The Mystery of Earth's Disappearing Giants | IN OUR NATURE

“In Our Nature” is a NEW special limited series on It’s Okay To Be Smart!
We’re on PATREON! Join the community ►► / itsokaytobesmart
↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓
Seemingly distant ecosystems, even half a world apart, are connected in surprising ways. In this special limited series, Emily Graslie and Trace Dominguez join me as we explore the universal rules of life that tie together Earth’s living systems. In episode 6, we investigate a mystery. Millennia ago, while much of the Earth was covered in ice, enormous animals lived on every continent except Antarctica. Species like ground sloths, mammoths, gomphotheres, sabertooth cats, even wombats the size of cars! Today, Africa is the only continent where these megafaunas still exist. Why? What happened to the rest of Earth’s giants?
In Our Nature is a special miniseries produced by It’s Okay To Be Smart for PBS. Stay tuned for more episodes coming this summer, here on our KZbin channel!
Original Production Funding provided by: Anne Ray Foundation, a Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropy
-----------
Special thanks to our Brain Trust Patrons:
Joseph Spencer
Barbora Bei
Ken Board
Clinger-Hamilton Family
Attila Pix
Burt Humburg
DeliciousKashmiri
Brian Chang
Roy Lasris
Javier Soto
dani bowman
David Johnston
Salih Arslan
Baerbel Winkler
Robert Young
Amy Sowada
Eric Meer
Dustin
Marcus Tuepker
Karen Haskell
AlecZero
SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss a video! ►► bit.ly/iotbs_sub
Join us on Patreon!
/ itsokaytobesmart
Twitter
/ drjoehanson
/ okaytobesmart
Instagram
/ drjoehanson
/ okaytobesmart
Merch
store.dftba.com/collections/i...
Facebook
/ itsokaytobesmartpbs

[@besmart]

We hope you enjoy the sixth and final episode (at least for now) of In Our Nature. We've had so much fun making this special documentary series, and we hope you enjoyed it too. We set out to make the best KZbin nature documentary ever, and we're pretty proud of it. Let us know your favorite thing you learned from this series! And catch the full In Our Nature playlist here: kzbin.info/aero/PLsmqeqKj7M-r3lioCBH39wgdSk25qFdC3

[@Saniru_Kodithuwakku]

I am glad that wooly mammoths , wooly rhinocerous and saber tooth tiger naturally went extint if they survived to present hunters would definitely hunt mammoths to extinction for their massive ivory and wooly rhinos for their horns and saber tooth cats for their long canines .given below are how many wild elephants, rhinos and lions exist today in africa. LIONS - 20,000🦁 RHINOS - 27,000🦏 ELEPHANTS - 500,000🐘 I only mentioned about main animals there are ton of animals out there who are in the edge of extinction. It is a tradegy that we humans spend billions of dollars on space to find extraterstrial life and billon of dollars on military and weapons(obviously to destroy life) without trying to protect gift of life we have here on earth. by the way joe your videos are great. keep rocking. joe i suggest you to do a video on conservation of life on earth. STAY SAFE EVERYBODY. 😊😀

[@rezadaneshi]

Is the Oxygen content of our atmosphere dropping

[@everythinghate666]

love emily

[@afrz4454]

Loved the video! Don’t you consider the 300+ mammoths found on traps in what is today Santa Lucía Mexico a proof that humans were mass hunting mega fauna? They have been pulling out more and more mammoth fossils while they’ve been digging up for the new airport.

[@amil402]

I enjoyed this series ❤ Africa💕

[@Pwn3dbyth3n00b]

Millions of years into the future archeologists would be able to find human fossils, not in tar pits, but in LA traffic.

[@grmpEqweer]

I'm wondering if I could create a coffin kit that would dramatically accelerate fossilization.

[@warduxe]

@@grmpEqweer genius

[@gabrieldelatortilla1]

we should use dead humans as fossil fuel like, take my organs then use me as fuel, I'd be honored

[@kellydalstok8900]

Like an everlasting traffic jam that becomes people’s home?

[@diecastworld7962]

And it will be Musk cult ai half human robot scientists

[@hundred_dios1505]

I wish this series to get the deserved attention and traction which it should.. A lot of effort have gone into this and we can see it. Thank you for making this beautiful series.

[@Aaronjpolk]

He has 4 million subs

[@princememphis7726]

Millions of subs and backed by PBS. They are FINE bro

[@0ppaiDragon]

It's up to us the viewers/fans to find new audience for this content. Better have friends watching this than whatever the new "reality" show nonsense on tv

[@caroline6218]

Yes!

[@xtins]

People nowadays want to hear lies and watch sexual or violent content.

[@tonyhinderman]

Wow that last interaction is so important 20:40 "I could discover a new species today!" "You probably already did and you just didn't know it"

[@scheru]

"We actually have a time capsule! And it's in the *last* place you would expect!" "La Brea tarpits?" "LA BREA TARPITS!"

[@ManahManah77]

I can only imagine what that was like. I took my daughter to our local zoo a few weeks ago and they have a wide open African section with plains where you can see Elephants, Rhinos, and other animals. I’ve been around elephants before so I know how large they are, but they have one that was right under 18 feet tall from foot to top of the head. It made the others look like children. I have never seen one that size.

[@cool5843]

That’s taller than a giraffe!

[@VincentGonzalezVeg]

Mabie gigantism with intercompetition, or an example of gigantism, old genes expressed- something awesome 👍🏼

[@adreabrooks11]

The tallest elephant recorded, Henry from Angola, was a little over 13 feet at the shoulder. (The famous Jumbo was also billed as 13 feet 1 inch - but PT Barnum was, shall we say, prone to exaggeration - and his skeleton puts estimates closer to 10' 7".) Recently, an elephant in Tanzania has been estimated as slightly larger than Henry, but his height has yet to be officially measured. These are shoulder heights; but, even so, no living elephant has a head-height of 18 feet - unless maybe with the head tilted way back and the height measured to the raised tusks or trunk. Nevertheless, you're right: a big cow elephant (African bush elephant) stands 8 or 8.5 feet tall. A big male nearly doubles that, and they're truly awe-inspiring to behold! EDIT: Correction; I thought the new big'un was in Kenya, rather than Tanzania. This has now been corrected in my comment.

[@Dragonheroadimus]

“Extinctions are caused by multiple coincidences” The entire Anthropocene : (Mr Blue Sky)

[@emonahmadi208]

This is what everyone should be watching. This is something that we really need understand

[@nahor88]

Everyone as in children? This was clearly made for little kids; they were acting like complete goofballs. It's cringey as hell. JUST PROVIDE THE INFORMATION.

[@emonahmadi208]

@@nahor88 its bit cringey but its very educational and informative about what is going on in this world! And they are nerds what you expect they are not stand up comedians you don't come here to hear jokes but they try to make it fun have some appreciation!!

[@cameralabvietnam]

@@nahor88 it’s cringey but at least it’s informative. Or you can go watch tiktok videos, which are just cringey

[@21LAZgoo]

​its fine to be cringey as long as you are right, but the things they said like about coevolution being why africa and south asia still have a lot of their megafauna and how modern climate change compares to the changes at the end of the ice age are straight up lies.

[@naturespecialist1489]

Insect:”I’m surviving maybe not.”

[@nxxxxzn]

insect: sex, food, other

[@naturespecialist1489]

@@nxxxxzn insects are a part of human survival. Without insects everything will go out of control and the Earth will be a dead world.

[@KateeAngel]

All insects won't die off anyway. Maybe some important species will, though

[@naturespecialist1489]

@@KateeAngel human beings are damaging The ecosystem and climate change has been affecting species like the famous Chilean stag beetles nicknamed the Darwin Stag beetles these beetles have strange body and due to this they weren’t as famous as there now the stag beetles have famous because one arcade game and anime titled: Mushiking The King Of The Beetles and thus the beetle pouching has begun however after I watched the anime Mushiking Super Battle Movie I decided that my my personal effort is to save the stag beetles , as well as any rhinoceros beetles and stag beetles from extinction and thus change the beetle industry from pouching to conservation of the forests they live I did managed to find out what the Heracles beetles favorite tree is so at least that’s one beetle down a ton to go!!!!!!!! And yes the Dynasties Tytus rhinoceros beetles is endangered due to Emerald ash borer I need to do some research if it’s just Ash is what Dynasties Titus only eat and without the beetles many the insects will have a difficult time decomposing logs.

[@ValentinaMQuetzal]

@@naturespecialist1489 :/l

[@obiomajronyekwere4469]

Im kinda sad they dont teach this stuff in school all these creatures look amazing atleast maybe a face up view would've been cool its grwat we got this series thos

[@maythesciencebewithyou]

I don't know where you go to school, but this stuff should be in your biology curriculum.

[@obiomajronyekwere4469]

@@maythesciencebewithyou thank you

[@maythesciencebewithyou]

@@obiomajronyekwere4469 I mean it should literally be in there. I had this stuff in my biology classes. Are you already finished with school? Do you pay attention in biology class?

[@randompheidoleminor3011]

At mine it was touched upon in history class instead of science. It was _in_ the textbook but the teachers didn't bother teaching it because they weren't in the exams.

[@obiomajronyekwere4469]

@@maythesciencebewithyou my biologys cool but i am interested in paleontology they just never show it in class like ever

[@Cosouli]

Very entertaining and interesting, I felt like a kid watching PBS again. Many documentaries nowadays just don’t feel as fun to watch and learn anymore.

[@21LAZgoo]

true. although now that I look at it, some of their info is not correct, for example them saying that modern climate change is faster than the climate changes during the ice age

[@francoislacombe9071]

Calling 50,000 years the deep past is like calling knee high water the deep ocean.

[@lorisperfetto6021]

Yeah but it's all about what It relates to. 50,000 years feel like forever to a lifespan

[@Makabert.Abylon]

@@lorisperfetto6021 a point, but you still usualy dont say deep time about something as puny as 50.000 years. Then i could call 400 years deep time as its a long time for me🤷🏻‍♂️

[@lorisperfetto6021]

@@Makabert.Abylon yeah, it is true; but even by human standards 400 years isn't a lot. I do agree that 50,000 isn't deep time, but it is still before human civilization so...

[@alexv3357]

50,000 years is more of a baseline. Further back then that megafauna are essentially ubiquitous, except for the brief periods after the End Permian and K-Pg extinctions, and on land in the period before the Permian

[@8948380]

it's still pre-history from the perspective of scholars

[@Hamzoloo]

It'd be fascinating to experience life back then. The mysteries of our world never disappoint

[@monad_tcp]

you would probably die

[@christianventurina9529]

I'll definitely an easy dinner if i ever go back in time then :>

[@silviuflorin744]

Missed "would" and "be"

[@Fummy007]

These things went extinct because they are surprisingly easy dinner for humans. Their size doesn't make them indestructible to a pack of intelligent humans but does give a lot more food.

[@YusufGinnah]

Maybe a TV Dinner...

[@Dan_Kanerva]

@@Fummy007 imagine all the wasted meat after hunting a mammut , because back them there was no fridges or salt...

[@joshstephens1527]

Early humans probably targeted predators as well, whether intentionally killing them or fatally wounding them when defending a kill, or by targeting nuisance individuals.

[@chetisanhart3457]

Predators are easy to locate. They come right to the hunter.

[@21LAZgoo]

that probably happened, but because of their being no evidence that humans ever did anything with the predators, it probably happened so rarely that it didnt even do anything to affect the population of the predators

[@shadowgirl]

been rewatching the series just patiently waiting for this new ep

[@rg_2952]

Verified moment.

[@Laingrave]

How tf u verified with only 15k????

[@thesymmetry6854]

Wth !!! Verified with just over 15K???

[@deonmurr2830]

Hay guys, thanks for letting me get smarter for free. 🥰 I'm to poor for regular school but u guys are my brain food XF

[@Idk-ks4ch]

तू गरीब कैसे?

[@RainbowFlowerCrow]

@@Idk-ks4ch not everyone can afford post secondary education, dude.

[@diecastworld7962]

Is it a joke or really bro

[@Idk-ks4ch]

@@RainbowFlowerCrow तुझे हिन्दी आती है या अनुवाद करके प्रतिक्रिया दे रहे हो?

[@Idk-ks4ch]

I don't think that you are a poor guy. You are using KZbin from atleast 8 years. Your DP picture quality is also pretty decent. That means it a midrange smartphone.

[@EfHaichDee]

So what you're saying is that my current strategy of crying myself to sleep every night over the terrible catastrophe that is climate change's impact on the world, and the lack of significant change being made to try and prevent it *isn't* a valid response to the problem? Well then, where do I sign up?

[@redsky4118]

I agree that they aren't exactly precise with what concrete actions you can pose, but I think that a good beginning would be self-aware about what is a desire and what is an actual need for you. Also, we're all gonna die

[@NorthCitySider]

Being very emotional about this subject is only going to do more harm than good. The last thing we need is for people to think this is all just hysteria and mass delusion, which unfortunately a large chunk of them already do.

[@EfHaichDee]

@@NorthCitySider Yes I can see how my clearly comical comment above is the lynch-pin that will convince people that climate change isn't real. Did you stop to think *at all* before you made this post?

[@Jacob-xs5yu]

Ur pathetic

[@EfHaichDee]

@@Jacob-xs5yu Thanks

[@not_so_anonymous7413]

yup this is way better than my confusing modules

[@rakeshsahoo8080]

I'm literally crying 😭. Thank you for this amazing series, this makes me curious about that we human as a specie affected these vast and complex systems in a short span of time and what will be the future of these eco systems 100s of years from now. It's so sad that even with massive efforts most of these species gonna extinct in near future but we can't lose hope and respects to these scientists for their great contributions towards savings these vast ecosystems. Love you guys, already waiting for the next episode.

[@rugvedrm3844]

0:16 That's a Mammoth, not a Mastodon. There's a significant difference.

[@Roguefem76]

I LOLed at the giant ground sloth holding a Starbucks cup. xD xD xD

[@peabrain6872]

facebook moment

[@christopherbaby3842]

Ikr. But Grounds Sloths would definitely be into third wave coffee.

[@MindLaboratory]

The moral of the story is: if you walk into a tar pit.... you're boned.

[@RainbowFlowerCrow]

dAAAAaaadddd!....🙄🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@daphenomenalz4100]

👀

[@ekosubandie2094]

That's kinda... Hot

[@HilmyA.S.]

Megafaunas : these jaws can crush literal skulls in one bite! Mankind : yeah hold my spear

[@batuhanparin9930]

I would love to see your content with Turkish subtitles! Your topics are very interesting and I would like to make it possible for my students to watch it. I hope you guys see this comment and help me and my students stay curious. 🙌🙌

[@ku8721]

I've had a similar discussion before, my friend was saying it was all because of human hunting, and I said then why is Africa the only place that still has large animals, yet humans have been there longer than anywhere else? Not saying we weren't a huge factor, but we can't be the only factor

[@21LAZgoo]

they said it was because of coevolution with early hominds, but europe also had those early hominids at the same time yet most of the megafauna in europe still died out

[@TheGrinningViking]

We kinda know with mammoths. Scientists modeled their deaths due to the end of the ice age, something that was possible as they had lived through the two previous ice ages. They also modeled the number of mammoth deaths from human hunting, based on archeological evidence. Either alone wouldn't have caused their extinction, but when you combine both - no more mammoths.

[@21LAZgoo]

there were always population declines/collapses when the warm intervals came, and 14800 years ago there was a massive warming spike which caused huge megafaunal population decreases, then the younger dryas came and decimated that already low population, and then at 11600 theres another huge warming spike which fks the megafauna even more, humans were already in north america at least 24000 years ago possibly even older

[@Yathuprem]

What an awesome series, this is the best thing happened to KZbin. Thank you Emily, Joe and Trace for the awesome content.

[@naturespecialist1489]

Human: “I’m the most powerful thing in the world!!!” Insects , spiders and plants :” Without me your dead.” Human :”WHAT!!!!!”

[@RainbowFlowerCrow]

*NANIIIII!*

[@naturespecialist1489]

@@RainbowFlowerCrow yep its that simple plus the insect food chain is very huge it could be as the second largest food chain the largest being the ocean becuse we haven't found all the animals yet

[@youtube_user9110]

Bacteria and fungi: are we invisible?

[@naturespecialist1489]

@@youtube_user9110 Tree:” Your my partner in crime!!!!”

[@naturespecialist1489]

@@youtube_user9110 Leaf Cutter Ant:” Look at me we have been together for billions of year we work together!!!! Your not invisible!!!!!”

[@Lotschi]

IN OUR NATURE is definitely one of the best KZbin series I know. Thank you!

[@helenaren]

I recognised Emily’s voice straight away! So excited to hear from her again, I’ve missed brainscoop so much

[@zolacnomiko]

She has her own KZbin channel now! Only a few videos so far, but some excellent cicada content. And of course this entire In Our Nature miniseries. Hopefully PBS keeps picking her up for cool projects!

[@thecrippledpancake9455]

If you really think about it,… it’s not super crazy to believe that humans can travel from the tip of Alaska to the tip of Argentina if they had 1000 years to do it.

[@21LAZgoo]

what about trying to kill all the megafauna in north and south america in that time period too

[@richardschuerger3214]

Another subtle point on the potential interactions between human impact and other factors. If the climate was reducing the mega fauna numbers and humans were also hunting those animals, declining numbers might make settling in the next valley over more of an imperative for any peoples that made their living hunting those same animals than might be the case with more stable populations. So did human migration cause mega fauna numbers to drop, or did dropping numbers encourage humans to spread more quickly to keep finding game?

[@robweissman5952]

"Vat of sticky pickles" I wish I could unhear him say that.

[@rexmikes6270]

this channel has always been great but it's become absolutely awesome in the last year or two. mad props to you guys for kickin butt and takin' mega fauna names!

[@shannons.5476]

I've let a lot of these videos play in the background while I go about my business, not really paying too much attention to the details, but this one got me to sit down and look at the screen. Really glad I did because that was all super cool!

[@makoyoverfelt3320]

It seems to me that each new video has less of an educational tone and more of an entertainment tone, which I see as rather detrimental to the quality. Hopefully it's just the series that was going on and now things will return to normal.

[@walterward1829]

Everything is subject to feedback loops. If more people watch 'Entertaining' shows than 'Educational', then you will naturally see more 'Entertainment'. Don't blame the show, blame the watchers.

[@justinw-s1694]

I think the Theory put forth by Sergey Zimov was for the most part correct. It was essentially a positive feed backloop. Basically with Reduced Megafauna Populaions came the changing of whatever environment they effected. Thus leading to reduced access to food, lowering the megafauna's ability to survive thus pushing it into the loop until complete extinction. This paints a pretty clear picture of large animals or animals in general having a positive effect on their surroundings.

[@21LAZgoo]

but mammoths couldnt do anything about nearly their entire habitat being lost because of the interglacial that came 130,000 years ago, humans had large migrations into europe and the asia at that time because of the warming but they arent blamed for that collapse

[@sujalchopra.]

Yeah thanks always wanted this topic... In our nature just keeps getting better

[@mukialedori]

I thought this series was really excellent, format, content and hosts. You guys are the best!

[@omggiiirl2077]

Also giant animals usually have fewer babies and gestate longer, and that can be a disadvantage.

[@graysonsmith7031]

I still believe that some of the megafauna extinctions were caused at least partially by human hunting. It makes sense now that mammoths may have been having a hard time already, but I think we definitely are responsible for a few of those extinctions. Not the majority, but a few.

[@cbandtheradio5610]

If I had kids this would be one of the only shows on cable tv/KZbin I'd let them watch. Love it.

[@GoodNewsEveryone2999]

I used to work there (I cleaned things in the fossil lab)... one thing we were constantly trying to get people to understand it that it was NOT like quicksand.... it was more like a glue trap, fairly shallow with animals stuck on top. The seeps would continue to seep and cover over it, but the semi-soft ground and bubbling would churn things (over long periods of time) so you actually don't get stratification. The pits are only pits today because they have been excavated and then the seeps re-filled the pits left by excavation. NOW, those are like quicksand, but they would not have been like that prior to excavation. We always told guests it was likely a combination of factors as far as the megafauna.

[@gammagalaxy8103]

Coincidentally, this is the exact period of time we're currently covering in my Anthropology class

[@marlonmoncrieffe0728]

What sort of anthropologist do you want to be? Archaeologist? Cultural anthropologist? Linguistics anthropologist? Physical anthropologist?

[@21LAZgoo]

do they say the megafauna that wasnt in africa and south asia went extinct because of human coevolution

[@WebWingRecords]

I know this is supposed to be a mini series but I just love the interaction and chemistry between the 3 hosts and I wish it could go on and on!

[@killiankillz]

What a wonderful series! Thanks as always for making and producing these insightful videos.

[@AlphaEta3]

The moment when you realize we are an invasive species

[@Teo_spot]

Real

[@Djemoltellitlikeitis]

Because we are not all from here

[@MikesLeTour83]

We are all African-American………. or African-whatever

[@pritishpatil7659]

I'm loving this series. Already have watched all of Joe's videos on this channel, and I always wonder why the subscribers aren't 10 times!

[@blueberrychocolate4238]

Watching this was really interesting! I wish I could have the chance to see these fossils in person. It would be like looking at history.

[@suicideistheanswer369]

This is one of my favorite series on KZbin. Great work, guys!

[@carlovaldez7092]

Thank you, this series was amazing.

[@RMAGGR]

I'd love to hear more about how the climate changed at the end of the Pleistocene. Do we know about how it impacted ocean currents and things like wind patterns?

[@21LAZgoo]

as for wind patterns im not sure, but ocean currents, yes. it also caused the largest mass extinction event in 5 million years, yet the people in the video say we are experiencing much quicker climate change now than we were at the end of the ice age

[@heaththeanimalman5684]

Humans are almost completely at fault. It's so sad. 😞😡😭

[@heckald]

I can't believe you guys did not cover the impact theory! 2 clusters of asteroids hit earth 11600 years ago and again 12000 years ago causing rapid warming of the earth. It hit the ice sheets in North America causing massive flooding across the world. Please do another revision of this video!

[@gringle8578]

This episode was very interesting, thank you joe. Keep up your amazing content.

[@GuiiBrazil]

This kind of videos fascinates me more than any other kind of content nowadays... I feel like, in the next 30 years, we will experience some reality checks and bingos. For better or for worse.

[@vivekchoudhury6648]

I am starting to miss the old format of the show which was far more concise, precise & to the point. Nowadays, it's more like a talk show that more often than not wanders off track from the actual topic, sometimes so much so that it starts to seem boring and confusing. Please bring back the original "It's Okay To Be Smart" - that would actually be a smart idea I guess.

[@numerum_bestia]

You aren’t the only person that has noticed. They likely had trouble maintaining an older audience so they are trying to target children by constantly making jokes that only a 10 year old would laugh at. That and constantly referencing modern pop culture, things that have little to nothing to do with the subject matter. Views = $$$. It’s as simple as that. Can’t really blame them, it’s probably not even their choice. They are run by PBS and they want to keep the lights on. It’s similar to how the history channel started losing viewers so they shifted their target audience. Conspiracy theory’s and aliens appeal more to the average idiot. There are plenty of other channels that handle these subjects more seriously if that’s what you want. I don’t think they care about your opinion and even if they did, it’s likely out of their hands.

[@vivekchoudhury6648]

@@numerum_bestia I absolutely agree with you

[@21LAZgoo]

they had some good info, but the things they said like about coevolution being why africa and south asia still have a lot of their megafauna and how modern climate change compares to the changes at the end of the ice age are straight up lies

[@ajrana7225]

From a few days I was actually having the exact same question in my mind for it. Finally something to think upon.

[@Uriel51]

Wonderful message, what a great ministries. Glad to have you folks here on the interwebs!

[@Kingofportals]

I would say the closest thing left that North Americans have to the Pleistocene in terms of Megafauna would be Yellowstone, Alaska, and Northern Canada, and for South America the Amazon Rainforest.

[@brandonrandall7974]

I wonder if the tar pits would have any sort of fungal fossils to see. It would be interesting to see how those early pioneers of land and soil have hanged over time! Really enjoy this series keep up the great work!

[@JoaoPedro-qp9cw]

As another comment said, I wish these videos get the attention they deserve. The quality is really outstanding, this comment is my contribution to appease the algorithm

[@lbell1703]

10 minutes into the video my stoned ass randomly went "All three of them wear glasses.... And so do I" I got issues.

[@Mu51kM4n]

Glad to see Emily finally get some focus on this series, looking at specimens reminds me of the brain scoop

[@jamesfoley2759]

I love this channel and I love this topic especially it's really interesting, but this series specifically seems really awkward to me. Like the information in this video could have been a 5 minute explanation. The uncomfortable zoom call style delivery doesn't sit right with me

[@TheRadu21]

I am no expert on ecology... but i have a sense that you can't really preserve a habitat without the full cooperation of the native people of that area... so, I'd think the best way to ensure long term survival of endangered habitats is investing in the people that live there.

[@shisir_nayak2377]

Please make more episodes of the series. I learn something from every episode.

[@faqat6790]

What about the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis? This hypothesis would literally explain every single phenomenon during this period. Humans didn't change the climate, but an extraterrestrial impact sure would.

[@couchgrouches7667]

It wouldn't explain why the megafauna on Madagascar and New Zealand went extinct in the 14-1500s coinciding with the arrival of humans.

[@TheFlyfly]

im pretty sure thats a heavily criticised hypothesis, so i wouldn't place my bets on that. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Younger_Dryas_impact_hypothesis

[@jesse_campbell]

The timeline is right, at least-12,000 years ago...

[@keithprice475]

@@TheFlyfly It is, but I think we have good reasons to doubt the criticisms - see this amazing series of videos on the ENTIRE scientific literature on the YDIH for more detail on why than you probably want: kzbin.info/aero/PLftb0lOpSe9PvJhFKSueZV9Wrz4g1qRkr

[@21LAZgoo]

@@couchgrouches7667 well, humans arrived in europe tens of thousands of years before they arrived in north america, yet mammoths in europe and north america still went widely extinct 10,000 years ago

[@robertgotschall1246]

Very good. Megafauna extinctions have been going on continuously since the beginning. Complexity in systems is one of my pet interests. The butterfly effect is real and it doesn't seem to take all that much to make huge changes. PS I just heard rather convincing evidence of humans in the Yukon 24,000 BP.

[@RainbowFlowerCrow]

Very interesting! And today I learned a new term: BP = Before Present in history! And now I'm interested in learning about humans being in the Yukon 24,000 years ago!

[@toLothair2]

How about the Smithsonian saying that humans from europe were in North America as long as 100,000 years ago?

[@21LAZgoo]

what about the 250,000 year old mastodon pelvis that has a mastodon carved into it and also tools, which while tools cant be directly dated they were found in a 250,000 year old stratum layer in mexico

[@semaj_5022]

Depressing as the end of this video was, I absolutely loved this series and I learned so much good stuff. I hope you're able to do a second "season" of this series.

[@21LAZgoo]

dam whats wrong with the end of the video, the climate change we are having right now is the smallest and slowest climate change that has happened in the entire holocene

[@semaj_5022]

@@21LAZgoo "Smallest and slowest climate change" how, exactly?

[@21LAZgoo]

@@semaj_5022 what you mean how. look at the greenland ice cores climate history of the last 15000 years, even the medieval warming period 1000 years ago made the earth more warm than now and made it warm quicker than what is happening now. i don’t get why the people in this video say that the current global warming is much faster than changes in the past, when that is a complete lie. if anything, the current warming shows that even though it is the smallest and slowest climate change in the entire holocene, a lot of people are still suffering from it, and for comparison the current global warming is around 1.3 degrees fahernheit since the start of the industrial revolution which started some time between 260-170 years ago. imagine what happened 11700 years ago were to happen now, when the earth warmed 18 degrees fahrenheit *in less than 10 years.*

[@realquirky]

I can't believe how hard I laughed at the though of having a giant Chigüire here in Venezuela. I mean, he is the biggest rodent on earth, BUT HE COULD BE BIGGER.

[@Imperiused]

This has been an amazing series. Great work guys! Thank you for bringing it to our homes.

[@Ry-sx4lp]

when is this series gonna end?

[@MumboMod]

This was really fantastic, great job!

[@TheDestoyer24]

It made me happy to hear “You didn’t even realize it but you probably already did”

[@knuto2084]

I always love this Chanel and meeting Emilie again is just the best

[@graysonsmith7031]

I think the ice age was a bit of an evolutionary trap for mammals. They were encouraged to get bigger, specialize for cold, and specialize to competing with other big fauna, most fauna had no choice but to grow bigger. Once the ice age started ending most fauna had been so ingrained in that niche that they couldn't adapt quickly enough, their size became a detriment instead of a benefit, and in general made them less adaptable. The ice age caused most decently sized fauna that were generalists to grow bigger and become specialists, once the climate took a turn these newly formed specialists couldn't adapt as quickly as the generalists who were often smaller. Thankfully humans are specialists at being generalists.

[@chrismcaulay7805]

always good to see an intelligent comment on youtube... heaven forbid people think about things from a multi step logical analysis...

[@EcologyEthologyEvolution]

Not really though, the "ice age" was not actually one solid block of time where the climate was cold. For the last 2.58 million years there have been cold glacial periods and warm interglacial periods that oscillated back and forth for millions of years. At certain points New York State would be buried under hundreds of meters of ice, and at other times there would be crocodiles and hippos on the British isles (warmer than even today). Those large cold adapted animals moved north or south with changes in temperature over thousands of years, and most of them only went extinct this last time around after humans reached them. We are currently still in the ice age, and will be unless we warm the planet so thoroughly that both the Arctic and Antarctic melt completely.

[@graysonsmith7031]

@@EcologyEthologyEvolution just a thought. There was significantly more "ice" though, on average it was cooler. I'm not going to strongly defend my theory.

[@eliletts1680]

@@EcologyEthologyEvolution aside from the crocodilians in the British Isles, everything you said about the Pleistocene epoch was pretty spot on! 👍

[@21LAZgoo]

@@EcologyEthologyEvolution 74 out of 88 species of australian megafauna were extinct by around 85000 years ago, which is around 15000 years before the first humans went into australia, an the 14 species that were still there coexisted with humans for over 25,000 years and then suddenly went extinct right when there is increased aridity, which shows that climate can cause a lot of animal species to die out without humans. plus mammoths died out in europe around 10000 years ago which is the same time they died out in north america, and humans reached europe many tens of thousands of years before they reached north america

[@Eldorado1239]

Scientist: _"This is our single most important specimen. It contains the answer to everything. Because it's so fragile, we store it inside a special protective pill."_ Emily: * *nom* *

[@samudrajs5409]

This was a great series. Hope to see more of these.

[@bhuvaneshs.k638]

Early humans and Neanderthals have seen some crazy things then 🔥

[@21LAZgoo]

fr man

[@CubicSpline7713]

I think (from my small knowledge of the world) that tiny creatures survive massive changes in their environment, better than large creatures. Take ants, Mice, Rats. They seem to survive anything. Koala bears... no hope.

[@MrWizeazz]

Koalas seem like an evolution anomaly as to why they even survived this long, kinda like giant pandas. They eat something that is somewhat toxic to them and gives them little too no dietary energy needed for survival.

[@DLCS-2]

@@MrWizeazz but they get aggressive when provoked.

[@YounesLayachi]

Koalas aren't bears, and neither are pandas

[@CubicSpline7713]

@@YounesLayachi I never said they were!

[@youraveragewhiteguy7296]

This stuff is what got me to be currently pursuing my degree in bio. Cause I want to understand the world around me in such an intimate way. And seeing this kind of stuff always continues to reignite that passion when the hardships of college blur my vision. Thank you for this. I'm not gonna lie, I got really emotional near the end cause envisioned myself in that chair... hearing those words.

[@matthewzimel6593]

Incredible as always!

[@danielsuppan4651]

Im Not for the comedy, i Just want Informationen

[@xponen]

9:23 , a side-by-side comparison of human of different phylogeny, this size difference is consistent everywhere I look.

[@y37chung]

The bigger race will go extinct :x

[@hollyodii5969]

Wow. Speechless on so many levels.

[@niharg2011]

Hey guys give India some credit too, when it comes to Megafauna we have 4/5 Pantherine big cats (Tiger, Lion, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Elephant, Gaur (the largest Bovid alive), Water Buffalo, Yak, Multiple subspecies of Wolves (Indian, Tibetan and Himalayan Wolves all found in India), Rhino, we might not have Zebras migrating but there are Wild Asses, multiple Bear species like the Sloth Bear, Himalayan Black Bear, Himalayan Brown Bear and large reptiles like Gharial, Mugger and Salt Water Crocodile along with Giant Snakes like the Rock Python and King Cobra, Also feral populations of Camels who have probably been around in India since like the 1400s... Unfortunately we lost The Indian Cheetah in the last century in the 1950s. It's just sad that when people think of Lions they think of Africa, when it comes to bears it's usually Russia or North America and Saltwater crocodiles are associated mostly with Australia. You can find Cold Deserts, Hot deserts, Rain forests, Plains/Grasslands, Shrubby Woodlands all sorts of biomes and ecosystems here.

[@williamchamberlain2263]

India is insanely varied

[@mroldnewbie]

I was gonna comment about that too, but I would just say Asia, not India specifically, since the claim was not about countries like that, but continents. Some of the megafauna in India also lives in other parts of Asia.

[@bigsmoke4]

Man...there is a lot of nerdy jokes here

[@jeffryjeffersonroxas2286]

I was just about to say this! It's crazy.

[@diecastworld7962]

Actually nerds are those who keep simping about old crap video games which are just famous because some boomers feel nostalgic for those but doesn't matter wether it was great in that times standards or whatever it was a dull game vice city had better representation

[@bigsmoke4]

@@diecastworld7962 ok

[@Dark0neone]

@@diecastworld7962 says the dude who is into Diecast lmao

[@diecastworld7962]

@@Dark0neone I used to be in diecast hobby but left it yrs ago just gotta change the name diecast really sucks it's freakin boring

[@lynsmith3154]

I'm a bit confused by the message. To me, this very good video shows that rapid change in a short period 12,000 years ago demonstrates that natural climate changes, (e.g. the Milankovitch cycles), are likely to cause rapid change much faster that changing CO2. What was the change in CO2 during the period of this Pleistocene period? A tiny decrease. Did the change in CO2 have the major affect on the climate then? Wouldn't an increase in CO2 have a beneficial change towards a less drier climate that what occurs currently around LA so mega fauna can flourish once again? What am I missing ?

[@victorfergn]

Ask Venus :V

[@zolacnomiko]

Loved this series! What a great team of science communicators, brought together like the Power Rangers or Captain Planet to create awesomeness even greater than the sum of their parts! Especially love anytime I can get some Emily Graslie content. :) Also, not to take away from the important science/conservation message, but that Jahawi Bertolli, wow, what a cutie. ;)

[@psychosweet6152]

this was so beautifull omg thank you!!

[@brettselph7591]

Does anybody else wish they spent less time "making it palatable for dummies" with cutesiepoo jokes and time wasting? I love the subject matter, but I can barely stand the presentation.

[@CallMeByMyMatingName]

Sucks SO BAD! Can you not cater to an audience older than 10?? They go learn something after high-school and then teach that to 10 year Olds! The kids in their targeted audience are less likely to challenge them. Helping them feel smarter, and like the teachers they thought were THEE wealth of knowledge in middle school.

[@mytube12]

Captain Levi's ancestors probably killed off these Titans!

[@magatsukamisan3444]

No they were just slaves to founding Titans

[@2008-wii-remote]

This is like. The cringiest comment here. Take your AntiSemitic garbage out of here

[@yunusjauhari]

19 April 2022 11:20 Nonton KZbin 11:22 City Beautiful US European Zoning Comparison 11:45 OBF Why China Is Building Their Own Europe 11:55 Kekamar Mandi 12:04 Paolo From Tokyo Things Okay In Japan But Illegal Around The World 12;21 Arkive Singapore Is Insanely Well Designed 12:25 Bunda Naik keatas 12:33 Bloomberg Quicktake How Singapore Use Sciences To Stay Cool 12:48 Be Smart Mystery Of Earth Dissapearing Giants

[@naveenraj2008eee]

Hi joe This series is so good.. I want you to continue.. What inspired me giraffe chewing bones .. Thanks for the series..

[@blaircox1589]

What about the impact theory that was proposed a decade or so ago ? I believe I saw it on an episode of Nova about the Clovis people. There was an impact around 13,000 years ago that tied into the megafauna and migration of humans here. Been a long time since I've heard about it, so maybe dismissed?

[@soumitrajoshi6178]

They missed a important point Elephants ,lions, tigers,rhinos,camels, guar bison, buffalo are still there in India. It's like they purposely ignored that.

[@mjallenuk]

That last part was more than crazy enough... Encore!

[@Third-Eye123]

What a great work... Awareness with knowledge. ❤✨💫