How Ocean Currents Turned Whales into the Largest Animals that have Existed

[@webheadwonder9597]

I'd never heard of animal that goes back to a juvenile form during times of scarcity. The world is such a fascinating and complex place

[@JoseDominguez-l5v]

Me after college

[@tipwilkin]

I know it's not exactly the same, but consider how humans react to starvation. Women's menstrual cycles go on hold, fat reserves in breasts and thighs are consumed. In men sex drive stops and semen production drops. In extreme cases you can hardly tell the difference between a man and a woman on the verge of starvation except by carefully looking at the bone structure. I'm not sure how much you could study this without running into some nasty ethical problems, but it makes sense that if you barely have the calories to survive, your offspring won't be doing much better.

[@LDSG_A_Team]

Axolotls do this too

[@goodun2974]

My wife says I revert to my juvenile form whenever I make a joke, which cccurs often!

[@goodun2974]

​@@tipwilkin, Eels don't develop sex organs until they near their final end. They live gender-less in freshwater rivers and streams for decades (a lifespan of up to 90 years); but one day they leave for the ocean, developing reproductive organs while traveling at sea and simultaneously absorbing their own stomach and intestines as they swim towards an unknown destination to breed and die. The baby Eels make their way to freshwater streams and rivers, and the cycle begins again.

[@101rotarypower]

Kind of miss the previous opening sequence, and specifically the "Splash" sound effect. Made it very familiar and iconic IMO.

[@paulcateiii]

I agree - miss the splash also

[@ni-dirus]

Me too, it's really jarring in a way to watch a mothlight video without the splash! I understand that channels evolve their intros and outtros, but being with someone from the beginning means you get to experience the changes

[@markstevenson2492]

We all love the splash! Has a deeply calming effect and just got my mind ready for a mothlight video.

[@mirrorblue100]

Yes - the "plooop." 😀

[@fuferito]

I miss it; the old sploosh and chirp.

[@gatorbait9385]

Hearing you say some fish can travel more distance after death than they ever did in their life made me chortle. I like that

[@TheBcoolGuy]

:nerd:

[@mylesbartunek5920]

Chortle... That is a new word for me. I don't think I've ever seen or heard that. Thanks for the new word!

[@Bruh-tw8uh]

Another moth light media classic

[@dscheme3247]

indeed

[@mathsmanm2880]

At this stage I can only fall asleep to the sound of moth light vids. No hate, the videos are super interesting I usually watch em once for the info, but then that mellow voice and ambient sound is super calming. Best thing to fall asleep to hands down.

[@ni-dirus]

I'm similar, they're one of the channels I watch to fall asleep

[@peetsnort]

Useful to know at 2.30 am when I often lay awake for 3 hours

[@dengistkhan5364]

same

[@jeffbenton6183]

If you like space as much as animals, I recommend adding Astrum to the list

[@ballinpeppa]

I do the same thing, totally get it

[@savannahrae9122]

Always a good day when Moth Light Media releases a video 🥰

[@Bishop_Heahmund]

I just recently asked myself why bluewales are the biggest animal to ever exist and how/why this came about so recently. Thank you for this detailed explanation

[@JohnyG29]

The biggest animal THAT WE CURRENTLY KNOW OF to ever exist...

[@koriw1701]

That is a fascinating question in and of itself. Do you think that there is some sort of 'silurian hypothesis' for animals as well?

[@mcstabba]

A few years ago they found partial fossils of an ichthyosaur that in life might have been able to contend to be the biggest animal ever.

[@unclvinny]

The most complicated class I ever took was graduate level chemical oceanography. Your discussion of the conveyer belt reminded me of how much is going on in the seas. Salinity of the water causes density changes that affect layers and currents as well. Super interesting stuff.

[@kanjiNaem]

no way mothlightmedia drop

[@limegreen1989]

Only channel I have notifications for

[@vinniepeterss]

😮😮

[@Guillermoreno02]

Its a special day

[@hesalovelybuoy5944]

get hyped

[@WagwanHappyPappyHapPap]

WOOOOO!

[@Zveebo]

Love the video, but man do I miss the iconic intro sequence splash and background music 😭

[@_Wombat]

there was one video where he switched the background music completely, but he then reverted to the old stuff, thankfully.

[@cabdulaahicaad2167]

Same

[@hornetscout2579]

5:11 The beluga whale and the seal looking like two buddies having fun together. A Disney movie waiting to happen

[@luanasari5161]

Before the orca shows up

[@TheAdrian229]

Unfortunately Disney only makes sequels now

[@GustavSvard]

@@luanasari5161 That's half the plot right there!

[@stupidmangoz]

One of my favorite KZbinrs talking about one of my favorite subjects

[@eschwarz1003]

Thank you for explaining why arctic waters can have higher nutrient potential than equatorial waters; and emphasizing the need to sustain the conveyor belt engine of ocean life

[@krankarvolund7771]

I've always heard about Krill, and I know there's a lot of weird things in Nature, but the fact that Krill can just de-age and become juveniles just to save on food... Taht's probably one of the wildest things I've ever heard, I almost choked in surprise XD

[@stevengibson4773]

I am trying to kick my addiction to reels and other short vertical format videos and your channel is my goto when I start to lapse. I love your content. I am glad you made a new video

[@rithikuja7299]

Love the map projection used, really see the connectedness of the oceans❤

[@davidvdr]

Your videos are always great, but this one is epic! Thanks for piecing together all these facts that I knew but didn't understand how they were related.

[@bramstedt8997]

Lmao was not expecting a dead bat with bugs on it 10 sec in. Always glad when he uploads a new video

[@francescoquadrio5824]

No way! This is by far your best video so far IMO. Hope you do more of this ecology stuff because this was really as good as an university lecture.

[@guerreiro943]

This one was one of your best episodes so far. Not only a look into whale biology but also a very interesting explanation of how oceanic currents work. Thank you!

[@areallydepressedfish5201]

A new mothlight video! The perfect birthday present!

[@sassa82]

Moth Light Media!😍

[@YXVAJZER]

An excellent and very informative video. Thank you.

[@KikkerFish]

This is a wonderful channel! Always looking forward to new videos! ❤

[@krankarvolund7771]

2:50 Okay, this map is so unusual, at first I thought you were showing us the map of another world XD

[@grainherstal1912]

You're back !

[@kiuk_kiks]

My favourite palaeontology channel.

[@lalehiandeity1649]

One thing I would love a video on is the details of how evolutionary family trees are determined. For instance, the mysticeti and odontoceti whales took over from the basilosaurids about thirty million years ago, but was their common ancestor/s itself a basilosaurid? Would it have been considered a solitary occupant of its own order? How complete of a picture are paleontologists able to create of the direct ancestries within the animal kingdom? Also, how many animals have direct ancestors who were bigger than them?

[@indyreno2933]

In case you should know, both baleen whales (suborder Mysticeti) and toothed whales (suborder Odontoceti) are split into two major groups, with the baleen whales being split into the infraorders Balaenicephalia and Balaenopterocephalia, the Balaenicephalia infraorder is split into the superfamilies Cetotherioidea for the monotypic families Eschrichtiidae and Cetotheriidae and Balaenoidea for the monotypic families Balaenidae and Eubalaenidae, while the rorquals (family Balaenopteridae) are the only extant family of both the superfamily Balaenopteroidea and the infraorder Balaenopterocephalia and the toothed whales being further split into the infraorders Physeterimorpha and Delphinomorpha, the Physeterimorpha infraorder is split into the superfamilies Ziphioidea for only the family Ziphiidae and Physeteroidea for the families Kogiidae and Physeteridae, while the Delphinomorpha infraorder is split into the superfamilies Delphinoidea for the families Orcinidae, Monodontidae, Phocoenidae, and Delphinidae and Platanistoidea for the families Iniidae and Platanistidae.

[@krankarvolund7771]

I am no specialist, so I don't know exactly, from what I understood: A lot of the phylogeny of current animals is based on genetics. So, for extinct animals, it's a lot harder to work, we of course have morphology that is still a good indicator (even for the weirdest groups indicated by genetics, we can find morphological clues, it's just not the most visibles ^^), but it's harder and we can't check if we made a mistake ^^' Paleontologists tend to avoid placing the common ancestor of creatures in a specific group. The common ancestor should not be understood as a real creature that existed precisely 30 MY ago, it's more like a virtual construct, created by scientists to help their understanding of the world. ANd finally, a lot of answers in paleontology, if we want to be accurate and not make too much speculations is: we don't know, and we will probably never know. It's the most frustrating part of paleontology (that and the fact that 99% of the extinct species probably never left any fossiles XD) TLDR: We don't know and will probably never know, because it happened too far in the past ^^

[@lorefreak94]

Clint's reptiles has some good videos along those lines

[@OT907Turnier]

Thank you for everything.

[@angeloaquino6766]

Whales are the best. Would love to see a video on orcas next

[@olivg4rden774]

I love your videos so much I can’t put it into words. Thank you for allowing us to soak up all this information

[@d3lm119]

Please make more video I love you mothlightmedia yo are my favorite documentary channel

[@YTispartofproblem]

What a fantastic channel, education for the many Long may you continue doing such a service whoever you are!🙏

[@reddoguk7405]

Always find your videos the most interesting on KZbin mate. Thank you. I liked the point about the crab eating seals. Maybe it's a look into how the whales started to evolve to be so specialised, when you see how the seals teeth are formed.

[@mattmaria2226]

Top shelf content.. cheers

[@rebos6432]

i’d love for you to cover freshwater aquatic ecosystems too

[@Kargoneth]

Woo! New Mothlight video!

[@thefave2]

Thank you for making this video. Fascinating topic and excellent presentation.

[@gfin4576]

2:52 the great big beautiful ice wall protects our marine life and currents

[@Lanval_de_Lai]

But it's reversed right? Heresy!

[@Eye_Exist]

i swear i'm going to present this to a flat earther asking what if

[@gfin4576]

@@Eye_Exist lol

[@avitaltagar]

I don't know if I've ever subscribed to a channel after only one video before this one. It's like your content was generated by a super clever A.I. that's tailored to my exact tastes in youtube content.

[@zackarycarle1260]

new moth light media I have a reason to live today

[@badmonkey244]

Loved this one 👍

[@somefishhere]

My county has coastal upwelling! It’s great for the whales

[@kintustis]

If looks could krill, I would shrimply die.

[@aranduyo4597]

Dont be shellfish

[@amphicyon4359]

I always wonder if similar deep sea current loops would have appeared at other times in earth's history (not necessarily at Antarctica). Probably would need very complex and computing intensive models though, but it is interesting to imagine that some time in the future we can know where ancient nutrient rich areas were

[@chickchoc]

I woukd think different epochs would have different circulation patterns especially when there were supercontinents and perhaps no ice at the poles.

[@bumblebeagan]

i got so excited seeing this notification :DDDD

[@YTispartofproblem]

what an excellent channel👍

[@JoseDominguez-l5v]

Sorry babe can't come over rn new mothlight just dropped

[@MrHangman56]

Could you do a video on the evolution of blood

[@markykid8760]

2:45 a grim vision of the future where we accidentally flip the world inside-out

[@mbvoelker8448]

That was fascinating.

[@jaggerbushOG]

2:44 maps like this hurt my brain!

[@--Paws--]

9:20 I wonder if larger non-avian dinosaurs had the same factor in why they became so massive. Not the direct cause of why they're huge but a contributing part.

[@felixkaletsch8691]

Nice

[@anthonyma101]

Babe wake up, new moth light media just posted

[@pacotaco1246]

Extra whale lore, my favorite!

[@televikkuntdaowuxing]

There’s no actual way i just spent yesterday night asking chatgpt about the whole process of evolution of krill and whales and mans just dropping this

[@matthewwelsh294]

Lol creepy

[@WilliamWalls-iz2rv]

You're going to get nothing but garbage from AI. It is spell auto-incorrect writ large.

[@justinwilliam6534]

I hope you could do a video on the enantiornithine birds I’m curious to know how these opposite birds diversify and how they were first described.

[@ikengaspirit3063]

2:20 Water is at its densest at around 4 degrees. At those temperatures, even if there is mixing, it'll probably won't be currents driven.

[@jasperzanjani]

so what you're saying is krill is the real chicken of the sea

[@jivejunior8753]

Krill are one of the most fascinating animals, they're more than generic marine animal chow

[@bingcringing]

your videos keep me going

[@Kroggnagch]

Ancient proto-whale, looking like nearly any other hairy mammal, standing on its 4 legs upon the land starring into the sea watching a krill bloom form: God i wish i had SO MANY of things in my mouth at once...perhaps one day if i want it badly enough, which I DO....

[@GangGang1]

Im krillmaxxing on a saturday!!!

[@krankarvolund7771]

Fun fact taht's probably one of the cause of the disappearance of Megalodon. Megalodon survived for 20 millions of years, by hunting and eatingthe large diversity of small to medium whales that existed at the time. When most of these whales existed, and the rare whales remaining migrated to the poles for a large part of the year (where Megalodon probably could not go, as he was probably not able to maintain his temperature in cold water), he disappeared. Of course, there's other factors, the change in the currents also meant that his habitat was perturbated, as he was a coastal warm waters predator, and the appearance of new predators, better suited for the colder, less rich waters, also drive him to extinction. But the disappearance of his main food source is still a major problem ^^

[@martincho20]

Great video

[@sips3812]

there goes my night!

[@MandGraster]

Babe, a new Moth Light Media video dropped!

[@ortherner]

the old thumbnail and title this had was kooler

[@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714]

Crab eater seals do eat crabs. Krill are a kind of lobster, and lobsters and crabs are many legged arthropods.

[@mladenmatosevic4591]

Let me guess, current pattern changed a lot with closing Panama isthmus, and that changed krill distribution?

[@mikeycbaby]

I love love love your videos but I miss the intro.

[@pjf674]

8:49 Is it just me or does that turtle look really annoyed with the whales? There's a back story to that picture. Definitely some bad blood there.

[@lazy_nyt]

So the big blues, current heavyweight champ probably the all time record holder along with whale sharks etc are actually direct results of thermostats setting changes for bathtub of big guy in the clouds? Good to know. At least, there's something significant record holding creatures exit in our present time compared to the past and when it comes to "--est", it always got to have one handy nearby as usual for some talking points.

[@sevenidols607]

I notice you say "It is thought" a lot. Interesting.

[@CoperliteConsumer]

Very cool!

[@Mynnia]

Another proof how Australia and Antarctica are continental siblings: everyone in Antarctica also loves shrimps on the barbie

[@taliakelly554]

I love how penguins walk so goddamn much

[@soupmanstevens160]

i still miss the splash at the start of the videos :(

[@juxta4183]

very interesting

[@bigbadbrad1894]

thanks

[@ronellis9710]

About time. I thought you quit or were ill.

[@w3wl4d]

The people miss the splash 😢

[@TheTruePopeFrancis]

I’m one in a krillion.

[@yellowflowerorangeflower5706]

Cool

[@Andrews_Sandy]

I am one in a krillion

[@alanturing3256]

The map at 2:44 has my head in a whirl😅

[@dovesr0478]

This Krill's got style, so listen up dudes They can shrink in size, when there's no food

[@Jaggerbush]

2:56 this map hurts my brain!

[@soundminedd]

Brriliant ❤❤

[@jonathandentler7158]

Love it

[@TheAdrian229]

I wonder if CrabEater seals will in time evolve into baleen seals

[@vinniepeterss]

❤❤❤❤

[@williamfrederick9670]

Krill Openheimer seeing whales

[@ahmedshaharyarejaz9886]

Its onlg a matter of time before someone decides to go and fish for antarctic krill now.

[@bluetannery1527]

mothlight media on nebula when?

[@jacobhayes1086]

At 2:58 California does not have a warm water current. False

[@fuferito]

I miss it the old sploosh and chirp in the opening.

[@luudest]

How come whales have become so big while mammals such as seals or sea leopards remained mid sized?

[@edgargaebolg9307]

Because pinniped evolution into an aquatic lifestyle started later than whale evolution. Pinnipeds are still semi-aquatic and wouldn't survive in land with a whale-sized body, although you can see that they're clumsy in land. Give them a few million years and they'll start being fully aquatic, then they can grow larger

[@canonbehenna612]

Krill are bases of life in the seven seas