Every Time Things Have Evolved Into Crocodiles

Convergent evolution has resulted in all sorts of creatures that look very similar to one another. One of the most interesting examples is the case of the repeatedly evolving crocodiles, with various animals that lived millions of years apart all evolving this body plan.
Thumbnail art by Literally Miguel
Become a Member: / @bengthomas
Join our Discord server: / discord
Follow us on Instagram: bit.ly/1PIEagv
Follow us on TikTok: / bengthomas
Music by Geographer
Subscribe to explore the wonderful life around you!
Social Media:
►Instagram: bit.ly/1PIEagv
►TikTok: / bengthomas
►Twitter: / bengthomas42
►Subreddit: / bengthomas
Sources:
docs.google.com/document/d/1o...
0:00 - Introduction
2:03 - Crocodilian Evolution
11:35 - Amphibians (Temnospondyls)
18:38 - Embolomeres
20:21 - Phytosaurs
24:34 - Choristodera
30:57 - Whales (Ambulocetus)
33:41 - Spinosaurs
36:56 - Conclusion

[@kingofflames738]

The holy trinity of evolution goals: Crab, Whale and Crocodile

[@altithoraxperotorum5133]

Don't forget turtle

[@tandmark]

​@@altithoraxperotorum5133 And mole

[@ExtremeMadnessX]

What about worms?

[@chadgorosaurus4898]

And echolocation

[@idle_speculation]

Crab isn’t really a thing outside of crustaceans, and all the different crab groups are so closely related that their common ancestor was probably halfway there to begin with.

[@juncohill]

Every time things have evolved into big cats. There are so many mammalian apex predators that have fallen into a similar body plan.

[@__-be1gk]

I mean that's just the default body plan of every carnivoran

[@bkjeong4302]

To be honest some of them aren’t catlike as they relied entirely on their jaws to kill stuff (mesonychians, big hyaenodonts, etc)

[@ashenfox7615]

And also synapsids and sebecosuchians.

[@Infernoraptor]

Ooh! Good one. Thylacosmilus, thylacoleo, and, arguably, fossa and maybe gorgonopsians.

[@Infernoraptor]

​@@__-be1gkyou have a point, but there are still a few cases of objectively cat-like cats. Thylacosmilus from the sparassodont marsupials and Thylacoleo from the wombat family are great examples. I think a good generalization of what OP might mean is either 1)an Apex predator mammal that used strong forelimbs to hold prey still before delivering a single killing bite to the throat, spine, or skull. (Not sure if either of my examples fit, tbh) 2) a large mammallian predator that had a relatively short snout but had stabbing teeth rather than slicing or crushing

[@alexchapman3995]

I’d like to put forward “Every time creatures have evolved into snakes”. It hasn’t happened a ton but it’s very weird that creatures have evolved to lose all of their limbs more than once.

[@Ozraptor4]

It has happened a ton = Caecilians, aistopods, Lysorophia, adelospondyls, sirens, amphisbaenians, anguines, cordylids, pygopods, dibamids, anniellids, Ophiodes, gymnophthalmids, Scincidae (leglessness independently evolved in at least 11 skink genera) and actual snakes. You could even include certain fish like Morays and rice eels which regularly make short forays onto land.

[@alexchapman3995]

@@Ozraptor4I didn’t realize the extent of convergent snake makery

[@albytross8681]

Snakes technically were one of the last occurrences of leglessness lol, pretty interesting

[@melissaharris3389]

Limblessness _is_ a weird trait to keep evolving.

[@nhatho1723]

@@melissaharris3389exactly what a limbed organism would say

[@4124V4TA-SNPCA-x]

Every time a plant evolved to trees. Trees are the super-crabs of plants. If i remember correctly, first tree like plants are from early carboniferous, super old body plan! And so many noon-trees are confused with trees...

[@Ozraptor4]

“Trees” go back to at least the Middle Devonian with Wattiezia.

[@b.a.erlebacher1139]

Tree format must have arisen independently over and over just in the angiosperms. There were also those strange extremely tall Palaeozoic columnar things that were fungi, although I've wondered whether they were some kind of lichen-like symbiosis with algae.

[@4124V4TA-SNPCA-x]

@@b.a.erlebacher1139 I'm the same. I opt for lichen like symbiosis. I hope we will find out for sure one day (in our lifetime). And that's the earliest 'tree type life' AFAIK.

[@mercuryatamolos3687]

The first “trees” weren’t even plants. They were fungi

[@4124V4TA-SNPCA-x]

@@mercuryatamolos3687 kind of my point. Show me a fungus, lichen or plant crab! There are none. Trees >>> Crabs

[@Redneckkratos]

First Crabs, then turtles, now everything is evolving into CROCS?!?!?

[@joluoto]

and moles. Everything evolves into moles in the end.

[@a.r.h9919]

You also got crocs that evolve into mammals

[@Drone_Actual]

😂😂😂

[@Drone_Actual]

😂 🐊🐊🐊

[@FrikInCasualMode]

If it works, it works.

[@The_Story_Of_Us]

Crocodyles probably have the most confusing taxonomy of all groups. We basically saw Crocodiles today and were like "okay these are crocodiles. Alligators, Caimans and Gharials? Not crocodiles, but they're all Crocodilians. What's this skeleton here? Sarcosuchus? Looks like a crocodilian, but nah it's not a crocodilian, but it is a Crocodylomorph, it looks like a crocodilian but it's not, but we're gonna say it's crocodile-like and just name that the wider group. What's this guy with a funny snout, Proterosuchus? Looks like a croc a bit, but the snout is weird, shall we call it a crocodylomorph? Nah... this is something else, you're just an archosaur... What are all these other animals that look like crocs but have long legs? Y'all are pseudo-crocs...." You get the idea. There are literally crocs, kinda crocs, croc-likes, proto-crocs, fake crocs etc... All of them described in relationship to how much they look like proper modern day Croc crocs, which are only crocs if they look a really specific way.

[@barrygomberg2524]

Great analogy !

[@calebsmith2362]

Hate to nitpick here but Proterosuchus isn't an archosaur. Your analogy hits the mark none the less.

[@fermintenava5911]

Basically, every time a group had diversified and reached the old semi-aquatic prototype, there was an extinction event and only THAT group remained, to diversify again... Take it like a very classic car-line! ;)

[@The_Story_Of_Us]

@@calebsmith2362 ah yes I see my error. They're not Archosaurs, but rather "Archosauromorphs", so basically "Archosaur look-a-likes"... Damn, I cut my little rant short of that one...

[@Ozraptor4]

Imagine how confusing the term "bird" would be if some non-avian paravians survived to the present day.

[@samwill7259]

Time for the ultimate chimera Whale-Croc-Crab. The victory of natural selection

[@platedlizard]

That's just a big sea turtle

[@pengen_gantinama]

how about worms?

[@thhseeking]

There's also the Crocoduck 😛

[@TekkamanBiker]

That sounds like a good idea for a kaiju.

[@fedmcglowie7240]

"I am not a croc" - Richardosaurus Nixoni

[@cristhianmlr]

*nixoni, no caps

[@swalihmm]

​@@cristhianmlr no 🧢

[@cristhianmlr]

@@swalihmm clever girl

[@swalihmm]

@@cristhianmlr thank you mi'lady.

[@cristhianmlr]

@@swalihmm *m'entity

[@chir0pter]

This is great, but I think what’s left out of these discussions is the concepts of phylogenetic inertia and pre adaptation. Like the various stem-turtles evolved into turtle-like things because they already had the non-undulatory oar-like locomotion/swimming bauplan, so adding a shell just fit. Not to mention the existence of genetic networks- dolphins re-evolved dorsal fins to look like sharks, but did you know the genetic pathway to making dorsal fins still exists in tetrapods? As fin development has been modified to produce limbs, this is why you can get cows with an extra leg growing out of their back.

[@SalivatingSteve]

Excellent point about genetic pathways. We see a lot of this in embryology. Proterostomes vs deuterostomes classifies based on whether the blastopore turns into the mouth or the anus.

[@Joss0051]

Excellent as ever, thanks for all the hard work. Warm regards Joseph

[@bioemilianosky]

Cool info dude

[@DamienMuto]

So I got to ask, what are the chances of a human being born with a primate/monkey like tail? Just using it as a visual like how the saiyans from dragon Ball Z have? With how close we are with other primates, and still having a tailbone, it seems like only a matter of time.

[@chir0pter]

@@DamienMuto it happens, pretty rare, and it's not really functional, just requires surgery

[@DragonFae16]

Convergent evolution seems to crop up a lot in nature. A video I'd be interested in is creatures/body features that only evolved once.

[@loopbraider]

The Tully Monster. Tullimonstrum. Known from the Pennsylvanian, so pretty late in the Paleozoic, yet nobody can even figure out what the heck group it belongs in or if it was a sole surviving holdover from some unknown Cambrian Explosion basal group.

[@AngelEmfrbl]

The main reason its a thing is because there's only a limited amount of designs that "work". So when something adapts and evolves to fill that same niche, it often ends up looking the same as things filling that niche in the past. The crocodile design is good for what it does so it keeps coming up time and time again.

[@optillian4182]

Arthropods evolving into crabs: "Finally, a worthy opponent. Our battle will be legendary!"

[@crobatoverlord7378]

*gets eaten by croc*

[@help_im_trapped_in_a_square]

Croc get crushed by whales

[@vCaldow]

New rock paper scissors?​@@help_im_trapped_in_a_square

[@thoughtfuldevil6069]

So on other planets, we can expect: Streamlined aquatic organisms Flat, crablike organisms Semi-aquatic, sprawling organisms

[@ArchJ17]

Don’t forget long legless organism

[@shanerooney7288]

Large swimming organisms filter feeding. Small blunt oval organisms with proportionally large front limbs used for digging. Flora with a stiff vertical main body that terminates with energy collecting body parts that maximise surface area.

[@Godfrey544]

And humanoid forms in other civilizations. Like Star Trek

[@thoughtfuldevil6069]

@@Godfrey544 Humanoid forms happened only once. Won't be replicated anywhere.

[@Godfrey544]

@@thoughtfuldevil6069 you can say the same for civilizations.

[@tyronevalmores4668]

So that's why my slippers went missing. They just evolved into crocs

[@Snocone333]

like i knew that crocs are reptiles. and i knew that birds are basically the remaining dinosaurs but the idea that birds and crocs are both the """same family"" of reptile blew my mind. i had no idea, or at least hadnt ever digested that fact until you put it so plainly.

[@Blokewood3]

Same clade, as they have a common archosaur ancestor

[@loopbraider]

Yes that blew my mind too when I found this out. Crocodiles are closer genetically/ evolutionarily to birds than they are to snakes and lizards. So the word "reptile" is no longer a very meaningful word scientifically unless birds are included in the group.

[@benmcreynolds8581]

Question: Is there a site we can go to where we can look up all sorts of paoleoartists all in one place? Or do we have to individually look up each one independently? I love that people work on visual depictions of creatures and I hope there is a collective library of this quality work. It's a fascinating blend of science, biology, mechanical engineering and creativity

[@Crocy]

I don't know about any comprehensive libraries, but I've seen a lot of paleoart on DeviantArt

[@einindividuum5428]

I‘m commenting to hopefully see some good tips where to look for cool paleo art.

[@Huginn9129]

⁠@@einindividuum5428look up joschua knüppe

[@gattycroc8073]

man, I love crocs and croc-like animals. as you said creatures the Choristoderans are truly remarkable, and I hope they get more attention than they already get.

[@johnwalters1341]

One important group of invertebrates that has been neglected in treatments of this sort is the brachiopods, which show convergence with bivalve molluscs. They were one of the commonest groups of marine fauna in the Paleozoic, alongside the trilobites. But whereas the trilobites get a lot of attention, the brachiopods hardly get a mention, even though they have continued in reduced numbers up to the present day. They superficially resemble clams, but a clam has a left and a right shell, while brachiopods have a top and a bottom shell. The internal organs are completely different, too. Take a look and see if you find them as interesting as I do.

[@thedarkmasterthedarkmaster]

There were also the Rostroconchs

[@mathdesm9306]

Guy swimming: *GASP* A crocodile Creature: Don't worry, I'm a temnyspondil. **CHOMP**

[@luukzilla1519]

Here is a random off topic question, would Koolasuchus be able to survive in the Amazon rain forest?

[@samwill7259]

Large amphibians don't generally do well in this current environment. Anything it would be trying to do it would have to compete with Caimans for the niche and I don't think that's a battle its winning

[@luukzilla1519]

@@samwill7259 True

[@idle_speculation]

The climate of the Amazon is really different to the cool temperate habitats it originally lived in, so perhaps not. They might fare better in, say, the Yellow River.

[@nonsequitor]

If you dropped a few into a logging camp at night, probably pretty well 🤷‍♂️

[@rileyernst9086]

New Zealand or Southern Australia on the other hand...

[@isaiahgarza87]

One suggestion I have for a future video is the evolution of rhino/rhino-like body plans.

[@lb540]

That would be a very short video. The rhino bodyplan is pretty much just an upscaled version of the ancestral Perissodactyl body plan with maybe an added horn or two. So brontotheres, rhinos and Elasmotherines all inherited this bodyplan from a common ancestor and didn't evolve it independently. Embrithopods, Dinoceratans Toxodonts and Hippos may seem rhino like at first glance but functioned completely differently both anatomically and ecologically. And a definition of rhino-like that could include them, would also include basal elephants, larger bovines, diprotodontids, Ceratopsians, Pareiasaurs and some Oreodonts.

[@takenname8053]

It could be simplified into animals with forward facing horns on their head

[@lucasserafim4152]

Rhino/hippo like body shapes have appeared many times! Good idea

[@JNJ1983]

That's Battle Unicorn, to you, sir!

[@bensantos3882]

Brontotheriums are actually closer to horses or eques than Rhinos. Rhinos and Tapirs are actually closer in relation than horses and Rhinos. If I'm not mistaken Calicotheres are closer to horses too. Very interesting group. Let's not even get started with the whole Meridiungulatas which have all the Notougulatas. I think they're persidactyls too.

[@vikrantpulipati1451]

The Gharial at 11:17 had me dead 😂

[@DarkDiamond-jx2gx]

Glad I wasn't the only one to laugh at such a strange and goofy looking little guy 😂

[@stevewilson4718]

They can grow *upto* 20ft (2nd largest *crocodilian* after Saltwater Crocodile) & can easily drag a person under water.

[@Hundredyacrewoods]

Every time Eyes (definition: a sense organ using parts of the electromagnetic spectrum) have evolved would be a good one. I know ancestral snakes lost their eyes and then re-evolved them as just one example. It is honestly surprising how many time eyes have evolved. Also multicellularity, trunks, "going back to the water" (times groups having evolved to live on land have members evolve to live it water again) and flight (powered and gliding). One that would really interest me is the thumb (an opposable digit) and hands in general. Excellent video. Thank you.

[@melissaharris3389]

Blood would be a good one. Its evolution separately at least 3 times.

[@laurachapple6795]

Eyes! Eyes have evolved independently so many times!

[@donovantownshend8783]

The proboscises idea sounds fun Also, 8:40

[@aIex602h]

The sussysuchids

[@extraordinarytv5451]

Some people obsess over carcinization. I'm more of a suchization guy myself tbh.

[@lucasserafim4152]

Your idea for a video about evolution of trunks is pretty neat! Here I present some ideas for another videos like that: 1- Everytime things evolved into "theropods". We know that some pseudosuchians have presented bipedal predator bodyplans, also herrerasaurids and cariamas and secretary birds (those even redeveloped the claw in the foot). 2- Everytime things evolved into "fishes". It's well known that ichthyosaurs and cetaceans have convergently achieved a fish-like body plan. But some invertebrates (sea-slugs and cephalochordates) have done it so. 3- Everytime things evolved into "anteaters". Here we have anteaters, aardwolves, aardvarks, pangolins, that marsupial thing in Australia, that silly dinosaur with just one claw in it's hand... 4- Everytime things evolved gliding. This one would be a mess...

[@Masklord303]

''that marsupial thing in Australia'' is called a numbat ''that silly dinosaur with just one claw in its hand'' is called Mononykus (and other members of their family, the Alvarezsauridae)

[@lucasserafim4152]

@@Masklord303 Thanks! I just couldn't find their names in my head! 😂

[@owenconroy1262]

Man if there’s one modern lineage I wish had their prehistoric diversity it would have to be Crocodilians. Such an unbelievably diverse and interesting set of reptiles. Great video!!

[@chrisdonish]

I wish all of archosauria still had their diversity. Damn that meteor.

[@idle_speculation]

Semi aquatic otter-beaver shaped synapsids would be interesting to look at. There are therocephalians like Procynosuchus, not to mention many different mammaliaforms and other mammal-adjacents, and afrotheres, hyaenodonts, carnivorans, ungulates, and many others just in crown mammals.

[@patreekotime4578]

I like that this video is also "Every Time a Crocodyliform Evolved into Something Other Than a Crocodile." Its really interesting how diverse these animals were!

[@adrianamunguia3438]

Yesss, another video about convergent evolution I absolutely love this videos, AND it’s a long one, AND about my favourite reptiles; now I have the perfect video to watch while I eat, haha. Thank you! ❤

[@thedarkmasterthedarkmaster]

I think you missed the Chronosuchia which are another clade of Reptilomorphs that converged on crocodillians

[@annamariadileva6247]

Also the proterochampsids, some diadectomorphs such as Limnoscelis, some stem-tetrapods and some other temnospondyls

[@legendre007]

I especially love those amphibians like the Mastodonsaurus you mentioned, with tusks on their lower jaws and weird holes in their upper jaws near the nostrils. I love how when they closed their mouths, the tops of their tusks poked out the tops of those holes. 🥰

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

I love cases of convergent evolution, they are so fascinating! Please do more!

[@johndoh5182]

So, another title for this could be "Every time something evolved to be like a fish and regretted it"

[@bluedragon219123]

Now do when everything evolved into "Not a Dinosaur"(it was especially common in the Triassic)! And don't forget there's Mammals that have too(Pangolins) and likely others too. Still Great Job on The Video! :)

[@zhadez10]

This series is awesome, looking forward to the next part

[@RRandomnessm]

“U-THICK-A-DON” 😂

[@spiderplant]

Sussysuchids

[@RedScarGaming]

You are doing a fine job of this series and I am certainly enjoying it. There is such a range of things you can do regarding convergent evolution. Flying is a convergent aspect that I for one am particularly interested in.

[@xk445g]

Crocodile drinking game. Take a drink every time the word Suchia is said.

[@colinrountree4325]

Fascinatingly informative and well presented 👍👍

[@sandrakiefler4649]

Another awesome installment guys! Love these longer videos!!😉👍

[@sandrakiefler4649]

Oh, and I almost forgot…… That shirt tho😅👌

[@yepits2675]

great informative video!!! also that shirt is cool

[@bowiedoctor9156]

Fascinating - there's a few here I've never heard of before. Thank you.

[@nipunchandrawansa9014]

Thanks for taking the effort....love the video

[@davidvasquez08]

17:00 Florida man: This will never stop me from getting into the water

[@ShadySheev]

Very nice video. Good job!

[@martinfoss3788]

Awesome vid, i’m subbed👍

[@lv7952]

Amazing video, thank you!

[@yahwea]

Very nice, please continue this series. These are very interesting so Cheers to you, Los Angeles

[@belakovdoj]

Wow! Such a great video!

[@NotesFromTheVoid]

Triassic animals just would not stop evolving into crocs would they. anyway this is an official temnospondyl appreciation post.

[@doogaming6635]

I’m really glad this video exists for personal reasons, as I’m currently working on a crocodilian paper that I hope to one day publish. I say this because, along with the observation of convergent evolution between river dolphins and crocodilians, both in terms of the elongated snout and homodont dentition, by complete coincidence, I ended up stumbling upon both a heterodont crocodilian and odontocete (toothed whale) that were contemporaries and lived in the same formation, meaning there could’ve been an overlap in available prey. These are the crocodilian Thecachampsa sericodon (the genus of which is the focus of this paper), and odontocete genus Squalodon. The latter genus is significant in that it is either a Platanistoid, the same superfamily as the south Asian river dolphins, or is at least closely related to Platanistoids. I just find it pretty funny that a ‘river dolphin’ and a crocodilian both evolved a different diet compared to other members of their respective clades, yet still ended up competing with each other. Honestly, a video about the convergent evolution with Odontocetes alone would be very interesting, as the taxonomic relation of many extinct genera remains divisive.

[@WebFanNY]

Love the shirt this week! It goes great with the podcasts on maritime animals and their environment. Hint: Expand your store and design shirts, with printed family trees, the eras in grunge Flintstones' fonts or convergent species and school bags related to the content. Then merch them within the presentation, especially on children's sizes. Re video, you and the team produce better content than absolutely anything on mass produced for TV that are 75% fluff stories and TV personality fillers.

[@Zappygunshot]

When it comes to skull morphology, you could argue that the gharial head shape has seen convergent evolution in the ichthyosauria, and at a stretch also swordfish, sawsharks and certain wading & diving birds like the kingfishers, cormorants and herons. The long, thin mouth simply lends itself very well to hunting fish.

[@adrianokury]

Thoroughly researched, good pace, well articulated speech, copious iconography, clear credits to the illustrations... A fine production.

[@petersmythe6462]

Everything evolving into crocs, crabs, and snakes:

[@DJ3mNot]

I love these kinds of videos!!!!!🔥

[@purplehaze2358]

"And yes, that means that birds are, indeed, a lineage of reptiles, just as they're a lineage of dinosaurs." And just as they're a lineage of fish, too.

[@blackwolf6707]

very in-depth and interesting kept my attention for 37 minutes which is not easy now days

[@idio-syncrasy]

Love your knowledge and love your shirt 👕

[@sirduckoufthenorth]

Been waiting for the "croc niche" vid for a while, now it's here!

[@johninnh4880]

This and "Clint's Reptiles" is a good example of convergence. I watch both.

[@johngavin1175]

I watch Clint too. I like his knowledge and enthusiasm.

[@johninnh4880]

@@johngavin1175 Clint is not only very smart but a hoot to watch.

[@thepaintingbanjo8894]

Crabs and "crabs" - *FINALLY. A WORTHY OPPONENT. OUR BATTLE WILL BE LEGENDARY.*

[@tyranitararmaldo]

8:41 That group seems a bit...sus... On a more serious note, another interesting one would be "Every time things have evolved into macro-theropods". The earlier mentioned Popsaurids and Planocraniids, and multiple species of Phorusrhacids for instance all seem to have ended up with this similar body-plan.

[@kuzimart2622]

i'd love to see Every Time Things Have Evolved Into Rhinos, as well. its strange how often mammals have evolved heavily built, low browsing/grasing herbivorous forms with (or without) nasal horns or similar features: rhinos, titanotheres, uintatheres, arsinoiitheres, some toxodonts etc. plus you can expand that to include ceratopsians and some wierd dinocephlaians like struthiocephalus

[@quickestscoped7603]

finally you talked about Temnospondyls! (especially the trematosaurs; those are so cool and unique!)

[@irlshrek]

So cool. It's like convergent evolution is driven by convergent behavior

[@King_Of_Midgard]

You should do a video about the repeated evolution of thumbs considering how important our thumbs are to our ability for tool use. Could include interesting spec-evolution for the other thumb-havers towards higher intellect and tool use.

[@tutubism]

Having seen crocodiles feeding & hunting in wildlife documentaries so many times & featured in alot of _"creature feature"_ films i used to watch on TV since i was little. They have always been my favorite group of living reptiles (apart from birds & squamates). Just the sheer diversity & resilience of this group of having to survive multiple mass extinction events is also truly an outstanding & remarkable feat!

[@user-gd3xy2vl1s]

"There are always crocodiles" Terry Pratchett The Long Earth series

[@lolglolblol]

mustelification is pretty obscure

[@robwalsh9843]

Great video, but there were two other groups that weren't mentioned. The Proterochampsia were archosauromorphs who also converged on the crocodile body plan including armor, but they may have been more terrestrial than aquatic. The other were the Proterosuchidae with their hooked jaws which appeared at the end of Walking With Monsters.

[@thomasmarais5008]

Do the evolution of hands next!

[@speedy29676]

Thanks!

[@tissue462]

Oh awesome, I love convergence on crocodylian affinities, I also love convergent piscivory, as seen in the skull morphology of Unenlagiinelid and Spinosaurid theropods ❤❤

[@BarbarosaAlexander]

Convergent evolution is my favorite aspect of the whole science. Returning to water is my favorite of those. But, I'm very fascinated by the various suchids. Would love even more.

[@NamiTheNeko]

Yay! Amazon River Dolphins are 1 of my 4 favorite animals. I'm glad they were mentioned! X3

[@chir0pter]

Another good topic would be all the times mammals have evolved to be otters- the ancestors of seals looked like otters (and for some reason the otter-like forms didn't persist), some related stem-pinnipeds looked like otters (also didn't persist), and of course otters themselves; then there are the Mesozoic docodonts; and maybe the water opossum? It's kind of odd that the whales never looked very otter-like- again an interesting entree into phylogenetic constraint in creating 'convergent' evolution!

[@kennethgreene7139]

Wonderful job .

[@MisfortunateJustice]

Very detailed exploration of the taxon. 🤙

[@therealzilch]

Well done as usual. It might be also be emphasised that convergent evolution exists at many levels of genetic difference. A close one that comes to mind is ducks and grebes. Both birds, but not especially close within _Aves,_ who evolved a very similar aquatic lifestyle, but with rather different paddling feet. Keep up the good work. Cheers from sunny Vienna, Scott

[@aottadelsei980]

Flightless seafaring birds Great Auk Hesperornithes Plotopteridae Sphenisciformes

[@alecsmith3448]

There will be a feture length worm week special for this series, right?

[@bluedragon219123]

Also Saberteeth would be cool as well as it's fairly common in the past but not in the present. :)

[@d.darling.honeyboy]

this video just made me remember probably my favorite reptile family; erythrosuchidae. They are just lovely croc-shaped reptiles with heads largely disproportionate to their body hhh. Really a delight to look at. I have such a hard time finding information on them and i would love to have them talked about in a video some day!

[@loopbraider]

Maybe they are too adorable-looking to qualify as croc-mimics!

[@spicemelange42]

Please do the Phylliroe, one of the most amazing examples of convergent evolution and there isn't a lot of info about it out there. Keep up the good work 👍

[@loopbraider]

Convergent with what? Do you mean all the various animals that have separately evolved to be transparent/ translucent?

[@sciencenerd7639]

this is a great video

[@JPOG7TV]

Kind of debating whether Spinosaurus counts or not...

[@georgegavin9512]

Would love to see one on spikes! Hedgehogs, porcupines, etc.

[@leaf742]

Convergent evolution towards ground sloths: chalicotheres, gorillas, gigantopithecus, pandas, therizinosaurs, giant sloth lemur, more?

[@acey457]

don't forget sloth Man

[@adam_b2810]

Was waiting for the spinosaurus controversy 😂

[@overminding]

Convergent evolution: if it works, it works, and things are gonna evolve to look like stuff that existed before

[@admiralcat3809]

I like how the age of Crocodile ancestors is almost all crocs except the actual croc niche is filled by something that isn't a croc at all.

[@MrBytorr]

I've always thought that Crocodylomorph and Proboscidean evolution mirrored each other in the fact that the fossils are so different seeming, and yet the extant forms are more basic.

[@Ciech_mate]

Fantastic video, thank you btw I miss your long hair.

[@Heeroneko]

Wait wait wait wait......the Susisuchids? XD lmfao Brilliant.

[@IWouldLikeToRemainAnonymous]

Do 'everytime an animal evolved a beak or bill'! Always wondered about this!

[@JNJ1983]

Convergent Evolution is the OG of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

[@organicdinosaur5259]

I like how you included the 2016 paper on Ambulocetus. I remember some guy getting angry on your cetacean video about it 😂😂😂

[@JohnTravis1965]

Would be interesting to get one on the evolution of all the highly varied, unrelated marsupials.