We Solved the Mystery of the Dying Birds
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- čas přidán 5. 09. 2024
- Across the southeastern United States, bald eagles have been dying unexplainedly for the past 25 years. In March of 2021, researchers announced that they had found the killer, and they hope we can use this knowledge to better protect eagles and the ecosystems they depend on.
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Sources:
journals.sagep... (1998)
meridian.allen... (2002)
onlinelibrary.... (2005)
www.biotaxa.or... (2014)
www.eurekalert...
science.scienc... (2021)
pubs.acs.org/d... (fancy mass spec)
Images:
www.istockphot...
www.istockphot...
www.eurekalert...
commons.wikime...
www.istockphot...
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commons.wikime...
commons.wikime...
www.istockphot...
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www.eurekalert...
commons.wikime...
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“when bacteria are stressed, they crank out 100x more toxin” nice, something we have in common
Bacteria: “You’re trash bro”
Eagle: *dies
We should befriend them or eradicate them!
Either or... doesn't matter...
Gamer Moment
+1 to the OP for a good fart joke.
WOW
Humans : use bromine to kill weeds
Weeds : use bromine to kill birds
* looks up worriedly * does that bird look like it's carrying bromine?
The new version of rock-paper-scissors 😂
So maybe I shouldn’t switch from chlorine to bromine in the pool….
@@Keithustus of all places for the great dying to start, none could have guessed it would be the happiest place on earth.
@@dissonanceparadiddle Wouldn't surprise me at all.
That Bro is Mine!
Scientists: We should name this tool for exactly what it does
Engineers: Ok, but it has 32 parts that do something
Scientists: Include them all. Just send it.
@LowJack187 Yes, and that reason is because we're English, and not Greek.
Fun-fact: The Greeks speak Greek. The English speak English. The French speak French. The Russians speak Russian. I know, it's a completely insane concept. Before someone points out that Germans speak Deutsch, the proper name for Germany is Deutschland. The biggest exceptions to this are Cantonese, Mandarin and Icelandic, a language which thanks to Apple is now endangered. They mostly speak English there because Icelandic is not supported by iOS.
If the Greeks discover and name something, they name it in Greek, not English. Italians would name it in Italian, not English. Russians would name it in Russian, not English.
I think the real reason we use English and not Greek is because we're not Greek. Greek people? Yeah, they use Greek. The vast majority of the 10.7m population of Greece speak Greek, which is the country's official language. I know. It's a completely insane concept, and it makes no sense whatsoever... Oh wait!! It DOES make complete sense. How crazy is that?!
@@jamielonsdale3018 you said the same thing in 10 different ways. feel better now?
@@jamielonsdale3018 who hurt you?
Why don't Germans play SCRABBLE?
If you like the name of the toxin, you might also like the name of the cyanobacterium producing it: Aetokthonos hydrillicola - which means "Eagle killer living on Hydrilla"... ;-)
I have to commend Hank. He took the one with all the tongue-twisters for himself.
wrr, voicex any nmw sp erfx
Coots are great birds. Feisty little buggers who build really scruffy nests and are great fun to watch. So great to know they won't be suffering. Oh, and the eagles too.
"scientists ruled out the possibility of the problem being caused humans, until the scientist found out the problem was caused by humans."
but that be how science works tho
@@ericvosselmans5657 facts. & the Animals don’t deserve all the shitty treatment from One species of odd ape.
@@MouseGoat Not really, you usually dont hear scientists say they rule something out unless they really have. They use much more careful wording.
As per usual
@@shaninejackman9395 I have a genuine question. Are you vegan?
DeGray Lake, of course, lies at the confluence of DeWhite Creek and DeBlack River.
Yooo youu- you think a lot
“Always finish on the Bach and never on DeBussy” - Family Guy music joke
I just like that you used the word confluence. One of my favorite words.
Water Purifying Hyacinth.
@@cuzinnnmcgee1782 I love that skit lol
Sci show is literally the best channel on CZcams, Hank and John are legends, they'll be remembered forever ❤️
Do,, do they have terminal illnesses?
Hey stop talking like something's gonna happen soon
I agree! But this sounds sorta ominous hahaha
@@sarthakbhole3724 *cyanobacteria intensify*
Omg Hey I didn't mean it that way- my love for them is infinite, that's why I wrote this
"Atmospheric-pressure matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging" might be my new favorite science term
ADMLDMSI, or A-PM-ALD/MSI 😆
APMALDIMSI seems pretty pronounceable.
By the time he got halfway through saying it, I'd already lost track of the first part ...
@@slwrabbits LOL same 😅😅
Another commenter said "this is why we call it "atmospheric pressure MALDI"" ... which I think is even easier to pronounce 😁
I'm putting it on a T-shirt.
I don't know why, but I just pictured Hydrilla walking out of a courtroom
after being exonerated of a wrongful conviction.
Got enough money you can get anything
Hydrilla is the pond's blackmarket bromine dealer. Scientists have been trying for a loooong time to put him away, but he always walked.
@@danielhale1 nah, he's still guilty of conspiracy
What like is how everyone knew that the cyanobacteria was the culprit but couldn't pin any crime on it. The al capone of cyanobacteria
@@tonykristhiofan1113 Or the Teflon don
Wow, right off the bat I'm SO glad it's not a bird borne prion disease
LOL same here! I was like "Oh no..." and then 😌!
But it IS our fault, so...
Luckily for everything that's not a mammal, prions are a mammal specific problem
Before Video: Gotta be humans
After Video: So, humans with extra steps?
Well to be fair its also that certain weed, we were just unknowingly feeding it toxic bromine
@@Mrjonnyjonjon123 Except it wasn't unknowingly. They purposefully put toxic bromine on a plant to try to kill the plant. A bacteria that commonly grows on the plant converted it to a form more toxic to animals than plants. Moral of the story, when people put toxic chemicals on plants to kill them it usually has other negative effects on the ecosystem.
Also the plant is invasive and was introduced by us.
At a certain point near the end, I began wondering if it might *not* have been human caused...
I don't know if I'm disappointed one way or the other...
@@Mrjonnyjonjon123 Like filonin2 said it hydrilla was introduced by us. Most likely by the aquarium trade in the 1950's. I researched it in the hope of finding out that something wasn't 100% our fault, but unfortunately it is
Humans: Feed poison to kill weeds
Bacteria in weeds: Hey you gonna eat that?
Did he just avoid the word "RoundUp" so as to not get sued?
@@rridderbusch518
RoundUp is glyphosate, which is a synthetic analog to the amino acid glycine. It does not contain bromine, but it can be a irritant, and has long term exposure complications. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate There is potential that Methyl Bromide is the chemical in question, as it has been used as an herbicide in the past. We should probably just read the paper instead of speculating, but easier said than done as research papers are often paywalled or complicated to skim through.
@@rridderbusch518 It's diquat dibromide (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diquat ) - forbidden in Europe, but still in use in the US...
@@timoniedermeyer9124 Thanks for the info :-) I'm in the US. Insects, birds, everything disappearing at a very rapid rate. It's disturbing!
Who would have suspected bacteria of murder most fowl?
... ... I'm actually impressed! 😂
This needs more likes :)
Pu..Lease!
Go take a Bromide!
Anyone who's heard about the Black Death and Salmonella
- Does a show about a birds
- Decides to wear a shark shirt
🤔
All his bird shirts died.
@@lnsflare1 😂😂😂
Sharks are just water-birds.
😒
Condor disappointing to see Hank has that kinda gull.
Owl let myself out...
Live every week like it's shark week!
Trying to solve the mystery sure must have been birdensome.
*hops away*
I imagine you retreating like Dr. Zoidberg
Hop with pride, that was a good one :P
You wrote that one out or was it written....on the fly?
🤠
bro....mine
Who will pick up the bill ?
there's a reason that we just call it "atmospheric pressure MALDI" lol
You should call it MALDI-MASSI though. ;)
@ MALDI-MS is often used in writing. MALDI or MALDI-MassSpec in conversation
"oh neat, for once it wasn't caused by humans.... oh lack of water and stirred up water... probably caused by humans"
Um... artificial resevoirs are man made
And man made lakes
And invasive species
Monsanto is safe again! God Bless Monsanto and Scishow!
And man made herbicide
Crazy. I didn't know about this bird incident in Arkansas. I'm mere feet from the road where the blackbirds fell out of the sky...
😱 Do you drink the tap water? (I think it might come from the reservoirs.) I live in Arkansas and only drink the spring water. I never drink the tap water here.
@@virglibrsaglove we put a filter on the faucet. Yeah, I've seen news reports that said some places drink the lake water. Blech!!!✌🏻
When the "mystery of the dying birds" episode appeared on my feed, I kind of assumed it had to do with all those blackbirds in Beebe. I remember when that happened; working in the Cabot Walmart at that time was crazy....uh, crazier than normal.
@@bass1bone lol 😂 i bet
@@SnarkNSass Okay, good. I thought my water still tasted strange even using a Pur water filter pitcher. My cats and puppy didn't like it either. Hopefully your filter takes out all the bad stuff and your water comes from someplace cleaner than the reservoirs.
So, eventually it turns out, this was also a human caused extinction. Bromine was put there by humans.
And here I was guessing it was Monsanto's fault.
[Looks into mentioned herbicide]
Oh wait, it is.
RoundUp, perhaps. My neighbor age 50 used RoundUp 3X a year, even on windy days. He had a "perfect" lawn, but the cancer cut his life short. R.I.P. Mikey
@@rridderbusch518 Could be.
If memory serves, that was the particular chemical culprit that was actually behind Brazil's microencephaly spike. Zika just made a convenient scapegoat (and had been a bother to rich pedophiles touring the Zika belt for years).
Well, it's good to know that we can offer the birds real help, and not just comforting bromides.
My last day in Cordova Alaska , I saved an eaglet. It was stuck in a fish farm tank and couldn’t fly back out, I got help and from a friend with a sat phone. The eagle rescue agency lady showed up in her plane, which landed in the Pacific Ocean and amazingly the airport held my flight and I got high 5s from the flight crew
My childhood growing up, every time my mother or friend had to go to New Orleans, I wanted to go. Now I lived in Baton Rouge Louisiana and the first time I saw these 2 birds, I was amazed. When I asked my dad what kinda bird they were, my dad said oh wow, those cant be Bald Eagles here.
This was back beofre I was 5yrs old. I know this because my dad was gone soon after I turned 5. Anyway, they were huge!!!! They had one of the largest nest I had ever seen. The nest was in a 3 forked tree and my momma got a ticket for stopping for me to take pictures of them. It was at I-10 east going south from BR and at the I-610 and I-10 split. They were there every single time I passed till 10/2005. I am afraid that when Hurricane Katrina hit, they didnt make it. Im 45yrs old now and can't help but think about, just how beautiful those birds were. Yeah we have 1 in our Zoo but its not the same. To watch them fly and that impressive wingspan is something you cant see in a Zoo. I did hear years later that Wildlife and Fisheries had moved them before, but I know people in Wildlife and Fisheries and they said no. Anyway I hope people get the joy of seeing these amazing birds in the wild, nothing beats it.
Unlikely that they are the same birds, but bald eagles still nest in a nest at the I 10 split in 2021. You can see the shadow of the nest in Google maps imagery
Beware of parsley, sage, bromine, and thyme.
Also weed!
Scarborough Fair is going down!
I just love this presenter guy. He’s SO FUNNY. Makes all sorts of science interesting to learn.
His name is Hank well this presenter name is Hank ,there are multiple.
Multiple Hanks??
Hmmm... Perhaps there are...
@@rickkwitkoski1976 multiple presenters but that makes sense too.
1:17 Axons DO NOT carry message between brain cells.
Myelin wrapped axons carry energy from the cell body to the terminal button.
The terminal button exudes neurotransmitters into a synapse gap.
The synapse carries messages between brain cells.
The neurotransmitters are then collected by dendrites that extend toward the synapse.
The neurotransmitters are delivered to the cell body which will then either do nothing or it will deliver energy into the axon.
Repeat.
Gardeners: Banned form using certain pesticides for fear of poisoning watercourses...
Farmers: Just lash it on, it's all good!!! Who cares about the runoff anyway...
Most farms use chemicals sparingly out of fear from government and activists.
And it saves money.
I am really happy with this discovery because in 96 I was a Animal Abuse Investigator for the Humane Society in Pulaski County, (Little Rock) Arkansas, and assisted with the investigation at Lake DeGray. We were finding dead Coots and Eagles with no one understanding what was going on. You could watch a Coot or Eagle take off, then suddenly weave around like it was drunk, turn upside down and then crash into the water. A eagle may have killed or obtained a dead coot, stare at it, and then start stumbling sideways crashing into trees, bushes, and then flop down on the ground and not be able to get back up without a lot of effort. Then it would try and go back to the coot, stumbling, stopping, looking around, and take slow intermittent steps back to its meal only to fall down when it tried to eat the coot. Yes there were comments about the birds being “drunk”, but the lead investigators, scientists, veterinarians, and everyone I met and worked with scrambled to try and find the cause. There was a Alcoa plant nearby, so leeching chemicals into the lake was suspected, purposely used or discarded euthanasia drug was suspected, every aspect or possibility was explored, and one of the early big challenges was the Coot. It was considered as a bird that was not that important, in fact, few studies had ever been done about them!
Thanks for reading my rumbling memories, but it had bothered me all these years until the discovery of the toxins had been made!
Whoever wrote this episode - well done! The script itself was super engaging
Birds: “I don’t wanna do this no more!”
Scishow: “haha bird have avm”
how could the druid go back the last few minutes with some herbs? - thyme travel
Glorious.
Sounds like Grand Lake in Ohio. We knew about this stuff for the past decade. It's killed a dog and an old guy.
Scilock Holmes doing its work.
"Where are we going?"
"DeGray Lake"
"Okay, but what's its name?"
Cute!
Scientist unfolding the mystery "bruhmine"
Me: "ATP? What's that?"
Chubby Emu: ☝️
4:18 I like to think that scientist made this name because they were so full of the boring names in science so they were like lets make something fun and cool this time.
I think the ME community (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) needs to hear about this!
Or rather M.E. "specialists".
Everything we use to kill weeds will end up decimating the upper tier of the natural food chain. It hurts us too, but there are so many of us we don't notice.
Okay for real, we live here (where the video talks about on the lake) did the scientist tell how to kill the weeds? We hate those weeds and they grow so fast!
Mystery of the Dying Birds:
It was da Hoo-mans!
[Surprised Pikachu Face]
Wasn't Bromine the culprit behind the bacteria infection on the show Another Life?
I took a college course with Dr. Wilde back in 2014. She's an awesome person. Got to learn about her research on this. It's cool to see this becoming public now.
I'm from Arkansas. I remember hearing about the mysterious eagle deaths at DeGray Lake on the news when I was a kid. Really cool to see how science found the answer. ^_^
W•H•A•T•S•A•P•P
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I like how there's something new on here every day!
Since it sounds like it's loosely connected with blue-green algae, I wonder if the solutions they're looking into for this bromine situation could also help fight blue-green algae blooms?
Wait, so it's NOT windmills? Well, someone's got egg all over their face.
Don't look at me...
*wipes egg off of face*
Nope, it was space lazers.
LOL
The sun is a deadly lazer
@@auntypha5958 But what god do the space lasers worship?
That laser thing isn't a band name, it's like the entire discography's lyrics.
So, in the end, it was because of people...
YOU GUYS DID IT!!!! Good job Hank and friends ☺️
excellent research.
Fascinating. Thanks for this one!👍🏻😊
I've watched your videos for years now, wonderful work. Keep it up!
🎵 You would not believe my words, if ten million dying birds, littered the world as I fell asleep 🎵
I love the mini-shark shirt!
Thought this was gonna be about why the movie “Birds of Prey” bombed
Perhaps the same bacteria infected the writers and director.
@@jeffthompson9622 seems likely
Thanks so much for this brilliant summary of the study! I enjoyed watching it and reading the comments... :-)
This is very different. I hope they are able to save the animals.
Hail science!
I was very glad to here a talk from Prof. Niedermeyer in Haale, Germany, when he had newly joined the faculty there in 2019. It was an intriguing tale of suspense and the techniques he used in identifying the culprit cyanobacteria. At the time they had just identified the fact that the toxin they were looking at had several bromine atoms and the bromide in the water as the source.
An autopsy can also be called a necropsy, it doesn’t have to be exclusively made on an animal.
From the grammarist website A necropsy is an examination of an animal body after death. Strictly speaking, the word necropsy is a synonym of autopsy and may be used to mean the examination of any body after death, including a human body. However, *in standard English usage it is primarily used when discussing the examination of an animal* . So your point is moot
@@misterflibble6601 okay, I am not a native English speaker but I was told otherwise in medschool, probably you’re right then.
I'd say "necropsy" is actually a better word for it, since "autopsy" kind of makes it sound like the dead person is examining themselves.
Gotta give it up for the science and thank the people that kept at it until they found the problem. They deserve a medal! 🏅
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wow this is interesting, and after watching your videos i know exactly where to look when im bored
It wasn't our fault for once! Incredible... Oh wait, it was us that introduced hydrilla, so as always it was our fault
That humans were involved at some point in bringing in some plant makes us responsible for a poisonous bacteria appearing on it's own how, exactly?
Atmospheric-pressure matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging.... or APMALDIMSI for short.
My new fav gadget.
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What were the symptoms beyond dropping dead, swimming oddly and the autopsy stuff?
The Kentucky wildlife service person said the current situ is numerological.
Cool, since I live in area where this has been going on, this vid was really good. Hope they figure out how to prevent the eagles from dying. Seen one a few months ago grab a run over bunny off the road, it was so cool.
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this show has really gone down the tubes.
Atmospheric-Pressure Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Mass Spectrometry Imaging. This is going to be the name of my Hot Jazz-Irish fusion band.
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I heard the story about this in a children’s book as a child.. Thank God it’s solved!
Coincidentally, "atmospheric pressure matrix assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry imaging" is also my safe word.
It's rare that we aren't the problem. Relieving, in a way. But also worrying that we can't be as direct to fix it.
Well, we let the foreign plant in. Our bad! Buy native plants at your local nursery, please!
It's about time they figure it out!
I love me a good SciShow murder-mystery! :D
Humans love surprises! xD
I have 2 questions in mind
1. why don't we never forget the songs we used to listen earlier in our life?
2. when any screen (probably LED screen) in reflected on another screen like that of phone , the reflection is way more vivid in color, why is that?
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This is an incredible story. Love it!!
Wow Good one, explanation was top notch, Thanks
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That is a complex ecosystem.
I loved the MS reference! =)
People eat coots too. You neglected to mention if the toxin affects humans. Does it?
People eat coots!?
Really? I've never seen coots in any hunting regulations as game birds.
In the USA that's illegal. Of course that doesn't stop the idiots.
Bromethalin and Cholecalciferol rodenticides are awful. These are expensive and difficult to treat when dogs get into them
Twist ending: it wasn't humans!
I mean it sort of still was humans. But only really, really indirectly.
5:03
So we're all just going to ignore Hank's *flawless* pronunciation of aetokthonotoxin???
Took me at least 20 tries to get it
Less than optimal choice of title given the current and ongoing mass mystery bird deaths in the eastern US
Yes the title on this needs changed due to current bird issue in 10 states in northeast and midwest that this video is NOT related too.
My sister puts something with bromine in it in her jacuzzi! I’d better warn her not to invite any bacteria. Thanks & Cheers! -Phill, Las Vegas
Now that's some détective story inspiration!
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@@user-fs7om9tv2x bot
This is amazing! Kudos to the scientists.
I know that shark vs eagle is a close matchup, but from now on Imma play the bacteria avatar every time.
Very informative thanks 😎👍
Ok but Aetokthonotoxin is just about the coolest possible name for this
"Researchers used a super fancy tool called: Atmospheric-pressure matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging....is what it was called"
🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵thats a mouth full
It was like an episode of Forensic Files.
I don’t know why I thought of Eutrophication, GCSE geography got that word stuck in my head now whenever I Think of lakes I think of that.
Could bad colesterol be a prion and if the folding of proteins are so important could that be a factor in memory
A prion is a misfolded protein. Since cholesterol is not a protein, it cannot be a misfolded protein. Therefore, cholesterol cannot be a prion.
Prion diseases are very, very rare. As far as I can recall, only one kind of protein, used in neurons, has been found that can be misfolded in this particular way. So prion diseases cause massive damage to the nervous system, which would affect memory, but also things like control of movement. "Mad cow disease" is formally called Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy because it literally causes holes to form in brain tissue (it looks like a sponge). "Bad" cholesterol is a normal lipoprotein (combination of fat and protein), it is only bad if there is more than the healthy amount, not because it is an abnormal variety
I may have seen this. Years ago I was walking with my dog at a local reservoir. On the beach I saw a haggard looking bird. I couldn't decide if it was a small buzzard or a wayward turkey. Feet was definitely red. Couldn't tell if they were webbed. Face looked red also. My dog walked right up to it. The "thing" looked right at me and turned it's head like "go ahead kill me, I don't care". My dog was confused. I was confused. I called him off. Never saw anything like that before.
I wonder if this research will have any bearing or application for other myelin-damaging conditions like MS?
Amazing story!
Fascinating!
In spite of the eagle clearly displayed in the thumbnail, I thought this was going to be about the recent unexplained bird deaths in the DC area
Great job scientists! Love our human species foe the good we do.