[@richardmuir3536]

Ben i have thought for years that the bird called a Nightjar could be using echo location as it makes a very unique sound,I would love to know if it is using echo location please. thanks 👍

[@alanrogers7090]

Hi Ben, do you know how many animals there are that have only two toes? Or how many have only one?

[@irlshrek]

Damn that arms race between bats and moths is insane

[@JohnDrummondPhoto]

It's been done on other channels, but I'd like to see your spin on the whole "everything wants to be a crab" thing. You know, like how hermit crabs, king crabs, coconut crabs, etc. aren't really crabs, and why such a body plan co-evolved between crabs and anomura (false crabs).

[@fabiosplendido9536]

Yeah I'd like his take on that one too. Lots of things end up looking like crabs,....and lots of things end up looking like worms.

[@idle_speculation]

Memes aside, the crab body shape has only evolved a few times, in groups so closely related they were probably halfway there already

[@dannybrown5744]

Great subject, love to h e a r more of convergence evolution.

[@eschwarz1003]

would love to know more about cetaceans brain and neurological structures that evolved corresponding to the echolocation (to process that info) not sure how one would even study the evo of that

[@peterheneghan1227]

Has ecolacation happened in any animal groups besides mammals. We have bats that ecolacate in the the environment of air and whales/ dolphins that ecolacate in the environment of water/fluid but is there any evolutionary proof that reptiles, archosaurs, insects ( probably) or any other groups had this amazing ability?

[@WAMTAT]

Currently no evidence of it

[@idle_speculation]

Oilbirds, I believe

[@koko4011]

amazing! saber'cat' convergention is very interesting

[@dionettaeon]

It wouldn't surprise me if at least some ichthyosaurs were also capable of some form of echolocation, considering they filled a cetacean-like niche.