The Hellacious Lives of the "Hell Pigs"

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Despite the name, we don’t know where the so-called “hell pigs” belong in the mammalian family tree. They walked on hooves, like pigs do, but had longer legs, almost like deer. They had hunched backs, a bit like rhinos or bison. But as is often, if not always, the case, there is some evolutionary method to this anatomical madness.
Thanks to Ceri Thomas for the excellent Entelodont illustrations! Check out more of Ceri's paleoart at / alphynix and nixillustration.com
And thanks to Julio Lacerda and Lucas Lima for their wonderful illustrations. You can find more of their work here: 252mya.com/
Produced in collaboration with PBS Digital Studios: / pbsdigitalstudios
Super special thanks to the following Patreon patrons for helping make Eons possible:
Katie Fichtner, Anthony Callaghan, Zachary Spencer, Stefan Weber, Ilya Murashov, Charles Kahle, Robert Amling, Po Foon Kwong, Larry Wilson, Merri Snaidman, Renzo Caimi Ordenes, John Vanek, Neil H. Gray, Esmeralda Rupp-Spangle, Gregory Donovan, الخليفي سلطان, Gabriel Cortez, Marcus Lejon, Robert Arévalo, Robert Hill, Todd Dittman, Betsy Radley, PS, Philip Slingerland, Jose Garcia, Eric Vonk, Tony Wamsley, Henrik Peteri, Jonathan Wright, Jon Monteiro, James Bording, Brad Nicholls, Miles Chaston, Michael McClellan, Jeff Graham, Maria Humphrey, Nathan Paskett, Connor Jensen, Daisuke Goto, Hubert Rady, Gregory Kintz, Tyson Cleary, Chandler Bass, Maly Lor, Joao Ascensao, Tsee Lee, Sarah Fritts, Alex Yan
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References:
docs.google.com/document/d/1I...

[@charliecrome207]

Can we just take a minute to acknowledge the thankless job of the person who does the editing for these videos. We appreciate you

[@eons]

His name is Seth Radley, and he is a true genius (and a delightful human being). Truly, his work is what makes Eons so beautiful. (BdeP)

[@charlesroberts3650]

@@eons Thank you Seth! And thank all of you for all your work, these videos are good samplers to peak our interest for further study, you really "get our geek on"!

[@proudpapaprick]

@@eons Well then, a huge thank you to Seth for curating these knowledge journeys, to the writers and researchers who put them together, and to the wonderful presenters who both inform us so well and make these presentations so accessible and digestible. You guys come together to make an ecosystem of excellence and I appreciate you.

[@Themonkey8myleg]

@@eons Awesome work Seth, keep on evolving in your profession!

[@WobblesandBean]

Yeah! Seth rocks!!

[@lorenafleidl8901]

The Orcs called, they want their Wargs back.

[@respnocza6953]

Squigs haha

[@MrBogus213]

"Looks like meat's back on the menu, boys!"

[@alejandroelluxray5298]

Who, the hellhogs or the bear dogs?

[@garynaccarto8636]

There definantly preaty scary looking.

[@DocWolph]

@Silviu Florin You are thinking ORKS. Not ORCS.

[@marjorie8109]

I love how when you guys describe ancient extinct animals you always describe them in such an admiring tone, and even though these animals are no longer alive its great how you acknowledge how successful they were and how cool these animals were, almost like honoring them :)

[@progresspat]

"Hell pigs" is ok but Hell Hogs is so much better. Maybe I'm a sucker for alliteration.

[@xShifty38x]

The hogs from hell sounds good

[@jamesbernadette6216]

Either way, must've made some _fiendish_ bacon. But being quite the dominant species must be such a _boar_ No wonder the Infernal Oinkers liked to _hog_ all kinds of food for themselves. Some swine would eventually see it and make a _pig's breakfast_ of the whole situation.

[@Tareltonlives]

Hell Hippos?

[@deviljho4260]

Tareltonlives doesn’t have the same ring to it

[@Tareltonlives]

@@deviljho4260 LAnd orcas?

[@BlankTakesTheCake]

Damn. This dude has been hitting the gym heavy since his first video on Eons. Good work my man.

[@IsaScience]

Now I'm just waiting for muscle hank to show up

[@Statsy10]

Welcome to the gun show!

[@phoule76]

he's been working out for Eons

[@isthatarealponcho254]

he's just adapting and evolving.

[@sonikku956]

Geez, you're right.

[@Alexander-is9jo]

4:04 "Freakishly thicc" Definitely gonna use that scientific description.

[@bernieponcik1351]

Princess Bride: Rodents of Unusual Size.

[@catherinevo6060]

Alexander xD

[@scottpilgrim1518]

Also: ridiculous huge heads and cheekbones like whaaaaat?

[@jello7734]

Missed out on the opportunity for some great alliteration: should be called "Hell hogs"

[@ayanaalemayehu2998]

Had the same thought. Disappointing.

[@search895]

Most probably there will be a band with that name sonewhere or anytime soon. Otherwise you can use it for yours.

[@robertpryor7225]

Heck piggies

[@draxthewarlocktitan5217]

Bear Boars

[@heatherswanson1664]

Hoglins

[@TheShadowCerberus]

Episodes like this are the exact reason I don't suggest video topics. I had no clue these creatures existed, and they are fascinating. What a cool episode.

[@TheHenchmen69]

I would like to take this time to thank the illustrators of this wonderful series 🙏🏽 thank you drawing person(s) 😊

[@typograf62]

Many of the drawings are from popular palæontology books. Taschen Verlag issued a fine and heavy collection about 2 years ago.

[@jase5366]

me too

[@MatthewSmith-sz1yq]

Tony Lopez most of the artwork they use is actually the work of scientific illustrators. The channel “the brain scoop” has a neat video or two about it, but basically these art-scientists use science to try and decipher what these creatures looked like, and then paint/draw them in their habitat. Even though the original job of just drawing things is largely replaced by cameras, there is still a field out there which produces thousands of these sketches, trying to take all the data and science and turning it into art. Something else neat about these drawings is the fact that many of them, even when based off the same specimen, can look totally different. That’s because they have to try and re-add life into bones, so even though their field is super scientific and they usually need a very large education, there is still a lot of artistic interpretation put into it, especially when it comes to skin, fur, color, etc

[@kari7403]

Yeah, it lists the 3 illustrators in the description of the video. Ceri Thomas Julio Lacerda Lucas Lima

[@cia5414]

Tony Lopez same

[@corrine.warden]

It's a fine day whenever PBS Eons publishes a new video

[@cyberdroid2300]

Indeed comradde. Mother Russia gleams with Joy at the sight of this.

[@joeys4289]

Ay

[@SlyPearTree]

Thanks for another wonderful and instructive episode of "Fantastic Beasts and When to Find Them".

[@diegodeluquev1433]

I love this comment.

[@Tiger89Lilly]

Now this is what fantastic beasts should have been. Not Johnny depp and a bottle of bleach

[@chairshoe81]

yo, this host is lowkey SHREDDED

[@pandahsykes602]

chairshoe81 I don’t think shredded is the word my man he’s looking a bit puffy

[@chairshoe81]

@@pandahsykes602 you jealous of my man

[@therighteousmoose5036]

@@pandahsykes602 you see dem arms??

[@onedaynoreason2572]

Maybe his shirt is just too tight making an optical illusion 😂

[@TheJellyfish800]

Calm down you bros. This guy is definitely buff.

[@SuicideBunny6]

We are The Hell Pigs and this is our new song CRADSHASDADRRGHHGGHHH 🤘🤘🤘

[@bornulhu4549]

Anybody remember these Entelodonts in the old documentary Walking with beasts. Damn those things were intimidating.

[@aaronmarks9366]

Hell yeah, freakiest part

[@Shadeem]

" old documentary" *shrivels up and feels ancient*

[@UteChewb]

I remember them saying something about them being one of the most fearsome creatures to have lived on land. Every now and then I look them up, always forgetting what they are called, and think "Man, I'm glad you aren't around today." Amazing.

[@Tareltonlives]

Still my favorite documentary. That was my favorite episode-giant rhinos, hell hogs, clawed horses, bear dogs, and giant hyena lookalikes

[@cavangeyer7461]

hell pigs were one of my childhood fears because the model in the museum made noises and i was sort of convinced they were still out there, wandering the planes of Wyoming i would very much like to see a video about Bear Dogs, i've never heard about them before and ancient fauna is a special interest of mine

[@SaintBroken]

The Bone Crushing Dogs? The Hell Pigs? He seems to have a thing for animals that could be potential Heavy Metal bands. ;)

[@danielbailey2764]

I had Black Sabbath playing in my head all the way through this episode. And Dire Wolves could quite easily be a heavy metal band name as well!!

[@Tareltonlives]

The Miocene was metal.

[@thomaspalmer8059]

There was an episode called "Invading Terror Birds"! Angry Bear Dogs!

[@CM-vs8pe]

True

[@erebuspitchblack3547]

Yeah! 🤘

[@christophermadeira9090]

Would you be able to do a video in acanthodii? They are a extinct group of fish and they seem really interesting. A video on them would be awesome!

[@zooemperor3954]

Oh great! The hell pigs! Next do their rival the creodonts and/or amphicyonids

[@elijahbutcher9522]

i want videos for both of them

[@sombrashibe]

Yes for amphicyon!

[@SabrinaAmbrosio001]

Hell yes from both of those, amphicyon especially, those things are badass

[@bkjeong4302]

Amphicyonids honestly need their own video. Creodonts are likely polymorphic. The hyaenodonts could get their own video, but we know little about the oxyaenids.

[@vinicius2uiciniv]

ANDREWSARCHUS!!!

[@marcosoto7973]

My boy looking jacked. Good work man.

[@mariannepartridge359]

This is one of my favourite extinct mammals. I’ve been obsessed with them ever since Walking With Beasts came out years ago. They are just so ludicrously obscure and peculiar in their morphology. Not to mention entelodonts had faces that only their mothers could love.

[@RK-uw1xr]

Megafauna of Australia would be mad like giant wombats and marsupial lions🤙😁keep up the gd work

[@shrekman6144]

rohan fabri I agree

[@elijahbutcher9522]

im with you there

[@Leomoon101]

Yeah, thats definitely something worth taking about.

[@MrFaceeatingcancer]

@@shrekman6144 hell yeah

[@alansolorzano4865]

@JuicyWatermelone noice,would love to see how it hunted

[@michaelafritz7891]

Please do a video on bear dogs! I’ve heard about them several times but never seen a dedicated video to them.

[@Tsotha]

PBS Eons would go on to do a video about beardogs, that is actually one of my favourite videos from them and one of the first I watched on here

[@Kralj74]

I don't think there's a channel on KZbin that covers these topics better than this one. The art is fantastic, the hosts stay on topic and keep things concise and the videos always cover interesting animals. So glad I found this.

[@jackthunderbolt4307]

the art ben g thomas uses is great but he doesnt stand a chance against callie and blake

[@myishenhaines1706]

"And cheek bones that were just....whaaaaat?" Lol

[@jaysonklein6018]

I know. I loled too.

[@HoundofOdin]

Last time I was this early there were still entelodonts in Wyoming.

[@nimnom6404]

why are you here you should be making a chansaw canon or something

[@JMObyx]

Do an episode on grass! GRAAAAASS!

[@limiv5272]

*Itching intensifies*

[@JMObyx]

@@limiv5272 Do not scratch! We must itch! Itch for more until they scratch for us!

[@jaysonklein6018]

Ok... ... Grass... it came about a bit over 3 million years ago, and spread basically worldwide. There ya go. Your video on Grass. That'll be 10 thousand dollars.

[@khorps4756]

Jayson Klein sorry I only have sovereign bolivars

[@jaysonklein6018]

@@khorps4756... unacceptable. 😝

[@aaronmarks9366]

My dude has been crushing it at the gym

[@fancydeer]

Blake out here looking like Daddy got me distracted.

[@guitarguydanny2588]

Bear dog sounds like an animal straight out of the last airbender

[@CelibateCetologist]

Funnily enough, there’s Naga the Polar Bear Dog gjdjfkemfn

[@motherteresa8418]

Do one History of giving birth.from monotremes to Marsopials to plocentals

[@Sara3346]

*Marsupials to placentals.

[@chateacolney4783]

Eh! You're still alive?

[@VanillaEarth744]

@@wilhelmu she was no child trafficker!

[@atlasknox7514]

@@VanillaEarth744 she was

[@VanillaEarth744]

@@atlasknox7514 how do you know!

[@GuineaPigEveryday]

PBS really stand out, both as Cable networks moved to youtube and as informative shows, no half-baked cgi and weird flashy editing here, just great writing, great presenting of the information and of the fantastic artwork, and great editing, even good music in the background.

[@vudi2103]

Hell pigs? So, the lineage of my boss.

[@veggieboyultimate]

Thank you for uploading another fascinating video! Really gives me knowledge☺

[@garethtudor836]

I remember an episode of Palaeoworld, called Valley of the Uglies, which centred on entelodonts and their world. Imagine, then, how much I love this episode of Eons

[@johnwilliamson2276]

This one of my favorite channels! Thanks for showing me things that are hard to come by anywhere else.

[@derickviana9831]

I love this channel! Thank you for your amazing content, people from PBS Eons!

[@jaeyeolshim6987]

Always a great day when Eons uploads a new video. My mind will definitely be well fed

[@OrionBlarg]

I was pretty gobsmacked that there used to be a thing literally called *HELL PIGS* and then you just drop freakin' *BEAR DOGS* like its nothing? GSOKNF:OGJNLKNDCG

[@sophiecharron5186]

We need a video on those!

[@ajg0075]

Thank you for doing this video. Very informative. Weird how I wanted you to do a video about Entelodonts several weeks ago and here it is. I hope you do some more videos about other ancient carnivores like the Bear Dogs, the Creodonts, the Mesonychids, the Percrocutidae and possibly even one about Andrewsarchus? They all sound so interesting. Keep up the great work.

[@jameshamilton2283]

Legit thanks for saying Saskatchewan (nailed the pronunciation) instead of just saying Canada. We appreciate it.

[@DinoBot65]

You finally did the video I recommended like 3 times. Thank you

[@DinoBot65]

@@m_i_g_5108 IDK about that but I would certainly be flattered if that was the case.

[@eons]

We read these comments! (BdeP)

[@DinoBot65]

@@eons I'm flattered then😂

[@leilaortizfausto]

Absolutly loved this episode. Can we do another episode on plants evolution?

[@mkmasterthreesixfive]

I for one would like to see fungi. Everyone cares about mammals and reptiles and plants but does anyone wonder about fungi? You know, its not like its just the 3rd other type of cellular organisms we have or anything special liek that...........................

[@Dragrath1]

@@mkmasterthreesixfive Good point without fungi there would be no life on land no plants and no animals out of the water as the fungi were the ones that paved the way by breaking down the rocks to support plants that is a pretty big role

[@thecrippledpancake9455]

I love when they tie in animals from other videos! Keep it up.

[@Magneticlaw]

Have been binge watching the PBS videos - highly informative and very professionally done - kudos!

[@gibbythealien355]

I learn more from this channel and the internet itself then what my school has taught me from day 1. Props to you guys

[@iainhansen1047]

The hell pigs bacon must have been amazing

[@PrettyH8Mach1n3]

I'd think it would be extremely gamey.

[@kiddfiddich4902]

@@PrettyH8Mach1n3 unless you started breeding them for that purpose. You could “breed out” the gamey-ness

[@daisho13]

I've been binging on eon videos since finding you guys a few days ago. Awesome work, keep it up 🙂

[@goobfilmcast4239]

I have seen a great deal of the illustrations in this series in a collection of Time-Life hardcover books that my father bought starting in the late 60s - early 70s. The "action" pix of leaping dinosaur or fights between predators always stood out to me. I think it's great that they are still being used by EONS to accompany the lectures. The Time-Life set of books were (extremely well) written for a general audience interested in Biology, Astronomy, Physical Science and Technology. They were loaded with well-designed charts and graphs and, of course, superb detailed full page illustrations. When I became a teacher I donated the nearly complete set to my school library. Gosh, those books were terrific.

[@noaholvera8921]

Why is no one talking about the bear dogs???

[@sophiecharron5186]

My thoughts exactly!

[@This_birb_is_annoying...]

They have a video of it

[@allegradelgardo]

For some reason this was one of my favorites. It was so interesting!!

[@SkylerHamm587]

I wait in anticipation for every episode on this channel, I love these videos

[@ishbartgonzalezibanez2586]

Another great video guys! Thanks for this awesome content!

[@unvergebeneid]

My audio seems broken. I see him open his mouth repeatedly but all I hear is "giant bacon!"

[@Roxanewolfie]

thank you so much for covering this heavily requested topic!

[@JMObyx]

GRASS! GRAAAASS!

[@Catp00p]

I love this channel. Its one of my favorites! Please do an episode on Bear Dogs!

[@utseb1]

the editing, graphics and the presentation is top notch, also best host

[@kalebbaum2572]

I would love to see a video about goats, and why they seem to have a lot of simular bodies to things like ancestors of horses and camels

[@stumpyale]

I love this series thank you so much

[@stephenhopkins2275]

The whole team make life the universe and everything come to life with their excellent presenting, editing and graphics.......hey, hope the cold gets better

[@andrewk9267]

Awesome video. And so soon after the last one! You're spoiling us

[@IamMissPronounced]

Really love the intro to these kinds of videos, like in the dire wolves episode. The storytelling device is great!

[@tfranc347]

Love this. can the next video be about the Siberian unicorn?

[@rimmipeepsicles1870]

They already did it.

[@rimmipeepsicles1870]

Oh really? You were talking about Elasmotherium?

[@nyar2352]

Every time I see you made a new video my heart skips with happy :)

[@PackersBearsFan3]

That was awesome, great content! Thanks!

[@Nomatternow]

Hello from Saskatchewan!

[@duchi882]

*"Hell Pigs"* You mean the Pigmen from Minecraft?

[@fantoast6932]

Yes.

[@fantoast6932]

Yes.

[@PainterVierax]

Haaawwww…

[@draxthewarlocktitan5217]

Pigment is what hell pigs evolved into

[@fantoast6932]

n o.

[@yjk5737]

Always look forward to my PBS Eons

[@Amadeus8484]

Wolf: "I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down!" Entelodont: "Try it. See what happens."

[@azdgariarada]

Blake de Pastino is by far my favorite host on this channel. I love the episodes he hosts the most. Also... Holy Crap!, welcome to the gun show!

[@lilzc2474]

I think we need a Bear Dogs episode now

[@dindinprivate3477]

Here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rpPQfaSoo917aNk

[@PlainsPup]

Yes! The much anticipated Eons episode on hell hogs!

[@mr_brown5974]

Hey thanks for this video. I love this channel.

[@42PalaceOfWisdom42]

6:20 Can't wait for the Bear Dog video

[@bowlofdiogenes6139]

I would love to see how red hair and freckles came to exist,thank you so much I love this channel.

[@conmara6492]

Don't know how freckles came about, however iirc, red hair likely came as a result of interbreed ING with neanderthals

[@bowlofdiogenes6139]

@@conmara6492 cool thanks,i guess i don't need PBS to make an awesome video on the subject since you cleared it all up for me.

[@Bones8909]

Pretty sure that was the devils work

[@anusha2353]

Freckles are just spots of melanin! So it doesn't really have a special descent unlike red hair,

[@auradzrts691]

I love this channel, thank you.

[@charlielight1718]

Thanks, these are always great. Is it possible to do an episode on Titanboa?

[@JoseOrtiz-nr8xx]

Pls do an episode on bear dogs because I didn't know they were a thing until this episode

[@davidfoster5561]

This was an amazing episode, but now I need one about beardogs.

[@justinjones5729]

Hi PBS Eons WOW!! What another phenomenal episode and interesting topic you all decided to cover the Hell 🐖 known as Enteledont. Hank as usual did a great job as well 👍 as the crew I really enjoyed this episode as well as I loved the episode Blake did covering the mysterious lineage of Big 🐈's. I am a Big 🐈's lover and I wanted to know if you will cover the Prehistoric Giant jaguar 🐆, European Cave 🦁, American 🦁?

[@jacaliber]

I been waiting forever for a video entelodonts. Thank you PBS Eon. That conclusion should be followed up with a Amphicyon video. Although my interest with creodont hasn’t subsided. My question is what role did tectonic forces have in drying up Miocene North America, and did the volcanism and extension of Nevadaplano drive the drought for entelodonts?

[@codassassin254]

So.. When are we getting the Bear-Dog episode?

[@wildbytes5066]

Pigs today are probably the most underrated group of animals, intelligent and some incredibly tough!

[@ridanann]

allso 1 bacon beats 2 any other meat in tastieness

[@Gr33nWind0w]

Your videos make my day! I’d love to learn more about these Bear Dogs.

[@monsoon_magic2874]

Beautiful video.

[@thelonewanderer4624]

Can we get a video on the evolution of stone tools and there importance for human development?

[@atharva2576]

They've already done one

[@garymeaney60]

Could you do a video on the Miocene epoch? The period was filled with loads and loads of terrifying predators which could beat those of the late Cretaceous in a fight.

[@Leomoon101]

Right on for making a video of the hell hogs. They scary and definitely worth talking about.

[@Dementor7665]

Ty, I’ve been wondering what pigs evolution was for a long time

[@mheermance]

I'm reminded of the 1984 film "Razorback"!

[@jcortese3300]

Blake seems to host all the videos about animals whose names belong on the back of motorcycle gang jackets: Hell Pigs! Bone-Crushing Dogs! Dire Wolves! >-D BTW, still holding out here for the evolution of sense organs and a general overview of how many different kinds there are. :-)

[@cristiandanielpopescu4793]

Great video!Thanks

[@felipeantonio1304]

Love this channel.

[@felipeantonio1304]

After watching this I'm gonna listen to War Pigs by Black Sabbath

[@RoadRunnerAldrin]

Can you do videos on the giant deer of the Ice Age? Like the Irish Elk?

[@eons]

We're working on it! (BdeP)

[@hhjk377]

Someone's looking JACKED.

[@creaturedomes9364]

Great video

[@jeromebrown6626]

Very good series!

[@CHEVYCAMARO4GEN]

Next Episode should be Bear Dogs

[@ironsnowflake1076]

I saw these on a doc about ferocious extinct animals...they really stood out as particularly unnerving....would definitely make you pay for your bacon!

[@greengreens6347]

But theyd make great guard pigs

[@INTERNERT]

Extinct mammals, especially megafauna, have always been fascinating to me. They seem to get less attention than dinosaurs but are just as interesting plus they are sometimes the ancestors of familiar living animals. The wild variety of living things nature has experimented with in the past to fill various niches, as if to see what works and what doesn’t, is just amazing. This is probably one of the best channels on youtube and I hope the hosts and everyone involved has as much fun as we do watching them.

[@stephsexoticpets]

i love these videos