Is Bigger Better?

This video was made in partnership with Popsci! They recently published their "Muscles" issue, and wrote an article to go along with this video that you can read here: popsci.com/environment/strong...
Elephants might be strong, but they are weak compared to ants because ants have certain advantages that allow them to outlift their larger competitors.
LEARN MORE
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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
- Exoskeleton: a rigid external covering for the body in some invertebrate animals, especially arthropods, providing both support and protection.
- Endoskeleton: an internal skeleton, such as the bony or cartilaginous skeleton of vertebrates.
- Leverage: the exertion of force by means of a lever or an object used in the manner of a lever.
- Square-cube law: a mathematical principle, applied in a variety of scientific fields, which describes the relationship between the volume and the surface area as a shape's size increases or decreases.
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CREDITS
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Cameron Duke | Script Writer, Narrator and Director
Sarah Berman & Arcadi Garcia i Rius | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation
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REFERENCES
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Aaron, S. F. “The Muscular Power of Insects.” Scientific American, vol. 147, no. 3, 1932, pp. 148-150, www.jstor.org/stable/24966025
Bretscher, Heidi, and Michael B. O’Connor. “The Role of Muscle in Insect Energy Homeostasis.” Frontiers in Physiology, vol. 11, 22 Oct. 2020, p. 580687, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/artic..., doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2020.58...
Burd, M. “Body Size Effects on Locomotion and Load Carriage in the Highly Polymorphic Leaf-Cutting Ants Atta Colombica and Atta Cephalotes.” Behavioral Ecology, vol. 11, no. 2, 1 Mar. 2000, pp. 125-131, doi.org/10.1093/beheco/11.2.125.
Harrison, Jon F., et al. “How Locusts Breathe.” Physiology, vol. 28, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 18-27, doi.org/10.1152/physiol.00043...
“Insect Respiration - Amateur Entomologists’ Society (AES).” Amentsoc.org, 2019, www.amentsoc.org/insects/fact-...
Molting and the Exoskeleton: A Double-Edged Sword - Understanding Evolution. 10 May 2021, evolution.berkeley.edu/the-art...
Nguyen, Vienny, et al. “The Exoskeletal Structure and Tensile Loading Behavior of an Ant Neck Joint.” Journal of Biomechanics, vol. 47, no. 2, Jan. 2014, pp. 497-504, doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiomech.20....
Reinhold Hustert, and M Baldus. “Ballistic Movements of Jumping Legs Implemented as Variable Components of Cricket Behaviour.” The Journal of Experimental Biology, 1 Dec. 2010, doi.org/10.1242/jeb.043943
Rospars, Jean-Pierre, and Nicole Meyer-Vernet. “Force per Cross-Sectional Area from Molecules to Muscles: A General Property of Biological Motors.” Royal Society Open Science, vol. 3, no. 7, 20 July 2016, doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160313
Segre, Paolo S., and Ebony D. Taylor. “Large Ants Do Not Carry Their Fair Share: Maximal Load-Carrying Performance of Leaf-Cutter Ants (Atta Cephalotes).” The Journal of Experimental Biology, vol. 222, no. 12, 28 May 2019, p. jeb199240, doi.org/10.1242/jeb.199240
staff, Science X. “Breathing Easy: When It Comes to Oxygen, a Bug’s Life Is Full of It.” Phys.org, Phys.org, 29 Apr. 2007, phys.org/news/2007-04-easy-ox...
Sutton, Gregory P. “Animal Biomechanics: A New Silent Partner in the Control of Motion.” Current Biology, vol. 23, no. 15, Aug. 2013, pp. R651-R652, doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2013.06...
Tajiri, Reiko, et al. “Joint Morphology in the Insect Leg: Evolutionary History Inferred from Notch Loss-of-Function Phenotypes in Drosophila.” Development, vol. 138, no. 21, 1 Nov. 2011, pp. 4621-4626, doi.org/10.1242/dev.067330

[@MinuteEarth]

You all lift us up! Want to become our Patreon or member on KZbin? Just visit www.patreon.com/MinuteEarth or click "JOIN". Thanks!

[@alphaapple1375]

@MinuteEarth, could you please include the metric system? I am from the United States, but I use this international system of measurement for reasons of international collaboration and convenience. I used to rely on the expendable US customary system or Imperial System, but now I comprehend how simple, feasible and constructive really is as it has metric prefixes that are denote to either multiply or divide by 10. Many hospitals, NASA and the U.S. Military use the metric system for the same reasons. Take NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter which launched on Friday, December 11, 1998, to study the atmosphere and climate of Mars. But the space probe crashed on the planet on Thursday, September 23, 1999, due to an error in calculating between US customary units and metric units. Because of this, NASA uses the metric system for all intents and purposes.

[@MrNicoJac]

I think the first title was better

[@AltHistoryMap]

​@@alphaapple1375get rekd metric user

[@DnmOrr]

What's the name of this piece of music? Assumed to be composed by Nathaniel Schroeder?

[@BlahCraft1]

Huh, I didn't realize bugs had issues breathing while molting. You learn something new everyday.

[@Kurominos1]

im actually not really sure about this cause a large mantis will take between 40 mins and up to over 1 hour to finish her molting thats a logn time without oxygen if it would be true but when a adult mantis (if its infestet with horsehairworms) goes into the water it drowns in less then 10 mins when submerged

[@CMZneu]

@@Kurominos1 Does it die because it drowned or because of the combination of trauma and drowning. Who knows, in general insects can survive a long time underwear, some more than a day.

[@Exquailibur]

@@Kurominos1 I mean its not quite the same but I know that tarantulas can go for a long time without much oxygen, my baby tarantulas I keep in small vials with no ventilation since the vials are so small any ventilation would cause them to dry out too fast. They can go weeks completely sealed and the only reason I choose to open them up regularly is to prevent mold and check on the slings. Also I assume that some oxygen will diffuse into the semi permeable skin while molting, just not enough to sustain larger sizes which is why the max size of insects is smaller than that of arachnids and land crustaceans. I generally keep them this way until they are around an inch in size, depending on the species this can take a while as some arid species like those of the genus Aphonopelma grow very slowly and therefore eat very infrequently. Female tarantulas in this genus can live 30+ years and even males can live 6 or more years.

[@cerosis]

Loved all these pokemon

[@Spongboy]

Same

[@fancyfrog6205]

especially flaaffy

[@user-yj7pg8rx7m]

same I love all the Pokemon references I these videos 😊

[@b0ark1ng21]

I wish I had a exoskeleton

[@carsonthebee1521]

Fr fr

[@farshaikh1]

Imagine an insect coming to you and asking, "Do you even lift bro?"

[@kennarajora6532]

I'd have a heart attack.

[@deadmeme8973]

After reaching a certain mass, insects become dramatically weaker because the shell has to be thicker, but this thickening reduces the size of muscles that can fit inside it

[@alphasuperior100]

​@@deadmeme8973Now, if a ant is the size of a rat would it be stronger?

[@deadmeme8973]

@alphasuperior558 it depends on multiple factors. If you take an ant and increase its size isometrically, it might have stronger jaws but overall it will be weaker. Now, if the ant is adapted for being that size, it might work kind of like a large beetle or giant cricket. So it will be clumsy, slow, but powerful

[@bihaniparth1995]

Was wondering about how the giant insects from the Carboniferous period survived. i am aware that the % of Oxygen in the atmosphere was much higher but they still would have had to survive without Oxygen while moulting their giant bodies unless they had some adaptation which has since been lost in the modern insect species which allowed the giant insects to moult while being able to breathe

[@w0tch]

Yeah they probably could hold their breath long enough as dolphins do

[@Zaxares]

It's likely due to their metabolism. Us vertebrates tend to consume a LOT more oxygen and energy than invertebrates to our muscles' hungrier energy needs, as well as having more complex brains. For mammals, we also have our internal temperature regulation, which consumes SO much energy that the same amount of food needed to feed one lion could feed ten crocodiles.

[@bihaniparth1995]

I would have thought that insects like dragonflies do need a lot of energy and have a high metabolism due to flight. As the currently living species do moult and we do have fossil evidence of huge dragonflies from the carboniferous period, I am not sure if metabolism could be the only reason here. I could be wrong :)

[@bihaniparth1995]

@@w0tch That is a good point regarding dolphins but then doesn't it kind of go against the argument made in the video. I thought the whole point was that a bigger body requires more time for moulting and during moulting we are unable to breathe. And there is not enough oxygen stored away for a big organism to stay alive without breathing. We are basically asking if a dolphin or any other marine mammal can keep enough oxygen for a moulting time period comparable to its body size

[@GCOSBenbow]

Insect respiration isn't entirely passive/osmosis driven, there is still some active transfer (similar to the lungs moving oxygen into the blood vessels) but its a lot lower effort and less required. They can also control their rate of metabolism (basically stop their muscles moving much). Before moulting insects will provide extra energy to their respirator organs so more oxygen is pumped into the body, they then stop all unnecessary motion and moult with as little excess motion as possible. They essentially take an extra deep breath. There also isn't zero respirating going on whilst moulting. Just inefficient, slower respiration. So when giant insects were moulting they were able to take much more air into their tracheae (their bodies could also just store lots more oxygen), slow down their metabolism while moulting and still get MUCH more oxygen from the slow respiration than they would in the current environment.

[@jcortese3300]

I understand that exoskeletons are also comparatively fragile. An ant can survive a fall because they are so light, but even a tarantula can be killed by a fairly shallow fall because they are just about heavy enough for their exterior to crack open in a fall. We put our squishy bits on our outsides, so we can fall further before we get broken open.

[@Kurominos1]

but in the same maner you can take a Beetle and a tarantula who are the same size drop them from the same height and the tarantula will get injured but the beetle will not exoskeletons can differ a lot spiders,caterpillars and so one have really soft ones while beetles ,ants etc have fairly sturdy and hard ones

[@lenarianmelon4634]

​@@Kurominos1some ants in the genus acromyrmex even have mineral reinforced exoskeletons made of dolomite-like material

[@derpychicken2131]

This is a bit dishonest, you’re generalizing the exoskeleton of a very heavy bodied, fossorial arthropod that would normally never venture more than a foot above the ground. Those burrowing tarantulas don’t need armored abdomens as they as usually tucked away safe in their burrow, so they can afford to lose the extra weight and it even helps them molt easier. They also grow super massive compared to other arthropods, making their heavy weight much more of an issue when falling, which only happens in captivity with owners lifting their pets high above the ground. In the wild they would never put themselves in a position where they can fall. The exoskeletons of almost any other arthropod are far more durable, able to take large falls without any risk of breakage. Some, like the ironclad beetle, can even withstand being run over by a car with minimal damage.

[@SRFriso94]

But then how did the molting process work back when insects were giants? From your own video: Dragonflies and big as eagles and millipedes as big as canoes.

[@MinuteEarth]

Great question! It comes down to atmospheric oxygen density versus metabolic rate. Basically, the higher the oxygen level, the more oxygen that can diffuse into the body. Right now, our atmosphere is something like 21% oxygen, but during the Carboniferous period, it was as high as 35 percent! forces.si.edu/atmosphere/02_02_06.html Also, if your curious - a deep dive into that oxygen constraint: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2880098/

[@tildessmoo]

​@@MinuteEarthThat article only mentions molting in passing, so anyone seeing this comment might easily miss it, so it might be better to answer directly. To wit: Arthropod tracheae are not entirely passive, just low-pressure; in preparation for molting, they increase respiration and decrease metabolism. Basically, they take a deep breath and then try not to move much while they've got to hold their breath.

[@CMZneu]

​@@tildessmoo To my knowledge this article mentions only mayflies and specifically cloeon dipterum larvae, these are aquatic and poses "gills" now whether these actively diffuse oxygen or simply circulate water idk but they do flap them around while stationary meaning they need to do this to breathe so it makes sense in this specific species molting would hamper breathing. I'm not aware of any info aside this that says insects can not breathe while molting, maybe there is but to state for a fact that just because it causes problems to this specific species which has mobile gills and is freaking aquatic that all insects can not breathe while molting is pretty ignorant.

[@tildessmoo]

@@CMZneu For the "can't breathe during molting" part I'm going off of the video we're both commenting on. (I've also seen it elsewhere, along with the fact that insect tracheae are low-pressure but not entirely passive, but not scholarly sources so not much point in linking them.) What I was digging through the paper for is how they _deal with_ not breathing when they molt, which is by taking a deep breath and lowering their metabolic rate beforehand. Which is also what MinuteEarth linked the article for in the first place; I just figured I should put it directly in a comment since it's such a brief throwaway line somewhere in the middle (I already forgot exactly where, and it's only been like a week).

[@CMZneu]

@@tildessmoo It makes sense that normal tracheal respiratory systems they aren't entirely passive, also the flapping of the gills in mayflies is definitely not passive. Hey what about other arthropods not all have tracheae but do have exoskeletons and molt, most extreme example would be coconut crabs, i really doubt those big boys are holding their breath while they change outfits and i'm pretty sure they take their sweet time, definitely hours if not days.

[@TheRMeerkerk]

"Gi-ants" you never seizes to amaze me with your dedication to create these witty puns, MinuteEarth!

[@christopherg2347]

They can not take credit for that one. The Comicbook Superhero "Antman" can sometimes grow and then is often called "Giant Man".

[@Glass-vf8il]

How do crustaceans get around the size limiting factors of exoskeletons? Is it because of the water?

[@MinuteEarth]

Great Q! The answer is basically yes; water gives them more buoyancy, plus crustaceans use gills rather than trachea so they can diffuse oxygen better. Also the biggest tend to live in colder water and thus have slower metabolisms.

[@DJFracus]

@@MinuteEarth laughs in coconut crabs which are the most massive arthropod on earth and live pretty much entirely on land

[@Kurominos1]

Coconut crabs breath with gills on land same as woodlice its a diffrent thing then how insects breath @@DJFracus

[@petersmythe6462]

Exoskeletons can perfectly well function on dog-sized animals. Just look at coconut crabs. As for growth, turtles can grow their shells just fine. There are also disadvantages to exoskeletons. It is much easier to kink or dent them than it is to break a bone, since they are hollow thin-walled tubes. Muscle attachments that far from a join can also create situations where strength is high but speed is low, and low speed cannot be effectively improved by adding more musculature. Exoskeletons also require complicated ways to expand the skeleton if the volume of its contents changes momentarily by breathing or eating. These can compromise the strength of the skeleton. Some animals like wasps have these features. Others, like spiders, don't, and as a consequence, large spiders are vulnerable to rupture from hard impacts or falls that a mammal would find harmless.

[@eduardoribeiro8378]

Turtles are reptiles. Its skin and shell is made of layers of scales, the new ones pushing the older ones. Also, the scales fall individually, don't messing with the mobility of the turtle. Also (again 😂), the inner shell is made of bones, they grow the same way than the human teen bones grows.

[@SonOfmowgef]

0:44 Link called. He wants his Minish cap back.

[@LimeyLassen]

Birds (and dinosaurs) offer a really interesting comparison, they're similar to mammals in a lot of ways but the way they breathe is very different. (Their body is packed with air sacs and they oxygenate on both the inhale and the exhale). The hollow bones are also part of how the sauropods got really big.

[@maxmusterman3371]

Oh my god that heracross is SO CUUTE

[@chrism3562]

Your pun game must have an exoskeleton because it is strong! The giANT one had me in stitches! 😂

[@nil981]

I think it was a PBS Eons host that said and I'm paraphrasing: "Being bigger only works if it grants you access to a different resource that allows for bigger sizes otherwise being bigger just means that you need more resources to sustain yourself."

[@feynstein1004]

I think that's actually wrong because you're comparing apples to oranges. If you had the same mass of mice vs elephants, the elephants would require far fewer resources than the mice. Efficiency increases with scale, read economies of scale. It's just that the elephants have more total mass to deal with compared to the mice.

[@babilon6097]

It never bugged me why ants are so strong because I knew about square-cube law and never learned the exact numbers of just how strong they are. I watched your video really bug-eyed. Imagine if bed-bugs were that big. Buggers would bite... I rub the bags under my eyes and bug-off to debug my code. Bug, I mean, by!

[@berengerchristy6256]

if bugs were that big they would collapse under their own weight, unable to move. then they would promptly suffocate and die. I personally don't really like these comparisons. in my mind they're just fantastical, as in they are fantasy

[@rextanglr4056]

I love how people hear this "ants can carry ten times its weight" fact and immediately conclude that it's extremely strong without considering the actual weight of an ant... it's like, nothing. Plus, an elephant can carry an ant, but there's no way an ant can carry ten elephants.

[@path_selector]

NOT THE MINISH CAP!!!

[@gw7120]

1:35 is heracross everybodys favorite bug pokemon

[@nero7370]

Love that Minish Cap reference

[@Ninjaeule97]

That's also the reason why insect size is largely dependent on O2 concentration in the atmosphere. In a pure O2 atmosphere, you could get giant insects (that are also really flammable but so would everything else).

[@GoldSkulltulaHunter]

Omg Minish Cap reference

[@diracio]

Loved it! V informative and entertaining as ever!

[@fatalfruit2662]

An obscure Iron Treads reference, those are rare ahaha

[@Tom_and_Lulu]

Great stuff as always. It would be great if you could work in metric as well for those of use that would like to use your work in schools outside the USA.

[@SIZModig]

Gi-ants, damn that's a good one

[@user-sr7wp5cr7f]

0:20 Flaaffy 1:33 Heracross 2:12 Donphan

[@sarthaksharma9129]

2:12 looks more like iron treads

[@user-sr7wp5cr7f]

​@@sarthaksharma9129No. Iron treads is different. It has a robotic face, doesn't have ears, have a pair of 'spike' on its side, and it has a curled trunk The Pokemon actually looks like a regular Donphan with mettalic body

[@TheOtherNeutrino]

​​@@user-sr7wp5cr7fIt could be an intermediate step from Donphan to Iron Treads as I see traits from both.

[@David_Hyacinthe]

Excellent video ! Thank you all !

[@OmSharmarwb2mafia]

more of these short interesting videos please

[@feynstein1004]

Btw wouldn't air resistance also be significant at small scales that it'd kinda be like lifting things underwater for us?

[@muratkarakaya656]

Minute Earth, Kurzgesagt and TedED posted a video today, this is the best day ever!

[@roxecca-nimadelolll4926]

Sometimes I watch these videos just for the puns at the end

[@skeepodoop5197]

I had a thought; is there something stopping an exoskeletal animal from developing lungs? That surely would allow them to not have to passively take in oxygen from the atmosphere right?

[@berengerchristy6256]

some insects "breathe" by flexing their abdomen repeatedly. very easy to notice on highly active ones like hornets and wasps. seems not to be as great as having lungs or gills. I do wonder what has stopped them from developing lungs? perhaps the ancient marine arthropods made do without a swim bladder or similar outpouching of the gut? who knows. surely if they could have they would have by now it has been quite some time

[@berengerchristy6256]

also maybe their circulatory system just isn't up to par with ours. we take our 4 chambered hearts for granted. maybe there is just no way to make something like the vertebrate heart and vasculature in that arthropod genome. just speculating wildly

[@gur262]

Crabs and hummers also have exoskeletons and they are big. Coconut crab. Surely it could get theoretically bigger , if we bred em that way like dogs. Can breathe on land,needs water to do so. I doubt there's specifically something stopping it it just doesn't happen. No route. The intermediate stage where it would be useless is too long. If everything but insects disssapeared and the niches would get filled, then maybe it would happen.

[@NeonDripKitty]

I'm kind of questioning the cant breath with out a exoskeleton part, cos it would not only mean the cant breath while moulting but also cant breath till it grows back and I don't imagen that being a quick thing

[@Kilo6Charlie]

Could a large Exoskeletal creature molt in patches? like one limb at a time, the head, then body segments? it would likely require a higher base intelligence, but possibly doable?

[@ItsMeMia1138]

the bug cartoons are absolutely adorable

[@LavenderLushLuxury]

Great video.

[@barba5209]

Goodness imagine a world in which ants are a meter tall.

[@Veriax549]

Then imagine how big the ant pile would be.

[@sk8rdman]

As I understand it, a large part of why smaller creatures like ants can have exoskeletons still comes down to the squared-cubed law. Exoskeletons aren't strong enough to support larger animals. Look at the largest terrestrial invertebrates, like the coconut crab. Their exoskeletons need to be quite bulky to support the extra weight of these creatures. Endoskeletons are just more efficient at scaling up to support larger creatures. In addition to the oxygen issue you described in this video, the squared-cubed law is also part of why there aren't large terrestrial invertebrates.

[@denisday14]

why can't we combine exoskeleton and lungs in one organism?

[@tjv323]

Okay but what about an exoskeleton creature with lungs?

[@MinuteEarth]

Turtles! Though they usually don't maximize in the strength department (TMNT not withstanding)

[@Merennulli]

There are crustaceans with a lung like structure that are about as close as we are likely to see. While they are relatively large, the benefit of exoskeletons still is subject to square cube law. It gains mass faster than strength as it scales up. Armadillos, turtles and similar have evolved compromise options, but the larger an exoskeleton gets, the more expensive it is to carry around and the less beneficial it is in defense and strength. When oxygen rates in the atmosphere were higher, insects did grow much larger, but you won't see an elephant sized one.

[@breadman6549]

0:45 What a normal hat that is not a reference to anything at all :)

[@Miamcoline]

Very interesting and answers an important question.

[@TreDogOfficial]

Let's genetically engineer human chimeras with insect exoskeletons! New sci-fi movie idea💡

[@notfunny3397]

Can you go more in depth on why they can survive falls from height better than bigger animals?

[@jasonreed7522]

The 2 main factors are: Smaller ratio of mass to cross sectional area means lower terminal velocities -> less inpact forces. And for impacts at the same speeds, the smaller animals have less mass and thus the collision impulse & associated forces will be lower (momentum p = mv, impulse j = Ft = ∆p). This means their tissues areless likely to have their strength overwhelmed and tear apart/shatter. Basically, throw and ant and an elephant off the empire state building and the elephant hits the ground at 140mph and explodes, the ant then lands next to the gore pile at 4mph and goes crazy about all the food it just found and needs to tell its colony about. (Ignoring all other consequences of these actions, for the hypothetical)

[@moodl3d856]

simply, more surface area than volume means more air resistance and slower less surface area than volume means splat

[@helton3425]

"Nothing larger than a mouse" Brazilian spooders exist

[@MinuteEarth]

I mean, generally. There are some pretty large spiders and crabs, but they are definitely exceptions as opposed to the rule, and there are always exceptions.

[@NaudVanDalen]

1:33 "Insectocornu heracrossi" I see what you did there!

[@walterw8223]

Would be interesting with another video about giant prehistoric animals in exoskeletons, like the extinct Arthropleura. Was the higher percentage of oxygen present in the past sufficient, or did these creatures have some additional adaptations that differ from today's insects with exoskeletons.

[@Kurominos1]

the biggest thing i leanred about it was back then there where no terrestial (exept some amphibians who stayed most of theyr time in water) verdebrates who would competet with these giant inverdebrates so they had all the food and stuff for themself then you can be gigantic cause nothign will bother you but as soon as somethign else shows up and competes with you for food and space you could consider taking other places ,,eat other food or for inverdibrates ..just get smaller and dont competet with verdebrates at all

[@GeorgeEe]

Omg! That Iron Treads though

[@knifetoucher]

Weren't there giant centi and millipedes back then that were bigger than dogs, weighed several lbs and still rocked an exoskeleton?

[@justawhim]

But there is limited space inside the exoskeleton for muscles and organs because it’s a bounded space. Doesn’t this limit the size and number of muscles that can be fit inside? Why does the exoskeleton have more attachment points than endoskeletons? Or is it just stronger attachment points because of the material used to make the skeletons?

[@deehanhaq2098]

Okay so seems like the biggest problem is breathing... But what if a big creature developed a lung system? Just thinking in terms of story world building :3 Of course we always think of another advantage of endoskeletons to be the load bearing leverage, but is it hard to see an exoskeleton managing to bear the load with the extra muscle leverage? Of course the lung system does pose that same problem of us getting exhausted, but... What if like a heart, a powerful lung pumped air in and out through intake and exhaust vents, cycling through the body at a fast rate?

[@DramaticBloodyBirds]

We'd end up needing far more resources for all of this extra stuff, and evolution really does not like that. If evolution was not a 'give it the old college try barely pass C student', maybe it could be possible, it just won't naturally because of the huge tug on resources! I was wondering this myself, good question.

[@tildessmoo]

There's a reason arachnids get bigger than insects: they've got the same semi-passive tracheae, but also a set of accordion-like lungs called "book lungs"!

[@Samu2010lolcats]

Look up coconut crabs, they have an organ called branchiostegal lung that allows them to grow into pretty massive sitzes for a terrestrial arthropod.

[@deehanhaq2098]

@@DramaticBloodyBirds true, but evolution doesn’t seem to be survival of the most efficient, either (not even gonna bother with examples I know almost everyone is instantly gonna think of sloths or koalas). It seems to be a roll of the dice and seeing if it sticks. Of course, there's also the fact that from a perspective that takes cold-blooded animals to be standard, warm-bloodedness also seems to be a badly overexpensive (energy-wise) choice, but it does still not only exist but even flourish well in this world. So it seems that if the appropriate mutations occur for the aforementioned advantages to apply to large animals, and the ecosystem can support it, then it's bound to become widespread... All a matter of chance though, nobody knows what might go wrong and result in the whole lineage failing :P

[@deehanhaq2098]

@@tildessmoo I wonder if this system would allow for even greater size, even mega fauna, if it developes into more sophisticated systems like what has happened with vertebrate hearts...

[@Italian_Isaac_Clarke]

You forgot the collapse because of the weight.

[@Soken50]

Why wouldn't an animal be able to both have lungs, a vascular system AND an exoskeleton ? Pore breathing is convenient when small but it doesn't scale well, so evolve a lung and vascular system while keeping an exoskeleton. I can see the heat be a problem but you could slap a big radiator dorsal on the back of the exoskeleton like the giant reptiles of the cretaceous did

[@TheAutisticFrog]

it’d probably get eaten while molting

[@tom282f38800]

Exoskeletus elephantus lol

[@astridvalkyrie8458]

The heracross is too cuuuute awh

[@CaesarsSalad]

You may think it's just due to the scaling law. And you'd be right, because ants can have exoskeletons while we can't, because of the scaling law.

[@gumbitoicic9977]

1:01 this bug looks like it was from scribblenauts

[@mhkhusyairi]

Thanks!

[@BZAKether]

If we had human-sized ants, we wouldn't be calling them ants, we would be calling them masters.

[@getting-the-knack-of-it]

The minish cap on the ant! 😁😆

[@International_Corn]

Bigger, Better, Stronger.

[@lolmayne]

So if an elephant had an exoskeleton, it'll also need RBG cooling fans too? 😂

[@Huegell]

Loved the Minish Cap

[@juanpablohorn6642]

Am I the only one that notced the Minish Cap reference?

[@wontnotawill1356]

Why would the exoskeleton perclude normal resperation? Just because insects have a passive system of breathing dosent mean thats the only possibe way, its just the path their evolution took.

[@IncuManiac696]

It has more to be on the size of atoms and cells, you cannot rescale those

[@cielbie8251]

what if an animal had an exoskeleton but also lungs or gills or something? could they not have both at the same time?

[@carpwhisperer1216]

Yes but likely wouldn't make much sense biologically. Double the effort for the same result. Breathing

[@MinuteEarth]

Many do - crustaceans have gills and spiders have book lungs (which are basically gills for air)

[@carpwhisperer1216]

Aye that's actually cool

[@cielbie8251]

​@@MinuteEarth Could those species then grow much larger? Tarantulas are somewhat large, and so are lobsters and crabs, but they aren't elephant-sized Japanese spider crabs are massive though, and that are crustaceans. Pretty cool

[@jasonreed7522]

​@@cielbie8251theoretically yes, currently the primary size limiter on lobsters is that molting takes so much effort they get tired and give up. For an exoskeletal creature to get to elephant size it would need both a way to breathe through lungs/gills, and a way to continue to successfully molt. (For an communal species it could be other individuals help with the process, and for a solitary species maybe the exoskeleton has some way of breaking into pieces for easier removal, possibly with a hormonal trigger that causes weakness at strategic points.) For world building purposes if you make a giant intelligent insect species one of their rituals could be related to molting, where close family helps your tear off you old exoskeleton. (Probably a very intimate process that would have the details kept secret from outsiders.)

[@YouPlague]

"It's not because of square-cube law, it's because of exoskeletons." Except they can have exoskeletons due to square-cube law.

[@BULLSHXTYT]

Very interesting.

[@tialsmakesstuffz]

“We would be calling them giANTS”

[@locouk]

That moment when everyone watching this realised a crab is bigger than a mouse, sheds it’s armour then wanders off in a few hours later.. Dead Crab Walking!

[@LegoCookieDoggie]

What's the hat at 0:47 a reference to?

[@emreboz638]

I see what you did there with the Pokémon and I like it

[@eliscerebralrecyclingbin7812]

Thanks

[@censorsstarve]

I like how they just stealth pkmn like animals into things.

[@ericyang1401]

Interesting title.

[@Hibrnaldo]

Heracross, Flaaffy, Donphan and the Minish Cap.

[@s4623]

You forgot about crabs. Those are non-breathing exoskeletons.

[@zpinn8242]

"Unless you make your own artificial exoskeleton" - Tony Stark, probably

[@juliav.mcclelland2415]

"Big deal - anyone can lift 10 times an ant's weight."

[@james4thedoctor482]

There are exoskeletoned creatures with lung like breathing styles

[@keith7315]

Title change got me.

[@poserboykam8352]

You hear that little guy

[@mxsdrago]

wait, what about crustaceans? some of them can get pretty big and get away with having exoskeletons

[@hpgramani]

How about combo of lungs and exoskeleton?

[@MinuteEarth]

Hmmmm... a hypothetical video exploring the possibilities could be fun.

[@astronics]

Clickbait with that title! Huh

[@yruijnaosd6645]

How come that smaller animals in general have more relative strength? I thought that muscular strength scales linearly with muscle volume, which would scale the same as total body mass. But by that logic, the strength to body mass ratio would be constant for different animal sizes (not taking into account the awesome exoskeletons, of course)

[@user-bm7dg8eo8i]

How did the gaint dragonfloes before dinosaurs not suffocate to death

[@cleveland_brown_skylander]

0:49 who gave the ant the minsh cap🤨

[@MinuteEarth]

That one goes to our illustrator Arcadi! He drew the cap on that ant in the very first storyboard.

[@garg4531]

Some people also say that part of why insects are limited in size is because their exoskeletons would be too heavy if they grew larger, but of course the giant insects of the Carboniferous prove they're more than capable of large sizes despite not having an internal skeleton to support their weight Since this time in Earth's history had a higher concentration of oxygen than the world today does, I'd say that's the main factor limiting their size

[@Kurominos1]

also back then there whrere not many verdebrates to competet with them jsut to be clear ,,, crabs and stuff also have exosceletons and lobsters get quite large and if we take a coconut crab ,,, this guys get gigantic and life 95 % of theyr life entirely on land

[@garg4531]

That too, competition is another thing limiting their size Very true, and there are still some other arthropods that manage to get fairly large, like the goliath beetle and some tarantulas

[@Kurominos1]

yep the better these inverdebrates are at competing defending themself agaisnt verdebrates the larger they can get like giant centipedes who can hunt mice,frogs ,snakes and bats @@garg4531

[@oweMriS]

"Is bigger better" Thats what she said.

[@petervilla5221]

Wait, insects have muscles? I thought they ran on hydrolics!

[@Leglessolas]

It depends. Better for the individual? Yes. Better for the species? Not necessarily

[@Absbor]

seeing how heracross is supposed to breath... uh...

[@user-sh3cf7kd6e]

Towards the end of the Carboniferous period, ~300 million years ago, oxygen levels in the atmosphere were much higher, which enabled bugs to become HUGE.

[@cheeseboi6357]

Yknow the section about ants not breathing when molting gives the reason why we dont have larger animals or even big bugs with exoskeletons. And! Why we *did* have big bugs with exoskeletons in the carboniferous period! The oxygen levels were higher, meaning they could go longer without the exoskeletons and thus also became bigger and bigger through their offspring, thats how we got giant insects!

[@Battleship009]

0:44 I see that the artist is a Legend of Zelda fan.

[@_Dearex_]

excelent Art!

[@skylerthacreator]

wouldn't a giant insect adapt and evolve to solve the problems, like how we cook food?