Due to complications, today’s video is the Evolution of Hammerhead Sharks! Sorry about this, that means the message at the end is intended for Saturday's video, and we’ll have our pick for the five weirdest sharks out tomorrow! Enjoy!
Do you think a viral infection might have caused the rapid evolution of the cephalofoils in Hammerhead Sharks? I heard that viruses can contribute to evolution through the genes they add to the genome coding for another mutation in addition to the one that makes more viruses.
sorry to ask, i have been followed your channel for a while since your videos are so great with such outstanding quality. But as a Chinese, it's pretty hard to get some specific words in the video, this does frustrate me a lot to miss the interesting point in it. So could you provide the text of the video or add the subtitle in the youtube channel for me? I will really appreciate that!!! By the way, the autotranslation is always kind of dummy, and that really irritates me...
It should be noted great hammerheads are quite unusual among hammerheads in focusing on large prey like stingrays and other sharks; most hammerheads prefer small fish and squid. Aside from detecting prey, videos of great hammerheads hunting also show them using their cephalofoils to ram or pin down large prey just prior to biting down on it.
As another note. Hammerhead shark pups are pretty well abandoned at birth. There is no mothering phase. Infant mortality is very high with Hammerheads. They have far more pups than other species of sharks. Their cephalofoils enables them to maneuver faster, as a means of species survival. Hence the study of juvenile comparisons.
Fascinating, thanks. It's a shame sharks don't fossilize well. Except for teeth. So many ideas on what ancient sharks looked like but, really for the most part there all guesses.
One thing I find really cool about Hammerheads is that they are so clearly still sharks, like, if you were to somehow squish their Cephalofoil back into their face, they would look like normal sharks. Their eyes still line up with where they should be, and their neck(?) and mouth look exactly the same as Their less weird cousins
I have to say Ben your RUclips channel is so so so good, I have watched for probably a few years now and the presentation, narration, illustrations, and the background music. everything about your videos is amazing. no sensationalism, no commercialism, just pure. I would watch everything you post eventually, and one day show my children whos due soon, I hope he loves this stuff because I sure do.
The funny part is that if they were already extinct, nobody would guess that they look weird like that since probably they would find just their teeth. Imagine how many extinct sharks are drawn thinking in the sharks of today but in reality they would look very different.
We don't know what Megalodon looked like. Most likely Not like an exactly sized up great white, but yeah that's the fun and frustration of it lol, let alone Helicoprion and other odd balls
@Daniel Korladis If someone did speculate that, I'd be Very interested to hear them defend their case... but my gut feeling is they're just trying to make it seem "more realistic" by deliberately making it seem less like a great white. There's no body impression fossils of megalodon, & soft tissue doesn't fossilized well/ unheard of as of present for cenozoic (post dinosaur era) fossil sharks... not saying it's impossible to find/ but from what's known to be out there, seems very unlikely we'll ever know for sure
Do we have fossil records of the Winghead? I would just assume that Wingheads probably started small, but evolution increased the size over time. That's a much more logical approach to me than them starting with hammers this large. Where would it even come from? In front of that logic it makes sense that the smallest hammer is the most recent as well. While the other species' hammers grew larger, the niche they occupied with smaller hammers opened up again.
If their ancestors were larger, perhaps the head width was the original width of the shark. As their bodies got smaller, some lucky sharks who kept the larger head size did better and found the evolutionary advantage. I can imagine a bunch of young sharks making fun of poor Johnny and his big head. Then, as they get older, Johnny does really well, and the bully sharks do poorly, which probably really pissed them off. Then all the mean girl sharks from when they were all in “school” are all nice to him, wanting him to be their boyfriend. Johnny, of course, never forgot how mean they were, and joyfully rejects them all. He instead finds another big head who was also treated poorly. They have babies, who also have big heads, and do even better. They eventually get all the best food and jobs, while the others have to live in cheap apartments, work at McDonalds, and eventually go extinct. Or, something like that. I’m sure the details were slightly different.
Only 20 million?? That really is surprisingly short Maybe hammer shaped heads are better and in another 100m years they will have mostly outcompeted the other sharks
Greater distance between sensors of any type. whether olfactory, visual, electro-sensory, or even RADAR, improves the geometry of triangulating target location. Try it just on a piece of paper! If you REALLY want to see a cool Hammerhead, look up the story of "Hector the Hammerhead", at Diego Garcia!!!
@@haroldotrotter9148 most filter feeders primary food source is krill, so while they may eat algea and small plants by accident, it isnt a large part of their calorie intake. filter feeding is generally considered to be carnivorous.
That is actually more hydrodynamic than a straight edge. That is why humpback whales have bumpy fins too. Just more ways moving in water is not the same as moving in air
@@Stonnin it changes the way the water flows around the edge reducing drage caused by the water swirling around. Air can have different density levels but water cannot, so moving through water without optimizing can actually make the water vacuum you back. It's a huge pain in the ass
Incredible. They're such odd looking animals, I'm so glad they did not go extinct before we had a chance to see them, but I can't even imagine the strange sharks that *DID* go extinct that we'll never get to see. Great work, thank you for all that you do! 👍
I am really grateful for your vids like this; I adore digging into zoology and evolution of species, but sadly, I tend to be too tired or lack time because of my job; having all those research collected in one place with such nice voice is just wonderful :')
When Thor died after fighting the Midgard Serpent, Mjolnir (his hammer) fell into the sea. One shark was a very selfless and noble shark who also hated giants (or Johtuns which weren't all giant). He was worthy of lifting the hammer, but he didn't have hands, so Odin cast a transfiguration spell onto him and his brethren who were also very worthy, transfuing the hammer and its powers into their heads, and all the descendents of these sharks were also imbued with the POWER OF THOR!!!!
Maybe because they were discovered later, so if you take an example, like a pig. It must have been discovered waaaay earlier so when we disvovered more animals we applied these traits that we found on earlier discovered ones. Or just because they uncommonly resemble something and we didn't know what names to give them.
@@BenGThomas you really do have some interesting content, and I know full well that the research put into each video must take several hours. One thing I've noticed though about your channel and channels like this one, is that no one seems interested in explaining the phylogeny of plants. Do you have any plans or interest in making videos on some plants??
I guess every once in a while you’ll get a dramatic, dominant mutation in a species that’s so useful it sticks around. The first hammerhead probably got called a freak by their sharky peers. But then what made them different turned out to be a really good thing! I think that’s kind of inspiring :)
It's interesting that so many expect evolution to be linear and progressive when genetic mutation is known to be random... We might be lost without genetic trees and molecular clocks...
Two things I wonder about when it comes to hammerheads are why aren't there more of them and why are their dorsal fins shaped the way they are. It sounds like there isn't any disadvantage to having the hammer and those taller than normal dorsal fins must be beneficial in some way since I think most hammerheads have them.
I'm a science teacher, since 1999. I caution my kids to avoid questions like, "what is this used for?" or "why is it like that?". They tend to imply a "plan". Try looking at cool questions like this one, by asking "Why is it successful?".
My question is, in the future, would they be able to look at the fossils of hammerheads and know that that's what they were? If not, because of all the cartilidge or whatever, could we be missing that in a lot of past animals/sharks too?
Go offshore fishing off NC outbanks, you'll meet them up close...and they'll eat half your catch if you can't get your tuna onboard fast enough. Big boys out there12-15ft...and bigger!
"Somewhere along the early evolution of the lineage a highly expanded cephalofoil MUST HAVE developed quite rapidly. So the first Hammerheads were big animals with big hammers." 🤷 must have.
the hammerhead sharks are a group of sharks that form the family Sphyrnidae, so named for the unusual and distinctive structure of their heads, which are flattened and laterally extended into a "hammer" shape called a cephalofoil.
Due to complications, today’s video is the Evolution of Hammerhead Sharks! Sorry about this, that means the message at the end is intended for Saturday's video, and we’ll have our pick for the five weirdest sharks out tomorrow! Enjoy!
Pin this comment not my comet your comment been don't what yours to gear lost in the shark infessted sea of comments
@@Frogboyaidan Thought we already had...
Do you think a viral infection might have caused the rapid evolution of the cephalofoils in Hammerhead Sharks? I heard that viruses can contribute to evolution through the genes they add to the genome coding for another mutation in addition to the one that makes more viruses.
Hi Ben I am a huge fan
sorry to ask, i have been followed your channel for a while since your videos are so great with such outstanding quality. But as a Chinese, it's pretty hard to get some specific words in the video, this does frustrate me a lot to miss the interesting point in it. So could you provide the text of the video or add the subtitle in the youtube channel for me? I will really appreciate that!!!
By the way, the autotranslation is always kind of dummy, and that really irritates me...
As a little kid I always assumed they used their heads like a hammer to beat their prey to death, lol.
I dont blame you, they called it the “HAMMER head” you would think the hammer is used as a weapon
It would be very fun to watch if it was true😂😂 maybe not for the prey though🤣
they don't?
I remember my fourth grade teacher telling us that's how they hunted
Terror birds pretty much do what you said
It should be noted great hammerheads are quite unusual among hammerheads in focusing on large prey like stingrays and other sharks; most hammerheads prefer small fish and squid.
Aside from detecting prey, videos of great hammerheads hunting also show them using their cephalofoils to ram or pin down large prey just prior to biting down on it.
As another note. Hammerhead shark pups are pretty well abandoned at birth. There is no mothering phase. Infant mortality is very high with Hammerheads. They have far more pups than other species of sharks.
Their cephalofoils enables them to maneuver faster, as a means of species survival. Hence the study of juvenile comparisons.
Most animals when they want binocular vision: "Alright, ima move these up front."
Sharks when they want binocular vision: "H A M M E R"
W I D E
H A M M E R T I M E
Sharks: gimme binostril olfaction
Hammerheads are a prime example of gimmicks that work
Just think, there was a time where this was just a mutated animal and then it conquered.
@@kylecupp9649 "jane's got a weird looking head but damn, she's crushing it in the stingray hunting"
Fascinating, thanks. It's a shame sharks don't fossilize well. Except for teeth. So many ideas on what ancient sharks looked like but, really for the most part there all guesses.
Exactly. I was wondering if hammerhead sharks teeth are recognizable. If not how can we tell if we have them in the fossil record.
* they're
@@mattrogers5188 shut up nerd
@@mastercharlesdiltardino8058 dweeb
@@mattrogers5188 meat target
I just can't get over the way they look. Like God went too crazy on the customize character and put the eyes on max
One thing I find really cool about Hammerheads is that they are so clearly still sharks, like, if you were to somehow squish their Cephalofoil back into their face, they would look like normal sharks. Their eyes still line up with where they should be, and their neck(?) and mouth look exactly the same as Their less weird cousins
You know, I’ve never realized just HOW strange they look until now
I have to say Ben your RUclips channel is so so so good, I have watched for probably a few years now and the presentation, narration, illustrations, and the background music. everything about your videos is amazing. no sensationalism, no commercialism, just pure.
I would watch everything you post eventually, and one day show my children whos due soon, I hope he loves this stuff because I sure do.
The funny part is that if they were already extinct, nobody would guess that they look weird like that since probably they would find just their teeth. Imagine how many extinct sharks are drawn thinking in the sharks of today but in reality they would look very different.
It's so true. In reality, probably all of the prehistoric dinosaurs, fish, etc. That we've discovered look nothing like we think they do.
We don't know what Megalodon looked like. Most likely Not like an exactly sized up great white, but yeah that's the fun and frustration of it lol, let alone Helicoprion and other odd balls
@@Dman9fp IIRC it's now thought that Megalodon was snubbier and rounder than previously expected, I think?
@Daniel Korladis If someone did speculate that, I'd be Very interested to hear them defend their case... but my gut feeling is they're just trying to make it seem "more realistic" by deliberately making it seem less like a great white. There's no body impression fossils of megalodon, & soft tissue doesn't fossilized well/ unheard of as of present for cenozoic (post dinosaur era) fossil sharks... not saying it's impossible to find/ but from what's known to be out there, seems very unlikely we'll ever know for sure
Do we have fossil records of the Winghead? I would just assume that Wingheads probably started small, but evolution increased the size over time. That's a much more logical approach to me than them starting with hammers this large. Where would it even come from? In front of that logic it makes sense that the smallest hammer is the most recent as well. While the other species' hammers grew larger, the niche they occupied with smaller hammers opened up again.
MAXIMUM DERP ACHIEVED
So close to 100k
if you say: side to side you better say pickaxe
5:27 This shark has acquired the power of the arrow for itself
Clash requiem
Ah, finally, there it is. The Jojo reference I was looking for.
Hammerhead sharks are so cute!
now we just need to discover the nail fish
8:04
Hammerhead sharks ancestors: “Why waste time bodybuilding when you can just f*ck?”
Eye width slider go *S T R E T C H*
Such cool looking sharks.
We would be so interested in this creature if all we had was the fossils of it. But since it lives currently it feels like its just another shark
Do they play in split screen or something?
Another insightful video ^g^
Hammer + shark
Love your videos
the first one ate a garden rake
Can you do a video on the Andean condor
If their ancestors were larger, perhaps the head width was the original width of the shark. As their bodies got smaller, some lucky sharks who kept the larger head size did better and found the evolutionary advantage. I can imagine a bunch of young sharks making fun of poor Johnny and his big head. Then, as they get older, Johnny does really well, and the bully sharks do poorly, which probably really pissed them off. Then all the mean girl sharks from when they were all in “school” are all nice to him, wanting him to be their boyfriend. Johnny, of course, never forgot how mean they were, and joyfully rejects them all. He instead finds another big head who was also treated poorly. They have babies, who also have big heads, and do even better. They eventually get all the best food and jobs, while the others have to live in cheap apartments, work at McDonalds, and eventually go extinct.
Or, something like that. I’m sure the details were slightly different.
Hammer heads are 80's AS FUCK
Looks like someone I know
Now this looks like a job for me (look at name)
Only 20 million?? That really is surprisingly short
Maybe hammer shaped heads are better and in another 100m years they will have mostly outcompeted the other sharks
Everyone is playing in first person and the hammerhead is playing in third person lmao.
Greater distance between sensors of any type. whether olfactory, visual, electro-sensory, or even RADAR, improves the geometry of triangulating target location. Try it just on a piece of paper! If you REALLY want to see a cool Hammerhead, look up the story of "Hector the Hammerhead", at Diego Garcia!!!
r u the same guy that makes the thoughty2 channel? u sound like him and have same inflections.
Is it just me or does anyone else just wanna grab the hammer of a hammerhead for some reason
🎶 "Stop! It's hammertime!" 🎶
*yerd*
what do you mean by overlap
It's an intersection or superimposed area
Hammer heads be like: *T*
Funny of the minute: i read sharks as sluts for a second
when you create your character with maxed out eye width
In Spore Animal creation phase
tierzoo ftw
*besthesda would like to know your location*
😂👍🏼
Tier zoo
STOP HAMMERTIME*
I saw a comment somewhere that trumps campaign song should be "can't touch this".
Hail Giratina The true god 🤦🏾♂️
At certain angles, hammerheads look absolutely ridiculous and I love it
Fun Fact: The Bonnethead is the first ever confirmed omnivorous shark.
What about whale, basking or megamouth sharks? They technically eat micro plants. Unless u mean non filter feeding
@@haroldotrotter9148 most filter feeders primary food source is krill, so while they may eat algea and small plants by accident, it isnt a large part of their calorie intake. filter feeding is generally considered to be carnivorous.
Carrots?, cauliflower?
@@FlatlandMando grass,sea grass
Isn’t there still a theory that bonnetheads accidentally eat the grass?
Hammerhead Sharks happen when evolution gets ultra *high*
*ULTRAHAMMERED
3:15 "Putting electrodes into the eye..."
Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow...
Odd how the leading edge isn't a straightforward line, but subtly bumpy
That is actually more hydrodynamic than a straight edge. That is why humpback whales have bumpy fins too.
Just more ways moving in water is not the same as moving in air
@@marvalice3455 HOw does that work?
@@Stonnin it changes the way the water flows around the edge reducing drage caused by the water swirling around.
Air can have different density levels but water cannot, so moving through water without optimizing can actually make the water vacuum you back.
It's a huge pain in the ass
@@marvalice3455 That is awesome to know. Thanks for that
@@marvalice3455 very interesting.
Incredible. They're such odd looking animals, I'm so glad they did not go extinct before we had a chance to see them, but I can't even imagine the strange sharks that *DID* go extinct that we'll never get to see. Great work, thank you for all that you do! 👍
YES! My favourite sharks, thank you!!!
So basically they are trying to max out visual depth perception, and stereoscopic smell. That is awesome. Plus it just looks cool.🙂👍 🦈
Why do sharks swim in salt water? Easy; because pepper water makes them sneeze.
😁
@@potatoraider7320 Eww!
*dad jokes*
Moronic child joke
Haha love it
I am really grateful for your vids like this;
I adore digging into zoology and evolution of species,
but sadly, I tend to be too tired or lack time because of my job;
having all those research collected in one place with such nice voice
is just wonderful :')
When Thor died after fighting the Midgard Serpent, Mjolnir (his hammer) fell into the sea. One shark was a very selfless and noble shark who also hated giants (or Johtuns which weren't all giant). He was worthy of lifting the hammer, but he didn't have hands, so Odin cast a transfiguration spell onto him and his brethren who were also very worthy, transfuing the hammer and its powers into their heads, and all the descendents of these sharks were also imbued with the POWER OF THOR!!!!
Which explains the electroreception. God of THUNDER.
I immediately started laughing when I saw Thor in the first sentence because I knew exactly where it was going
@@dirandrous7682 EXACLTY?!
THORSHARK CONFIRMED!
Can you do an episode on the specialised lungs/air sacs present in sauropods and tyrannosaurs
also crocodiles and monitor lizards have similar lungs!
When you make something as a joke but it works so you roll with it.
Evolution: Let's increase stereoscopic vision by putting the eyes waaaaay far apart.
...now add in the nostrils and do directional scent too🤔
Not everyone knows what a bonnet looks like. But everyone knows what a shovel looks like.
3:07 those "experiments" look and sound kind of questionable
this was really fascinating!
would love to see one about Otter evolution at some point :)
+
You otter make one yourself 👍
I hope you guys cover mako sharks in some form, they are my favorite shark of all time 😏
Why are so many sharks named after another animal? Is that a fish thing?
#justfishthings
Maybe because they were discovered later, so if you take an example, like a pig. It must have been discovered waaaay earlier so when we disvovered more animals we applied these traits that we found on earlier discovered ones. Or just because they uncommonly resemble something and we didn't know what names to give them.
Interesting idea
Scientists have confirmed that hammers were in fact discovered before hammerhead sharks
But do they taste like hammers
You fools! Evolution is a lie!
Just kidding. Awesome work.
*Nobody:*
*Ben G Thomas:* "These are some of the most extraordinary animals... "
Love this channel though 👍
Hahaha... yeah good point...
But they are to be fair...
@@BenGThomas you really do have some interesting content, and I know full well that the research put into each video must take several hours.
One thing I've noticed though about your channel and channels like this one, is that no one seems interested in explaining the phylogeny of plants. Do you have any plans or interest in making videos on some plants??
all animals ARE extraordinary though
@@DachampsterStudios extraordinary indeed 👍
@@Call_Me_Emo1 Plants! YES!!
I guess every once in a while you’ll get a dramatic, dominant mutation in a species that’s so useful it sticks around. The first hammerhead probably got called a freak by their sharky peers. But then what made them different turned out to be a really good thing! I think that’s kind of inspiring :)
if it's stupid and it works, it isn't stupid
It's interesting that so many expect evolution to be linear and progressive when genetic mutation is known to be random...
We might be lost without genetic trees and molecular clocks...
The Shark Week content I *actually* want
Two things I wonder about when it comes to hammerheads are why aren't there more of them and why are their dorsal fins shaped the way they are. It sounds like there isn't any disadvantage to having the hammer and those taller than normal dorsal fins must be beneficial in some way since I think most hammerheads have them.
I wonder if someone has snapped a picture of a hammerhead with a broken cefalofoil. It must be super weird.
Predator with a prey eyes...
Yes, good point
I'm a science teacher, since 1999. I caution my kids to avoid questions like, "what is this used for?" or "why is it like that?". They tend to imply a "plan". Try looking at cool questions like this one, by asking "Why is it successful?".
My question is, in the future, would they be able to look at the fossils of hammerheads and know that that's what they were? If not, because of all the cartilidge or whatever, could we be missing that in a lot of past animals/sharks too?
Well people in the very far future would only have their teeth to look at but Most likely, files would be kept on the animals are alive today.
I think Bonnethead sharks are really cute.
"the bonnethead, which has a shovel-shaped head."
Are you sure it's not a bonnet shaped head?
No the shovelhead has a bonnet shaped head.
its like greenland and iceland all over again
Liked for your account name
Thank you, they didn’t seem like a big deal when I was a kid but the more I learned about biology, the more they confused me
I subscribed no just for the excellent content but also for tha ASMR accented voice...
80 dislikes to 6758 likes? I don't get it! - Is there really a 1,184 percentage of galeophobes amongst us?
Thanks for this video, ever since I saw a picture of a hammerhead shark as a kid I fell in love with them they are the coolest shark
You know you're talking about evolution when you hear "20 million" and think "That's not that long ago"
The favorite food of the hammerhead shark is...
the nail-butt fish
I’m gonna subscribe because I keep watching your content and saying I will sub but forgetting after the video.
A hammerhead walked into a sand bar
The bartender asked him, "Why the wide face?"
These guys remind me of a swiffer. Especially when they turn their heads.
. . . Or a Roomba.
Harry Potter and the 4:03
Hammerheads are just so cool.
Its a shame my grandchildren wont get to see live ones.
are they going extinct? that's sad
Lol, the whole ocean goin extinct
Absolutely great vid full of knowledge this is a 1 stop know it all vid👍
Hammerhead be like:
Eye width: >---‐------------■
Ben g Thomas:shows picture of hammerhead with mouth open
Me:screams
They'll eventually evolve into hammers
SPOILER SHARK
SPOILER SHARK
SPOILER SHARK
I LOVE the hammerhead shark❤❤❤
Wow great video!
So the hammerheads have downforce like a Porsche 911 GT3 RS!!! 😍😍😍😍 How cool is that!!!
Go offshore fishing off NC outbanks, you'll meet them up close...and they'll eat half your catch if you can't get your tuna onboard fast enough. Big boys out there12-15ft...and bigger!
Requiem sharks? Is that a JoJo reference?
love your channel man!
Imagine aliens seeing this and saying, “when tf did you get bortzines on this planet”
"Somewhere along the early evolution of the lineage a highly expanded cephalofoil MUST HAVE developed quite rapidly. So the first Hammerheads were big animals with big hammers." 🤷 must have.
the hammerhead sharks are a group of sharks that form the family Sphyrnidae, so named for the unusual and distinctive structure of their heads, which are flattened and laterally extended into a "hammer" shape called a cephalofoil.