The Demon Ducks of Prehistoric Australia

[@akiraasmr3002]

Ahh the dangerous Dropbear 😂

[@BenGThomas]

The deadliest of all Australia's wildlife

[@saltygrandpajoe6375]

They haunt my dreams ... 😉

[@kylemackinnon5696]

Everbody gangsta until the Bears got the Drop

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

Stuff of nightmares! They'll eat your face off and leave you with a dose of Chlamydia! 😂

[@jurgen1395]

Dromornis skull looks almost identical to a gastornis skull

[@erictaylor5462]

Geese can also be grateful. After I rescued a bunch of goslings the parents showed there growing babies off to me several times, and even greeted my the following season. I realized being unkind to geese may be a bad idea. They remembered me helping them, and this means they will also remember if you are unkind.

[@2degucitas]

Well done. You'll be spared their wrath.

[@ground_up_gears5558]

To be fair, "Demon Screamers" sound pretty awesome too, so not complaining.

[@gshaindrich]

and why oh why do all of you have to be so idiotic, as to call something "demon" just because it is unknown? We know they were herbivorous, what makes you so afraid of ducks/geese that alone the though of a big one having existed makes you stain your pants? Do you call vegans demon people? Ostriches, rheas, and even emus and cassowaries... are they all so scary?

[@RealPaleontology]

This whole idea that Australia is inundated with dangerous killer wildlife is just so much hyperbole. Way more people are killed by cows every year then by sharks snakes and crocodiles combined. I really wish people would stop peddling this nonsense

[@rl9217]

“Finally, a worthy opponent! Our battle will be legendary!” -Elephant Birds finding out they have competition for the title of the largest birds to ever exist

[@chheinrich8486]

2 entirely separate lineages of giant flightless bird running around in Australia just 50000 years ago, crazy continent 😂

[@2degucitas]

They say aboriginals got there 60,000 years ago, so they had to contend with those 2 monsters. I don't blame them for killing them off.

[@uncle7162]

⁠Giant wombats kangaroos thunderbirds Quinkana megalania and marsupial lions shame we don’t got no unique megafauna

[@chheinrich8486]

@@uncle7162 on top of all the venomous critters, shows you how resilient we are

[@nikobellic570]

​@@2degucitas easy, abundant food

[@JoshTrager-j9g]

​@@nikobellic570Yes, for a foolish creature that knows nothing about coexistence.

[@snakewithnolegs]

I always love talking about Pleistocene Australia

[@OlessanYT]

Thank you for including the drop bear in the intro. They're critically endangered and not very charismatic despite the memes, so not many people talk about them. There aren't any conservation programs yet because they can't get funding due to the bad rap the animals get.

[@unknown-ql1fk]

So I love the drop bear stuff but in a real science channel it falls a little flat for my taste, if you joke around with drop bears, why not demon ducks?

[@urgardista]

With more tourists arriving for dropbear food, their numbers are steadily increasing.

[@patreekotime4578]

​@@unknown-ql1fk This channel has an excellent sense of humor and regularily features bizarre, even surreal imagery and ideas.

[@Crocy]

I agree, they're a valuable species, especially since they manage ecosystems, keeping other species in line, a keystone species. Tourists can use a special Vegemite spray. The trouble is, most tourists use it raw. The spray is special, you can't just slap Vegemite on raw.

[@digigalbytes2445]

​@@unknown-ql1fkI'm ok with the drop bear stuff on this channel, but I have a problem with them referring to them as carnivorous koala BEARS. Now, that's unscientific!

[@OlessanYT]

Not to comment a fourth time, but I love the selection of art and visual figures used in your videos. It really helps visualise the topic both with the evidence and with artistic reconstructions, and I've discovered loads of artists through it.

[@Fede_99]

Not really, the artworks in their videos can be wrong or outdated at times, so if someone doesn't know what are the good ones and what aren't it can get confusing. The main problem is that sometimes certain animals are less talked about so they have few illustrations and not all of them are good. Another factor is that sometimes it's difficult to find good art cause of the various algorithms and they're just more hidden than other illustrations

[@d012k-n5t]

The drop bear, the true apex predator of Australia

[@r.awilliams9815]

You know those helmets the Germans wore around the end of the 19th century, the ones with the spiky bits on top called a pickelhaube? It's little known, but those were developed as self-defense against dropbears in case the Germans ever invaded Australia.

[@ianlowery6014]

@@r.awilliams9815 You get ten points for that one!

[@MrPigfarmer23]

Thanks you for mentioning the dropbears, they terrorized my child hood in country Victoria, they look so nice, but so dangerous, just have to keep your eyes on the trees

[@Morrison-saber-tooth]

Dr Polaris today maked video about 'real sea serpents' and Ben G Thomas released video about extinct australian birds, paleo lover like me's gonna sleep good tonight

[@akiraasmr3002]

Thanks for reminding me I have so many notifications I didn’t see Polaris made a video

[@beastmaster0934]

@@Nemesiszephyros Oh you mean the transphobic a-hole who tried to inject his bigoted beliefs into his videos? Yeah, I’ll “miss” him too. (Not) The only sadness I feel is that his kid will be raised on those beliefs.

[@beastmaster0934]

@@Nemesiszephyros Good riddance to RRW. He’s a transphobic bigot. Look up Paleo Nerd’s community posts on him. You’ll see the truth.

[@beastmaster0934]

@@Nemesiszephyros Good riddance to RRW. If you knew the real him, you would be glad he’s gone:

[@beastmaster0934]

@ He’s a transphobic bigot. Paleo Nerd has a community post about him.

[@urgardista]

Magpie Goose at the end sounds really cool and harmless. I will buy one a couple of dropbears for inhouse pets.

[@legendre007]

Ducks are already exciting, so if they are “demon ducks,” we know we are in for a good time. 🤔

[@Reece-3601]

The demon duck rock art.. positively incredible !

[@michaelkyriacou7026]

Yo thanks again for all your time and effort!! The "Demonisation" of animals is always vexing!!!

[@kateglew580]

My Australian second cousin indeed lives in fear of Dropbears, by far the most formidable of all Australian animals. Even saltwater crocs cower in their presence

[@givemespace2742]

Not here in WA. No droppers here.

[@whitmerule2753]

@@givemespace2742 Well, they rely on trees for ambush predation, so you couldn't really expect them to make it across the Nullarbor.

[@MichelZongo-q3r]

I loved this video, this man is Amazing and has a ton of knowleged about dinosaurs and animals around the World. I think that this Channel is very important to understand difficile things because they try to make easier for viewers to understand the paleontology. Love him

[@bruh949]

Don’t forget the giant goose, Garganoris, which may have had to fight/ be hunted by a giant killer owl, Tyto gigantea and another bird predator Garganoaetus. Don’t forget Malta and south Italy where there was a swan bigger than Dwarf elephants, Cygnus falconeri. Birds did truly rule the world once. All this was in Europe. Last note Malta, Sicily and Gargano Island are very reminiscent in this way of Hatzeg Island and the Ibero-Armorican island in the Cretaceous.

[@dont-hurt-me2519]

The early humans of Australia taking Genyornis eggs instead of hunting the adults has been depicted in the 2003 Documentary; Monsters We Met (a.k.a. Land of Lost Monsters)

[@givemespace2742]

Did they mention giant drumsticks?

[@JoshTrager-j9g]

As a bird lover, learning about stuff like this breaks my heart. So much suffering the earth has endured because us humans. 😢

[@nikobellic570]

Early humans were on the edge of survival so ate what was available and easy to catch. Today's human-caused mass extinction is unforgivable

[@JoshTrager-j9g]

@nikobellic570 I don't know about the former point you made. Personally, I think early humans killed more animals than was necessary too.

[@geesehoward700]

got to love the birds going back to their old dino ways

[@미제드론]

Raging storm ~~~!!!!

[@OlessanYT]

Mihirungs my beloved. It's wild that they may technically be waterfowl. Just huge, to the point that they rivalled the largest moas and the elephant birds in size.

[@eschwarz1003]

awesome; Australia is such a fascinating place

[@yetti423]

The drop bear was by a considerable marging the most dangerous.

[@UnwantedGhost1-anz25]

I bet the dogs and dingos in Australia today would have been terrified to see these enormous animals back then.

[@vitabricksnailslime8273]

I doubt that too many dogs accustomed to hunting would be long terrified by something they could easily evade.

[@Carlos-bz5oo]

Dingos arrived to Australia around four thousand years ago so they would not have met these birds

[@liningtheclouds]

All ways love your videos but as an Australian I found this particularly interesting and fascinating.

[@thenutella8846]

I appreciate the person who named it the "demon duck of doom" real poetry right there.

[@jamesleatherwood5125]

am reminded of the song Moby Duck by The Longest Johns about a giant demon drake! a mallard of such might!

[@rossjarrett6831]

You’re a legend young man, jam packet with information… excellent work!

[@rl9217]

It’s great seeing a video on a family of extinct birds. Most tend to focus on the few famous outliers, while the vast majority of extinct birds go underrepresented. I’d love to see a video on the giant extinct birds that, while decently well known, often go unmentioned online. Elephant Birds and the giant ostrich Pachystruthio are the first to come to mind, as Moa’s are very well known. They’d be great topics for future videos!

[@AncientWildTV]

yeah fascinating, their unique adaptations and the environments

[@Phoboskomboa]

The dropbears bit legitimately cracked me up.

[@Getpojke]

Funny you mention not wanting to get on the wrong side of their beaks. Things like modern day cassowary & ostrich will use their feet to give you a very bad & short day. When I used to fly & handle raptors (birds, not old dinos) everyone was cautious of their hooked beaks. But they were more likely to grab out at you, surprisingly fast & to quite a distance, with their taloned feet.

[@crispymidget8531]

I'll never get tired of how Brits say the word "aquatic" ❤

[@OlessanYT]

One of my favourite things about this genus is the Genyornis skull looks almost exactly like your average waterfowl skull. Edit: in general shape profile I mean. It looks like a bill.

[@EcoLogicality]

aww ye ye nah ye, definitely need to watch out for those drop bears m8

[@Ballistics_Computer]

Right oath cant

[@BlissfulEchoNatureSounds]

Mihirungs were incredible giants of the avian world! Their massive size and role as apex predators highlight the fascinating diversity of prehistoric ecosystems. It's a reminder of how fragile nature can be; their extinction teaches us the importance of conservation today. A truly remarkable chapter in the story of life on Earth!

[@lukewilson4351]

Thanks so much for making this video - dromormithids are amazing but don’t get enough airtime!

[@DOGosaurus_rex]

0:18 reminds of a skeksis

[@ajc7295]

Loved this ep!

[@davidgold3nrose]

Im glad for the drop bear mention. My cousin got got by one of those

[@seigokarasu-z5c]

My Uncle told me stories of the time way back, when the bunya bunya stretched the eastern seaboard. His people climbed the trees for harvest, and if you've ever seen a bunya nut, you could understand how a white fella might think a koala may have been the culprit. If one happened to hit someone for whatever reason. This was back before cherbourg, the kinda stories that don't get much telling these days. The wars people prefer to forget. But stories have a way of sticking around. Have a nice day.

[@aarons6935]

Sure bud.

[@DoseDailyOf]

Great video !

[@Compulsive_LARPer]

Giant-ass, prehistoric Varanidae when? Btw, dropbears are no joke, mate.

[@cedley1969]

They would have been around when humans arrived, shortly afterwards they weren't. Strange how that seems to be the case, from the perspective of most of the animal kingdom the arrival of humanity seems to parallel the arrival of the alien on the nostromo.

[@stevenlaube7535]

with analytics of there eggs suggesting that there was a rapid change in the environment due to a change in where calcium was derived ,it was suggested that fire clearing(early form of farming ) of Australia that deepened the drying of the climate , ,there may be a link with world weather changes due to such actives pumping co2 into the atmosphere. in some of my resent observations the deaths of some emu's on roads may be due to depression due to losses the ability to brood a flock .They Emu's have the ability's to plan and communicant with the male brood master marshaling the flock .

[@MissCucky-tw5lu]

You always find something new I never heard of😂

[@WobblesandBean]

My ancestors 🦆

[@Vratty]

🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆

[@미제드론]

??!!

[@hsdinoman2267]

i think you may be wrong about who is heaver between the male and female ostrich?

[@thelittleal1212]

Tho they would be terrifying in person, It’s a bit of a shame that we were so close in having these unique animals from Australia still around our planet. Since they died off only a few thousand years ago

[@rodchallis8031]

"Come out of the garden, baby You'll catch your death in the fog Young girl, they call them the Demon Ducks Young girl, they call them the Demon Ducks" --- "Demon Ducks" by David Bowie.

[@captain0080]

Imagine their deep quack sounds like Barry White.

[@MandieKearns-Moore]

This is particularly funny to me because I have a tattoo of a cartoon devil duck

[@Incrediblyintelligentman]

6:59 That theory falls apart because the male ostrich are much larger than the females but the males are responsible for incubating the eggs.

[@saturdayvibes3224]

It is sad that humanity is responsible for the extinction of so many large and fascinating animal species. Imagine how amazing it would be, if the megafauna from 50.000 years ago was still around today.

[@leetri]

On the other hand, that means we wouldn't have the cool animals we do have today.

[@leetri]

@@omh1724 They'd still compete for resources with all the animals we have today, plus all the environmental changes that have happened could have a huge impact. The last ice age only ended about 10 000 years ago, animals like the woolly rhino died out because they couldn't adapt to the changes. It's intellectually dishonest to suggest that ALL animals went extinct entirely because humans hunted them to death. Most of the time when humans have had an impact, they only sped up the final step of a species that was gonna go extinct anyway from other factors. There's of course some exceptions, although they're usually smaller animals isolated to singular islands and not continental megafauna who lived alongside humans for thousands of years just fine.

[@apokailyptic2899]

​@@leetri Why are you trying to debate with a person who is just pondering the 'what ifs'? Intellectually dishonest? Bro chill

[@leetri]

@@apokailyptic2899 I am chill, "bro". I'm just explaining why we very likely wouldn't have today's animals if there were still other huge animals competing with them, I'm not the one going around calling humans mass murdering extinction machines. It factually is intellectually dishonest to solely blame humans for making animals go extinct like they said, it's a much, much, much more nuanced topic than that.

[@aarons6935]

Natural weather changes played a huge part in their extinction as well

[@robotboy719]

Fact Check: Ben states (7:00) that in most ratite species, males are smaller and incubate eggs. On screen is a photo of a (male?) ostrich on a nest with eggs. However, male ostriches are larger than females and both sexes incubate eggs, females during the day, males at night.

[@simonecappiello3937]

In Ostrich, Rhea and Seriema Males are bigger than Females, in Cassowary and Emu Females are bigger.

[@UnwantedGhost1-anz25]

I wonder how they would have sounded like?

[@mreza84]

1:14 Wow, they are T-Rex with wings!!!

[@falconcorban4128]

Not the beaks that'd be a worry, they'd do damage, but the kicks of large birds will yeet you into the afterlife XD.

[@farginargle]

That illustration is so scary. That beak

[@Yungbeck]

I had a swan family as neighbours for six months. It was fascinating and intimidating atst 😂 The geese were also gnarly and angry.

[@i2ak]

Appreciate the dropbear reference

[@amandastakeonit7402]

Thank you for doing ft/pounds too.

[@aarons6935]

Americans be like wtf is a kilo

[@walterchristley4898]

6:12 As I understand, sexual dimorphism doesn't usually coincide with long-term monogamy. Dimorphism in males seems to have evolved for the purpose of engaging in combat with other males over female mating privilege. Also, I'm curious about how one determines the sex of birds from skeletal remains. Thanks.

[@rileyernst9086]

With that rock art in the Northern territory, it is entirely possible if the art was painted on the rockface before it collapsed that the local people might have restored it so to speak. Especially if the area has been continuously inhabited. Rock art is important to the stories, mythos and history of the local people, they'd repaint parts that require it, I would suspect that they would repaint if the rock face it was on collapsed.

[@kayallovertheplace]

You really couldn't go 10 seconds without a drop bear joke

[@RCSVirginia]

The Fate of the Demon Ducks: Death by Omelette!

[@JoshTrager-j9g]

Now, if only humans could've been the main course instead.......

[@GallowglassVT]

11:57 what do the traditional owners of the region call it? Seems like they'd be the best ones to ask, given how consistent indigenous oral traditions have been with paleontology.

[@TyrSkyFatherOfTheGods]

The idea of being chased around by a twelve-foot goose is absolutely terrifying.

[@EarpDerp]

With a title like that, how could I not watch?

[@aarons6935]

By not clicking

[@phrayzar]

The theory that the rock painting could be traditional dreaming that was carried on from an earlier period when Genyornis still existed also seems to be gaining credibility.

[@DGFTardin]

Demon Geese might appear in the next Fatal Fury game

[@valivali8104]

Is marsupial lion more drop bear or combat wombat?

[@shanegooding4839]

Horseclaws in Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.😊

[@rickglorie]

What might have driven them to increase in size evolutionary?

[@SaurianStudios1207]

I can imagine these so-called “demon ducks” or “demon screamers” to be like prehistoric ghostface from “Scream”.

[@meg2831]

Gotta watch out for those dropbears!

[@AkaRyrye83]

Dropbears are terrifying!

[@WaterShowsProd]

They'd give Duckula a run for his money, that's for sure. The Green Ducks of Jelle's Marble Races ought to adopt one as their mascott. #quackattack

[@fleachamberlain1905]

The beak on Dromornis makes it look like a giant finch. I'm glad they're not. Somehow it would have been more frightening 😅

[@UnwantedGhost1-anz25]

I hope the geneticist in the future somehow found a way to bring these Demonic Ducks back.

[@aarons6935]

No.

[@aarons6935]

No, certain animals have gone exinct for a reason. The Thylacine is a different story.

[@Kasaaz]

I feel like these are a staple of Guild Wars

[@luka7678]

1:52 Vhagar

[@humboldthammer]

Goose + Parrot + Crow-family = Fandor. It could carry two average sized men or one Mighty Man. Fandors had a small vocabulary, understanding and being able to communicate, about 60 word-concepts. Of course, they were bred to extinction 35,000 years ago.

[@thierrys85]

A groovy shirt. 💙

[@benmcreynolds8581]

Terror birds are so fascinating. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to run into them & seeing them run around their own environment..

[@andreagriffiths3512]

🎶🎶🎶A Drop Bear bear is a Drop Bear bear, a shiny-eyed, beady-eyed, Drop Beae bear! It’s very hard to tell when it’s the right way up, until it lands, plop, on your shoulder! 🎶🎶🎶 Use vegemite!

[@amandastakeonit7402]

If you are familiar with cassowaries (which, for those that don't know, are alive today) it's not hard to believe that despite being herbivores those giants would be super dangerous!!

[@amandastakeonit7402]

I said that before they mention them but will leave it for the point.

[@maxasaurus3008]

Screamers, Demon Ducks jeez louise if you’re not looking at the screen you’d think I was watching some new marvel movie.

[@rubric-eo5yj]

pretty sure that the largest elephant birds like verombe titan still outweighed the dromornithedae by at least 200kg

[@Pugfeathers]

Great shirt

[@Rakanarshi2]

Man I love this Ancient country of mine. Also..how could I forget that Magpie Geese Exist. How Terrifying is that? It' has The powers of two birds that are smart and know it. Imagine getting swooped by that damned thing. Can't escape into the water, it will follow you!

[@trojanthedog]

Gee, within a few thousand years of aborigines arriving in Australia the half ton chicken dinners walking around were exterminated. Wow! I wonder how that happened?

[@hiddentruth1982]

LOL drop bears. Don't forget the most dangerous octopus lives around there.

[@MyKutie]

Ah yes, the Dropbear, known scientifically as Cadere Ursa, is well known for being the end to many renowned explorers in the early days.

[@myself3209]

"Man ducks are scary, im glad they are not 2 meters tall"

[@1337fraggzb00N]

Duck 34 MYA: deadly monster Duck today:"I iz hunger, pls give bread quack."

[@Fede_99]

Bread is not a good food source for ducks and birds in general

[@Alberad08]

It seems, we seriously need a certified exorcist for this video! 😄

[@willf1175]

Some of my cousins migrated to Australia in the 50's as "1 pound poms" and the entire family was wiped out by a colony of drop-bears. Those things are no joke, they're about the size of an adult Orangutan but are not as well read.

[@whitmerule2753]

True. Not one of them has made Librarian of a magical university yet, to my knowledge.

[@lamecasuelas2]

Demon ducks of prehistoric Australia would be an amazing name a for a progressive rock band

[@tomekgruk5614]

Will you make a video about smilodons, megalodons and other large creatures?