How Whale Evolution Kind Of Sucked

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  • čas přidán 27. 06. 2024
  • Mystacodon is the earliest known mysticete, the group that, today, we call the baleen whales. But if this was a baleen whale, where was its baleen? Where did baleen come from? And how did it live without it?
    Thanks to Fabrizio de Rossi ( / artoffabricious ) for the incredible Mystacodon reconstructions!
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Komentáře • 1,7K

  • @Joe_Potts
    @Joe_Potts Před rokem +1901

    At around the 7:30 minute mark, i was thinking "So why did this whale evolution suck?" then i realized it was the suction feeding and was like "Oh..." PBS Eons is smooth with the puns today.

    • @ichokedonadoritoonce7670
      @ichokedonadoritoonce7670 Před rokem +27

      Yeet😭😭

    • @Galenus1234
      @Galenus1234 Před rokem +150

      It sucks even more that researchers of a particular kind of prehistoric whales aren't called "baleentologists".

    • @paulpeterson4216
      @paulpeterson4216 Před rokem +52

      It's ok, the original ancestor was called Mistake-o-don

    • @mirmalchik
      @mirmalchik Před rokem +30

      @@paulpeterson4216 Oops, I fell down to the floor and found, just, SO MUCH food down here!

    • @Bulldogg6404
      @Bulldogg6404 Před rokem +35

      I was this-comment-years-old when i realized the pun. thank you.

  • @DanaBanana94
    @DanaBanana94 Před rokem +5202

    Whales are always mindblowing to me. Like, they were land animals at some point, that seems crazy. Imagine elephants evolving to feed from the ocean and they "lose" their legs over millions of years to transform them into fins. Evolution is wild.

    • @ozarkecologies
      @ozarkecologies Před rokem +373

      As such all other cetaceans! What’s crazy is thinking about how really the only aquatic species that are known for making vocalizations are cetaceans, because they all used to be land mammals who obviously vocalized as well.
      We always like to imagine those early cetaceans’ limbs changing to become mobile in water, but just imagine how their vocal cords have changed 😳
      This hit me when I was really high watching a nature documentary, and all I could think about was how cetaceans are like cows screaming underwater lol

    • @inersdraco
      @inersdraco Před rokem +181

      Hippos have a little more chance to become marine

    • @cerperalpurpose
      @cerperalpurpose Před rokem +169

      Man when you find out about manatees your mind is going to be blown

    • @numerum_bestia
      @numerum_bestia Před rokem +102

      @@cerperalpurpose yeah a hippo with flippers is basically a walrus

    • @CoachJohnMcGuirk1
      @CoachJohnMcGuirk1 Před rokem +49

      Of course they are mind blowing, it’s how they breathe!

  • @Xnaut314
    @Xnaut314 Před rokem +2775

    An often-overlooked clue that can used to estimate the evolutionary age and origin of mysticetes lays not in the whales themselves, but their parasites. Whale lice have an unusual life cycle where the adults live on and within a baleen whale's skin in a manner that superficially resembles a barnacle, but when they reproduce their larvae only spend a short time in the water column before settling on the seafloor to continue their growth.
    Once they finish their second stage they need to reattach to a whale to become an adult, and that can only happen by a whale touching its skin against the seafloor for the lice to grab onto. This makes whale lice very rare on species that spend their whole life filter feeding in the open water column, but much more common on species that feed on the seafloor like gray whales. It's also why odontocetes never contract whale lice, as none are specialized to hunt exclusively on the seafloor.
    It's likely that whale lice have been coevolving with mysticetes since their divergence from odontocetes so by tracking their evolutionary history it could be possible to estimate when the first true mysticetes appeared, as well ad infer that feeding in seafloor sediment was the original driving force that started their distinct evolution.

    • @animalpeeps
      @animalpeeps Před rokem +102

      That would be so interesting to deliver into. Are there lice that are host specific, and can/will only live on certain species, compared to other life species that might be more flexible in what species of whale they live on? I'm curious if there's a neat, traceable pattern in the lice evolution alongside the whales, kind of how like some mold species coevolved with ants that farmed them and whatnot.

    • @ianrobson9601
      @ianrobson9601 Před rokem +136

      WOW !! That`s possibly the most interesting comment I`ve ever read on CZcams.

    • @galaxiaknight
      @galaxiaknight Před rokem +32

      That's insanely interesting

    • @Mastermindyoung14
      @Mastermindyoung14 Před rokem +58

      Human pubic/head lice also has an interesting coevolution history

    • @craftsummonner16
      @craftsummonner16 Před rokem +11

      the knowledge.

  • @gabrielruiz5173
    @gabrielruiz5173 Před rokem +1010

    The sheer amount we've been able to put together about prehistoric earth is amazing. I feel so lucky to be alive at this time

    • @junodonatus4906
      @junodonatus4906 Před rokem +44

      I agree as we are the living embodiment of the universe becoming conscious and looking back and understanding itself. To paraphrase Carl Sagan.

    • @Emily-ye1rj
      @Emily-ye1rj Před rokem +26

      The interesting thing about archeology to me isn't finding awesome bones, it's the fact that we can make incredibly well supported claims about the live cycle of T-Rex and how they impacted their environment. We know they had feathers all (on every area we've found) of their skin. We know the COLORS of animals that no simian ever saw!!! We know the sexual habits of wolves that died out before (or around, I don't remember which) humans hit north America.
      Everything we know and how we know it and how much more we don't know but someday might and everything we'll probably never know is so cool!!!

    • @Shadow-In-The-East
      @Shadow-In-The-East Před rokem +13

      @@junodonatus4906 His exact quote was "We are a way for the universe to know itself."

    • @razzy6728
      @razzy6728 Před rokem +5

      @@junodonatus4906 and yet people mostly focus on the most insignificant things in life

    • @mattvanderford4920
      @mattvanderford4920 Před rokem

      The sheer amount we have been able to put together??? Like the MAY have eaten like this other creature MAY have ate. That’s not putting anything together at all. That’s call speculation of speculation not putting anything together nor science. It’s a bunch of want to be know it alls that like to make guesses off of a few clues. That could have been caused by 1000 other speculative guesses.

  • @Gaarafan007
    @Gaarafan007 Před rokem +274

    What's most mind blowing to me is how agile such large creatures can be. That footage of the whale flipping over 180 degrees is amazing.

    • @DanielMWJ
      @DanielMWJ Před rokem +21

      Hydrodynamics makes such things insanely easy with a flexible spindle with rudders and speed. There's just *so much* mass in water to push off, yet it parts easily on the edge or point.

  • @Cylume.
    @Cylume. Před rokem +89

    I'd say whale evolution kind of Blows. 🐳

  • @davidg5898
    @davidg5898 Před rokem +369

    Coincidental timing: the US Navy just released some video of camera footage from their dolphins (cameras mounted on the dolphins), and the researchers found that suction feeding was their main way of catching fish. It isn't pure suction feeding, since the dolphins aren't still, but it's also not ram feeding (swimming faster than the fish) or biting the fish to disable/kill it before swallowing it.

    • @anonnyanonymous4800
      @anonnyanonymous4800 Před rokem +19

      They’ve been tracking dolphins for like a century and had underwater cameras for decades and they JUST discovered this? Wow

    • @davidg5898
      @davidg5898 Před rokem +111

      @@anonnyanonymous4800 We've been living with domestic cats for longer than written history, but how they drink water was only resolved about 10 years ago with high speed macro cameras and advanced knowledge of fluid dynamics.
      da Vinci described/identified the airfoil shape of bird wings over 500 years ago, but it still took over 400 more years to get combustion engines for achieving powered flight.
      Sometimes you have to wait until the right equipment/science is created/discovered before you can get answers.

    • @slwrabbits
      @slwrabbits Před rokem +11

      Schlorp!

    • @reuireuiop0
      @reuireuiop0 Před rokem +5

      Wouldn't most predatory fish _and_ fish eating birds & animals (spinosaur !) swallow fish, or any underwater prey, by sucking them up? At least to get them between teeth and then _snap_ use those special fish grabbing teeth.
      Doesn't work much on dry land or in the air (too thin) though I can imagine swallows & bats sucking up butterflies, dragon flies and moths

    • @davidg5898
      @davidg5898 Před rokem +35

      @@reuireuiop0 Suction feeding doesn't involve the teeth. It's when the hunter creates a large suction and the prey goes straight down the gullet (depending on the animal, by opening the mouth very quickly, by suddenly expanding the throat, or by blocking the throat with the tongue and pulling it back rapidly).
      Ram feeding is when you swim faster than the prey, but still swallow it whole without a bit.
      If biting is involved to kill/disable the fish before swallowing, it's called raptorial feeding. Most marine birds do their fish catching this way, hence why it's called raptorial feeding.
      There are other feeding types, too, used by different animals. Filter feeding is pushing the water through filters that food can't fit through (whales, whale sharks, some crustaceans, tube worms, anemones, etc). And lunge feeding is a specific type of filter feeding: swimming very quickly to get an enormous mouthful of water that's then filtered. Other critters use tentacles (ocotopuses, squids, cuttlefish) or claws (crabs and lobsters) to catch their prey (or talons, in the case of birds like eagles and ospreys). And there are other methods, too.
      That said, it is undeniable that most fish use suction feeding (ever watch a goldfish eating?). Non-fish animals in the water, however, are a much more mixed bag. And many employ multiple feeding tactics depending on their prey.
      The paradigm shift here isn't that dolphins _can_ suction feed. That's been known. The surprise is that suction feeding is their _main_ way of catching fish. It had previously been assumed, because of their teeth, that raptorial feeding was their preferred method .

  • @Reyma777
    @Reyma777 Před rokem +530

    Mystacodon, a early mysticete has hind flippers and early odontocetes also have this trait. Thus, the two groups of modern whales lost their hind-limbs independently. I used to assume that modern whales lost their hind flippers as soon as they branched off from the archaeocetes.

    • @floranse5205
      @floranse5205 Před rokem +20

      Makes sense with convergent evolution.

    • @Xnaut314
      @Xnaut314 Před rokem +67

      There are clues of that even in living whales, as not all vestigial legs are preserved the same. Most species only have a few isolated bones left, but the bowhead and right whales still have somewhat articulated legs tucked inside their bodies, indicating that the loss of hind legs didn't occur at the same rate across all modern species even though they did all ultimately reach that point.

    • @Reyma777
      @Reyma777 Před rokem +14

      @@Xnaut314 I would assume the ancestors of the Balaenidae took longer to lose vestigial hind limbs [including hip bones] because they are slow swimmers. Extant whales lack hind-limbs to reduce drag while swimming.

    • @anthonygorman94
      @anthonygorman94 Před rokem +1

      Same.

    • @absalomdraconis
      @absalomdraconis Před rokem

      @@Reyma777 : I wonder how much this could indicate about e.g. plesiosaurs.

  • @aste4949
    @aste4949 Před rokem +250

    What really blows my mind is how, at least in many toothed whales, their trachea _passes up through the middle of their esophagus?!_ I had assumed it would evolve to go _around_ the esophoagus, not pass through it like a deepthroat nasal septum. Now I wonder if that's the case for baleen whales too, especially since they retain two nostrils while toothed whales went to a singular one.
    Come to think of it, I wonder how their trachea and one vs two nostril blowholes evolved...

    • @slwrabbits
      @slwrabbits Před rokem +11

      That's really cool, thanks for sharing!

    • @blackleague212
      @blackleague212 Před rokem +32

      @@slwrabbits I went to an alternate timeline where the whales did not go into the water millions of years ago. They are now dogs. They fight and they also have holes on the top of their heads. oh boy it was a real trip! New York City is a huge rock quarry and Jamaica is the capitol of the planet. It was a lovely timeline.

    • @TheEasterRabbit1
      @TheEasterRabbit1 Před rokem +42

      Bro what did you smoke gimme that too

    • @mirmalchik
      @mirmalchik Před rokem +8

      @@blackleague212 how was electricity generated?

    • @athowar
      @athowar Před rokem

      @@TheEasterRabbit1 smoke a car battery pickled toad.

  • @cheif9OO
    @cheif9OO Před rokem +244

    I really like that you list the names of all the creatures involved in the story. Makes it easier for me to look them up.

  • @hogwartswhovian
    @hogwartswhovian Před rokem +53

    An episode about seal evolution would be cool!!! Another sea mammal thats so specialized for the ocean, fascinating

  • @animalpeeps
    @animalpeeps Před rokem +79

    Ahhh yess! I wrote a research paper on the evolution of baleen in one of my paleontology classes in college! It is such a fascinating concept as to how it happened and how successful it has become. Thank you guys for making a concise, super educational and descriptive video on something that I don't see discussed too often!

  • @paulmurray3459
    @paulmurray3459 Před rokem +67

    Could you please address the evolution of the blowhole? Nostrils that moved further and further back?

    • @theflyingdutchguy9870
      @theflyingdutchguy9870 Před rokem +5

      thats pretty much right😅. wanna learn more about whales. all the whales. check out clint's reptiles.

    • @junodonatus4906
      @junodonatus4906 Před rokem +19

      The nostrils did not move back as much as the skull became longer in the front. Imagine a dog's nostrils staying where they are while it's snout elongates. It'll give you somewhat of an idea of what actually happened.

    • @sidharthcs2110
      @sidharthcs2110 Před rokem

      Or the snouts got elongated

    • @junodonatus4906
      @junodonatus4906 Před rokem +1

      @Erik
      Yes, I've seen those pictures of embryonic development but when I looked deeper into the evolutionary history, the explanation of what's happening showed that it was actually the snout that elongates as this happens.

    • @junodonatus4906
      @junodonatus4906 Před rokem +1

      @Erik
      Thanks.. I'll have to do some more looking into it. It has been hard to find a good source.

  • @dannielleeagles7791
    @dannielleeagles7791 Před rokem +26

    Funny thing about maiabalaena, the apparent evidence for the lack of baleen was overlooked in the initial paper, there was another paper published saying that the margins of the maxilla (upper jaw) weren't preserved so there could have been foramen in the palate that have been eroded away.
    There is evidence for whales having both teeth and baleen. Eomysticetes have tiny nonfunctional teeth in the front of the upper jaw, and while baleen has been preserved from them they almost certainly had baleen. There was a paper that even suggested the older group Aetiocetidae may have had baleen and functional teeth (Ekdale and Deméré 2021 (they also brought up the earlier point about maiabalaena)).

    • @attilatheone3406
      @attilatheone3406 Před rokem +3

      You may be interested to know that some members of the team who described Maiabalaena recently dropped a really important paper in which they made a really compelling argument against the use of those lateral palatal foramina to infer baleen. Those same structures are also found in terestrial artiodactyls, and we know those don't have baleen for instance. I believe this paper was Peredo, Pyenson and Uhen (2022) if you're interested!
      Was it the most recent Ekdale and Demere paper that brought up the point about the margins of Maiabalaena's palate? thanks for sharing!

  • @i.setyawan
    @i.setyawan Před rokem +6

    "Big moustache inside the mouth..." on hearing this, suddenly the inside of my mouth feels all itchy... yuk! Great episode, by the way... I think this is the first time I learned that baleen evolves from teeth, or that baleen whales once had teeth... before that moustache started to grow...

  • @6099x
    @6099x Před rokem +9

    I can't tell you how nice it is, to come home to see PBS Eons sitting in my inbox, ready for me to watch and learn some more about the life of this world. followed by melting my brain watching spacetime - cheers PBS Eons team 💌

  • @egg7247
    @egg7247 Před rokem +88

    Ooh I'm glad this is being covered, its not a common thing talked about in most whale evo vids

    • @Galaxia7
      @Galaxia7 Před rokem +3

      @@bob.5857 quite a lot yes

  • @johnwalters1341
    @johnwalters1341 Před rokem +91

    Interesting video! The Gray Whale is usually considered to be the most primitive of the extant mysticetes, and it does something similar to the suction feeding you describe, only with baleen rather than teeth. The Gray Whale spends the summer in the Bering Sea, where it feeds on bottom-living amphipods (small crustaceans similar to beach fleas), taking in mouthfuls of mud and straining them through its baleen plates.

    • @indyreno2933
      @indyreno2933 Před rokem +4

      @John Walters, actually, the Grey Whale (Eschrichtius robustus) is the only surviving member of the family Eschrichtiidae, which belongs to the superfamily Cetotherioidea, which includes the Pygmy Right Whale (Caperea marginata) of the family Cetotheriidae, Cetotherioidea actually is most closely related to the superfamily Balaenoidea which contains the monotypic families Balaenidae (Bowhead Whale and Fossil Relatives) and Eubalaenidae (Right Whales and Fossil Relatives), both superfamilies belong to the infraorder Balaenicephalia, which contains all baleen whales except rorquals (family Balaenopteridae).

    • @Reyma777
      @Reyma777 Před rokem +10

      @@indyreno2933 The grey whale has been recently moved into the family Balaenopteridae. Genetic studies show Balaenopteridae to be paraphyletic if the Grey Whale wasn’t included in the family. Most the rorquals are more closely related to the Grey Whale than they are to the Minke.

    • @indyreno2933
      @indyreno2933 Před rokem +3

      @MrReyno Tanks, actually, the closest living relative of the Grey Whale (Eschrichtius robustus) is actually the Pygmy Right Whale (Caperea marginata), both species are the only two surviving members of the superfamily Cetotherioidea, which actually belongs to the infraorder Balaenicephalia, making the grey whale and pygmy right whale more closely related to the bowhead whale and right whales of the superfamily Balaenoidea, the rorquals (family Balaenopteridae) are the most distantly related from all the other extant baleen whales as they are the only extant family of the superfamily Balaenopteroidea and the infraorder Balaenopterocephalia, the Balaenoidea contains two monotypic families that are extant being Balaenidae for the bowhead whale and its extinct relatives and Eubalaenidae for the right whales and their extinct relatives, the infraorders of baleen whales (suborder Mysticeti) are defined by the facial appearance and their abilities of filter-feeding, Balaenicephalia and Balaenopterocephalia, the infraorder Balaenopterocephalia contains only the rorquals (family Balaenopteridae), while the infraorder Balaenicephalia contains all the other extant baleen whales, there are only ten extant rorquals within six genera and three subfamilies, the ten living rorqual species are the Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus), the Arctic Minke Whale (Pterobalaena acutorostrata), the Antarctic Minke Whale (Pterobalaena bonaerensis), the Blue Whale (Sibbaldius musculus), the Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), the Sei Whale (Rudolphius borealis), the Omura's Whale (Rorqualus omurai), the Rice's Whale (Rorqualus ricei), the Bryde's Whale (Rorqualus brydei), and the Eden's Whale (Rorqualus edeni).

  • @UseADamnCoaster
    @UseADamnCoaster Před rokem +10

    Whale and dolphin evolution absolutely fascinates me. Their transition from land to water is an incredible evolutionary feat. Evidence of the adaptability of life forms.

  • @firmanimad
    @firmanimad Před rokem +24

    Most nights my girlfriend asked me to tell her a nighttime story, kinda like ASMR to help her sleep. And I always love to recount things I learned from Eons or Kurzgesagt. Tonight, its all about whales baby.

  • @Chrismas815
    @Chrismas815 Před rokem +53

    I love learning about whale evolution!

    • @johnqpublic2718
      @johnqpublic2718 Před rokem +1

      @Benjamin David Lurie so that he can regurgitate the script of the video later on, and seem intelligent.

    • @Rajclaw
      @Rajclaw Před rokem +15

      @@johnqpublic2718 or maybe, just maybe, it’s because it’s imteresting to them!

    • @Rajclaw
      @Rajclaw Před rokem +7

      @Benjamin David Lurie what does that matter? Do you have some preconcieved notion about people who don’t show their face? Is what I said lesser to you for no reason other than that or because you just didn’t like what I had to say?

    • @chocomilkfps1264
      @chocomilkfps1264 Před rokem +13

      @@johnqpublic2718 projection is a hell of a drug

    • @Rajclaw
      @Rajclaw Před rokem +4

      @Benjamin David Lurie bold assumption there, got literally anything other than my pfp to back it up? And what does that have to do with anything?

  • @gryphonrampant24
    @gryphonrampant24 Před rokem +57

    The revelations about suction-feeding whale ancestors on the ocean floor makes me curious about the omission of whiskers in the paleoart. When suction-feeding was mentioned, I immediately thought of walruses--who, interestingly, have large keratin filaments near their mouth in the form of sensory whiskers. I don't know how plausible a migration from bottom-feeding sensory whiskers to filtering baleen is, but I'd like to hear more.

  • @HelenM1994
    @HelenM1994 Před rokem +125

    Guessing they didn't have a whale of a time evolving.

  • @LadyhawksLairDotCom
    @LadyhawksLairDotCom Před rokem +35

    Contemporary gray whales strain mud from the sea floor. They lack the throat pleats that most other baleen whales possess. (Whales with pleats are called "rorquals.")

  • @ordinaryorca9334
    @ordinaryorca9334 Před rokem +107

    This was great, could you do a similar video on the signature trait of their teethed cousins, odontocetes' echolocation? Exploring it from a bat perspective would also be cool, especially wiyh their arms race with certain moth species. No pressure though, not all vids need to be whale themed

  • @RavinRay
    @RavinRay Před rokem +8

    Nice inclusion of _Odobenocetops_ the walrus-faced whale in the background at 3:00 and again throughout the video!

  • @kitchenmom
    @kitchenmom Před rokem +6

    I love all your videos, not only do I learn new cool things I can impress my teenagers with at dinner, you also make it fun with your joy for sharing this knowledge with us. So thank you all for being amazing.

  • @mlebrooks
    @mlebrooks Před rokem +30

    Baleen is one of the crazy evolutions as is sonar. Whales evolved both. The first time I saw one of these ancient skulls was on the main floor of the sciport museum in Shreveport Louisiana. Thank you sciport.

    • @DanielMWJ
      @DanielMWJ Před rokem +1

      The crazy thing about sonar is that even humans have a weak version of it. Anything with advanced hearing and vocalization can hear shifts in acoustics while vocalizing. For example, when approaching a wall.
      The transition from the basics to *better than sight* is definitely crazier, though.

  • @shanemeekin1833
    @shanemeekin1833 Před rokem +6

    Cool to see my professor Ewan Fordyce and the Otago Geology Museum in there!

  • @Maelthras
    @Maelthras Před rokem +45

    The change from bottom feeding to filter feeding also includes depth, filter feeding can be done in open ocean, but bottom feeding can only be done along shores unless the whales want to dive a mile down and then try and actively feed and make it back up to the surface.

    • @ravinraven6913
      @ravinraven6913 Před rokem +2

      you do realize how deep whales can go right? a mile is NOTHING to them.....

    • @Maelthras
      @Maelthras Před rokem +1

      @@ravinraven6913 feeding at extreme depths is not beneficial

    • @vaelophisnyx9873
      @vaelophisnyx9873 Před měsícem

      @@Maelthras toothed whales disagree, but yeah filter feeding at excessive depths isn't great.

  • @GLitiatc0
    @GLitiatc0 Před rokem +51

    Perfect timing for this video! I just babbled about whale evolution to my coworkers today against their will.

    • @DaveCM
      @DaveCM Před rokem +3

      So,...you are an energy vampire?

    • @GLitiatc0
      @GLitiatc0 Před rokem +15

      @@DaveCM no, but if you're going to shadow me at work and not contribute to the task, you don't get to control the topic.

    • @slwrabbits
      @slwrabbits Před rokem +5

      @@GLitiatc0 well said! educate away!

    • @DaveCM
      @DaveCM Před rokem +1

      @@GLitiatc0 LOL! Very valid point?

  • @FelixstoweFoamForge
    @FelixstoweFoamForge Před rokem +10

    As someone who strains soup through my moustache, I'm all in favour of baleen wales having mouth-taches.

  • @JJ-oq3tz
    @JJ-oq3tz Před rokem +65

    Modern day whales are believed to have moved into the oceans around the Teyths Sea, now in Mediterranean Sea and Asia. Fossils recoverd showed an animal called Archaeoceti, thought to be the first sub order of cetaceans, existed in the estuaries of Tethys Sea. I want to learn about hippos

    • @Dragrath1
      @Dragrath1 Před rokem +3

      Wasn't the Tethys actually a full blow ocean back in the Cretaceous and early Cenozoic? I think it had largely started to close by the time whales moved towards the ocean, particularly due to India, rapid motion and the Iberian plate having been sandwiched between Africa and Eurasia by 70 Ma but that long dynamic history probably had some effect on what lived there specifically in that it would have been quite deep involving numerous subduction zones and if modern ocean basins are any guide probably also spreading ridges and transform faults which all could support a wide number of environments.

  • @ZekeNumala
    @ZekeNumala Před rokem +18

    What if baleen did evolve from hair? If you look at the other group of (semi) aquatic mammals, the pinnipedes, they all have whiskers. So what if the whiskers (if there where any) in early baleen whales just migrated into the mouth over time, and then became the baleen we know today?

  • @danolsen8718
    @danolsen8718 Před rokem +4

    Thank you Eons for amazing content! I would love to see an episode that compares the highly complex brains of toothed whales against those of baleen whales, and some of the theories on why toothed whales are so intelligent, possibly interpreting echolocation ‘imagery’, or dealing with social nuance.

  • @ThePunkPatriot
    @ThePunkPatriot Před rokem +4

    Good of you to do the land acknowledgement at the end! Kudos

  • @mirrorblue100
    @mirrorblue100 Před rokem +15

    Amazing animals - hope they can survive man.

  • @sedrfghbn
    @sedrfghbn Před rokem +4

    Amazing to see that dignifying homage at the the end. Good job PBS Eons

  • @cheeseburgerrunner5217
    @cheeseburgerrunner5217 Před rokem +3

    Your art department is just fantastic, beautiful images. Makes the imagination run wild.

  • @hangukhiphop
    @hangukhiphop Před rokem +17

    Evolving baleen was a HUGE mystac!

  • @yanghu12
    @yanghu12 Před rokem +19

    Did you hear about the marine biology PhD student who hated whales?
    She wrote a diss-cetacean about it.
    I'll see myself out.

  • @ZeFroz3n0ne907
    @ZeFroz3n0ne907 Před rokem +10

    Mystacodon's teeth were groovy, as was this video! Great video! Love the channel! I always have a Whale of a time watching!
    😄
    Today is also my 32nd birthday! (Aug. 18th) 🎂

  • @Officeninja428
    @Officeninja428 Před 11 měsíci

    Love this channel and the excellent educational content it brings! Thanks PBS

  • @rebekkathors
    @rebekkathors Před rokem +4

    This is so interesting, as a whale watching guide I've always wondered about this and was never able to find any understandable, solid answers, so thank you for this!

  • @ViciousOS
    @ViciousOS Před rokem +7

    I love how Kallie is the only one that doesn't groan with the awful jokes, hahaha...

  • @8pelagic610
    @8pelagic610 Před rokem +4

    The shots of the whales surfacing to filter feed made me think of all the sailors who were so terrified of having their entire ships swallowed when the whale was after krill. Heh.

  • @krisallen7198
    @krisallen7198 Před rokem +5

    I really look forward to when you are the host, you are by far my favorite

  • @TragoudistrosMPH
    @TragoudistrosMPH Před rokem +8

    2:30 *imagines a toothless man folding in his lips and moustache to filter feed*
    I'm more intrigued than grossed out lol.

  • @dynojackal1911
    @dynojackal1911 Před rokem +5

    Small correction: There is still one living non-giant baleen whale: the pygmy right whale, the last cetotheriid.

  • @danukil7703
    @danukil7703 Před rokem +6

    Lovely video!
    Just a minor comment: based on their websites, I believe they spell it "Yakama" instead of "Yakina"

  • @Cosmic_dust223
    @Cosmic_dust223 Před rokem +2

    This is really cool, I have wondered about the evolution of whales for a long time & this answered a lot of my questions!

  • @coconutcore
    @coconutcore Před rokem +13

    Wait…did they just call a land animal a whale without technically being wrong!? 🤯
    This is going to keep me awake tonight.

    • @sylviadailey9126
      @sylviadailey9126 Před rokem +4

      Whales can really range between being on land to being in water and everything in between. They are all related. It is just that the water extremists are the only ones that still live. So that is the only ones that we are used to. The Whale's closest living relative is Hippo, and that is something in between. Hippos lean more to the land end.

    • @jounisuninen
      @jounisuninen Před rokem

      @@sylviadailey9126 And the scientific evidence for that little story ?

  • @ven7165
    @ven7165 Před rokem +17

    I remember going to a museum as a kid and the Buffalo statue was HUGE. I can't imagine how big a whale is.

    • @aprinnyonbreak1290
      @aprinnyonbreak1290 Před rokem +3

      Well, a blue whale can more or less hold a buffalo like a plushy under one if its flippers, if that helps.

    • @brandonwithnell612
      @brandonwithnell612 Před rokem

      a big whale skeleton or statue can take up a a whole wing of a mueseum as its centerpiece, never seen a mueseum like that in real life as the few ive been too usually go for dinosuars as the center pieces but i imagine a few would use whales as well

    • @slwrabbits
      @slwrabbits Před 4 měsíci

      ​@@aprinnyonbreak1290 Thank you for this adorable yet terrifying image.

  • @eurybaric
    @eurybaric Před rokem +3

    I'd love it if you would put the present day location info on the photos you use

  • @floorpuddles
    @floorpuddles Před rokem +1

    this was awesome. thank you so much for the info!!!

  • @olwolf
    @olwolf Před rokem +18

    Thank you. That was truly fascinating! Please keep producing your content!! 🐺

  • @admiral_m_10k35
    @admiral_m_10k35 Před rokem +3

    I greatly appreciate this channel

  • @nathanjarboe4927
    @nathanjarboe4927 Před rokem +4

    4:50 Changes in the ocean.
    6:00 Suction Feeding
    7:25 Ocean changes

  • @eduardoespino3117
    @eduardoespino3117 Před rokem +3

    Spectacular video. Thank you.

  • @natepolidoro4565
    @natepolidoro4565 Před rokem +2

    I love the title so much.

  • @beback_
    @beback_ Před rokem +8

    None of this seems particularly bad I don't see why you say it su... aaaah I see.

  • @xxoldgreeneyesxx
    @xxoldgreeneyesxx Před rokem +7

    Soooo we could gene edit today’s baleen whales to have teeth again… I’m sensing a new movie series 😂

  • @Allyourbase1990
    @Allyourbase1990 Před rokem +2

    These videos are so much better than anything in learned school

  • @shelbydean7906
    @shelbydean7906 Před rokem +18

    Thanks for this great video. Whale evolution is amazing!

    • @rcamargo636
      @rcamargo636 Před rokem

      @Benjamin David Lurie go get er, Benji

    • @thejadedjester4935
      @thejadedjester4935 Před rokem +2

      @Benjamin David Lurie are you actually trying to hit on someone on a youtube comment? Why. And they don't have any obligation to answer you.

    • @DarkFleurofIra
      @DarkFleurofIra Před rokem

      @Benjamin David Lurie Me thinketh she was not interested in anyway

    • @DarkFleurofIra
      @DarkFleurofIra Před rokem

      @Benjamin David Lurie Unimpressed with your behavior and not interested

  • @veggieboyultimate
    @veggieboyultimate Před rokem +43

    To think there was a completely separate group of whales feeding a different way than today’s whales, paleontology is so fascinating!
    Can you do a video about the pelagornithids? I even came up with a name for it, “when birds had…” oh wait.

  • @charleslampman6971
    @charleslampman6971 Před rokem

    Thank you for providing opportunity for me to nerd out on the road. ☺️

  • @matthew_ferguson
    @matthew_ferguson Před rokem +1

    I really appreciated the land acknowledgement at the end of the video.

  • @SepiaChild
    @SepiaChild Před 9 měsíci +3

    Killer Whales (wolves of the seas) are related to Mesonychids (wolf with hooves)

  • @bunso521
    @bunso521 Před rokem +24

    What really makes me curious about evolution as a whole is the point of transition between organisms like at what point did it happen and how did it work?
    For example, a land animal adept in the waters transitioning fully into an aquatic animal. Did they just had an offspring was unable to go on land and if so how could it have survived being the first generation of that species.

    • @seanm8665
      @seanm8665 Před rokem +1

      The theory of evolution doesn’t make sense. There’s too many plot holes. I ask how it can be accepted when there is still so much that is unknown.

    • @Benjamin_Kraft
      @Benjamin_Kraft Před rokem +6

      The idea of species being transitional is an illusion arriving from misunderstanding the evolutionary process. Every species is in a constant transitional state, and conversely no species is ever an in-between species. Evolution has no end goals, or checkpoints, every speciation throughout the eons isn't a pathways to a final goal, it's an adaptation of that organism current niche and environment. Archeopteryx wasn't a just a stepping stone from dinosaurs to moderns birds, it was an organism within its' own right and calling it a transitional species is like looking at an elephant today and calling it a transitional species between it's forefathers and whatever species its' offspring will evolve into in the next 10 million years. The concept of species is really an illusion, it's just a tool to make the world more understandable for us humans.
      Also, transitions don't happen instantly or uniformly. It is unlikely we'll ever know exactly what the process was like for cetaceans when transitioning into being fully aquatic, but it's not like a hybrid land living animal gave birth to a fully aquatic animal. Probably the ancestors of cetaceans resembled seals in that they hunted for food in the waters and birthed on land. Gradually they started to give birth closer to the water, because it was closer to food, and their offspring would sooner and sooner go into the water with their parents, since that would also be advantageous and selected for, and they would start giving birth closer and closer to the sea. Eventually some individuals could've started giving birth in the shallows instead of the beach, and eventually this adaptation could've led to births in the sea. The important thing to note is that while at the same time some were giving birth in the shallows it's very likely many individuals were still giving birth on land, and when births started to happen by sea, many likely still gave birth in the shallows. Since living in the sea enables increased size and selects for shapes more advantageous for marine locomotion (meaning flippers instead of legs etc) I'd wager the transition into a fully aquatic life didn't happen until long after cetaceans already were living a fully marine life. It's not like an precursor to modern cetaceans was born one day and just was unable to live on land, more likely, cetaceans existed for thousand of years who technically could still crawl on land if they needed to, but they had no such needs, and so with time all those traits atrophied.
      Now this is all a hypothetical scenario, I'm sure paleontologists and marine biologists can correct me, but you can see how at no point is there's a requirement for a "leap" as it were between species.

    • @juliaf_
      @juliaf_ Před rokem +16

      Eventually, an animal wouldn't need to go on land, so it just wouldn't, but would still have the ability to. Since the animal doesn't need to go on land, mutations that prevent it from doing so no longer have pressure against them, so those features disappear over time.
      There's no real specific point where one species becomes another. We just choose an animal and decide when something is sufficiently different to call it a new species

    • @raoulduke7668
      @raoulduke7668 Před rokem +40

      @@seanm8665 "I`m too stupid to understand, therefore it`s not true"

    • @danielmartinsson899
      @danielmartinsson899 Před rokem +19

      Evolution is gradual, it's not a ladder or a stair. It's more like a gradient of colors going from one to another to another.

  • @nuka-luca
    @nuka-luca Před rokem +2

    Very interesting episode !!!!

  • @randal_gibbons
    @randal_gibbons Před rokem

    Very happy I clicked.
    Thanks for posting.

  • @marilynlucero9363
    @marilynlucero9363 Před rokem +99

    Imagine growing a mustache inside of your mouth where normally your teeth is supposed to go.
    Thanks, I hate it.
    I love the knowledge though!

    • @slwrabbits
      @slwrabbits Před rokem +9

      Did you know that rabbits have fur on the inside of their cheeks?

    • @michaelfritts6249
      @michaelfritts6249 Před rokem +1

      Soup stuck in mustache..
      Those with ingrown hairs found their niche.. 😉

  • @nameYUnoavailable
    @nameYUnoavailable Před rokem +14

    I love how casually she just dropped that whales were originally land mammals and I am just completely shook.

  • @JamesonGeorge
    @JamesonGeorge Před rokem +1

    This show is awesome keep up the good work

  • @jjballer3
    @jjballer3 Před rokem +1

    Excellent piece, thank you!

  • @DardS8Br
    @DardS8Br Před rokem +8

    You guys should go visit Beecher’s Trilobite Beds near Rome, in Oneida County, NY! It’s so incredibly pretty and the geology there is super interesting. Plus the fossils are awesome

    • @DardS8Br
      @DardS8Br Před rokem +1

      @Benjamin David Lurie I’m not a bot lmao. I was just trying to get the comment in as fast as I could. The Beecher’s Beds are genuinely lit tho

    • @kellydalstok8900
      @kellydalstok8900 Před rokem

      @Benjamin David Lurie projecting again

  • @RichSmithson
    @RichSmithson Před rokem +3

    Makes sense because some scientists believe Sperm Whales are not only hunting Giant Squid down there, but they are using their lower jaws along the sea floor like a plow to eat crabs and floor dwelling fish.

  • @daaara
    @daaara Před 8 měsíci

    I love the video chapters in this one. Intro, whales, outro.

  • @drumstick-marblebag
    @drumstick-marblebag Před rokem +2

    💥These videos are full of information.
    I learn so many new words, species name and biology from these videos.💥

  • @YouGuessIGuess
    @YouGuessIGuess Před rokem +7

    A mustache inside your mouth that acts as a flavor saver?
    Some things you can't un-learn.

  • @Dobromir_Chodkowski
    @Dobromir_Chodkowski Před rokem +9

    Something about Kallie makes all she says legit stuff.

  • @PhysioAl1
    @PhysioAl1 Před rokem

    Great episode once again!!

  • @catherinedaleo4078
    @catherinedaleo4078 Před rokem +2

    It was refreshing to see the land acknowledgment of Indigenous peoples at the end of this video, thank you! :)

  • @jacksonstarky8288
    @jacksonstarky8288 Před rokem +5

    When you consider the size of the arms relative to the size of the rest of the body and the required size of such a bicycle, Tyrannosaurus Wrecks is inevitable.

    • @AndrewTBP
      @AndrewTBP Před rokem +1

      Obviously it’s a Penny Farthing bicycle

    • @dielaughing73
      @dielaughing73 Před měsícem

      ​@@AndrewTBPwith dinosaur-hangers

  • @SteinGauslaaStrindhaug
    @SteinGauslaaStrindhaug Před rokem +3

    Am I the only one who gets "Jolene" by Dolly Parton stuck in my head, but with the name "Jolene" replaced with "baleen" whenever I hear people saying that word repeatedly?
    Baleen, baleen, baleen, baleeeeeeeen!

  • @Adnan--984
    @Adnan--984 Před rokem +2

    Girl you need to show up more❤❤❤

  • @cinnamonsunshine9653
    @cinnamonsunshine9653 Před rokem +1

    thanks for the land acknowledgment.

  • @nicomaxfield
    @nicomaxfield Před rokem +4

    Looks like some whales suck, others bite, and all of them blow.

  • @mackdog3270
    @mackdog3270 Před rokem +5

    I absolutely would not be diving in ANY water thirty six million years ago LoL. After learning about the suchus family and assorted other marine horrors, I've completely sworn off water of any sort when I time travel.

    • @becauseimafan
      @becauseimafan Před rokem +3

      😂😂 that last bit!! 👍👍

    • @aprinnyonbreak1290
      @aprinnyonbreak1290 Před rokem +1

      I bet they're all tasty, though.

    • @nmarbletoe8210
      @nmarbletoe8210 Před rokem

      Lets go back to when there were land animals. Real estate was cheap! We can start the first coffee shop on Earth. We can call it Ground.

  • @chaoscope
    @chaoscope Před rokem +1

    Fun fact: the layman word for large sea dwelling mammals in French is "baleine", which translates more or less to whale, even thought it applies to all of them, not just baleen whales. Anyway, this comment is just an excuse for me to express my eternal gratitude to PBS Eons for providing such a high quality scientific content on CZcams. What amazes me the most about it is how every species name is pronounced as if they were everyday words, even though they are usually made of five syllables or more, out of combination of letters that are probably deemed illegal by Scrabble tournament directors.

  • @Domzdream
    @Domzdream Před rokem

    Cool illustrations. 👌

  • @aiko9393
    @aiko9393 Před rokem +3

    10:15
    Petition for Blake to wear that shirt the next time he's on
    👇🏻

  • @knightofskylark
    @knightofskylark Před rokem +3

    I have never seen that view of baleen in a whale mouth. My first thought was hair brush

  • @shawnohagan5503
    @shawnohagan5503 Před rokem +2

    Great video

  • @bonniehoke-scedrov4906

    Great video! Thanks!

  • @22vx
    @22vx Před rokem +4

    Nice job 👌 thanx for sharing!

  • @Scarlet_Soul
    @Scarlet_Soul Před rokem +4

    They have hips that just don't quit

  • @bdrenfro
    @bdrenfro Před rokem +2

    I worked on the Paleomap project with Scotese! 😁

  • @Madmun357
    @Madmun357 Před 11 měsíci

    Really neat episode!

  • @bluewhalestudioblenderanim1132

    so technicly all whales technicly have the ability grow teeth if it is important . . that is actualy a VERY Interesting concept to think about :D
    not to mention . . imagining a world where massive baleen whale would also have teeth . . is something I enjoy quite a bit