What on Earth Was Ainiktozoon?

Sometimes the fossil record turns up something so incredibly weird that it sends palaeontologists absolutely mad. This is the case with a mysterious organism called Ainiktozoon - what on Earth was this creature?
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Sources:
royalsocietypublishing.org/do...
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/1...
www.nature.com/articles/38558...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylaco...
age-of-arthropods.blogspot.co...

[@CharlieApples]

I love stories of paleontologists spending years studying an animal upside down lmao. There’s an embarrassingly large number of them.

[@Regal99]

Ever hear the stories from the Bone Wars?

[@goldh2o543]

Hallucigenia comes to mind

[@CharlieApples]

@@goldh2o543 My favorite 🙃

[@AngryKittens]

Remember when the _Iguanodon_ thumb was once placed on its nose? :P

[@Raumes513]

@@Regal99 isn’t that about all the dinosaurs they “put together from fossil remains” than later it was found out it was like multiple species lol

[@lepusistlich6930]

Prehistoric organisms seem to have much more creative "design" than the majority of aliens in fiction...

[@HereticalKitsune]

I was just about to post something saying "Those would make awesome aliens" but you beat me to it. xD

[@C455C0R3]

Stereotypical depictions of aliens are just grey/green humans with big eyes

[@Tobunari]

@@C455C0R3 And thin bodies Alien Planet did a much more imaginative alien world, although the "intelligent" aliens still looked more brainy.

[@lepusistlich6930]

@@C455C0R3 or humanoid lizards. Or humanoid wild hunters. Or humanoid bugs. Or blue humanoid cats. Or humanoid...

[@JackindaSack]

if you designed this and showed it to a general audience they would not buy it as a feasible alien though. The fact that we havr its fossils and KNOW this thing swam around at one point changes everything.

[@DarshanBhambhani]

animals from the past look more alien than actual alien

[@thespacers9433]

Balls in yo jaw???

[@thespacers9433]

@@lnteIIigence ok open up

[@MrRyan-wu4jx]

What actual aliens?

[@slappy8941]

@@MrRyan-wu4jx The ones that hide in the tunnels that connect all the Walmarts.

[@LucyRoseLuna]

@@MrRyan-wu4jx for example those who have specialized in hiding from aliens! (for them we of cause are the aliens)

[@roys.1889]

I feel like Hallucigenia well and truly understands the plight of Ainiktozoon

[@roys.1889]

@@MrBucket9158 not sure how you came to that idea buddy, I was just reminded of how Hallucigenia was also first described upside down

[@afatpossum2586]

“So, they also reconstructed you upside-down? Damn these apes dumb as hell.”

[@samhaines8228]

not to mention the Tully Monster! (questions about phylum designation)

[@The_WhitePencil]

Considering the number of prehistoric fossils that were interpreted upside-down, you'd think they'd learn their lesson at some point.

[@Red-yt2dk]

@@The_WhitePencil You could say that we HAVE learned that lesson by now, all of those upside down animals were over a hundred years ago now.

[@sparcdoctor]

I dunno, maybe some Extraterrestrial forgot their pet Ainiktozoon lol Love the video

[@SprayandPrayman22]

So it’s an invasive species?

[@jessejarmon2100]

@@SprayandPrayman22 No, not necessarily, invasive species are the exception, not the norm among non-native species. On average only about 10% of introduced species actually turn out to be invasive, the vast majority are either benign or even beneficial.

[@lemeres2478]

"forgot". And it is totally not that their kid's Ainiktozoon peed on the carpet one too many times and "they had to move to a nice farm upstate". Check to see if there are fossilized beer cans and cigarettes near these thigns.

[@Blariblary]

@@jessejarmon2100 I really appreciate you being informative educating us on the nature "invasive species" but you did relentlessly murder the joke 😭

[@steveclem7873]

AyAIanneekCAryzz...

[@kateaveryavery1342]

Seriously, this animal deserves much more attention.

[@svchineeljunk-riggedschoon4038]

It looks quite similar to the spiny lobster.

[@neoxpro12]

i like to see this as an ancient among us

[@picollojr9009]

Imagine if that animal was intelligent

[@neoxpro12]

@@picollojr9009 imagine they had trust issue if they did

[@friendlyneighborhoodkelbea7258]

Exactly, it looks kinda sus

[@enjarichards8100]

"It has things that look like shrmp legs on it's back!" "Umm . . . . maybe you're looking at it upside down?" 50 years later . . . :Hey, I think we're looking at it upside down!"

[@jarnovanderzee2469]

dude finds dinosaur bones: Omg! this one has its head on its tail and backwards feet!

[@waterbox1385]

If anyone ever says an absurd looking alien or result of speculative zoology looks too weird, I'll show them this

[@andyfriederichsen]

It should look weird, but within reason.

[@sampagano205]

It kind of seems like it's a crustacean evolving to fill niches that are now primarilly filled by chordates and squid in the ocean.

[@sodinc]

It died out because it didn't become a crab

[@theburgerking1236]

Crustaceans 9 times out of 10 evolve into the most alien creatures.

[@ferretappreciator]

@@sodinc in the end, crabs always win....

[@johnb2001jb]

No, it reminds me of what I imagine an alternate branch of Angler fish could’ve been

[@spec_wasted]

i really wonder why they went extinct

[@_ninthRing_]

As is frequent in these videos, it's the artwork (by Joschua Knüppe) which really sells the truly bizarre qualities of this creature's physiological structure. • That singular wideband compound eye (scanning for prey like a Cylon warrior), • The massive stomach/gut (& it's Calcium-dense ligaments), • The two strange long rods of possible muscular tissue running down it's body, above/below pairs of paddle-legs, • The ginsu-knife legs dangling down near it's mouth, • But, above all else, that tall, astonishingly shaped front Carapace, built like an inverted prow of a ship (perhaps to utilise the pressure from underwater currents to push it towards the sea floor). It seems to suffering from the extremely common adaptation of aquatic arthropods converging onto a crab-like body plan and, while I do see some similarities with the gigantic *Aegirocassis benmoulai* (& several other "shrimp"-like creatures from the Cambrian & Ordovician eras), overall this seems to be a completely unique organism with a pretty remarkable body plan.

[@solounwapodemuchos]

So even in super early arthropods the carcinization process would be present eventually?

[@ArigatoPlays]

@@solounwapodemuchos Carcinization happens because the body plan of a crab is very efficient and useful for several different common niches. While the earliest arthropods didn't have all the necessary body features to truly converge on that body plan, it would certainly have proven useful for some to go in that direction with their existing features.

[@ANTSEMUT1]

Reject monke return to crab 🤣🤣🤣

[@Someone-sq8im]

Very much so

[@Tadesan]

These artists are so incompetent aren’t they!

[@MrThatguyuknow]

Can we take a moment just to appreciate D.J. Scourfield for his Shakespeareian wizard spell names he threw at the wall in an attempt to describe the structures in this organism?

[@tonyromano6220]

Ikr?

[@justinokraski3796]

it reminded me a bit of Lovecraft's descriptions

[@engincallahan2943]

Actually laughing out loud here, as I read ; Ainiktozoon loganese

[@187SicknesS]

Love his music and collabs too

[@emperorhadrian6011]

Yes we can.

[@jakemoeller7850]

Oh, to be able to travel back in time to observe some of these fascinating creatures!

[@Tobunari]

Or to cook them.

[@pst5345]

Everytime I watch a video like this I want to do it.

[@bagea]

@@Tobunari mmmm kentucky fried trilobite

[@jakemoeller7850]

@@Tobunari • Or to have them eat you! 😱

[@zicdragon]

@@Tobunari Then we’ll get actual dino nuggets!

[@bustavonnutz]

Anyone that hasn't should read "You Inner Fish" by Niel Shubin. It's a great read that really hammers home just how deep and complex our natural history really is.

[@vr5076]

It was a compulsory reading in my biology class in high school.

[@KhanMann66]

We use our jaw bone to listen. That’s wicked.😎

[@misha3872]

I love these guys! They're so cool, too bad not many people know of them

[@theuncircumcised4947]

Not yet 👍

[@Pinnaporaptor]

I'm glad I learned about them, they're the special inspiration I needed :)

[@rovercoupe7104]

The animals or the presenters? M.

[@pedroarjona6996]

You and me and the four hundred seventy five thousand closer, a pity in a way

[@Bruhngus420]

not anymore lmao

[@denifnaf5874]

0:34 pov: you played too mutch spore

[@thespacers9433]

Fax

[@PondScummer]

accidentally makes creature backwards

[@ares6949]

yesssssss :D

[@thisisahumanlol8255]

Among Us

[@neptune1870]

@@thisisahumanlol8255 just stop

[@jamesrussell7760]

The Cambrian was full of fantastically weird animals. Mother Nature went absolutely bonkers!

[@OnlyKaerius]

Yeah, anomalocaris, hallucigenia, marrella, wiwaxia, opabinia, isoxys, tamiscolaris, etc.

[@EksaStelmere]

@@OnlyKaerius To be fair, most of these animals were millions of years apart. Gotta be careful to not lump them all together.

[@RSAgility]

This was in a span of millions of years. There’s still so much deep time we still don’t know anything about, I’m sure millions of species never fossilized, and we will never know they even existed ☹️

[@EksaStelmere]

@@RSAgility That's the real kicker, isn't it? 99% of all creatures before our time are extinct, but 99% of those never fossilized.

[@thalassaer4137]

@@EksaStelmere rip big chungus sentient slimes

[@pst5345]

This looks like a lifeform out of the Medroid games.

[@protocetid]

imagine if we found fossilized Metroids and Nintendo suddenly quit talking about the franchise

[@K12machinima]

Okay, who upvoted this so many times without realizing the glaring typo?

[@dakotasimms7270]

Flood infection form from Halo is more accurate

[@Danny2113182]

I think it looks like a Sea Treader from Subnautica

[@BloodRavenROD]

I salute the fact that the grammar nazi has 0 upvotes at this time.

[@andreas_iced8297]

Dude, imagine being the first person to realize the standard interpretation was upside down. "Why... did you flip my paper?" "Oh, it was upside down." "No, it wasn't." "Sure it was, look--" *points out a more accurate interpretation of the creature's anatomy* "... get the fucking phone, gerald--"

[@katbairwell]

Do you know what else is an incredible thing? This flipping channel! I pick up so many new points of interest to look into further from this channel, than anywhere else, I could get lost in the Interwebs for days on the back of just one episode. Excellent and valuable work!!

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

This is a pretty cool little critter! I hope someone finds some more of them, and more can be learned about it. The ancient arthropods sure seemed to have a varied idea of body shape and design. We should use their "ideas" to think about alien life, if we aren't, already!

[@lifdohop]

What a weird little guys. Never heard about this animal before. Shows again how little we truly know about the creatures of the past. There is so much we don't know and will never know.

[@ChineduOpara]

Oh well. Some mysteries shall remain ever so.

[@redeye4516]

This is honestly the only reason I want to have a time machine. I don't even want to bother trying to change human events and history and causing some massive fuckup, I just want to document these creatures when they're alive and record their unique behaviors

[@lifdohop]

@@redeye4516 Me too bro

[@ijustlikebees]

@@redeye4516 I want one as a pet

[@ChineduOpara]

@@ijustlikebees In what enclosure? You'd have to simulate a whole other (practically alien) biosphere for your little time-displaced experiment LOL 😅

[@5umyn0n4]

only one thing is for certain: that shrimp definately seems very sus.

[@michac.8283]

the plural form of amogus is amogi and you can't convince me otherwise

[@tristanband4003]

Got the drip

[@redeye4516]

Well, Amogus is officially in our fossil record. Time to destroy the planet I guess.

[@tristanband4003]

@@redeye4516 or embrace amoung us.

[@501thtrooper4]

Sussg

[@jeremymr]

Hipster paleontologists be like: "I found remains of an ainiktozoon the other day. But it's obscure, you've probably never heard of it..."

[@thisisahumanlol8255]

Chad Among Us Enjoyers : 😎😎😎😎

[@MrSameerMalik1]

This looks like something I want to de-shell, de-vein and grill with some garlic and butter.

[@LimeyLassen]

You'd probably need a sledgehammer to crack it open!

[@squid1712]

@@LimeyLassen ah yes, the coconut of the shrimp world

[@MrAranton]

I don't garlic and butter are contemporary to that creature.

[@MrSameerMalik1]

@@MrAranton neither am I but doesn’t stop me wanting

[@randompheidoleminor3011]

The thing looks like someone put a Triops in character customization and went absolutely ham with the dorsal ridge height slider

[@josiahlewis5838]

Nature be like that sometimes 😅 She was trying new things

[@wrexgrafix84]

This video has reminded me how important artists are to paleontology and science in general (or scientists who can draw).

[@Tadesan]

Not so much important as incompetently frivolous.

[@Myrdin90]

Seems to me like a free-swimming relative of the horshoe crab. It obviously lived/hunted in low-light conditions and evolved huge eyes that kida fused into a massive eye

[@al77709]

Incredible work! It's so good to learn about a beastie I had never heard about. There are so many strange stem arthropods out there: Cambropachycope and its freaky eyes, Mimetaster and its sponge dakimakura, Enalikter (though there's a big fight about whether this one's a worm or a bug), the facehugger-type early tongue worms, Tully monster (though there's a big fight about whether this one's a fish or a bug) the one that swims upside down whose name I forget, weirdo dinocarids like Opabinia or the whale shrimp, the great appendage squad... Ainiktozoon here is in good company.

[@haseo8244]

There’s weird plants too. A fern that have mayapple like leaves and weird Triassic trees.

[@AssistantCoreAQI]

I'm Sorry, But How Many Mimes Does One Have To Taste Before They Become A Mimetaster?

[@StuffandThings_]

@@haseo8244 The Middle Devonian had some *wild* stuff, when plants were still kinda figuring out how to properly form trees and leaves and seeds and stuff. Look into the Cladoxylopsids and their descendants like Tetraxylopteris, which were trees but still relied on photosynthetic stems and had some absolutely cursed vascular structure. Or the predecessors to seed plants like Runcaria which had what was basically a seed but no seed coat (seeds also nearly convergently evolved a couple other times too). Or, the early arborescent lycopsids which basically formed trees out of bark (they eventually convergently evolved wood but they were still mostly supported by bark) and grew in a matter of years. probably my favorite period due to this, combined with the fact that Euramerica was still separate (no Pangaea yet!) and the Late Devonian hadn't come and killed off all the wacky reefs yet.

[@thatdarnskag5043]

Damn, must’ve went extinct before evolving into Mimesommelier.

[@raminagrobis6112]

Great post as usual. Just one remark: in Latin (and Greek, from where the word has its roots), 'zoon' is pronounced 'zo on' (as in go on) (not zoon as in zoom).

[@TeamKillerCody]

The flood became aquatic before starving out after the activation of the Halo rings.

[@chuckcookus]

How big was it? There's an image of one shown next to a trilobite but those had tremendous variations in size.

[@planescaped]

Not to sound like "that internet guy" but seriously, it looks obviously upside down in the original diagrams. How on earth did they not notice? Although such things are quite common in science, especially back in the day. Where one expert says one thing and everyone just goes along with them. And this one definitely sounds like an instance of one stubborn expert refusing to see any other interpretation.

[@tonyromano6220]

Basics. Flat bottom

[@EksaStelmere]

Or, OR...one stubborn expert with no one to check his work because there's more interesting creatures to investigate and it's too much work to travel all the way to some part of the world when you've got specimens of your own to study.

[@pscyking]

Man this is going right up there with the Tully Monster for Earth's weirdest animals.

[@maggiesaunders9713]

Your videos helped me pass my AP Bio exam!!

[@katlee8778]

Liar

[@nyalan8385]

@@katlee8778 no they actually helped me as well

[@brianarcher6625]

@@katlee8778 B O T .

[@katlee8778]

@@brianarcher6625 bot your mother

[@shinjiikari5174]

Paleontologists for decades: "Idk, man, this thing makes no sense..." *Specimen gets turned upside down* Paleontologists: *Pog*

[@101rotarypower]

More similar videos like this please, strange rare misunderstood confusing fossils that require interpretation beyond what we think we know and understand. There must be countless examples, and rarely do we see them.

[@chrisamon4551]

Mother Nature: Hey, leave me alone. It was a phase

[@EksaStelmere]

\*said before Mother Nature casually obliterated the tree of life about four times*

[@KidMangaX]

What a fearsome creature for its time and weight-class! Although it only has one eye, it's a compound eye. Not only that, but you have the offensive and defensive capabilities of a lobster, coupled with the mobility of a fish. Just imagine being a small prey animal of the time... All of the sudden, you've got this giant lobster with a colossal shield-head rocketing towards you, ready to shovel you into its mouth with its spider-like feeding legs. It must have felt like being in the path of a very advanced killer truck.

[@SomeScruffian]

This is the second time ive heard paleontologists taking several years to flip a fossil right side up. It was weird the first time with hallucigenia, now its kinda dissapointing.

[@Schnarchnase]

Ainiktozoon sounds like a creature, which Maximilian Pegasus would summon to beat little Yugi.

[@Tiberon098]

Never heard of this one, thanks for bringing it to light.

[@noahgreer1497]

I feel like this fossil got blacklisted after all those researches realized it was upside down and it probably made a couple scientists salty.

[@EksaStelmere]

Nah, there was never enough scientists for that. Which is simply a sad part of its obscurity. There wasn't more than one person looking into it for some time.

[@DaimyoD0]

I've been subscribed for over a year and this is the first time I recognized the animals depicted in negative space inside of the tree in Ben's channel logo. What a fuckin sick logo design.

[@Giovanni12332]

Man, your videos are great. I really like how you present the information so that any one can understand the terms you are using. The content is very interesting and your voice is perfect. Keep up the great work!

[@PaulPaulPaulson]

Not gonna lie, that Thumbnail made me click faster than usual

[@GustavSvard]

Since you made a video about this animal now, I'm expecting a new find to be made within weeks. A find that will reveal much more, so that you'll have to do an updated version of the video :D

[@FranLegon]

I just wanna say I've been binge watching your videos for a month now and love them. Thank you

[@undeadladybug7723]

Man, what was in the water/air back then that made so many animals evolve so weirdly?

[@patriley5333]

Thats what I was thinking as i was shaving my nose hairs.

[@sahb8091]

It has been such an honour to watch you go through puberty.

[@andrewgardiner563]

🤨

[@Egguana_]

Oh fuck it's the among us shrimp

[@KayentaRojo]

Thank you SO MUCH for teaching us about this beautiful animal! I have never heard of this arthropod before, and it is one of the most interesting organisms i’ve ever seen straight up. I’m always happy when I see a new animal feature on this channel Thank you for all you do, seriously!

[@samhaines8228]

Thank you for bringing this delightful and curious creature to our attention!! Great fun learning about the history of the findings and the evolving interpretations of the specimens. Always enjoy puzzling over the enigmatic ones.

[@jackib5369]

Fascinating it kind of reminds me of a spaceship.

[@bacleedon5670]

Answer: “ Undersea Horseshoe tree hopper “

[@jaysonlee4394]

Yup..what I was thinking..🤘

[@JacquesEurope]

Thank you for your great and well researched videos!

[@snaggiz]

This genuinely looks like something straight out of a sci-fi game. But that makes it all the cooler.

[@lexprontera8325]

"zoon" [zoh-on] is Greek for "animal" It's not [ai-Nikita-Zune]. It's [ai-nik-toh-zoh-on].

[@matthewdavies2057]

Great with butter and lemon.

[@Tobunari]

You know what's up.

[@menkomonty]

The Ainiktozoon looks like something you'd find in an illustration of War of the Worlds.

[@Virtualblueart]

I love how one paleontologist must have looked at the fossil being discussed and looked at it with his head a little tilted before rotating it 180 degrees stunning their colleges.

[@TomRozel]

For a moment I thought this was going to be about something Dougal Dixon had thought up.

[@Drakonus_]

Anomalocaris be like: Finally, a worthy opponent.

[@neptune1870]

No

[@EksaStelmere]

@@neptune1870 Yes

[@AngrySinn]

What an amazing creature... By far the most alien looking one I've seen so far.

[@noahlizard7]

Good job doing research for this episode!

[@CAWCarcharo34]

Ah, aliens

[@BoulderWraith]

When the Ainiktozoon is suspicious

[@Nagram_]

The Ainiktozoon is definetly a cool looking thing. Like, If aliens ever visit us I could see their ships looking like it.

[@luiscoelho77]

First, thanks for putting subtitles. Even i understanding english relatively well, i always appreciate this effort. It helps immensely, especially on the technical terms. I like learn about this early and strange animals, the Earth history is full of misteries like this. Its such great information.

[@breadwithoutbread8668]

My friend: ah yes among us

[@supercat4259]

i wonder how so many of them died... maybe they were *ejected* from somewhere?

[@1TLP72]

I had never heard of these creatures before this. A truly amazing video, very well researched and edited; I appreciate the time you put into this. I think we have another Sir David Attenborough in the making.

[@richardcharay7788]

Excellent video, thanks!

[@osta1550]

The living amongus

[@thedoruk6324]

Oh my God! The *SuS* Planktons were real! I knew it!

[@thedoruk6324]

@Zeno the Filipino *aMoGus!*

[@neptune1870]

just stop

[@otodusb491]

This is so awesome Mate :-)

[@maryseeker7590]

I enjoyed this! Good job!

[@Pipkiablo]

I have long said that the further back in time you go, the more our oceans start to look like an episode of Rick and Morty.

[@StraightestDakregor]

"What on earth was [animal i never heard of]?" Bro if neither you or the paleontology community doesn't know how am I supposed to

[@thisisahumanlol8255]

Its the imposter from Among Us 😳😳😳😳

[@Tadesan]

Shut up

[@thisisahumanlol8255]

@@Tadesan 😳😳😳😳😳

[@neptune1870]

@@thisisahumanlol8255 oh you poor thing

[@thisisahumanlol8255]

@@neptune1870 😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳

[@oneshotme]

Enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up

[@kuitaranheatmorus9932]

Nothing like Prehistory & Ben being awesome,to make my day

[@loroleibusser5993]

they look a lil sus

[@jermrocks3337]

Amogus crab

[@wormwoodbecomedelphinus4131]

It's always fascinating, but also sad - all the living things that we will never be able to see.

[@trull122]

Thanks for sharing Ben, reminds me of Hallucigenia a panarthropod found in the Burgess shale in Canada originally reconstructed upside down and back to front.

[@Dollarstore_Yuji]

Amogus shrimp

[@youraveragephesh3173]

AMOGUS

[@jasonmed2119]

Well done folks, thanx for the grand work

[@frankb508]

I would like to see more of your videos. Thank you for your work...

[@lieutenantgelatinous8815]

Among us fish

[@idioticlight]

Amogus crab

[@shorky._png]

Ainiktozoon loganense looks sus😏 what im saying is that it looks like among us lol

[@Prophet_Isaiah]

Really cool episode, more like this!!!!

[@kenmaund2836]

At last an interesting subject professionally presented, thank you from SA

[@YouEra]

A and I in Greek (ai) make an e sound. Also zoon is from ζώον which sounds as zo-on. So it's called eniktozo on

[@princegordon5610]

Amoogus

[@SpydrXIII]

it's rare i learn about an animal i've never heard about before. thank you.

[@TragoudistrosMPH]

Wow, I nearly got a headache trying to figure out that organism lol. The 'right side up' version felt a lot more sensible compared to the bizzare chordate version... still, wow...

[@kasinokaiser1319]

Amogus

[@caiohenrique1603]

no

[@neptune1870]

just stop it

[@ishclayton8667]

Great videos!

[@Jerharris90]

Thank you. Lovely video

[@kitsune2858]

Your insights are a value to your studies :)