CATTLE EVOLVED TO FLY? - Project Apollo(Cattle Seedworld)
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- čas přidán 7. 09. 2024
- My Patreon: / alienevolution
Flight has evolved four times that we know of, with gliding evolving numerous more times. However, for all their many forms, ungulates have no flying representatives. On a planet where the only vertebrates are cattle, this may change.
This is part of my seedworld series, Project Apollo. Seed worlds are planets that were 'seeded' with earth lifeforms, that are then left to evolve independent of earth in this new context. This can result in extreme diversification, reminiscent of Darwin's Finches, mammals post K-T Extinction Impact, or when vertebrates first came onto land. Serina, a natural history of the world of birds by Sheather888/Dylan Bajda and Tales of Kaimere by Keenan Taylor are two examples of popular seedworlds.
It seems like arboreality has been the origin for most flying animals on Earth, so tiny, arboreal cattle would probably be the best way for flying cows to evolve. I DO wonder if flight could evolve in a full on medium sized herbivore. Maybe a cattle adapted to climb hills, not that there are many mountains on Apollo. Then it starts gliding to easily descend slopes?
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If you're interested in the evolution of flight, there are plenty of videos on CZcams, although they may not have any definite answers either.
I actually recorded this video in February. Man After March has been taking up some of my time, plus I've been in a perfectionist rut when it comes to Project Apollo(too little quantity for the sake of 'quality'). I think doing Man After March has helped, since I've had to do daily videos. Even if they're short.
I'm writing this on the 11th of March. I might be skipping todays Man After March because my hands are sore from chopping wood(I feel so masculine lol). You might know whether I skipped day 11 by the time you're reading this.
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Original concept by reddit user Bteatesthighlander1
Credit to those who drew their respective images in the video, such as Keenan Taylor and Dylan Bajda. Most other images were drawn by myself, can be found on Wikipedia, or are protected by fair use. Some have been modified/edited. I don't remember where I got some of the gifs(credit to Markiplier and Jacksepticeye for their gifs during the subscribing part) but I think they're free to use.
♫Music is from CZcams's Creator Music and does not belong to me.
The horns are beginning to feel very off to me. They're having such novel adaptations but every species still has horns and cow-like coloring?
He should really remove the horns. Horns would only make a flying animal heavier and thus unable to fly well
Maybe the horns are used for mating purposes.
SEXUAL SELECTION! horns get the ladies moist
the horns i could take or leave, though they should at least be less bulky on a flying animal, but yeah the domestic cow coloration is getting to me
i'm not thinking iridescence or color levels of some parrots, just something not brown based
AE said last time he did it to not cause confusion, and so that we see that the animal still has a cow ancestor.
The fact that leathery wings evolved undependent 3 times on earth would make it very likely that the cows on apollo would evolve the same way
@Birdeater27 the dinosaur Yi Qi evolved leathery wings too
@@Whity_the_Demon Do they as true wings though? I thought Yi Qi was only a glider.
@@theangrysuchomimus5163samw concept 😊
Ah yes, battle
The bug eating cows are named torodactylis meaning bul finger
And the carnivores flying cows cood be named dracotroris meaning. Dragon bull
In honor of this pun I suggest that the flying cattle shall be named proelium which is battle in Latin.
@@Sci0927 YES
Heheh yea
Alright, here's some small nitpicks;
-Flying cattle likely won't reach sizes anywhere close to the largest pterasaurs, as they of course lack air sacks in their bodies to keep them lighter, and have much less efficient respiratory systems, being mammals and all.
-It is unlikely that larger, or just straight up flying cattle would be unable to take off from the ground, as bats are notably unable to do so.
First point is solid, but I wouldn’t count out a quad launch entirely. While large bats don’t take off from the ground, this is more so due to their arboreal roosting habits, not necessarily because of their size. Vampire bats can quad launch effectively since they forage on the ground and have the proportions required to execute such a maneuver. This is purely conjecture, so take it with a grain of salt, but I’d be willing to bet a flying mammal even larger than a flying fox would be capable of ground takeoff provided that it had the necessary adaptations set on by terrestrial habits.
I would be more nitpicky about the horns. Considering that mammals have reached over 10 tons in weight, there is not a significant reason why respiration would be an issue for a large mammalian flyer.
Yea theyd probably have to develop some incredibly different biology like hollow bones and different types of hair and skin etc
Flying is much more energy consuming tha simply beng arge, esp since large mns conserve energy by just being big amd not fast moving.
@@anastaswinn4630If anything flying cows might evolve a single horn on their heads, as if I recall correctly, most pterosaurs only have one crest if any.
Tachyoptera "Swift Wings"
Megaloceratoptera "Big Horned Wings"
Which one is which?
@@angeleye0331 You should be able to tell.
Is microptera not the name for small bats?
@@franciscorosa1498 I searched it up and it turns out it's a grasshopper. Ima change the name.
Why did I read Taylor Swift 💀
4:36 That's a dragon cow. Reminds me of a chimera
Update: its the Jersey devil!!! 😱
Dracotaurus Rex
Bad news... No Quetz sized flying cows for us. The Giant Flying Fox is most likely the size limit for a flying mammal. Unlike birds and Pterosaurs; Mammals have a bidirectional breathing, meaining their lungs and oxygen intake can't support those metabolic demands, because they can only process a single mouthful at a time, leaving the lungs deflated and without oxygen. These gaps the bigger the animal gets, the more significanr they become. Something along-side Argentavis size would be a believable stretch
Actually, the size limit for flying mammals is more of an ecological thing.
@@Minish4rk360 I agree, but flying mammals can't reach pterosaur sizes not even with the right selective pressures and keeping their ability to fly. Mammals simply don't have the pre-adaptations unlike dinosaurs and pterosaurs that literally evolved to be as light as possible
Don't forget an insane amount of air sacs and nearly every bone in their body being hollow being the main factor of pterosaurs' large sizes
I mean, we do have to remember that this is *another planet..*
It’s not Earth. The humans brought their cattle to Apollo, in order to have a sizable cow-farm that would be able to support all of the cow safely with no problems.
Humans also probably modified the planet because they need their cows to be kept alive for farming; so they likely changed a lot of things, including the oxygen levels to make it safer for the cows.
So considering this was meant to be a “haven” of sorts for the cows, it makes sense that they’d have a little more freedom and leeway here to evolve rather than on Earth
Idk tho, I don’t know that much about what is required for adaptations to work so 🤷♀️
@@VisceralFossa the fact that it's modified to suit cows makes the planet functionally earth-like. and we're also taking about what the animals present in this setting can and can't evolve, which would not have changed from their earth counterparts.
Being on a new planet doesnt change the fact that cows lack the air sacs and hollow bones that allowed pterosaurs to get so big.
Dracotaurus sounds like a neat start for naming
I love that as crazy as it sounds for a cow to fly, we now understand enough of the process of the evolution of flight that it can be possible for any animal to become flight-worthy given the right opportunity to explore the right niches. Also, and I should say preemptively that I am joking, for all the times I suggested a diplodocus-like cow there was always a tiny voice in my mind telling me that it wouldn't come to pass and I should stop. Specifically, that "He'd probably make flying cows before he made a cow with a really long tail and neck." And while I could never allow such a voice to influence my interaction with a fellow CZcams user (I do strive to conduct myself on the internet like I would in the real world, plus I'm sure that it's okay to leave a suggestion when a video-maker actually asks the viewer to), just imagine THE LOOK ON MY FACE when I see AE posted a new video and I see the title in the notification tab!
edited for grammar.
I doubt they would keep the horns due to the incredible constraints applied to weight due to flying. Additionally they’re heads would most likely become more streamlined than the more rectangular ones shown here, as is the case with pterosaurs, birds, and bats
YAY THE SUBTITLES ARE NOW OPTIONAL! Also i am sorry if I came off as mean when I said I didn’t like the subtitles. I just really didn’t like them.
I agree, subtitles are good but as someone who's easily distracted, they make it hard to pay attention.
im glad theyre still an option though instead of entirely removed because i need them
@@bugboy69 exactly.
I'm so glad they were kept as an option, I need them since I'm hard of hearing
I like the subtitles because the CZcams subtitles look ugly and distracting but these ones help
That video was amazing! The idea of flying cows is a somewhat funny but intriguing idea.
For the two genuses of flying cows, I think a proper name for the smaller ones might be Pteroungulata (which roughly translates as "winged hoof") and for the larger ones Dracotaurus ("dragon bull"), since they kinda look like dragons.
Also, I think another cool idea for defensive means, other than clubbed tails, would be armoured hides consisting of hard, keratinized skin and even thick bony plates or osteoderms, creating a hard shell-like armour similar to that of the armadillo or even the Ankylosaurus.
As for bipedalism in cattle, I think a plausible idea would that of thin and agile, gazelle-like cows evolving to be able to stand on their hind limbs for a short period of time to scan their surroundings for predators or reliable food and water sources, along with a long tail that would aid in balance and a long jumping gait similar to impalas, which could gradually lead to the adaption of a body plan similar to kangaroos, with the tail becoming bigger and the hind limbs even more powerful. Maybe?
I don't know, I hope these ideas can be helpful. Keep up with the good work!
2:01 - Paleopterotaurus
2:27 - Chiropterotaurus
3:09 - Taurodactylus
4:37 - Carnotairodactylus
Where find this names my Latin Translator does not confirm the meanings said, and I don't find Ancient Greek Translator, Can you tell me where to find these names, or create them Knowing the Language?
I too would like to know how you came up with these names. They sound realy nice. I can't seem to understand how people come up with fictional latin species names.
Tbh all these names such as “Saurus” are meant for reptiles
@@DRFishsticks221 This is Obvious, I want to Know how to Find the names like Hylobovida.
@@DRFishsticks221 Well, the original comment uses "taurus", which relates to cattle.
ngl, the bigger flying cows got mad dragon vibes. Drakitaurus sounds appropriate
This series inspired me to try making my own seed worlds. The most promising ones are the bears world and the dolphins world.
ngl you kinda got me really intrested in speculative biology and im even making one atm. Thank you
Love this project! Keep it up! It inspires me to work on my fungus and insectoid seed world, that I call Obumbratioros, or just Obumrati, meaning “Shadows (and) Dew”.
Sounds awesome! A seed world without vertebrates is a fun concept
Out of curiosity, what arthropod are you using?
Edit: arthropods
@@Alien_Evolution u dont belive pterasours can jump and fly?
Call the planet Insectia and have be a tropical low gravity planet@@YusufKaan-ti7fc
The family tree of phylogenetics is a new series coming soon on the genius primate channel @@Alien_Evolution
Early group: psuedocapripteridae(fake goat wing)
Later group: aerotauridae(air bull)
Posible crab eating group: aquapterobovis(water winged cow)
Possible raptorial group: accipitrotauridae (hawk bulls)
As an adaptation against predators, the horns could grow much larger into skull armor. Additional buds could also develop down the spine and form large flat plates. Making the whole thing look like the horns of water buffalo in concentric rings leaving spikes down the sides. A giant armadillo.
Ah, my favourite spec evolution man playing God again!
Someone's gotta do it
I feel like a fun episode could look at unusual coloration and display structures - the peacocks, poison dart frogs, and mimics of Apollo
Bipedal cows. We might be getting minotaurs one day! Lovely episode, the flying cows look very cute!
5 - 7 million years is a very short time for all these complex species to evolve.
Yeah, Imo this should be happening at least 50 million years post establishment.
@@theangrysuchomimus5163yes I agree maybe even further into the future.
not necessarily, there is evidence of rapid evolution, for a wide variety of reason. i recommend doing some digging into that.
@@novakain4736 Yes, I know how rapid evolution works, but at this pase it’s really really really unrealistic/not plausible.
This is also way to fast to really be considered rapid evolution and it is impossible to go from a giant grazer to something that can fly.
Like for example if you were to see how birds evolved it took them quite a while because they had to devolve and evolve some parts to become a lot more suitable for powered flight such as strong muscles and a small tail to reduce drag. As well as going from a medium sized theropod to a small animal takes 10s of millions of years to do.
@@novakain4736 🤓👆
For the entire ungulate group I propose Peroungulatae, from the Latin "ptero" (wing) and "ungula" (hoof). For the small flying ungulates I propose Pteroungulata ancestralis and for the groups of open environments I propose cornibuscristae, from "cornibus" (horns) and "cristae" (crest). Finally, for the ancestral group of gliding cows I propose 'plantareruminantibus', meaning gliding ruminant.
1:55 once they lose horns, it is unlikely that they regain them later on again. Also in bats there are two versions to fly, with big brains or balls - since there should be only one heavy part
Balls?
You inspired me to make my own seed world! I’m using geckos for mine.
Amazing video!
I would have added something about the horns being lighter and hollow to not be too heavy.
Since you mentioned the possibility of clubbed tails on a species of cow, I'd suggest it having armor as well.
Despite how plausible it is for predators to be the cause of armor, recent studies of ankylosaur tell the opposite.
Ankylosaur armor evolved due to the club tail as they were used for competition over territory or mates. Its use against predators is a bonus.
I believe that for such tails, capable of evolving to a club, the tail has to become more used as cow tails aren't for balancing.
I think it's more plausible for a bipedal cow that has a more developed tail for balancing. A species that switches back to quadrapedal locomation would be able to devolp the tail further for defense.
Just watched the whole playlist and I just love this project. I also love how there is a reason why they’d make this seed world, basically a giant cow farm. I think that giant flying cow at the end would, although a little similar to other’s choices, would be named Dracotaurus, Taurodraco, Bovidraco, Dracobovis or something along the lines of "draco."
This is one of the most interesting and unique speculative evo project I've seen in a long time, keep up the good work! 👍
Also and I think a good name for the for the flying cattle at 4:38 should be Drakotaurus meaning (dragon bull) Other than that I'm looking forward for more episodes.
2:29
Cowroptera, a pun on Chiroptera, the scientific name for bat.
I really love this project
Ideas:
- trichromatic vision in cows
- fish venturing onto land
Just to butt in, pterosaurs are now not thought to have competed with birds, even reaching larger sizes before birds evolved such as Dearc.
As for the flying cattle names:
Archaeovolans icarus
Ziz helel
An ankylosaurus base cow would be epic Bipedal cows would be hilarious They could Ride on the backs of the bigger cows and suck their blood
I vote for minodraconis for the big flying cow cause I find it look a lot like a dragon
I don't know how interesting it would be but I would love video just focusing on the plants of Apollo
I’m always so hyped for these videos, however long they may be.
Carnivores will likely also adapt to combat the various defenses of these medium sized cattle. Such adaptations may include but not limit to pack hunting, better ambushing, stronger jaws, greater speed, more muscular bodies, claw development, and in the future even tool usage.
That image of the circular horns gave me an idea: What if, in some species, they were used predatorially, in similar ways to swordfish?
This would require a clade of extremely small insectivores (which I could definitely see evolving) that gather in very large flocks similar to schools of fish, which they would hunt. I'm imagining horns that circle downwards and then continue straight along the jawline. Perhaps a group of several dozen would dive through massive flocks in order to skewer them. Maybe it's this species that's hunted by the larger flying cattle? Maybe they have to land immediately because of the drag, giving a chance for land-borne predators to eat them while they're defenseless?
Great work!
More long form content please
Keep up the amazing work ^^
The art for the flying cows puts my in mind of dragons
Maybe "Silva Draconis" (forest dragon) for the small fliers and "Pratum Draconis" (prairie dragon) for the larger ones.
For the bigger flying cow you could call them bull dragons
Not me thinking about this for literal weeks lol, im obsessed.
note about your Pterosaur comment. It is important to note that the popular Quad Launch technique also involves the hind limbs. Its harder to see cause the wings are far larger than the legs.
Also the wings are actually quite a bit more powerful and muscular than we previously believed.
Hey, I have an absolutely insahe idea. Not once in speculative evolution have I seen a creature GAIN toes, despite polydactly being commonly observed in cats and popping up in pretty much every animal. Also pandas evolving a pseudo-thumb instead of just turning one of its preexisting fingers into a thumb. Instead, the number of toes always either stays the same or decreases.
Also, yesterday, I saw a youtube short of a cow with a leg growing out of its head, which was pretty neat!
I got an idea, you mentioned in the last video about an symbiotic relationship with a poisonous or venomous plant and an small cattle. Well it could be that the relationship will be like clownfish with anemones, but the small cattle can climb very well and eats the vegetation above or near, letting the plant grow bigger and the plant will protect the small cattle. But the small cattle can also eat the plant since it’s immune but they don’t since the plant could also be protection. And carnivorous plants would also fit quite well since some even eat creatures like mice.
A very good episode as always! Maybe some birds could turn aquatic?
The reason pterosaurs could get massive was a greater amount of air sacs in their bodies in addition to a hollow skeleton. Having their flight, take off and landing muscles all confined to the arms also helped greatly. Quetzalcoatlus for example barely weighed as much as a tiger. If you want a good idea of how pterosaurs would launch i suggest checking out Prehistoric Planet.
May I suggest “Volita Taurus Icarusi” as a name for one of the flighted bovines? It means roughly “the flying bull of Icarus”, in a nod to Icarus of Greek mythology, the boy who flew. Alternatively, it could be “Volita Taurus Daedalusi”, for the Daedalus, the inventor of the wings that he and his son used to fly, and the only one of the two who actually survived the flight, but I think that Daedalus would have wanted it to be named after Icarus
I feel like it's going to be a big ask to deviate the metabolic systems in place in cattle to get them to a point where hunting prey becomes an option instead of consuming grains. The ruminant digestive system they already have in place feels like it'd be harder to shake for them in the game of evolution than in a monogastric digestive system, as so many more structures in their body are dedicated to consuming plants.
Perhaps, in what I would say is a theoretically plausible course of evolution, all cattle based life forms on Apollo will regurgitate their food to chew again like cows do... just instead of partly digested grasses it's partly digested bugs or meat. Considering this isn't necessarily a trait that would have any reason to breed out of these animals as it would not have any averse affects on survivability, it's possible this regurgitation of whatever food they do eat to rechew might be a common factor among all once cattle creatures, even if it is a bit gross :p
Hear me out for the large flying predatory cow Buteo Taurus
as a fan of birds and cattle i really enjoyed this video
I love the theme music for this series
Because the majority of the flora would be grasses the trees could be convergently evolved to look like bamboo but with a more woody bark to give it extra stability.
Awesome! My suggestion for minovulpes was chosen!
If you do manage to go into creating an armored cow species it would be interesting to see a cows horns adapt into a helmet like structure sort of like a Pachycephalosaur's head. Perhaps they could be a larger species that has rhino like skin on their body but the heads armor is composed of a denser horn material that for males (or certain species of this group) would flare out on the backs of their heads like a triceratops' crest or moose/elk antlers.
Also it would be interesting to see a species whose horns become a danger to themselves like the babirusa's tusks!
Imagine you’re just existing one day and then a freaking winged cow starts hurling itself at you for no reason in particular
Evolution is Fantastic and Bizarre at the Same Time.
Weird, I have flying cows in my spec project, albeit they hardly resemble their cow ancestors due to the evolutionary leaps they had to go through to get to that point. For example their ancestor were a species of beaked small bovale (a type of whale like cow) which would launch itself onto land to escape predators. Over time, on certain island habitats, they became more adapted at moving about, eventually using their tail as a third leg and their flippers evolving into limbs. While they have an almost reptilian appearance, due to many of these species evolving from an ancestor with an armadillo like carapace, there was another group that lost his carapace as it became adapted to tree life, and over time, and with the help of hind legs which would other wise be useless, achieve flight, as the hind limbs act as like the tail feathers of a bird.
A suggestion for the flying carnivore cow bats could be Draco Taurus, for obvious reasons, also if you can’t picture pterodactyls taking off look at vampire bats “push up” take off as it’s the most analogous take off based on bio mechanics and take off tracks we have.
I have to say that some of the developments that have occurred would likely need more than 5-7 million years to arise (though to be fair, you did say at least). It's hard to say how long they might take, but given how drastically different in morphology and behavior some of Apollo's cattle are from their ancestors, I might double this timespan estimate at least.
With that aside, I love this series! I like how many of the species chiefly retain a cattle-like aesthetic while still being far out evolutionarily from their humble beginnings. Would you accept fanart to be featured in the series?
I have had some fanart in the videos, but so far I don't have a discord for the project so it'd just be during the outro, not the main video.
And thanks for the input! Glad you're enjoying it
@@Alien_Evolution thank you for the response!
2:01 Aerotaurus porcucephala (Air bull with pig head)
2:25 Tauravis vespertiliomimus (Bird bull bat imitator)
3:09 Tauropterix ariecephala (Bull wing with ram face)
5-7 million years seems like a really short time scale for such radical body plan shifts like flight
2 toes becoming a claw and a wing is cool but since the legs of ungulates are already extended fingers I feel like they would end up just making both toes longer and keep them at the outer edge of the wing. Hoofed tips. Unique, novel idk how practical for walking tho.
Love this stuff I'd just imagine cows being far different flyers from anything else. Horns could make a funny rudder
Always good when a comment might help this video get picked up by the algorithm.
for the large flying cows, I thought of something like "Belzebull" to name the Genus, since well, it resembles a Demon... not only that, but I think it would be very good for a species of this genus to be called "Belzebull Jerseyni" as it resembles the Jersey Devil!
Looking back on this, I think arboreal cows wouldn't need claws at all. Modern day goat and other mid to small sized ungulates will sometimes climb trees and they're particularly good at it. Similarly, many goat relatives are exceptionnal climbers, being able to climb near vertical surfaces. All in all, arboreal cows could likely keep their hooves and still be excellent climbers
the bat cows would likely be as big as the largest bat species at best. but I can see some evolve fairly large wings to traverse large distances for food and some of them become meat eaters and eat young cows and small flying cows. the horns of the bat cows are possible. but would be most likely hollow and just for display, like you said. what if the batcows that adapt to sea life form webbed feet. batcows that have wing membranes connecting their feet and toes could take the nech of ducks by changing by separating their feet from the wings forming the web feet that allow them to paddle through the water allowing them an alternative to hunt and conserve energy too.
It would be interesting to see fleshy structures form around the face and throat area. Inflatable or colored pouches for attracting mates. Trunk structures for browsing or filtering air. Or nasal crests to push air through for louder and more complex calls.
Dude I love this series
The audio on this one is *real* crispy.
Idk either Minodraco or Dracobovis for names for the larger ones. Also, you should do an episode on more derived predators at some point, maybe map out what happens after the first clade of predatory cattle begins to go extinct and what they're outcompeted by.
one of your best episodes
For the name of the clade of the flying cows i'd propose hopleptera or hoploptera for "winged hooves"
3:25 for this big guy
longiceptauroptera
which is basically pteranodon cow bat...
how to say it
longiceps-taur-optera
We are getting Cow-wyvern!
Taurochiroptera or Minochiroptera
Also, awesome video! Keep up the awesome work!🤘😎🤘
I would like to see a cow that looks like an ankylosaurus that would be awesome!🦕🦖
This video made my day. I love the flying cows.
What i still miss most in this series is the lack of a cohesive Map of the World
I think it would be interesting to see how these arthropods evolve to handle all the insectivores. Maybe some becoming poisonous or developing colonies like ants, termites, etc. This could then lead to something like an ant eater niche, front hooves evolving into claws that can tear open the structures.
I'd love to see how aquatic life continues to change. How big are the lakes on this planet? Are they small scattered ponds or practically freshwater seas?
I think it would be interesting if your ankylosaurus like cattle to evolve a bit differently. So first have them evolve to look like discokeryx with a dome head. Then evolve a long giraffe like neck but have its neck be held horizontally instead of vertically. Then give its neck spikes like the tail of ankylosaurus. But keep the dome head like discokeryx. Name the discokeryx like cattle Kranokeryx with kranos meaning helmet and keryx meaning horn. Then for the ankylosaurus like cattle name it xenoderes with xeno meaning strange and deres meaning neck.
Maybe they could evolve more streamline front facing horns to spear prey mid flight. It would also help with aerodynamics
Volaticotherium antiquum is an extinct gliding (possibly flying?) mammal, i think a study said they detected what might be flight stresses in their bones, so they might have had powered flight
Can you do like a catch up episode soon with all of the names of the cattle and all the designs of them because some of the others didn’t have complete designs and I don’t think you have confirmed names for some other as well
It would be nice to see a dominant intelligence cattle species like humans on Apollo
2:28 "Bos Volans" translates to "Flying Cattle" or "Winged Bovine"
3:10 “Bos Nubium" translates to "Cloudy Cow" or "Cattle of the Cloud"
1:47 Ushiaerius
2:01 Dracotaurus
3:09 WyvernonTauron
4:37 Qilindragus
Invalid genuses
long necked cows with helmet like horns emulating the feeding/combat of giraffe/sauropods being able to whip their head to devastating effect
Gliding cow is my favorite one yet
*In My Opinion*
I think by the time Cattle evolves true powered flight, *Massive Flying Insects* (such as Flies & Grasshopers 🪰🦗) would have already filled the 'Bird Niche' for millions of years since Project Apollo began. Because Insects are already fast & agile fliers, and since there are no birds🐦 on Apollo it would only take a few thousand generations for some flying insects to grow bigger & fly higher...soon taking up the niche of birds.
It would really be hard for these 'Aerboreal Cows' slowly evolving powered flight to fully take to the skies with all these 'Eagle-sized' bugs soaring around.
He mentioned it already in the video on insects. Insects can only grow to a certain size before the oxygen level in the air becomes a hard cap. So eagle sized dragonflies would be impossible.
@@roemischerYeah, but consider that this is probably already 150 Million - 180 Million years since the establishment of Apollo and many plant species have already had time to evolve into Towering Trees 🌳, and it's even possible that vast jungles or forest already exist on Apollo, with these many trees also means that Oxygen levels on Apollo are very high....which these massive insects need to stay big
Flying birds got impressively large during the time of pterosaurs such as avisaurus an eagle sized predator. So it’s not impossible for them to get large.
3:08 Dracotaurus. I think the horns give it a dragon-looking appearance.
What if horns started to become like aerial stabilizers like fins on fishes lighter and broader maybe becoming another set of wings
A predatory cow with bone plates on its head, somewhat similar to the bone teeth of dunkliostea.
for the bigger one im going with Dendrobiustromos which is greek for Arboreal Terror. since i feel like it would be FREAKING TERRIFYING to hear flying towards you at night.
id love to hear more about the evolution of the other animals and plants. you mentioned crustations and surely they haven't just stayed the same this whole time. how has the greaas evolved? is there any cow-dependent relationships (be they good or bad)?
4:22 reminded me of the video explaining how paleontologist think it worked. I don't remember the name, but it was a skeleton and it basically pushed itself away from the ground in some sort of weird jump.
You could do some aquatic like flying cows, an example could be flying fish, or something similar to whales