Convergent Evolution

[@dracodracarys2339]

the really fucked up thing is that parrots and squids both have similar beaks despite being as unrelated and different as animals can get

[@incongruousinquiry]

crunch! crack! gotta break shells somehow

[@S.huddo-db3ew]

They must share similarities in what they eat

[@Iden_in_the_Rain]

Nuts and shells are kind of similar in toughness I guess

[@laidbacklifestyle389]

The way you described the evolution of air force machinery to convergent evolution was poetry.

[@AgiHammerthief]

unfortunately a perfect opportunity for the „Intelligent Design Squad“ to quote mine it.

[@shelbyseelbach9568]

Yes, it was. It just wasn't accurate. The allies did not develop the interrupter gear independently. They copied it from captured units from shot down German planes. It was poetry maybe, but for sure it was incorrect information.

[@lahavmorris9919]

Its misleading

[@shelbyseelbach9568]

@@lahavmorris9919 it's not misleading, it's just plain wrong.

[@Tethloach1]

Imagine humanoid fish, humanoid reptiles, humanoid birds, and humanoid robots, humanoid bugs, humanoid plants, humanoid plasma, humanoid minerals. All converging on the humanoid form.

[@connorhalleck2895]

This is a good defense of low budget sci fi

[@lennarthumpf8031]

Same thought

[@ChadDidNothingWrong]

Is that why all monsters go "RAWR"?

[@atomicwinter31]

Low budget sci-fi but all the "alien" animals are just completely normal animals.

[@giovonnielewis4329]

All aliens look like weird painted humans like in Star Wars or star trek

[@mr.aldave8308]

yeah, but this occurs when they develope in the same environment. So in other planets it will probably be pretty different

[@Refmoral]

Oh man, a human-lemure lineage would've been pretty cool

[@espvp]

We would always been moving it moving it

[@LordKvasir]

Well, some chimpazee population are on their way to reach Stone Age

[@LeggoMyGekko]

Real life anime characters

[@mjm3091]

Well the race wars would be even worse, with actual races involved and not the imaginery, socially constructed, mostly based on skin colour, ones.

[@Refmoral]

@@mjm3091 .....sure, but it's still cooler that we have different ethnicities rather than just one though, right? But yeah, there's a downside to everything in life....

[@Yam-Yam45]

Convergent evolution is truly interesting. I like your videos a lot. Keep up the great content

[@nickkorkodylas5005]

Not that interesting. It's pretty much common sense.

[@salty1564]

Nick Korkodylas wow late ass reply, but anyway even if it’s common sense it’s still interesting.

[@Yam-Yam45]

@@salty1564 Agreed

[@salty1564]

Savage Deviljho lol I’m just confused on why he recorded to reply on a 1 year old comment

[@Yam-Yam45]

@@salty1564 *shrug* No idea

[@EarthChampion_TophBeifong]

came for octopus, there was no octopus

[@magigallo1291]

Truly a saddening event, at least there were amphibians

[@AVJHalonen]

But! but... erhm... no. There truly is no excuse.

[@shelbyseelbach9568]

My first wife used to accuse me of coming for no reason too.

[@WalrusWinking]

Because Octopus are aliens.

[@gobzanuff5078]

So you can't find them? Thats why dont try to look with your feet...

[@tv-pp]

Aliens would also likely have some level convergence as well. If there's liquid, there'll be shark bodies. If there's an atmosphere there'll be wings. Etc

[@WaveForceful]

Of course and if they are intelligent like us, I can bet their machines would look similar and be made out of similar materials. For the most part our machines are designed around practicality built as cheaply but as effectively as possible, kinda like evolution huh. Life forms adapt and evolve to create the most efficient body for their environment so they can expend the least amount of energy surviving. Those that fail or dont do this, die and go extinct. "The wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die".

[@patstaysuckafreeboss8006]

Even different gravity and atmosphere would drastically alter an alien planets evolution compared to earth, also unknown natural disasters

[@patstaysuckafreeboss8006]

@The main cause of warps in all of reality That was pretty rude

[@tv-pp]

@The main cause of warps in all of reality don't delete it. The apology shows you weren't acting maliciously, so you don't need to hide such a small mistake. Them being similar just shows you agree with each other, and not everything you say has to be totally different than anything else. What I recommend is that you have a discussion about it to share points and ideas you haven't said and constructively shape the others views on the matter.

[@tv-pp]

@@patstaysuckafreeboss8006 if your worried about him sapping likes from your comment, which you might not be, they're just Internet points. A good comment is one that shares new ideas, not just one with the most likes. I've left really dumb comments that got way more likes than they deserve, but I'm more proud of the ones that make people think.

[@nicks1451]

5:57 this is why I believe life on other planets will be shockingly like ours. When we look for life outside Earth we look for the same conditions. Similar conditions mean similar environmental pressures. Evolution convergent with our planet could easily exist somewhere out there.

[@itzakhywell7668]

Indeed, however these body plans are optimised in relation to the environment, and it is the combination of various selection pressures across time that shapes the species. Provided the physical and natural environments on other planets resemble that of earth, we would expect to see many analogies across the two groups.

[@MrRocksW]

Agree but theres so much diversity on earth it still going to look strange regardless

[@mobzillalongtail]

Plus the creatures on earth all came from the same beginnings, while Alien life would come from a completely different genetic code than ours

[@mobzillalongtail]

Max Maks no I do...but I was just saying that you have to take into genetic coding as well...

[@markkrebs7474]

@@trr7fd I'd argue that because all life on earth came from the same ancestors. For example here on earth four limbs for locomotion are favourable but what if due to the gravity being different, six limbs would be more viable on the other planet That would mean very different bodyplans and that's just one example Also the evolution of DNA was a highly random event and I believe it's more likely to evolve a different solution for the purpose of storing data

[@CSLucasEpic]

Australian Koalas also look similar to tree dwelling apes. Even managed to evolve a prehensile hand without having opposable thumbs.

[@carlosandleon]

but far more stupid

[@CSLucasEpic]

@@carlosandleon Never said they weren't. Also, Chameleons have prehensile hands without having opposable thumbs.

[@sohopedeco]

Koalas are more similar to sloths than to apes, IMHO

[@carlosandleon]

@@sohopedeco sloths are pretty much just like lazy apes anyway

[@nickkorkodylas5005]

They are also analogous to pandas in being cute vegan evolutionary failures.

[@kevinreinhardt1]

I love that point at the end because it theoretically applies to life everywhere in the universe, who says we may meet something not too different from us

[@magnarcreed3801]

Only if the had nearly identical planets and every natural disaster happened the same way and at the same time.

[@cyberlord64]

Teacher: Did you plagiarize your homework again? Me: Allow me to explain. The reason why a shark, a dolphin and ichthyosaurus seem to have similar traits is...

[@thefran901]

They are all vertebrates. Because arhtropodes don't seem to converge into that body shape even when they are adapted to marine life. That's something people need to remember, the fish like body shape is favored by evolution (when an species gets adapted for aquatic life) but with the precondition that you have to be a vertebrate, otherwise, that body shape doesn't get favored.

[@hil449]

@@thefran901 its cuz its the most hydrodynamic a vertebrate can get. Invertebrates can get much more hydrodynamic than that

[@HarrDarr]

@@hil449 So far

[@sploofmcsterra4786]

Worth pointing out it isnt true that species will always converge on the optimum design, but they will converge to "local peaks" in fitness. I.e. They won't make huge jumps in evolution, so are restricted to an evolutionary path that continuously improves them. There might be two beneficial traits at one point in an evolutionary path, but one will lead to a much better final form for the evolution, while the other will get stuck, since it wont go back and deevolve its somewhat beneficial, yet inferior, adaptation.

[@nao_chan_]

final form, de-evolve... these are concepts that don't exist. that's just anime nonsense. you may as well talk about some animals going super saiyan and combining to form bigger robots.

[@bitffald]

@@nao_chan_ hahahaha, awesome

[@julianadams3710]

Nate Robertson It’s not scientists fault you associate words like “Devolve” and “final form” with things like anime, no one needs to change the terminology you need to grow up

[@nao_chan_]

@@julianadams3710 Scientists don't use those terms

[@gusty7153]

@@nao_chan_ who cares. unless you yourself care to share with the rest of us what the correct terms are that scientists do use for what op is trying to talk about, you best stop your trolling. devolve is the closest thing that we have to describing what op is trying to talk about. and what they're trying to say is that evolution is a one way path and cant be backtracked. you cant make a mammal or reptile evolve into actual amphibians or fish, but they can at least evolve into something that looks like fish and amphibians.

[@trevormynatt3466]

I agree with you bro, evolution is probably the most spectacular feature of earth, and some people are so dumb they don’t even believe it. You rock dude and I love ALL of your content

[@HuUtErV8]

I have now seen all of your video, best channel of youtube so far. It's not even shitty quality at first, great for the start.

[@ScionStorm1]

Crocodile to that Elephant: "I got your nose!"

[@snaptrap5558]

When the teacher thinks you and your friend are cheating off each other but you just both think the same way and came up with the same answers.

[@spoolofflarn8760]

The first video is as strong as the most recent! Impressive! I really felt like you explained everything in context really well, even managed to tie it to something human. This drives it home just how interesting the patterns of nature can be.

[@starpravesh]

So, if an alien planet happens to be similar to earth, then the aliens might look more familar than we might think

[@Genzafel]

Yes and No, Biomes in our planet haven’t change a lot, and thats why we get convergent evolution, but in other planes with diferente gravitation, sun(s), mostly gases or liquids we dont know what kind of habitads may exist

[@PineconeSunset]

@@Genzafel Yep, thats what I think, the exact environment will determine the niche, and the niche will determine the form

[@jaysontadlock1871]

Those habitats wouldn’t be conducive to life. Any planet that has life is going to be indistinguishable from earth.

[@Titancameraman64]

I present dinosaurs and the cambren just because the condition are the same doesn't mean the animals are the same convergys evolution only happens when the animals are close enough to evolve similar thing for example Crabs have evolved many times in crushsation but ever in others groups with similar geicns.

[@pacotaco1246]

They wouldnt share the same natural history but if you looked at them from afar you could maybe confuse them for some kinda earth animal.

[@Robnoxious]

I love how you used something such as airplanes from war to compare convergent evolution, thats really intelligent

[@Rompler_Rocco]

And pencils are *actually* more closely related to Sharpies than to pens, who only recently shed their quills and developed caps to deter predation from the indiscriminate ancestor of pencil sharpeners 🧠

[@LexProntera]

Made me laugh out loud 😆

[@-41337]

This is a very obvious argument for humanoid extra-terrestrials that is often overlooked. Surely there's a normal distribution of body types for all creatures across the cosmos with very strange shapes on the edges, but I'd fully expect there to be alien "cats", alien "humans", alien "crocodiles" etc that would look not too different than the seeminly lazy fictional aliens we often come up with.

[@Okami1313]

Finally someone else who gets it

[@Zedrophobia]

Bi-lateral symmetry is probably the most likely expected body plan. But arm, legs or tentacles could be vastly different. Eyes are something you couldn’t have a complex society without.

[@SamC77]

@1234 that will never happen. we can overcome many barriers but the absurd insane distance in space is one barrier we will never overcome. anyone that knows anything about space knows the chance that there is another planet out there with the right parts, the light the water the atmosphere the climate to produce life is high, but even if those aliens exist we will never reach them. it can still take a LONG time to reach them with lightspeed, and humans still cannot safely travel at 10x the speed of sound. even at 0.01% of lightspeed the smallest obstacle the smallest problem could make everything crash and burn, there is just some things tech cannot overcome. even if Musk orders a space cruiser built that moves at a safer speed, fits some thousands, has complete functioning areas grow their own food and to recycle waste into fertilizer and that cruiser only needs to stop for maintenance every 10 years, and the main mission is to find and study aliens. that cruiser returning back to earth will be passing info back to humans with a new language that study US, the same way WE study mammoths. the Star Wars idea of a galactic community is a fantasy for the reality of the size of space to shit on. plus Musk cannot afford such a thing, maybe Bezos can. TLDR: space is too big. with aliens, it is look, no touch. any contact you expect to make with them, for alliances, or just for science, is meaningless and could never happen.

[@Telonelemon3]

There are aspects of technology and physics so grand that we couldn't even imagine them.

[@SamC77]

@@Telonelemon3 yes. we call that Star Wars. it's a movie. when you get back to reality, 20x the speed of sound is still too much for humans to handle, and THAT is still well short of lightspeed. i don't need to imagine the limits of physics, the distance between those planets and ours is hard tangible numbers, facts.

[@cyberfutur5000]

This may be the best film/video ever to be made. It's about evolution and talks about pre jet age airplane engineering... sadly there wasn't a section about guitars, but still. 2 out of 3 of the things I'm most passionate about, nicely done! :D Tbh, I really enjoy your Channel, it seems quiet well researched and your style of presentation is somewhat relaxing. Kudos.

[@lakanmusic]

I thoroughly enjoy and appreciate the way you confidently and deftly say difficult words in a rapid succession as if they were easy to say.

[@evodolka]

this video is amazing, i never noticed some of the similarities between some of the animals i know about sharks, dolphins and ichthyosaurs but i didn't now about primitive ichthyosaurs and mosasaurs

[@DemitriVladMaximov]

Great video and love the way you talk about the topic. Only one nit-pick is that WW1 was between the Allied and Central Powers, not the Axis.

[@jordanenogue-ouellette6852]

This is the best video on your channel imo! I come back to watch it again every few months because the topic is simply fascinating.

[@andrewpaige1194]

This was an amazing video!!! I NEVER considered that Mosasaurus were possibly on their way to being fish-like! Most people consider them to BE the ultimate body plan, just like crocodiles, but I’ve never noticed the comparison between the ichthyosaurs cymbo!

[@easportsaxb8057]

Can't believe the first video of your amazing channel started with an equally excellent video

[@tadblackington1676]

Great video, this is such an interesting subject. The idea of convergent evolution applying to whole ecosystems as well as specific organisms is one that has facinated me for awhile.

[@Pyro-Moloch]

I just discovered your channel. I love how you use music and editing, and make everything flow. Your videos are very easy to watch for something educational, without feeling like I'm being treated like an idiot. There's just this perfect balance of things. Really loving it.

[@Menddoxs]

Convergent Evolution a.k.a the devs of our world reusing assets to save time and money 🤣🤣🤣

[@tiggle5485]

Found the TierZoo viewer (It’s ok I watch him too)

[@Menddoxs]

@@tiggle5485 Yup, Imma a Tierzoo viewer

[@sajaak940]

It's like game devs reusing animations and skeleton frames, but using different skins/colors.

[@smoothred9453]

@@sajaak940 Every fighting game dev ever

[@animationspace8550]

This dev joke is getting old

[@marcp4042]

Excellent content. You deserve way more than 35k subs. KZbin recommend this to me today so it looks like the algorithm is smiling upon you. Keep it up. Super interesting.

[@margad-erdeneamgalanbaatar5028]

A truly fascinating and well-explained video!!!

[@christianlabanca5377]

All the videos with this background music are just incredible

[@c0l1n_m45]

Thank you for these videos, you've taught me far more about evolution and the history of life on our planet then school ever did, I cannot commend you enough!

[@zachfreeman2502]

This is the best explanation for analogous vs homologous I've heard

[@ismailtopa3671]

...and subscribed Finally an informative channel that does the exact that without dumb gimmick and doesn't convert measurements to burj khalifas or toyota corollas.

[@butterskywalker8785]

y'know that some people don't understand unless shown examples of how large

[@user-gh8bm8ct5t]

@@butterskywalker8785 it's not even that! it's infantilizing and offensive and reductive to the science itself, which deserves respectful albeit clear deconstruction! Even as someone, who, admittedly has a hard time conceptualizing abstract math and science, it just feels.. humiliating to watch. this content is refreshing. Hank Green and every other science guy of the hour just turn lay persons like myself away from science, which is terribly, terribly, disheartening.

[@cadesilvers7259]

I really enjoy learning about animals I never knew existed. Your channel is awesome. Thank you very much!

[@Khyrid]

So there could be a mammalian T-Rex one day

[@dualinfinities5549]

well, the megafauna were starting to get to that level, until we got here that is. which means humans > t. rexes

[@franciscomartinez-losaerec2532]

@@dualinfinities5549 Mammals have suffered many extintion events that dwindled their size, and neither of them were our fault. A supervolcano eruption killed almost all the megafauna of the planet only 73.000 years go. And the Ice Ages sure have taken their toll as well, specially the last one. And I don't think a theropod body plan like that of a T-Rex is optimum for a mammal. Mammal land predators have evolved like 3-4 different times, and they were dog-like or cat-like in all of them. That's probably because of the massive speed boost that being quadrupedal gives to them.

[@farhanrivin934]

Giant flesh eating kangaroos could fill that role.

[@deniariyanto1397]

@@farhanrivin934 there are prehistoric meat eating kangaroo

[@siyacer]

Possible, if we don't kill them.

[@superslayerguy]

Happy anniversary Moth Light ur channel rocks and I think is one of the best 👍

[@crazydragy4233]

What a lovely video. Not surprised at all but I've never thought about this deeply before.

[@spliter88]

One mistake I think you should correct: Tictaalic is not considered to be the ancestor of all theropods/terrestrial invertebrates but a sister clade. Additionally there are already footprints found that date several million years older than the tictaalic specimens we found, and they were found in a region that used to be a seashore.

[@surfboardjoker6299]

It's so crazy how even the weirdest looking animals on earth still have eyes and a mouth in relativity similar places. We can see ourselves in practically everything! It's so beautiful

[@iancarter5217]

Litteraly could hear this guy speak about anything.

[@williambrunjes1301]

One of my favorite examples of convergent evolution is snakehead/bowfin. Here where I live in the US snakehead have been introduced into waterways with native bowfin and being able to observe both fish side by side is awesome.

[@BJETNT]

I had no idea lemurs had evolved and ate like form! That was one of the most educational videos I've ever seen. You're awesome at this keep up the good work. I have a lot of time to listen to videos cuz I can meet for 2 hours every day. I love geeking out on this stuff. Makes me wish humans weren't heading for extinction. More I learned about evolution the more I know we are and we deserve it

[@adnanemekk1706]

the music reminded me of a cold christmas evening and me holding a cup of coffee and getting cozy and putting on harry potter

[@Tentacular]

Fascinating and well-made video. Regarding that last bit... There was a dinosaur called Stenonychosaurus that had the largest brain capacity (brain size to body size ratio, I think) of all the known dinosaurs. If they hadn't gone extinct too, maybe they could have evolved towards the ape shape and then discovered tool use, etc.

[@tagrisaj3344]

Brain size doesn't always compare to intelligence at all. Humans are smarter than both elephants and blue whales yet their brains are many times larger than ours. Chihuahuas are as smart as all other dog breeds yet their brands are many time smaller etc.

[@Tentacular]

@@tagrisaj3344 ... I said "brain size to body size ratio"...

[@tagrisaj3344]

@@Tentacular That doesn't matter. A chihuahua has a brain to body size ratio of more than two times that of a great dane's yet they aren't smarter or dumber.

[@xenoidaltu601]

@@tagrisaj3344 Birds have smaller brains but with more neurons. On average, birds have twice as many neurons per unit mass as mammals do.

[@tagrisaj3344]

@@xenoidaltu601 On avarage but not always.

[@jonathandodd732]

Brilliant exposition of the subject in a short time. Thank you!

[@Adam-sk4kk]

It was the Central powers not the Axis in WW1. Otherwise great video.

[@scottdow5171]

I have been enjoying all your videos! Subscribed! Thank you for your content

[@jamesonz2898]

This aspect of evolution would play a big part anywhere there is life.:)

[@bubbinubbi]

I love this channel. It's the dogs bollocks. Super interesting and educational

[@jiaan100]

There's a specific name for convergent evolution resulting in a crab like form, carcinisation. I like to call it crabinisation

[@HedserWijbenga]

My new favourite channel

[@neutral_8803]

This means, if there were some earth-like planet with almost similar habitats and capable of inhabiting life then there could possibly be creatures that have similar body structures as they move to optimal body plan

[@thefran901]

Yes and no, some body plans have preconditions to be favored by evolution in the first place. For example, the shark like body shape that many different animals have adquired independently has only be achieved by vertebrates. In order for evolution to favor that body shape, you need to be a vertebrate in the first place, because for example, arthropodes don't converge into that body shape (in evolutionary terms) when being adapted to aquatic life, instead they converge into the lobster and crab like body shapes. So in order to assume alien life would have similar body structures as Earth life, you'd need to make some assumptions in the first place. For instance, if you are assuming shark like animals exist in another planet with oceans, you have to assume vertebrates evolved in that planet. And we don't have evidence that the vertebrate basic template is easy to evolve into, it happened here, and sure it's very successful (it diversified a lot), but we still only have one example of it happening here on Earth, it's not something that has evolved independently many times for us to conclude it's common to evolve for the first time. Like life itself, once it happens, it's unstoppable and spreads all over the planet, but that doesn't mean the process of abiogenesis is common in the first place, it might still be a fluke.

[@magnarcreed3801]

@@thefran901 A bunch of happy accidents. Anything that could have changed and one body plan would have been vastly different.

[@rubenlarochelle1881]

I love this channel, it's great. I just hope his next investment will be a microphone, it took me a while to find "Hadropithecus" on Wikipedia. But, yet, great content.

[@thatdutchguy2882]

3:30 the inventor (and patent holder) of the synchronised machine gun for aircraft propellor use was Franz Schneider a Swiss, not a Brit. The first producer of war planes to put it to use on an actual aircraft was Antonie Fokker from the Netherlands a Dutchman whom supplied the Germans (Deutsch) with aircraft, not a Brit either.

[@thatdutchguy2882]

A Romanian claimed part or a precursor to the synchronisation device a few decades before,...but either way, he wasn't British either.

[@johnnyli4702]

the flying squirrel at 5:49 looks too f-ing adorable to be real

[@BluJean6692]

>Two nations at war accomplish the same tech, one shortly after the other... "Clearly a case of convergent design..." Oh you sweet naive child...

[@heywooddjbelome2021]

Yep. Im sure espionage had nothing to do with it

[@brucetownsend691]

There are three factors at work. One is copying, through reverse engineering of captured equipment or espionage. The second is that the side that has fallen behind puts in extra effort confident that a solution is there because the enemy has obviously worked out how to do it. The third is that the solution or idea is now “out there” because all the elements have become available so sooner or later some smart person will put them together. A good example of this is Wallace coming up with “natural selection” to explain the origin of species while Darwin was sitting on the idea. Wallace did not copy Darwin but put everything together himself to reach the same insight. As for how synchronised firing came to the British in WW1, one can’t make assumptions. Only historical research can answer it definitively.

[@morkiethuglife2195]

I absolutely enjoy this channel.

[@Andruth34]

Whale-penguins (penguins converging on the whale form) are a really cool speculative evolution idea. If the dominant aquatic mammals went extinct and left their niches open, penguins are in a position to easily fill those niches through adaptive radiation. Imagine huge, beaked whale-birds filling the oceans. That's a world we could've (or might in the future) lived in.

[@alvianekka80]

Have you read After Man before? It's a speculative biology book about life on earth after human extinction. There's one giant filter-feeder animal evolve from penguin, that fills the same ecological niche as whale underwater.

[@Mr_BRRRRT]

This in itself is the most valuable concept for speculative evolution

[@limede]

5:06 these are all homologous too

[@trezapoioiuy]

Depends on how far back you're going to look into, I guess.

[@MakkusuOtaku]

The wings themselves aren't.

[@limede]

@@MakkusuOtaku The wings aren't, the limbs are.

[@je9625]

You deserve your own cable channel.

[@bevan185]

In before your channel blows up

[@AyeAyeKane]

bevan185 nigga poo

[@RyanPHill77]

This is so well done!

[@Mr.Mousey]

This vid is just the "hey can I copy your homework" "yeah sure man just change it a bit" meme

[@ashbirk4681]

I’ve been saying weapons tech and convergent evolution (and adaptive radiation) are on the same style of modification, great video!

[@CrypticlyEncrypted]

Just like hyenas and dogs?

[@mothlightmedia1936]

Yes that's a good example

[@RavenIsAnArtist]

How dare you make these stupidly addictive yet educational videos.. I need about a thousand more 👀

[@DrickRT]

This would at least make sense to why every alien in sci fi shows and such look humanoid despite being on different fucking planets

[@TurboSilke]

This vid has convinced me that sci-fi shows/books/games that mostly have humanoid looking intelligent races isn't stupid.

[@sumaryp8963]

After all, it’s hard to build rocket ships without opposable thumbs

[@butterskywalker8785]

@@sumaryp8963 what about tentacles

[@sumaryp8963]

@@butterskywalker8785 tentacles dont have thumbs

[@butterskywalker8785]

@@sumaryp8963 but to become an intillegent civilization you'd need to be smart and have limbs able to grab stuff to alter the surrounding environment,and tentacles work without thumbs because they're flexible to bend and hold stuff and they got the succy parts

[@sumaryp8963]

@@butterskywalker8785 woosh

[@petersmythe6462]

My question is, would an octopus forced to evolve in the niche crocs are in end up becoming a croc mimic or not? I think not. It would find a different local optimum.

[@abyssstrider2547]

It would still look like an octopus. Except it might evolve longer tentacles and maybe even evolve the ability to walk on land.

[@abyssstrider2547]

But considering octopuses can use tools and are smart enough if they were forced into a nice like that and had no predators then they would definitely be steamrolling towards stone age.

[@marcanthonybeare8143]

I really like how you relate human innovation to convergent evolution. Many times when there is new niches to be filled, humans will try and fill it with various innovation designs until a dominant design is reached. I think this is a great example on how evolution works and how environment plays a huge role in the physical characteristics of animals during their evolutionary cycle, this is what happened to sharks, dolphins and the ichthyosaurs.

[@prashaanth_6755]

I love your content! If you incorporate better animation and production design, you'd be on par with PBS studios in quality.

[@mothlightmedia1936]

Thank you, I'm limited by software currently but I'm working on it

[@stephenspackman5573]

I think convergence is often overstated, because it is neglected that the lifeforms converging are doing so on the basis of a common genetic and morphological toolkit. The dolphin, for instance, has ancestors that _were_ fish. I'm not aware of vertebrates that have converged to the squid body plan, or fungi that live like giraffes. There are both centipedes and millipedes, but the closest a vertebrate comes is a snake. Instead what is going on is that the space within which the adaptation is happening is shaped by internal factors (e.g. vertebrae, paired limbs, a through gut, a head with a brain in it) as well as the external environment. Not only this, but there is great depth of past experience encoded in the genome: every biome we have inhabited has left a genetic trail of things that can be reinvented (or in some cases, directly reactivated) more easily than brand new solutions can be found.

[@pacotaco1246]

More people need to be saying what you're saying

[@silvertheelf]

Person:”dolphins and ichthyosaurus are convergent evolutions of sharks” Me:”you mean ripoff sharks” Lol

[@maxim6088]

Most land animals right now, and in history, are just ripoffs of different synapsids

[@silvertheelf]

Maxim, yeah, but not birds

[@legendarypussydestroyer6943]

@@silvertheelf ripoff of pterosaurs

[@silvertheelf]

@@legendarypussydestroyer6943, well, technically, but being entirely honest, no bird looks exactly like a pterosaur, so saying that means pterosaurs are technically ripoffs of flying insects, they all have a vastly different flying system.

[@legendarypussydestroyer6943]

@@silvertheelf Well, they had beaks, four limbs, inhabited the same niches birds do today etc.

[@jaysilverheals4445]

that is also why right after mass extinctions you have a large number of very odd animals because as time goes on like with the fish bad features get blended away or out and things start to have more similar branches.

[@jaysilverheals4445]

just noticed you have a vid on that also!

[@DarkSideoftheMeta]

Perhaps evidence that intelligent (more specifically, metacognitive) life could emerge on earth even if humans go extinct...

[@bigbangzebraman351]

Bruh some primates have entered the stone age now

[@slamyourheadin9449]

@@bigbangzebraman351 They will never reach our intelligence because we would take them out before they did.

[@pacotaco1246]

@@bigbangzebraman351 look up the Gombe-Chimpanzee War, they have early societies now!

[@Jeuro38]

I particularly love to think about this in regards to potential alien life. Many creatures would probably make us go ''oh, that's just like an alien [insert earth organism]"

[@zhongxina9420]

If the environment was the same or similar to earth's then its possible

[@craigkdillon]

AAaaahh, convergent evolution! That explains why all the aliens in Star Trek all look like humans in costumes. All sentient speces in the Universe will look like us from convergent evolution. Amazing.

[@caesar6484]

Yeah... but no

[@calvin864]

Awesome content. History will always repeat itself depending on the organism it that particular niche. Just a side note, it would seem like your microphone has quite a bit of feedback, which makes it unsuitable for a podcast/documentary style video.

[@redactedbananas]

It's not about the "optimum" way to evolve at all. It's just the easiest, fastest, or most probable mutations.

[@pencilscratchings565]

Man for real called a Numbat a Nambut 😔...great video!

[@gabrielb5742]

Could a extraterrestrial specie look similar to humans due to the convergent evolution?

[@user-wm7mk2nt4d]

Maybe. It'll depend if the life conditions on their planet are similar to ours. Mathmatically is improbable but not imposible.

[@tijanamilenkovic3425]

@@user-wm7mk2nt4d Saiyans would like to now your location

[@dualinfinities5549]

the core traits that lead to humanity's overwhelming success are, if reduced to minimum required specificity: dextrous limbs not required for locomotion, cooling systems capable of operating while in motion, the capacity to launch varied projectiles long distances with great accuracy, and high intelligence. this permits a fairly diverse array of potential "human-analogues" to arise through the same path we took.

[@MakkusuOtaku]

Communication might have played a role too.

[@dualinfinities5549]

@@MakkusuOtaku absolutely true. I really should have included that, given the "high intelligence" part at the end, but my original intent was listing the *truly* distinct features, which intelligence, sociality, and tool use as a general capacity, very much *are not*.

[@fatdad2156]

I believe that pandas are convergently evolved versions of gorillas.

[@siyacer]

*koalas

[@tijanamilenkovic3425]

@@siyacer *chalicotheres

[@BrookD.Artist]

Welp. I binged this account and watched every video and now idk what to do with my life.

[@craigkdillon]

And yet, there have been body plans that were unique, and not replicated. The plesiosaurs for instance. No Marine animal propels themselves in that manner. The hominid body plan seems fairly unique (and not very good, btw - we are the only animal that stubs its toes.) The Tully monster body plan hasn't been duplicated. That's about it. Yeah, convergent evolution is pretty common.

[@tweetybird4900]

This concept makes the idea of familiar looking aliens more plausible, at least that's what I think. We very well may find crabs on another planet :)

[@admiralmudkip9836]

he called the central powers "the axis powers" and that makes me sad

[@mugluvin3300]

Glad someone noticed, I thought I was going to have to comment about it. Not to dunk on the video through his content is solid. It’s just good for people to know it only took one war to take out Nazi Germany.

[@Daleksaresupreme1]

There's a 1930 Novel called "Last and First men" written as a future history of earth, at one point in the story a massive nuclear disaster wipes out all life on earth except at the poles and millions of years later there's a global ecosystem evolved from Arctic animals, including a mammalian snake analogue descended from a seal and a 2 meter tall apex predator descended from an Arctic Fox.

[@furandfourfeetsingh815]

Do you have an author?

[@LeafInTheStream]

I kept expecting mention of the amazing visual similarity between struthiomimus and the ostrich.

[@shinethief3785]

This was very informative. Thanks.

[@Scenery-1976]

Discovered you from the spider video, currently trying binge-ing the channel

[@thenightscythe2030]

You should do a Video on Opossum/Possum. This is a Great way to distinct How Environments effect Evolution

[@cyclone3371]

Crocodiles are my most favourite on earth and I love them for the reasons that he explains

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

I love this subject, has always fascinated me!

[@AtropalArbaal-dk8jv]

The beginning of greatness.