Why Are Animals Symmetrical?

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  • čas přidán 26. 06. 2024
  • Animals range in size shape and biology drastically but there is one thing that unifies more than 95% of animals, and every known land animal. Something that almost all animals inherited from an incredibly ancient common ancestor hundreds of millions of years ago. they have a left and a right side which are mirror images of each other. So why is this and why has this made them so successful?
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    Sources:
    www.pnas.org/content/117/14/7845
    web.archive.org/web/200709290...
    evolution.berkeley.edu/evolib...
    www.sinauer.com/media/wysiwyg...

Komentáře • 2,3K

  • @timothymoore8549
    @timothymoore8549 Před 3 lety +12843

    I wish all my bilaterally symmetrical relatives a very pleasant evening.

    • @PaulMellender
      @PaulMellender Před 3 lety +175

      They aren’t symmetrical, they have matching general outer components, bilaterally. In detail the sides are not symmetrical, and their asymmetry have separate functions both in use and display.

    • @britneyspheres7yearsago11
      @britneyspheres7yearsago11 Před 3 lety +25

      No crib b by ki donc g finding je

    • @britneyspheres7yearsago11
      @britneyspheres7yearsago11 Před 3 lety +58

      Sorry i am not symmetrical

    • @iDarkBlad3r
      @iDarkBlad3r Před 3 lety +150

      all my homies are bilaterally symmetrical

    • @alexandrascott755
      @alexandrascott755 Před 3 lety +7

      I appreciate you

  • @kevinwells9751
    @kevinwells9751 Před 3 lety +7980

    It's also interesting that despite being primarily symmetrical we and other animals have organs that aren't. For example our hearts are only on our left side, our livers on the rights, and the digestive tract is kind of all over the place. It seems that the evolutionary pressure towards symmetry mostly applies to our outside structure and sensory organs.

    • @dewinmoonl
      @dewinmoonl Před 3 lety +1570

      yeah, there's no selective pressure for heart on left vs right, but there is if your left leg is bigger than your right: you'll get eaten.

    • @pansepot1490
      @pansepot1490 Před 3 lety +774

      Yup. Binocular vision helps with depth perception, two ears make it easier to get the directions sounds come from, two nostrils.... in case one get clogged?

    • @An_Actual_Rat
      @An_Actual_Rat Před 3 lety +1280

      @@pansepot1490 Two nostrils help to smell directionally for a bunch of animals. We just decided smelling is for suckers.

    • @TMtheScratcher
      @TMtheScratcher Před 3 lety +437

      I think it is also because most compact organisation is preferred. If you think about it, there is no space left for nothing. Everything is occupied by organs, muscels, bones, blood vessles, and fat reservoirs. There isn't any space which is just filled by "flesh". And since some organs do not need to appear two times, like two hearts would be hindering each other, it seems like they were sorted in the most compact way.

    • @facewrinkles3886
      @facewrinkles3886 Před 3 lety +117

      Well I guess it would be weird if your stomach had an urge to schlop around the ground and find food. If you're only a part of an organism, you don't have the burden to survive and evolve by your own means esp by selective pressures from other niches.

  • @drakeyork241
    @drakeyork241 Před 2 lety +1494

    The answer is simple, it allowed for weight balance, and movement is a lot easier when you aren’t having to counterbalance a large weight on one side while having far less on the other. You would just end up falling over repeatedly which isn’t good when you are trying to move in a singular direction.

    • @galfinsp7216
      @galfinsp7216 Před 2 lety +58

      That’s all I need to hear.

    • @smilloww2095
      @smilloww2095 Před 2 lety +59

      Yes, but what still really surprizes me is just how symetrical we are in detail. I find it hard to imagine that a left ear 5 centimeters below the right ear would be different enough from 2 ears at equal height to actually make a big enough difference in our (and other animals) chances of survival. Or that we dont have 2 left, or 2 right hands. Or 4 fingers on the right and 5 on the left, etc. I'd like to see an explanation for that.

    • @crucifyrobinhood
      @crucifyrobinhood Před 2 lety +13

      Said the fiddler crab...

    • @RemovingTheWingus
      @RemovingTheWingus Před 2 lety

      @@smilloww2095 just look up punnet squares

    • @unknownuser8454
      @unknownuser8454 Před 2 lety +4

      @@smilloww2095 Owls lmao

  • @greleti123
    @greleti123 Před rokem +1085

    I just want to show my appreciation for your video. I was baked and sitting on the couch and thought "why are animals symmetrical" and was delighted to find such a great answer so quickly. thank you

  • @barnicskobalazs
    @barnicskobalazs Před 3 lety +718

    this is such a fundamental thing i never thought about.

    • @Joanbueller007
      @Joanbueller007 Před 2 lety +11

      Same

    • @davod2107
      @davod2107 Před rokem

      Tényleg igen

    • @johnnyshanahan2185
      @johnnyshanahan2185 Před rokem +2

      I took acid and now I can’t stop thinking about it

    • @ninanando
      @ninanando Před rokem

      @@johnnyshanahan2185 it becomes so scary just staring at a creature staring back at you

    • @MIchaelSybi
      @MIchaelSybi Před rokem

      @@ninanando I got a feeling that any matter has "sight" after meditation. Not like humans, it just registers everything like a CCTV. It was just an intuition, and gone

  • @dinocharlie1
    @dinocharlie1 Před 3 lety +1529

    "Bilaterians have a clear direction of movement"
    Crabs: "And I took that personally"

  • @CaffieneKitty
    @CaffieneKitty Před rokem +42

    I swear, I wrote a paper that basically turned into 'why bilateral symmetry works' for my 1st year college Astronomy class back in 1992, (when they foolishly let us pick from a term paper topic list that included "describe the hypothetical evolution of life on another planet" and I am so thrilled to watch this video, because I came to similar realizattions and understandings and this video feels SO VALIDATING for that paper. Thank you! 🙂

    • @fkhan2006
      @fkhan2006 Před 11 měsíci +1

      that's really cool. so I'm assuming you argued that alien animals would also be symmetrical?

    • @CaffieneKitty
      @CaffieneKitty Před 11 měsíci +1

      @@fkhan2006 It was 30+ years ago, but as I recall it was more focused on sapient life evolution, so the various alternate symmetries and asymmetries were just touched on as what had advantages over the others in passing. Not all life on earth has a symmetry let alone bilateral symmetry. Life evolves to be successful at thriving in its niche, and not all niches have the same traits that provide an advantage. 🤷‍♀

  • @littlebigcomrade
    @littlebigcomrade Před 2 lety +120

    Every frustrated artist has asked themselves this once when drawing a face.

  • @lauramartin1902
    @lauramartin1902 Před 3 lety +2340

    To be clear - there's tons and tons of organisms that grow in fractals nowadays. They just are all plants. (ex, broccoli and cauliflower)

    • @cesarcueto1995
      @cesarcueto1995 Před 3 lety +269

      Rangeomorphs are thought to be animals so I think it's implied that he meant there are no extant fractal animals.

    • @michaeljordan4457
      @michaeljordan4457 Před 3 lety +83

      Broccoli and cauliflower are the same plant, so perhaps more varied examples?

    • @_NEPO_
      @_NEPO_ Před 3 lety +113

      @@michaeljordan4457 Ferns and Cacti? Almost all plants seem to be fractals, repeating smaller versions of themselves to grow and reproduce
      Edit; You could even argue the entire universe is a fractal and we live in a simulation that uses nothing but numbers to fool everyone, Matrix style?

    • @cesarcueto1995
      @cesarcueto1995 Před 3 lety +26

      @@_NEPO_ but the universe isn't alive. It's not an organism so it's irrelevant

    • @_NEPO_
      @_NEPO_ Před 3 lety +79

      @@cesarcueto1995 Ah, however these things you call alive are very certainly made of things that are not. Even the very chemical process that run these fleshy machines are structured in ways that, when placed in an optimal environment, can form crystals and structures akin to the most perfect of computer models.

  • @rogerwilco2
    @rogerwilco2 Před 3 lety +850

    I was wondering about starfish, but you fortunately addressed that.

  • @indridmothman6178
    @indridmothman6178 Před 2 lety +98

    Whenever I’m articulating a skeleton, this is always super helpful! If I have a bone that I can’t place, I check if it’s symmetrical; if it is, it’ll go somewhere in the middle, and if not, there will be a matching one somewhere!

    • @experiment35
      @experiment35 Před 2 lety +2

      can make it a nightmare to side the bones though if you don't have the corresponding match - fibia are such a pain!

    • @indridmothman6178
      @indridmothman6178 Před 2 lety +4

      Yes! I’m currently working on a buzzard and the ribs are a nightmare, considering i’m missing a few!

    • @kingpotato7183
      @kingpotato7183 Před 2 lety +4

      I thought you meant a real life skeleton and got a bit worried

    • @indridmothman6178
      @indridmothman6178 Před 2 lety +5

      @@kingpotato7183 I do, many! Not human though😅 Specifically working on articulating a Buzzard skeleton atm!

  • @DeltaDanner
    @DeltaDanner Před 2 lety +3

    The red fish at 9:07 is like: who are you filming? Are you filming me? No? Ok let me just get out of your way then.

  • @DissedRedEngie
    @DissedRedEngie Před 3 lety +2797

    Imagine a jellyfish with a brain. Now, don't ever imagine that again.

    • @LevantWasTaken
      @LevantWasTaken Před 3 lety +45

      @@Wikispedia wat

    • @Meejie
      @Meejie Před 3 lety +291

      I mean jellyfish do have a ring composed of neurons that’s basically a brain. It’s just fairly simple and not that sophisticated.

    • @DissedRedEngie
      @DissedRedEngie Před 3 lety +124

      @@Meejie I'm talking human brains.

    • @xl000
      @xl000 Před 3 lety +59

      an octopus ?

    • @Dylan-hc2lu
      @Dylan-hc2lu Před 3 lety +14

      King jelly

  • @quirijnv6793
    @quirijnv6793 Před 3 lety +683

    Flatfish are still born symmetrical though, right?
    Their right eye migrates through their body to the other side when they mature.
    It's almost like a mini evolution at super speed.

    • @AifDaimon
      @AifDaimon Před 3 lety +42

      yes, they are born symmetrical

    • @xToxicFusselx
      @xToxicFusselx Před 3 lety +76

      That’s kinda gross and kinda cool at the same time 😶

    • @GreenAgouti
      @GreenAgouti Před 3 lety +19

      maybe if ur thinking of pokemon evolution lol

    • @powfoot4946
      @powfoot4946 Před 3 lety +64

      More like development. It's the same idea with humans in that we are embryos which develop into a bipedal organ sack

    • @johnr797
      @johnr797 Před 2 lety +15

      @@powfoot4946 not to mention we lose our tails during embryonic development

  • @Aeiroq
    @Aeiroq Před rokem +3

    I’m blown away by your production, it’s simple, VERY factual and elegantly presented. Can’t wait to watch more of this content. Subscriber earned 🎉😅

  • @cynickicksass
    @cynickicksass Před 2 lety

    Both of your videos I've just watched dropped my jaw. Thank you for some excitement in sharing them and whatever is ahead.

  • @Spacekid_Productions
    @Spacekid_Productions Před 3 lety +544

    It’s weird that I never wondered this thanks for opening my mind I’m gonna be stuck on this topic for a while 😅🧐

  • @--Paws--
    @--Paws-- Před 3 lety +234

    Flounder in development
    Symmetry: "Imma head out.."

    • @daveglines941
      @daveglines941 Před 3 lety +10

      Flounder halibut and fluke are bilateral free swimming fish when they're young.

    • @bertiezinyu7765
      @bertiezinyu7765 Před 3 lety +1

      Dave Glines didnt get it, but this was the first thing in my mind.

    • @daveglines941
      @daveglines941 Před 3 lety

      I still don't. Well maybe. Nah.

    • @forrestgump8717
      @forrestgump8717 Před 3 lety

      yeah thats what i thought

    • @WHiT3_SHAD0W
      @WHiT3_SHAD0W Před 3 lety

      Exactly what I was thinking!

  • @Lxx00Jxx00
    @Lxx00Jxx00 Před 2 lety +1

    your content is really well written, and your insights on everything are always thought provoking!

  • @C4H10N4O2
    @C4H10N4O2 Před 2 lety +2

    3:57 Ancient australian seabed would be a great name for a band

  • @bigdogstatus4528
    @bigdogstatus4528 Před 3 lety +287

    The picture of that crossbesk bird hurts my teeth

    • @sohopedeco
      @sohopedeco Před 3 lety +17

      Last Christmas, I had an inflamation on my jaw joint. My mouth was all crooked like that bird and I couldn't eat anything without feeling a lot of pain.

    • @JohnyG29
      @JohnyG29 Před 3 lety +5

      My teeth are worse than that bird.

    • @Spectrulus
      @Spectrulus Před 3 lety +13

      @@sohopedeco I guess you should've tried pinecones! Glad you got better =)

    • @aeneas1677
      @aeneas1677 Před 3 lety +5

      same, it makes my jaw feel awkward

    • @E2Gtube
      @E2Gtube Před 3 lety +3

      7:36

  • @mapache-ehcapam
    @mapache-ehcapam Před 3 lety +599

    I envy them, I am an ugly asymmetrical freak.

    • @JohnyG29
      @JohnyG29 Před 3 lety +62

      Me too. Evolution is against us procreating, which I suppose is a good thing for the species in the long term.

    • @mapache-ehcapam
      @mapache-ehcapam Před 3 lety +105

      @@JohnyG29 People say humans defeated natural selection... we are the living proof than they are wrong lol

    • @davidcendana2302
      @davidcendana2302 Před 3 lety +12

      How asymmetrical? My left jaw is slightly bigger than the right.

    • @loyaltyuncrythro6788
      @loyaltyuncrythro6788 Před 3 lety +7

      Bruh is u a Denisovan or a Neanderthal :0

    • @prla5400
      @prla5400 Před 3 lety +1

      @@JohnyG29 : Allahu Akbar! 10

  • @guyfromnj
    @guyfromnj Před 2 lety

    Best channel on CZcams!!! You should get a documentary award from someone. Love your vids!!

  • @eliletts1680
    @eliletts1680 Před 2 lety +1

    Very well made video! I learned a lot from this actually!

  • @embyrr922
    @embyrr922 Před 3 lety +342

    Huh, I never knew echinoderms were bilatarians (which autocorrect wants to render as “BiL Atari and”). You learn something new every day.

    • @pansepot1490
      @pansepot1490 Před 3 lety +34

      Autocorrect is a curse when writing anything scientific or specialized.

    • @benediktk.8228
      @benediktk.8228 Před 3 lety +22

      @@pansepot1490 The horror of every german student in biology is autocorrect constantly changing DNA to 'DANN' (eng: 'then') when writing a protocol

    • @hieratics
      @hieratics Před 3 lety +2

      Anyway isn't bilatEral?

    • @NDWolff-of2zw
      @NDWolff-of2zw Před 3 lety +1

      Just wait till you try to talk about they multi purpose anus’s without autocorrect.

    • @jessicaevans7847
      @jessicaevans7847 Před 3 lety

      Only if you try.

  • @adammoore251
    @adammoore251 Před 3 lety +205

    Heres me with a crooked nose, lazy eye and one leg longer than the other 💪

    • @iwannadie2919
      @iwannadie2919 Před 3 lety +24

      @@voopsin8116 my doctor told me one of my thighs is longer than the other, i dont know about this person but for me its completely normal and it always has been, i didnt even know about it until my doc told me

    • @lancebianzon6034
      @lancebianzon6034 Před 3 lety +20

      We all have a limb that is longer than another, it's not completely the same, though the difference is very small for an average hunan

    • @KApkmn2011
      @KApkmn2011 Před 3 lety +3

      we humans have stop natural selection,

    • @Marine_Dynamite
      @Marine_Dynamite Před 3 lety +12

      You should find a partner with similar traits and starts a new species

    • @Endermax3852
      @Endermax3852 Před 3 lety +1

      @@lancebianzon6034 no?

  • @parisgreen4600
    @parisgreen4600 Před rokem +1

    Great video, thank you. Your delivery is very calm, there's no jumpy music, and the visuals are clear and interesting.
    I just read that some types of snakes have lungs that aren't bilateral - to fit their body shape, they have one large lung and one very small one, located one in front of the other - thought that was pretty cool.
    (editing - I see some other commenters pointed out the snake stuff)

  • @TSSPDarkStar
    @TSSPDarkStar Před 2 lety

    Awesome video. Informative, concise, simple. Keep it up

  • @ruthl.8069
    @ruthl.8069 Před 3 lety +328

    This is something that I would have never realized even though it's so obvious: that most animals are bilateral (and all the advantages that this brings along).
    It's because of things like these that I love this channel.❤️

    • @Dragrath1
      @Dragrath1 Před 3 lety +7

      Interestingly while it wasn't mentioned there is actually a group of cnidarians the anthozoans which have convergently evolved a bilateral axis. In the early development of both bilaterian and Anthozoan embryos this occurs by using a second Hox gene cluster(which seems to in both cases arisen by duplication of the original Hox gene cluster inherited from the last common ancestor of bilaterians and cnidarians that granted them their preferential axis of radial organisms) and using that second copy of the body orienting HOX gene clusters to form a second body axis perpendicular to the first resulting in a bilateral organism

    • @ruthl.8069
      @ruthl.8069 Před 3 lety

      @@Dragrath1 amazing! Thanks!

    • @xemanx13
      @xemanx13 Před rokem

      Same! It never occurred to me that normal animals could be anything but bilateral. It was never explained this way to me before, and now I feel bad for thinking things like anemones weren't "real animals". They just have a spread-out nervous system!

  • @wachyfanning
    @wachyfanning Před 3 lety +254

    This makes me think that most animal-like aliens will be bilateral as well. Gravity and centralised nervous systems aren't things exclusive to Earth, so we'd expect that any other planet, which can hold life, will hold bilateral life.

    • @jacobhoover1654
      @jacobhoover1654 Před 2 lety +5

      Baka

    • @HkFinn83
      @HkFinn83 Před rokem +46

      The problem with all this type of speculation is we simply have no idea how typical life and evolution on earth is. Life itself has only emerged once that we know of, and it’s entirely possibly that we are not at all normal in terms of other life forms in the universe.

    • @wachyfanning
      @wachyfanning Před rokem +64

      @@HkFinn83 What we know for certain is that every planet has gravity. And as bilaterally is the most effective way of balancing an organism in gravity, we'd expect they'd also do the same. It's not blind speculation. Organisms exposed to the same conditions develop the same structures regardless of their relations - wings, for instance, developed in bugs, birds, and bats, all independently.

    • @saaddagoat
      @saaddagoat Před rokem +32

      @@wachyfanning Bilateral definitely would be a common trait, but in theory, we could also see radial symmetry occur. Imagine for example, a circular creature with legs all around it, akin to a circular centipede. It genuinely could live and survive. Considering evolution isn't based on what's best and instead is on what works, if there was no pressure on that animal to change, it wouldn't. On Earth, radially symmetric animals never evolved far enough to develop traits that would've allowed them to survive on land (even if it's just breach and stay on the surface for a bit), but that doesn't mean the story is universal.

    • @Sashazur
      @Sashazur Před rokem +8

      @@wachyfanning Wings also developed in pterodactyls, a group of extinct dinosaurs. Although modern birds also evolved from dinosaurs (and many scientists consider them to actually be dinosaurs), pterodactyls were not ancestors of birds.

  • @IAmAStreamerToo
    @IAmAStreamerToo Před 2 lety +1

    One of your best videos!

  • @ehfoiwehfowjedioheoih4829

    I love literally 100% of your vids!!!

  • @sampagano205
    @sampagano205 Před 3 lety +64

    Really glad that you're covering this, becuase I remember wanting to learn a short explanation of this, because the things that go that far back for life are usually not necessarily intuitive.

    • @eewilson9835
      @eewilson9835 Před rokem

      I'm really glad when I was told that nothing IS symmet.

  • @bscutajar
    @bscutajar Před 3 lety +161

    This is shaping up to be a top quality channel on this subject

    • @quartzking3997
      @quartzking3997 Před 3 lety +4

      Always has been

    • @bscutajar
      @bscutajar Před 3 lety +5

      @@quartzking3997 I know but it's cementing itself more and more as time goes on. I'd actually rank this higher than PBS Eons which is also a great channel.
      edit: And Ben G Thomas

    • @kevinwells9751
      @kevinwells9751 Před 3 lety

      This and the Ben G. Thomas channel are my favorites, though I have to say this is one may be edging them out in terms of these in depth videos about niche topics

    • @bscutajar
      @bscutajar Před 3 lety +1

      @@kevinwells9751 Yeah forgot Ben G Thomas, also a great channel my bad.

  • @vincentlaw1415
    @vincentlaw1415 Před 2 lety +2

    that was truly educating, loved it. Made me understand the way we look at the world on a deeper even philosophical level. I think the way how our bodies are build, with a front and back and a center of nerves (brains), must have had an influence on how we think and view the world, how we developed a philosophy of "right" and "wrong", of "forward" and "backward", of truth itself.

  • @PamesJalmer
    @PamesJalmer Před 12 dny

    This channel is incredible.

  • @EvilSnips
    @EvilSnips Před 3 lety +62

    Curious about Octpi... They are partially radially symmetrical (in their arms) but also partially bilaterally symmetrical (in their head.) They are part of the bilateral group but it is interesting they evolved this way.

    • @baldwinivofjerusalem47
      @baldwinivofjerusalem47 Před 2 lety +5

      Damn i was thinking about that when i was watching this.

    • @aidanmatthewgalea7761
      @aidanmatthewgalea7761 Před 2 lety +1

      not really, the base is more like an octagon stretched along the x axis.

    • @NitroNinja324
      @NitroNinja324 Před 2 lety +9

      I'm betting it's something like the starfish: octopedes are bilatrians, but their lifestyle encouraged a more radially symmetrical appearance.

    • @aidanmatthewgalea7761
      @aidanmatthewgalea7761 Před 2 lety

      @@NitroNinja324 it is literally a calcium deficient, boneless spider you mouldy lasagna fire.

    • @NitroNinja324
      @NitroNinja324 Před 2 lety +7

      @@aidanmatthewgalea7761 I'm sorry, did I hurt you somehow? That was a bit rude.

  • @princessprog
    @princessprog Před 3 lety +43

    i love your videos, they’re so good. they’re just much less “hand-wavey” than other science channels, you just let these interesting topics speak for themselves instead of trying to hype them up.

  • @kirkhamilton775
    @kirkhamilton775 Před rokem

    Absolutely great content. Just gained another subscriber!

  • @bigdogstatus4528
    @bigdogstatus4528 Před 3 lety +28

    8:16 Kingler is real

  • @blipboop5594
    @blipboop5594 Před 3 lety +9

    6:17 showing the crab at this moment is interesting since they are very assymmetric around the direction of motion! Thanks for the video

  • @sullyholmes9379
    @sullyholmes9379 Před 2 lety +5

    the title is something I would ask when I’m stoned

  • @dailymemes3758
    @dailymemes3758 Před 2 lety +7

    I don’t even like science that much but I found this so interesting and enjoyable

    • @seansezz
      @seansezz Před rokem +3

      That means you like science

  • @katiobrien7854
    @katiobrien7854 Před 3 lety +26

    Now I have to wonder stuff like: do jellyfish ever get their tentacles knotted up with another jellyfish's tentacles?

    • @billstone8468
      @billstone8468 Před 3 lety +1

      When i was younger i thought jellyfish mated that way

    • @sampagano205
      @sampagano205 Před 3 lety

      Yes, I've actually seen that at the beach.

  • @thomascoggin7504
    @thomascoggin7504 Před 3 lety +181

    Can you do a video on starfish and how they evolved away from bilateral symmetry? That’s an interesting exception to the other bilateral animals.

    • @dewinmoonl
      @dewinmoonl Před 3 lety +29

      most radial symmetric animals have something in common that I noticed, and it's that their mouth tends to be in the center of their body, such as starfish and octopus

    • @Dragrath1
      @Dragrath1 Před 3 lety +18

      @@dewinmoonl Another common point of similarity is that both echinoderms and cnidarians require a solid substrate to attach to during their embryonic development. There is also fossil evidence that early comb jellies similarly evolved from sessile organisms so it seems that radial symmetry is likely useful for a sessile or fixed in place organism.
      Of course embryonic studies show that in the two lineages that have convergently evolved bilateral symmetry Bilaterians & Anthozoan cnidarians(i.e. anemones &corals which primarily exhibit bilateral symmetry in their extended larval planula stage though there is a slight preferential bias remaining in their adult forms) did so by duplicating the genes that encoded the original preferential axis radial organisms have.

    • @SpiceWeazel
      @SpiceWeazel Před 3 lety +4

      @@dewinmoonl in order for them to be radially symmetrical, they would need their mouth to be central. Otherwise the mouth would throw off the symmetry.

    • @bird2034
      @bird2034 Před 2 lety +12

      @@dewinmoonl
      Octopus are not radially symmetric. They’re still bilateral. I understand your point though

  • @tasnifrahman2486
    @tasnifrahman2486 Před rokem +4

    I study left-right symmetry breaking in the embryo for my PhD so this video is extra fascinating.

  • @psSubstratum
    @psSubstratum Před 2 lety

    I love when a video pops up that answers questions I‘d never even come up with.

  • @CrackSkellington
    @CrackSkellington Před 3 lety +39

    This is one of the only channels that I wish I could give more than one like to on all the videos. The content is just so good I want to make the SEO to promote the videos more, so more people can discover this channel

  • @tonylion8040
    @tonylion8040 Před 3 lety +566

    We are essentially just tubes of mouths and anuses :’)

  • @leonardodasilveiradesouza7757

    the narrator’s voice is so calming, it is a really relaxing video

  • @Juandalf_
    @Juandalf_ Před 2 lety

    Very complete, great video!

  • @Linkous12
    @Linkous12 Před 3 lety +18

    I had no idea echinoderms were bilateral! Neat.

  • @petshop2097
    @petshop2097 Před 3 lety +7

    Something I've always noticed but never thought of. Thanks for the video!

  • @unusedcore4520
    @unusedcore4520 Před 2 lety

    Your voice is very calming

  • @pedestrian_0
    @pedestrian_0 Před 2 lety +4

    The fact we exist for the tiniest blip in time is so crazy

  • @FlowerBoyWorld
    @FlowerBoyWorld Před 3 lety +3

    i like your videos so much! it's always clear how the questions you answers are relevant or interesting!

  • @jameshays2646
    @jameshays2646 Před 3 lety +4

    this is probably the most interesting video you've done so far!!

  • @bemosk16
    @bemosk16 Před 2 lety

    this is the coolest thing i’ve ever seen thankyou

  • @isakforsberg2230
    @isakforsberg2230 Před 2 lety +1

    I had this exact question on my mind earlier today and didn't look it up for some reason, and now I got this video recommended on the home page. CZcams scares me sometimes 😐
    Nice video btw :3

    • @Birb728
      @Birb728 Před 2 lety

      Today I was thinking about watching "the rock" rap. I knew it existed months ago but forgot. Only today I thought I should watch it so open the app and what do you know the first video was "the rock" rap part 1 hour version. ☠️

  • @stixvane
    @stixvane Před 3 lety +11

    It's so obvious to me.... a cell, when dividing, the first thing it does is create bilateral shape...then splits ..extra

    • @morganirosonna2871
      @morganirosonna2871 Před 3 lety +1

      How do you explain asymmetrical organs?

    • @Fazzel
      @Fazzel Před 2 lety

      @@morganirosonna2871 --- Is kind of interesting. Two lungs, two kidneys, but only one stomach, one heart. Yet we can survive with just one lung or one kidney. How much better off would we be with two hearts? Probably a lot less people would die from a heart attack. In a way the digestive track is just a long tube that is basically just folded up to fit into the body cavity so if it were stretched out in some ways it would be bilateral. The large intestine is somewhat bilateral. Also the stomach to some extent, just turned sideways.

  • @velbythorngage
    @velbythorngage Před 3 lety +5

    Amazing video, this channel keeps blowing my mind

  • @leftsmile5096
    @leftsmile5096 Před rokem

    what an amazing video!

  • @karimvaleev1997
    @karimvaleev1997 Před 8 měsíci

    Amazing video!

  • @nigdyezemska2827
    @nigdyezemska2827 Před 3 lety +43

    8:33 when mom says she's coming home but you forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer

  • @joaocaju3061
    @joaocaju3061 Před 3 lety +19

    So, low gravity environments could sustain land animals with radial symmetry? I imagine something as alien as a flying jellyfish.
    Sounds cool, but might not be feasible, since it seems way harder to have non deliberate movement on air.

    • @BertGrink
      @BertGrink Před 3 lety +8

      Wouldn't flying jellyfish require a very dense atmosphere in order to pull off that trick? At least it seems so to me, but in order to have ah dense atmosphere, the planet itself would have to have a very strong gravitational field as well, so i think your point is somewhat moot. Sorry to be such a partypooper. 😢

    • @Astro_Aladfar
      @Astro_Aladfar Před 3 lety

      Check out Alex "Abionenisis" Ries' brilliant work "The Shadow of the Sun".

    • @pawpkitty
      @pawpkitty Před 3 lety +1

      @@BertGrink yes, and they'd most likely live their entire lives without touching the ground

    • @Dragrath1
      @Dragrath1 Před 3 lety

      It should be noted that radial symmetry on Earth appears to have been a prerequisite for bilateral symmetry.
      Specifically radial symmetry requires one body orienting axis, but bilateral symmetry requires two body axes the second axis being perpendicular to the first resulting in a defined top and bottom for organ development.
      In both bilaterians and Anthozoan cnidarians, bilateral symmetry was evolved thanks to gene duplication copying the original HOX gene cluster that made their first body axis possible. Anthozoan cnidarians bilateral symmetry is harder to observe as it's mainly expressed in their larval planula stage but they do apparently retain a degree of a preferential direction even as mature polyps not unlike Echinoderms

    • @Fazzel
      @Fazzel Před 2 lety

      @@BertGrink -- Venus is somewhat smaller than the Earth yet has a vastly denser atmosphere, the pressure is about 90 times as high as at sea level on Earth. Saturn's moon Titan is not much bigger than the Moon, and yet has an atmospheric pressure 50% higher than the Earth. So a planet like a cool Venus or warm Titan could allow airborne jellyfish.

  • @Tom-hi3jn
    @Tom-hi3jn Před rokem

    It amazes me that I can even understand this and appreciate it so much.

  • @kingpest13
    @kingpest13 Před 2 lety

    Awesome vid!

  • @rasmusn.e.m1064
    @rasmusn.e.m1064 Před 3 lety +16

    I don't know why, but I almost cried at the thought of that fractal body plan....it's just so beautiful man xD

  • @jorgerangel2390
    @jorgerangel2390 Před 3 lety +3

    Quality content as always, thanks you!

  • @gerghash
    @gerghash Před 2 lety

    Wow, that last tidbit of info about sea stars and urchins. Very intriguing.

  • @horizonwireless
    @horizonwireless Před rokem

    I’ve thought about this question a lot but never had an answer, so thank you

  • @razzlepizzazz
    @razzlepizzazz Před 3 lety +7

    The idea that direction is just so advantageous that it produced the variability we have today is so fascinating. I think it also wouldve been interesting to address dominant sides, like how most of our species favors our right hand, how that might manifest in other species, etc.

    • @Fazzel
      @Fazzel Před 2 lety +6

      In cats it is gender specific. Female cats tend to favor their right paw while males tend to prefer their left paw.

  • @CMZneu
    @CMZneu Před 3 lety +52

    Very Interesting! i didn't know starfish where technically bilaterians, i wonder if their madreporite(at least the ones that only have one) give any clues as to their real orientation.

    • @domsquaaa4323
      @domsquaaa4323 Před 3 lety +1

      XXXORIENTACION

    • @Fazzel
      @Fazzel Před 2 lety

      The interesting thing is they start out bilateral in the larval state and turn radial as the grow up, adding extra arms. Interesting to know why would this happen. What is the advantage?

    • @juanjoyaborja.3054
      @juanjoyaborja.3054 Před 2 lety

      @@Fazzel It’s possible that all echinoderms evolved from a species in a genetic bottleneck, and that it had relatives that may have lacked radial symmetry.

    • @Skellaton29
      @Skellaton29 Před rokem +1

      My zoology teacher taught me that sea stars have radial symmetry 💀

  • @jackglossop4859
    @jackglossop4859 Před rokem

    Bless that little fish at 9:09 who didn’t want to get in the way of the shot. Such a gentleman.

  • @hrishikeshg4792
    @hrishikeshg4792 Před 2 lety

    such a pleasant video. almost soothing.

  • @apinakapinastorba
    @apinakapinastorba Před 3 lety +3

    Starfishes and sea urchins being bilateral was totally new to me. Thank you for the info!

  • @brettrichardson7924
    @brettrichardson7924 Před 3 lety +32

    I always figured it was just easier for nature to do half the work and copy itself, making two unique sides would take more dna encoding.

    • @jannakruger7800
      @jannakruger7800 Před rokem

      There is no copy, a perfectly mirrored version has to evolve randomly. Impossible.

    • @remotefaith
      @remotefaith Před 11 měsíci

      But our insides are asymmetrical.

  • @wilwad
    @wilwad Před 2 lety

    Great video. Subbed

  • @akakabira
    @akakabira Před 2 lety +3

    4:59 'When the left tropical fish is SUS'

  • @raymickens440
    @raymickens440 Před 3 lety +20

    Owl ears- "Am I a joke to you"

    • @lilyy7318
      @lilyy7318 Před 3 lety +2

      I was just wondering how much symmetry is needed to count as truly symmetrical. It's on a spectrum for sure, so I wonder what the cutoff is.

  • @pouyasheykhghasemi2724
    @pouyasheykhghasemi2724 Před 3 lety +13

    NEW VIDEO LETS GOOOOO

  • @abuferasabdullah
    @abuferasabdullah Před 2 lety

    Really great content. Thanks 🇰🇼

  • @alittleofeverything4190

    Nice job presenting this staple of Biology.

  • @Rasengan0101
    @Rasengan0101 Před 3 lety +15

    4:18 is the cutest squirrel I've ever seen

    • @PALACIO254
      @PALACIO254 Před 3 lety +1

      I agree Goku

    • @Anon1370
      @Anon1370 Před 2 lety +1

      If that’s the cutest you’ve ever seen let me introduce you to the grey ones that hang around my garden fence

    • @Angel-Pizzaeater
      @Angel-Pizzaeater Před 2 lety

      @@Anon1370 wtf

    • @Anon1370
      @Anon1370 Před 2 lety

      @@Angel-Pizzaeater theres nothing wtf about it i do have squirrels

    • @Angel-Pizzaeater
      @Angel-Pizzaeater Před 2 lety

      @@Anon1370 do you have cats

  • @nikolamitrovic3841
    @nikolamitrovic3841 Před 3 lety +3

    You know you appreciate the content when you purposefully watch ads so you could give the creator some dough. Keep it up, great content as usual.

  • @jordanzazulak4375
    @jordanzazulak4375 Před 2 lety +8

    It's so interesting how you get a question in your head, solve it, and share it with others
    I never really acknowledged the symmetry in organisms, now it's super interesting to me

  • @basedheretic4616
    @basedheretic4616 Před 3 lety +4

    Just a reminder, humans are a species of animal. Some people are shocked or in denial of this.

    • @tyrannokoenigsegg8868
      @tyrannokoenigsegg8868 Před 2 lety +2

      I know right? Like, just because we're able to do shit other animals can't or won't, doesn't mean we aren't animals ourselves

    • @basedheretic4616
      @basedheretic4616 Před 2 lety +1

      @@tyrannokoenigsegg8868 yeah you're right! lol. We have consciousness, and therefor know of our own mortality. This is what I think pushed people towards religion or other definitions of their existence for justification. Why do humans need a reason for existing?; Perhaps it is by random circumstance. We just happened to survive more efficiently through evolution by random mutation. Now we have big brains and don't know why, I believe in the sentiment that, "We are the universe experiencing itself".

    • @tyrannokoenigsegg8868
      @tyrannokoenigsegg8868 Před 2 lety

      @@basedheretic4616 I agree

  • @michaelgdellaquila2292
    @michaelgdellaquila2292 Před 3 lety +8

    Animals who break their bilateral symmetry be like "I caught a dab, not bad!"

    • @Tarteh
      @Tarteh Před 3 lety

      Don't dab backwards, it's bad.

  • @merrymachiavelli2041
    @merrymachiavelli2041 Před 3 lety +33

    Rangeomorphs look beautiful, it's a shame they don't have descendants.

    • @akashselvam
      @akashselvam Před 3 lety +1

      I read a paper about them and their complex social network, it was an interesting read

    • @dewinmoonl
      @dewinmoonl Před 3 lety +1

      they're called plants for all intents and purposes. you might also look into deep sea corals, same vibe

    • @akashselvam
      @akashselvam Před 3 lety +13

      @@dewinmoonl I believe rangeomorphs are animals though

    • @pansepot1490
      @pansepot1490 Před 3 lety +14

      @@dewinmoonl definitely not plants. Corals are animals and rangeomorphs are believed to be stem animals.
      I guess scientifically illiterate people will call them plants, as they might call dolphins fish, or call bats birds, still not correct.

    • @dewinmoonl
      @dewinmoonl Před 3 lety

      @@pansepot1490 corals are pretty plant like, in that they filter their surrounding for nutrients and photosynthesize with internal algaes. i was just making an analogy of convergent evolution to make a point that those funky designs exhibited by earlier animals are also the same design that made plants and corals, aka convergent evolution.
      I'm not scientifically illiterate haha I studied biology as undergrad so I'm well aware that corals are not plants, those earlier animals are not plants, and dolphins are not fish, and bats are not birds, you name it.

  • @odens3603
    @odens3603 Před 8 měsíci

    thanks! very good video

  • @thewhitepenguin1328
    @thewhitepenguin1328 Před rokem

    Amazing video ❤

  • @martinh972
    @martinh972 Před 3 lety +7

    "perfect to propel forwards in a straight line"
    video shows a crab!

  • @lukewilliams221
    @lukewilliams221 Před 3 lety +3

    Love your content mate, where's the usual chill music in the background though?

    • @antred11
      @antred11 Před 3 lety +2

      It's there; it's just the volume is _very_ low.

  • @N1ghtSparrow
    @N1ghtSparrow Před 2 lety

    Thank you for this video it was very interesting to me and I thought that this was super cool! Hope other people will to!

  • @sunseeker4775
    @sunseeker4775 Před 2 lety +1

    I have often wondered about this subject with human beings having 2 of most things, but only one heart. It's a very interesting subject to contemplate. Thank you.

    • @Fazzel
      @Fazzel Před 2 lety

      A heart starts out bilateral though.

  • @L0calLEGEND
    @L0calLEGEND Před 3 lety +14

    Fun fact: Did you know that in some species of Owls, the left and right ear holes are located at different elevations on their skull?
    The more you know.

    • @strrawberrytekken3698
      @strrawberrytekken3698 Před 3 lety +1

      Is that to make each ear specially better at picking up vibrations from certain angles whilst using the information to create an "image" of its surroundings?

    • @L0calLEGEND
      @L0calLEGEND Před 3 lety +2

      @@strrawberrytekken3698 With the face of Owls being shaped like radar dishes, yes. Most importantly having the ear holes located at different elevations allow them to pinpoint where exactly a noise is coming from on a vertical plane.

    • @strrawberrytekken3698
      @strrawberrytekken3698 Před 3 lety +1

      @@L0calLEGEND so damn cool

  • @bigdogstatus4528
    @bigdogstatus4528 Před 3 lety +14

    Last time i was this early animals were asymmetrical

  • @fuckel98
    @fuckel98 Před rokem +1

    Videos and presenters like this are a huge help for me in my writings. I’ve always been of the mind that we don’t need to try and invent cool concepts for characters or their powers/abilities because there is next to nothing we can think of that can’t be/isn’t already topped by what nature has actually produced. Fighting styles, means of transport, medicinal and healing methods, comic book characters, philosophies, song and dance, the list goes on, we have drawn so much from nature and it constantly springs forth more and more amazing things. There is always something awesome in nature that can inspire wondrous creations/inventions of man. Nothing new under the sun, maybe. But there’s so much under the sun that we have yet to see.

    • @Goodbutevilgenius
      @Goodbutevilgenius Před rokem

      Yeah, sure, lemme go ask nature for some PHILOSOPHY

    • @fuckel98
      @fuckel98 Před rokem +1

      @@Goodbutevilgenius you know, people respect an admission of ignorance far more than they ever will someone whom tries to come across like they know something they do not. my oc clearly went over your head, if you truly think theres no philosophy in nature, you're not paying enough attention.

    • @Goodbutevilgenius
      @Goodbutevilgenius Před rokem

      @@fuckel98 alright, give me an example then.

  • @charlypetra191
    @charlypetra191 Před rokem

    A Really Fine Job on this Video

  • @evphex
    @evphex Před rokem

    I like the obscure life forms the most. So interesting how life develops.