The Giant Bird That Got Lost in Time

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The California condor is the biggest flying bird in North America, a title that it has held since the Late Pleistocene Epoch. It's just one example of an organism that we share the planet with today that seems lost in time, out of place in our world.
Thanks as always to Studio 252mya for their wonderful paleoart. You can check out more of their work here: 252mya.com
Produced for PBS Digital Studios
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[@longtail4711]

I remember as a little girl growing up during the 80's following the conservation efforts of the California condor and bald eagles after the DDT crisis. They had only 24 condors left in existence then. A few years ago I visited the Grand Canyon and got to see three California condors flying wild. It was a breathtaking moment. All the people who worked so hard to care for the last living population have my deepest gratitude. They are incredible, and the world would be a darker, sadder place without them.

[@zarago4614]

not really

[@oscargonzalez5710]

longtail4711 not sure if there condors where I live but there is a whole lot of them here and they look like condors

[@franchufranchu119]

I've seen Andean condors

[@Rams495]

To show how little the creators of this video know, they didn't even mention ddt. They blamed it on condors being from a bygone era. All the animals alive lived through that era. It's not like they've evolved in the last 10kyrs. What surprised me they didn't blame humans when they were the cause but they did blame humans for the mega fauna which is ridiculous.

[@acehighjohn1759]

I also remember this, it was back when WWE was stil called WWF and Jake the Snake Roberts was having a big run then was suddenly written out with an 'injury'. Little did we know then what he was really doing was travelling the USA hunting Condor's to put his finisher on them. If he got their numbers down to 24 i can see why this is a DDT crisis....I never liked him tbh

[@romanmeneghinister1584]

Woah, as a kid I saw one just sitting on this old shack on our yard not 200 yards away, it was pretty freaky because it was massive, didn't realize it was so endangered

[@itrthho]

Their were a few Condors in Saugus, California. Seen a couple when traveling through Soledad Canyon a few times...

[@elbethelsabbathdaychurch1336]

I remember seeing one flying in the sky when I was a little kid... Sister Sue

[@MrGksarathy]

You saw one? Sweet.

[@pandahsykes602]

Roman Meneghinister i hear people used to mislabel these condors as the mythical Thunderbird

[@niftycritter1870]

Birds are cool

[@yoshyxl1822]

This condor surviving since the pleistocene impresses me more than the horseshoecrab surviving for like 240 million years.

[@Yumemaru.]

@@guyontheinternet8891 nO, rEaLlY!? 😯😮😲

[@dasher3532]

@@guyontheinternet8891 My goodness, *what an idea!*

[@tactic34wot52]

@@guyontheinternet8891 great Scott we must tell the scientific community!

[@riograndedosulball248]

Yeah, technically, the changes (in scale) that Condors saw in their habitat are far grater than the horseshoecrabs witnessed

[@MDCxThePG]

@@guyontheinternet8891 They mean as a species, genius. Not that an individual crab lived for 240 million years.

[@thatcherrycat1198]

My aunt was actually one of the people re-introducing condors to the Grand Canyon so love this video

[@lisah9992]

The gaming cherry Cat nice, my uncle used to poach them

[@chrisjensen8369]

Jason - Humans were the reason the California Condor almost went extinct. Prior to the 19th century they were doing fine. During the 19th & 20th centuries some ranchers killed them. They assumed that because they found them scavenging a dead ranch animal (cow, sheep, horse) that this very large bird did the killing. They didn't know that the Condor was an obligate carrion eater. However, most died due to lead poisoning. Mid 20th century research showed that dead birds that were collected had extremely high lead levels in their blood. As much as 10 times the level humans can tolerate. Further research showed that they ate the gut piles that hunters left in the wilds after field dressing their kill (deer, elk, moose, & other large game animals). Even further research (late 20th & early 21st centuries) showed that the bullets, even modern copper jacketed ones, fragmented into hundreds of small pieces when a game animal was shot and much of the fragmentation stayed in the middle of the carcass (the stuff that made up these large gut piles). So, it turns out that modern man (19th & 20th centuries) was the proximate cause of the California Condor's final approach to extinction. The Peregrine Fund is a major partner in the research into the Condor. They're also the organization that does the Grand Canyon releases at Vermollion Cliffs.

[@icanhasyellow]

I thought you were gonna write that your aunt was a Condor xD

[@loganmoon380]

Lisa don't you realize that poaching is illegal and you just exposed your uncle lol

[@mainaccount3087]

@@loganmoon380 Maybe that was her plan all along

[@isanazario9616]

a video discussing why so many deadly (venemous/poisonous) organisms evolved in Australia could be quite interesting

[@ijustpulledthetrigger5482]

Hell yeah

[@the_kraken6549]

As long as they promise no pictures of spiders.

[@AlamoOriginal]

@@the_kraken6549 oh they will, certainly they will, Australia is not complete without spiders

[@sarban1653]

How is Australia uniquely venomous compared to the rest of the world? It's not like snakes and spiders are a specifically Australian thing.

[@SeaIify]

@@AlamoOriginal Maybe the "s" in Australia stands for snakes and spiders, huehue

[@ivanclark2275]

You should do a video about the evolution of stomachs, and how multi-chambered stomachs work.

[@lawrencemorris2261]

Yase

[@ShapeDoppelganger]

More than that I'd like to know the evolution of the human liver. We can digest almost anything. So incredible, much enzyme.

[@avii_9371]

Ruminant stomachs are used for digestion of hard forage like grass and hay. Cows for exaple would eat the grass and it would go into the ruman ( first chamber) to be broken down by the accumulation of bacteria. After this the grass it thrown up back into the cows mouth and is called "cud". Once chewed again it is swallowed and goes through the ruman again, then the abomasum, the omasum and the reticulum each time getting broken down more and more until it reaches the intestines.

[@Ahmed-qg7rp]

@Nazzy Gaming nah it would be fascinating learning about how bees make honey with their nectar stomach and normal stomach

[@yungtraps9417]

laser325 same

[@foolwise4703]

Its really refreshing to hear that, just once in a while, we humans also saved a species :-)

[@seokjinkim8964]

that we threatened to destroy in the first place lmao. I do think though that every species will have their time, with or without human intervention, including us. Byeee xD

[@frodobaggins6684]

@@seokjinkim8964 what? Your comment made no sense. They are endangered because a lack of large food. Not because we're killing them.

[@keeponliving3585]

@@frodobaggins6684 Lack of food and poisoning from corpses that we killed, and sometimes we killed them directly since you know, they're scavengers.

[@frodobaggins6684]

@@keeponliving3585 poison??? Never heard that one before.

[@keeponliving3585]

@@frodobaggins6684 Did you watch the video? it explains that.

[@TheRocknrolla12]

Godbless the people who have helped in this massive effort to save this majestic birds for the future generations

[@agimasoschandir]

That totally does not make sense, unless... Which branch of Christianity are you pronouncing the blessings from?

[@transakira]

Why make it about US tho'?

[@11Survivor]

@@SimonWoodburyForget I mean the california condor is the only species of condor in the US. There are about another 4 species in south america.

[@julianadams3710]

This video was great just for introducing me to the short necked turbo giraffe, that thing is amazing

[@michaelhutchings1307]

short necked turbo giraffe, LOL

[@sendmorerum8241]

I would like to see if an African cheetah could catch it.

[@Rams495]

I bet a modern cheetah wouldn't catch these prong horn or if they did wouldn't be able to kill it. They are faster than a gazelle and much larger. I've heard that the ancient cheetah was a bit bigger and probably a little faster than the African cheetah of today. It would be interesting to see them together. Though the prong horn are so nervous from their past predation its be hard for all but the best hunters to get near one.

[@AriDelgato]

As someone who's lived alongside Pronhorn for over a decade (and only just learned they're related to giraffes) I laughed so hard at this that I cried

[@edweefication]

Pronghorn eating peacefully A big cheetah appears Pronghorn: *SCREEECH*

[@IceSpoon]

The Andean Condor is the national bird in many southamerican countries, and it's a symbol of respect down here. I had no idea that the northern counterpart almost got extinct. Super interesting video! Wish you could make one about giant southern birds. I'm sure that Argentavis, Pelagornis and our own Andean Condor won't be boring :)

[@fragolegirl2002]

Yeah plus condor is a quechua word.

[@kevinvolk968]

yeah, and they were almost all killed by Johnny Cash. look it up.

[@ztlabraptor211]

Kevin Volk nah that’s proven false with any basic research on condor behaviour

[@roantombado2088]

I thought it was a vulture 😂🤣🤣

[@laurelcook9078]

Icespoon yeah I know the San Diego zoo is working very hard to revive the birds. They have brought the population up from a couple (as in like 7) to over 2000 in the wild in the past years.

[@DonSoledadGroup]

These California condors accompanied me in the skies during my many long mountain biking excursions in San Jose California during my childhood. Glad there on the up!

[@gls600]

They were waiting for you to die.

[@DonSoledadGroup]

gls600 ain’t that the truth

[@morganstarchild5359]

My first thought lol smh 🤣

[@janettedugenia3651]

Lh

[@sabrinarosario6499]

When I die, just throw me over a cliff and let the condors eat my decaying body. What do I need it for?

[@talonflame_brawlstars.7208]

Such an interesting and aww inspiring topic. The sentence “evolved for an ecosystem that no longer exists” is just so thought provoking, it makes you feel a sense of empathy because of that.

[@AL-fl4jk]

We owe a lot to scavengers too, our early civilizations might not have survived bc of disease before we developed the concept of waste management

[@AdanAndNicki]

When i was young, i saw one fly past my door and i was so traumatized because it was so big and i kept telling my family members til this day that i saw a monster bird and no one believes me 🤷‍♀️

[@KitchenerLeslie2]

Jon Bjornssen this didn’t age well. Corona got him.

[@AdanAndNicki]

Dr. Remulack who

[@rainbowosprey1619]

Emerald On The Moon probably Jon.

[@dino_nuggett4079]

I think avocados might be an anachronism too, simply because of its huge seed

[@Siddhartha040107]

if someone or something could poop out that big seed today, then it might not be. lol

[@novaraptorus6250]

@@Siddhartha040107 It used to be giant GROUND SLOTHS

[@michaeljordan4457]

Well the seed in natural avocados isn't as big but it is big. Giant sloths used to munch on them

[@MostlyPennyCat]

Avocados are genetically engineered by us over the last 10,000 odd years. Their evolution was tailored.

[@SenhoritaF.]

Avocados were saved from extinction by humans! When the megafauna went extinct, shortly after, before the avocado plants went extinct too, indigenous peoples domesticated it. The name itself comes from the Aztec for testicle (lol). SciShow has a great episode on this called "Why Avocados Shouldn't Exist ".

[@petekinne2702]

I was very pleased and awed to see a Ca. Condor 3 days ago here in Sylmar CA. I live next to Angeles National forest, and leaving my house, the sound of my door closing must have startled it. Across the street I saw it rise and take flight. I'm used to seeing our local ravens and red tailed hawks. The condor was more than twice the size of any of these, and as it circled to gain altitude I was treated to the sight of the color pattern on the underside of it's wings - exactly like the image shown at the beginning of your video. Later that day I learned there are only about 500 in existence currently. I won't forget that sight ever.

[@Mortthemoose]

I bet!

[@kenweller2032]

The condor's cousin, the turkey vulture, really took off when the interstate highway system was established. They followed the roadkill and now they are well established here in New England, as well as upstate NY. They never used to get this far north, but I saw a few as early as late February this year. It would be great if there were a manmade niche for the condors as well, like the vultures around here and the falcons of NYC.

[@michaelmeining889]

Could you plz make a video on thylacoleos and the the Australian megafauna in general

[@that_pizza_drive6687]

Ya YEEEE

[@maggiehydeck8182]

They are super interesting, cause they’re all marsupials.

[@internetduck1520]

QUINKANAAA

[@Fede_99]

@@maggiehydeck8182 quinkana, megalania and wanobi were giant reptiles and there were big birds

[@Newbmann]

@@Fede_99 DEMON DUCKS FOR LIFE OR Death since there dead DEMON DUCKS CAUSED THERE OWN DOOM

[@hollyodii5969]

Not one! Never a lame episode of Eons! Best channel on KZbin!

[@willgraham8878]

Thank you to all who were actively involved with helping to raise this chick to adulthood and the final release!!!! This must be tremendously rewarding. So many obstacles also to get over along the way. I have yet to see one of these birds in the wild but it is a dream of mine to make that a reality!!

[@AirIUnderwater]

I came here for knowledge, but got feels instead. :(

[@socioisbackapparently661]

Same

[@Spike_The_Beach_Buddy]

Don't be so gloomy about this video!!!!!!!

[@OlOleander]

Eons uploads are perhaps my very favorite thing these days. Another great episode!

[@mathewanograh2653]

why ?

[@nevermindoff-27]

Your channel and your work are outrageously underrated!

[@bryant8307]

this is on trending bro

[@FirstNameLastName-gq4tb]

Nevermindoff they’re growing at a considerable pace now

[@dylankrogers]

Nice to hear that these amazing birds are still around. I remember learing about them in grade school in the mid 80s and there were barely a couple dozen left.

[@ltpa152]

4:48 Killed me. 😂😂😂 “Way faster than it needs to be.”

[@MsSonali1980]

When you not honoured for your talent :(

[@porosus8182]

The relatively recently extinct Haast's Eagle last took to the skies only a few hundred years ago in New Zealand but would have snacked on a California Condor had they met! These badass eagles had an average wingspan just a little larger than the condor but were quite a bit heavier (approx 15kgs instead of 8-10kgs) and where condors are scavengers, Haast's Eagles were apex predators. Perhaps the craziest fact about the Haast's Eagle is that their staple diet (which they hunted remember!) was the 200kg Giant Moa - a flightless bird more than twice the weight of the largest ostriches. Haast's Eagles would attack from height, striking the Moa with the same force as a bag of concrete dropped from a three storey building. And of course, humans would have also been easy pickings for such a predator and I imagine the Maori were pretty happy to see the last of them. Rumours that Haast's Eagles still hunted in New Zealand's more remote areas until about 200 years ago are unverified, with most scientists believing they disappeared about 500 years ago.

[@unkownuser3851]

Yeah the haast eagle is pretty badass

[@leanmeatponce]

COEXTINCTION with the moa tho. That was the sad part

[@redbaron5308]

You seem to want to take away from California Condor than actually appreciate the two birds.

[@secredeath]

Just few hundred years ago that haas eagle would run into the argentavis magnificens in north america and would of gotten smashed. Kiwi bird send home packing

[@aqvamarek5316]

The eagle is counted a man hunter bird, and it is relative sure, that the eagle got hunted to extintion by the real "apex" predator of this planet. Never hunt a prey, which can systematically destroy your nest.

[@ReiTheRabbit]

*GASP* finally a mention of the American Cheetah ! 💖💖💖 love you guys

[@farticlesofconflatulation]

R E Iウサギ evolved to hunt the pronghorn antelope

[@leona.x1]

My favorite host😭 the videos are just better when blake’s here💕

[@eons]

Aw hey thanks! (BdeP)

[@phowns]

"yo dude is that an argentavis?" "Oh sh*t that is an argentavis lets go tame it." "Alrite i'll make some kibble."

[@liquidfire21]

When its knocked out, taming effectiveness:100% Dilo: *Ima end this mans whole career*

[@justchris814]

I can give you some superior kibble, that one looks weak though.

[@magpie3908]

*ark theme plays*

[@graxmccoar8678]

Send me a Teratorn chick and I'll show you all how to domesticate Very Large Birds.

[@scriptorpaulina]

I recognize those diorama paintings! That’s from the fossil collection on Kansas University’s campus in Lawrence- one of my favorite museums ever!

[@dekutree64]

Yes! I love that place. And so cool that most of it is unchanged since I first saw it around 30 years ago.

[@jamesbednar8625]

LOL!!!! I have been there as well!! I live about 80 miles west of there in Kansas.

[@flo6051]

Condors are one of our national animals here in Chile💕 Not the prettiest but they're really cool!

[@djoseph2475]

I saw a california condor while rafting the grand canyon. Theyre massive, it was surreal.

[@WorldReserveCurrency]

Excellent! I remember the plight of the California Condors as a kid... I remember they even made a cartoon about it that played in the evening. It was a huge deal on media.

[@Len124]

"Cycle nutrients back into the ecosystem." Translation: poop

[@taahasiddiqui1071]

Yeah no one needed that.

[@mayday6916]

Or manure.

[@AsuraRaver]

When you need your English paper to sound like you actually payed attention

[@sabastian2814]

road kill.

[@WhyDidntIInventYT]

this confirms what I've thought for awhile: ecology has been unbalanced since the Pleistocene megafauna extinctions, as megafauna are needed for a healthy ecosystem. this is also why the Mammoth Steppe disappeared, to be replaced by tundra, although there are current efforts to restore it. in fact, I think the mammoth steppe would make a great topic for a video.

[@abdullahsaur]

Pleistocene park ftw! Wonder if they'll ever decide to release these condors there when Mammoths are introduced?

[@thebermudaI]

I recommend the book The Sixth Extinction, which talks about unbalanced ecological systems of the distant past. Really interesting

[@abdullahsaur]

@@thebermudaI Sounds interesting, I'll check it out. Thanks man!

[@guyontheinternet8891]

@@abdullahsaur well they got mammoth dna and they wanted to try to make a mammoth/elephant hybrid so mammoths may one day be back again...

[@davidschwartz8125]

Well that or the system needs to permitted "space" to evolve new lifeforms that will fill those niches.

[@ThirdEyeScribe]

We learned about the plight of the Condors when I was in the 4th Grade back in 1993. I’ve loved them ever since. Still haven’t seen one IRL but I’m hoping to make it down to Big Sur and find one soon! Such majestic creatures.

[@munkey3961]

0:11 AMONG US!?!!?

[@Aurora-oe2qp]

I love how whenever they say any of the words "among us", "imposter", or "sus(s)" there's always these comments

[@sgt.roachsanderson9639]

AMOGUS

[@Danfish42]

Paul Collins! I know him!! He helped me with my college paper about the Channel Island foxes! (Also where those pygmy mammoths are from featured in a previous video). The California Condor is also the mascot of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History where Paul Collins works (along with many other scientists...including my father!).

[@Dafins100]

What a cool tie between the present and past! Please do more like this!!!!

[@humblesoldier5474]

I got so happy, and then very sad with bitter sweet happiness over these Condors. The music for this video just fit the story so well.

[@starvingartist7089]

I went to the Grand Canyon this summer with my camera and caught photos of a juvenile California condor flying above and below me. It was really cool!

[@mightymasochist]

And here I was hoping this was a video about extinct condor argentavis magnificient. The largest bird to ever fly

[@ZombieBarioth]

Pelagornis Sandersi is considered the bird with the largest wingspan, not the largest bird overall. That title still belongs to argentavis magnificent, which was nearly twice as heavy. Either was a much stronger flyer than pelagornis, or is indeed closer to the original estimate of 26ft to be pushing that much weight.

[@KhanMann66]

Largest is measured in mass, not length. Argentavis still holds that title.

[@tsilgero]

@@maxfieldkane2901 bruhhh lol

[@veggieboyultimate]

You seem to talk about the La Brea Tar Pits a lot, maybe you can do a video about that some day. Just a suggestion.

[@marisaveilleux8533]

I moved to the Monterey area a few years ago and haven’t seen one yet but they’re often seen at Big Sur and Pinnacles National Park, and sometimes are Point Lobos. Can’t wait to see one!

[@NothosaurusFan1981]

My Cousin has named a Condor that periodically visits his house for a rest. We named him Dallas after his great grandfather's birthplace

[@jaehwasa6850]

Could you make a video about where hyenas come from?

[@theplayerformerlyknownasmo3711]

Look up Anthony pain

[@Quoteory]

When a mommy Hyena and a daddy Hyena love each other very much... you know the rest

[@akiontube1]

@@Quoteory 😂😂

[@lunchwagondavis9983]

You probably already know this, but hyenas are related to cats, along with mongooses, meerkats and aardwolves.

[@b-17theflyingfortress]

"Wherever I look I see knew avian cousins, new preys and soon I questioned...am I suppose to be alive in this era?" -The condors

[@Angelicspoof]

Seeing the reintroduction of the condors into the ecosystem makes me happy and proud. I'm glad that (so far) they aren't just another species on the list of those that humans (whether intentionally or not) drove into extinction.

[@oddish2253]

That time when you brought a wrong build to a mission.

[@Oxysaurus]

I saw a Condor as pinnacles park once... I was the only one with binoculars in a group of twenty it was great

[@sugiyantoedi5570]

Wait.. So I Always See “prehistoric” Condors. Everyday!?!

[@generalblade7504]

Oh yea, a few creatures alive today lived during the dinosaur times and after it. Freaky when you think about it.

[@guyontheinternet8891]

@@generalblade7504 Its not really freaky cause it aint like the animal is like 100 million years old nothing lives that long.... theres a thing called breeding.... animals breed parents die then children grow up and breed they die and their children grow up and have children then they die its just the process of life....

[@Yumemaru.]

@@guyontheinternet8891 yes, we know, we mean the species.

[@komunicanti]

Love your videos Eons, and this one about condors was particularly fascinating given their story. If you go into the foothills (of the Andes) where I live on the eastern side of Santigo de Chile, they soon appear. One swooped so low above my head once i called almost touch its feathers. Sadly, there's not a lo of them around, and some idiots down here enjoy the 'sport' of killing birds. Also affected by food shortages, and we're in the midst of a long drought - which i imagine isn't helping them much in their natural ecosystem. You rarely see more than two or three together in central Chile at a time, but i did once enjoy the wonderful sight of a couple of dozen or more circling the skies all at the same time - but that was on a far-southern fjord while aboard Greenpeace's 'Arctic Sunrise' - an experience i'll treasure for the rest of my life. Hey, as to programme suggestions - when did humans start using clothing (well, i guess when our race stared reaching cooler climes and reaslised that the skin of that slaughtered, hairy beast was useful when slung across the shoulders)- but it would be interesting perhaps the development of that unique trait of ours. Keep well and safe all the team - cálidos saludos from South America p.s. if you ever want to delve into a fascinating and jolly read about how our continent got its name (a cartographer's mistake - it should all actually be called 'Colombia' ) do read Stefan Zweig's 'Amerigo: a comedy of errors in history' (1942).

[@chrisioannidis2295]

Fantastic channel. I work as a programmer and sometimes, behind the screen of the computer, I lose sight of how magnificent the world is. Thank you for reminding us in such a great way.

[@trevorslovick3313]

I love your guys' videos on birds. Please keep making content forever!

[@steakslapn9724]

This channel is such high quality. Surprising your subs aren't way higher.

[@sirbattlecat]

Fantastically informative. Makes me happy I support you guys on Patreon (I was not paid to write this).

[@worleyzack]

They were alive for millions of years about to go instinct in our generation. So glad we saved them.

[@egotrpn]

I remember hearing about there only being 4 condors left in California and over hunting was one of the main culprits. I saw one at the oakland zoo and it was massive!!

[@PlainsPup]

This is really excellent, and one of my new favorite Eons. Great job covering some of the major topics of Pleistocene-Holocene biology. Please do one on Pleistocene rewilding, too. In the meantime, thank you!

[@hunova4799]

If anyone wants to see conservation in action for these lovely birds, The Wild Animal Park (or Safari Park as it's known now) in San Diego has housed and hatched many Cali Condors over the last few decades and it's beautiful to see. They release many of them once they're able to live on their own so when you go there may only be 3-5 Condors.

[@sheriffbutterball7824]

The California condor is one of my fav birds and I’m really happy you did a video on them :)

[@CarlosSanchez-en6mr]

Was waiting on another Eons video I wasn’t disappointed Keep up the awesome work 👍

[@eelkev.8547]

Extremely interesting! And love the reference to pronghorn! Saw many when I lived in Wyoming! Greetings from the Netherlands!

[@faraz164]

In India, these condors were called "Baaaz" in local hindi language, they haven't been seen since 2005. We used to explain them as bigger vultures as very few kids were lucky enough to have their sight.

[@zooasaurusrex]

Would love to see a feature on the evolution of sharks as we know them. So many bizarre steps along the way, should make for a fascinating watch!

[@FunkyHonkyCDXX]

I'd love to see an episode dedicated to the formation of the Appalachian mountains.

[@alexwhalley7481]

So early and ready for this video. 🤩

[@AphidKirby]

I thought this was gonna be about Argentavis, but i'm glad it's about a bird we still have today, we're very lucky to breath the same air......... that said.... an episode on Argentavis wouldn't hurt at all

[@christybrandt9419]

The Condor has always been on my bucket list... Seeing one would be the ultimate for me...

[@wyattblaine7066]

I've been waiting for this video since eons started, here in Idaho antelope run in herds and it's impressive to watch them move. I hope to see more modern pleistocene animal videos. Maybe an episode on de-extinction itself? Thanks. Long time subscriber, big time fan of the program.

[@cactopodes6315]

ive always wondered exactly how the legend of the thunderbird came out of condors, because i assumed they ate mostly land animals. but this video made it clear why thunderbirds supposedly ate whales-because their real-world counterparts probably did eat whales! (or at least their carcasses)

[@nicholaswilliams4336]

Dear Cacto. The Thunderbird isn’t just a mere legend..They are related to the Crow Family and are actually one of the most dangerous predators on the planet...not all of them are giants.

[@Sedithke]

This one is among the most interesting episodes of the series! Thank you!

[@MrSexyRac00n]

Wow, one of my favorite videos this channel has ever produced and that’s really saying something. I learned a lot

[@arachnophilegrrl]

This is very interesting. I am in North America and I've seen a lot of Moose, Elk and both sp. of deer but I've never seen a P.H. antelope ever. I've crossed the prairies over my whole life, and they are the more elusive wildlife. California Condors aren't the only ones in trouble. Even our native and wide-spread Turkey Vultures are struggling. They are hit harder by diseases like the West Nile Virus. :(

[@saltcreekammo]

I see pronghorns all the time from the freeway in Utah.

[@mistyminnie5922]

This is so interesting, I've never heard of this concept. I'd love to hear more about these kind of animals.

[@casienwhey]

This was nicely done. Great overview of condors and how they survived. It's a good thing we had people who cared enough to intervene.

[@waynep343]

A cotton farmer in the southern San Joaquin valley drained the largest lake in California to increase the land to plant cotton. This changed the evaporation. Rates and the amount of rain in the surrounding mountians. Reducing grasses that support various animals . So combination of the desertification of the forests and then the DDT thinning the egg shells almost wiped the condor out.

[@HappyGrower]

Studying the ratio of N and H isotopes in proteins to find out what condors eat. Scientists never ceases to amaze me.

[@solsoman102]

Please do a video on how seals and sea lions evolved!

[@mtl_graphics]

Evolution isn't real.

[@micaelcarestiato]

I have never heard of biological anachronism, very interesting! Thank you for this video =)

[@andreslires]

because there is not such a thing

[@nofreewill]

@@andreslires Are you sure about that?

[@PhoenixOT78]

Saw one at the grand canyon last year. Such a great site!

[@chethankrishnan6639]

Wow, that was excellent. Informative and inspiring.

[@asiancarpczar411]

This video was super interesting! In the future I would love to see a video on past species of birds like Argentavis and Pelagornis :)

[@bosarama]

Magnificent as always. thank you for making my sundays more interesting!

[@robdog7516]

I use to have a shirt with a condor on it. It said: “Patience my butt, I’m gunna kill something”. 😆

[@GageoftheJungle]

I said it last last video and I'll say it again; we need a video on the origins of humans domesticating other animals!

[@nohbdy1122]

Cool video. I never thought about how Paleontology can be applied to wildlife conservation before.

[@paleontologi052]

We need to bring back teddy Roosevelt He can solve all our problems

[@icedragonair]

Such an amazing story. Such an old species, a living piece of ancient history that was almost lost. Thank god for the people who worked tirelessly to preserve them. I watched a documentary once on the monarch butterfly migration abd how its disappearing. The narrator ended with saying "what do we lose if we lose the great monarch butterfly migration? Its like asking what do we lose if we lose the mona lisa?" There will be no great catastrophe if the condors disappear, yet at the the same time, we will have lost something priceless, which has defied the odds to survive. And we will never get it back. They are the closest thing we have to being able to litteraly see back in time.

[@Toughy112]

I happened to see one in my backyard the other day! I thought it was a raven or eagle at first until it didn't stop getting bigger

[@gelgamath_9903]

I always wondered why speed goats were so fast. It turns out there running from dead cheetahs. Who knew

[@MsSonali1980]

Tell that (domestic ) horses, who running from plastic bags or whatever.. because it could be deadly -_-

[@Ninjaananas]

But no bird is as maginificent as Argentavis magnificens.

[@MrBargill]

Ninjaananas yep!

[@videosbymathew]

Very nice program and channel you have here, thank you.

[@jelmargerritsen]

I love your videos! The presenter is awesome (as well as the team behind the videos, of course)

[@therealyeti1482]

Please do a video on how our digestion had become accustomed to eating cooked food and lost the ability to process raw meat.

[@factsoverfeelings1776]

There are wild donkeys in Nevada (left over from gold mining) they could probably feed off of as well.

[@billyhallmon6867]

In 2002, we were treated to a show of several condors at the Grand Canyon North Rim visitor center.

[@carlholter328]

amazing contribution. Keep it up guys!

[@aborawk4154]

Teach me about that cute kitty miracinonyx from 5:00

[@solsoman102]

Hi you should do a video on the giant "Water King" penguin!

[@Lycancass89]

I grew up close to the Grand Canyon, glad the condors are getting some love.

[@ScarletFlower95]

I saw one of these once in the mountains of south-western Oregon. Spooky beyond belief. Did NOT expect to round a corner and see such a gigantic bird. This happened maybe 2006-2009 or so.