I really love these videos covering often obscure groups of extinct creatures, almost all creatures from prehistoric South America are so interesting. A suggestion I’d have is a video on the large predatory birds from ancient Cuba, like Ornimegalonyx and Gigantohierax. Or for a more famous creature, the giant haast eagle of New Zealand. Regardless, good video as always.
I would absolutely love an episode on Mesosaurids, the first amniotes to return to the sea, they never get enough attention. I absolutely love your South America videos too, keep up your amazing work!
All Australian marsupials have a South American ancestor. No one really knows why the metatherians and terror birds didn’t follow them there in the early Eocene traffic from Antarctica to Australia.
@@NormanF62 That is really interesting, the fact of marsupials originating in South America but now being rare there. Instead having conquered a continent that is now on the opposite end of the Pacific Ocean...
South American flora and especially fauna never ceases to intrigue me. My favorite modern animal is the giant ant eater, the majority of my freshwater aquarium fish(I've been a aquarium hobbyist for 16 years) come from the rio Orinoco and Rio tapajos and one of my favorite prehistoric mammals is megatherium. Truly a wonderful place.
Orinoco River in the Amazon is a connection of Brazil and Colombia if I think my mind serves me correctly, 🍍🍍.. Giant snakes rumours in that Amazonian area
It's always lovely how much I learn from these videos. I'm also really starting to love how the topic of the next video is announced at the end. Gives us something to look forward to! Well done! 👍
Dr. Polaris has made several of them since, and yeah it's a very deep rabbit hole to go down. Back when South America was totally geographically separated from the rest of the New World evolution there branched off into so many crazy independent directions.
Sparassodonts are such interesting and lesser known creatures, thank you for bringing attention to them! One thing I've always wondered is, since they're Metatherians but not proper Marsupials, how did they reproduce? Did they have a pouch like marsupials, or did they have a placenta?
They presumably gave birth to tiny fetus-like young like modern marsupials, although it is unknown if they had pouches. Sparassodonts had highly reduced epipubic bones, which may mean they lacked pouches too. However, thylacines also lacked ossified epipubic bones but still had pouches.
Another superb video on mammals. I'd be very keen to see an updated series of "The Velvet Claw" with your narration and your spot-on pronunciation of some very difficult names.
I've said it before and I will state it again. Island South America was like Australia but on steroids. The true Narnia of the prehistoric world. It's interaction with North American biomes was the greatest biodiversity loss on Earth between the loss of the dinos and the arrival of humans.
Another excellent presentation and discussion of the evidence, many thanks. (ps. I’m currently nursing a Tiger Quoll hit by a car, so your inclusions of quolls and thylacines is extra interesting …)
Hi Dr Polaris, in relation to your Alter Earth Project, what’s the largest land predator during the Holocene? And what does New Zealand’s fauna look like? Also, how are pterosaurs doing by the time of the Holocene?
Oft copied never duplicated. The species featured and their broad variations are extremely interesting. The detail of the presentations are w/o peer. Keep up the good work.
12:52/12:53 Someone mentioned that article on Raptor Chatter's video of Thylacosmilus and the hunting/feeding lifestyle. But wouldn't they also fed on the muscles of their prey?
Most predators prefer the organs of their prey as they are much softer and easier to eat. They will also eat muscle but think about how tough gristle is, and realise that wild animals are much more sinew and connective tissue than our domesticated species, and you'll realise why they prefer organs.
Perhaps by specializing in the internal organs of their prey, their saber teeth were subject to severe wear from the highly acidic levels of those organs so they had to be continually growing to compensate for that wear.
Oh yes! I've been waiting for a new video from you for a long time and I wasn't disappointed. 🤩 "Thylacos" are a prime example of convergent evolution. You actually covered all the important aspects of their story in this short video. 😳 Chapeu! 🎩 And I'm really looking forward to the next topic. 🤤 Thanks for your always great content! 🦖🥳
I really enjoy your presentations-I had no idea that large marsupialoid critters were in South America. One bit I have been puzzling over-feet. Specifically dinosaur feet and Synapsid feet. I've never seen a video detailing how the evolved separately, let alone one on how something like a really big grazing dinosaur's feet were structured. I've watched videos on how delicate and fragile cow and big horse hooves are. What sort of foot problems did big dinos have? Parasitic infections? Bone spurs? Deep infections?
Could thylecosmilis have been a specialist bird predator? An animal with vulnerable necks. Not to mention large ground living birds existed here. Birds took up many niches that mammals would normally have been present. I can see predation on young birds being a predator stradegy for part of the season.
What an interesting batch of critters this time! Well, I've not seen you cover any boring ones, frankly. Still, here's your like and comment for the Almighty Algorithm! 🙂
Absolutely fascinating to learn that South America had even more marsupial-ish predators that convergently evolved similar body plans as better known predatory placental mammals, than Australia did. I've already been familiar with Thylacosmilus and Borhyena but I didn't know they had parallels to stoats and weasels, or even grizzly bears...
"Then it was a scavenger" is the paleontology version of "then it was ceremonial" , only dumber. What do we know about scavengers? It ain't having huge weapons. Imagine a vulture with a eagle beak. Same with these sabertooths - that massive energy investment couldn't be just for scavenging.
One of the interesting differences between thylacosmilids and the sabre tooth cats is that their teeth have enormous roots, making them a lot more robust than the relatively delicate teeth of the big cats.
It would probably have been very minimal, considering that Procyonids were generally small and omnivorous, while the last Sparassodonts were hypercarnivores.
Even today, the canids that arrived in South America are unique and wolves never made it there. The continent is notable for only one big cat species and the other is a felid that grew to become an ambush predator of larger sized prey.
My goodness there were a lot of strange mammals with outlandish names in prehistory. They seem much less easy to remember than dinosaurs, as so many of them looked similar. What a blessing I'll never need to take an exam on the subject!
That would be truly terrifying! Sprassodont skulls have been found with bite and gouge marks made by individuals of the same species, suggesting some kind of territorial face biting similar to modern devils.
The pouched Marsupials actually evolved in South America by migrating to Australia via Antarctica during the Eocene, which is not brought up as often as it should be.
The marsupials survived in South America where their metatherian ancestors couldn’t. Living on an island continent was no guarantee of long term survival and what also worked against the metatherians is the other ecological niches were already filled by placental mammals, forcing them to fill the only vacant niches available to them in South America. It just wasn’t enough to see them through to the present.
Makes you wonder if things had gone differently for the sparassodonts, how different would the ecosystems of south America would or even central and North America if they had a chance of migrating north and adapting well to the new continent like the ground sloths
Its likely they would have migrated north but very few of them would have established themselves in North America. There are a handful of South American arrivals here but nothing like the migration in the other direction.
I love your vids but I can’t be the only who sees a open mouth soyjak with a top hat instead of a polar bear when looking at your channel profile picture
It's so sad that this creature went extinct because of simple cooling If it survive guess what it would have survived to this day Because the food and the habitat is still here to this day And that includes many other creatures They could have survived to this day but yet they just died out from something Simple
If these animals were not marsupials, but close relatives of marsupials, then how did they give birth to their young? Did they have pouches like marsupials do? 🤔🤨🤔
DATES please, even if only in millions of years. NOT everyone is familiar with when epochs started and ended... so miocine, oligocine etc, sounds like gobbledygook.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
love your stuff Dr! We should do some work together sometime!
Thanks! I'd love to work on a video with you.
@@dr.polaris6423 damn. Please yes! Do it guys. 🖖🥰 Can't believe this could be real and happend. But if so... I can't breath anymore so excited I am 😮🤯
Yasssss
Ooh! That would be epic!
PLEEEEEEASE
I really love these videos covering often obscure groups of extinct creatures, almost all creatures from prehistoric South America are so interesting. A suggestion I’d have is a video on the large predatory birds from ancient Cuba, like Ornimegalonyx and Gigantohierax. Or for a more famous creature, the giant haast eagle of New Zealand. Regardless, good video as always.
I would absolutely love an episode on Mesosaurids, the first amniotes to return to the sea, they never get enough attention. I absolutely love your South America videos too, keep up your amazing work!
Interesting suggestion. I do plan on covering the Parareptiles in the near future, which will involve the Mesosaurs and their shifting identity.
@@dr.polaris6423 Splendid! Covering Parareptlia as a whole is going to be absolutely incredible! Deffinetly worth the wait.
I would like to know why some parareptiles like colobomycter are not considered synapsids even though they fit the criteria.
@@JC-mn2ll Probably older classification studies
@@eybaza6018 actually they were first classified as synapsids but then were moved to parareptila.
This group is as unique to South America as the Marsupials of Australia. What an amazing family of animals they were.
All Australian marsupials have a South American ancestor. No one really knows why the metatherians and terror birds didn’t follow them there in the early Eocene traffic from Antarctica to Australia.
@@NormanF62 That is really interesting, the fact of marsupials originating in South America but now being rare there. Instead having conquered a continent that is now on the opposite end of the Pacific Ocean...
South American flora and especially fauna never ceases to intrigue me. My favorite modern animal is the giant ant eater, the majority of my freshwater aquarium fish(I've been a aquarium hobbyist for 16 years) come from the rio Orinoco and Rio tapajos and one of my favorite prehistoric mammals is megatherium.
Truly a wonderful place.
Orinoco River in the Amazon is a connection of Brazil and Colombia if I think my mind serves me correctly, 🍍🍍.. Giant snakes rumours in that Amazonian area
Mmmmm ancient marsupial predators, love it.
Yours is still my favorite paleo channel, you do the best vids on the critters the others ignore.
It's always lovely how much I learn from these videos. I'm also really starting to love how the topic of the next video is announced at the end. Gives us something to look forward to! Well done! 👍
We need more videos on prehistoric south America it's SUPER interesting
I know right.
Documentaries like episodes of Prehistoric Planet too.
Dr. Polaris has made several of them since, and yeah it's a very deep rabbit hole to go down. Back when South America was totally geographically separated from the rest of the New World evolution there branched off into so many crazy independent directions.
Channels like these are gems… if I had friends I would share
Sparassodonts are such interesting and lesser known creatures, thank you for bringing attention to them!
One thing I've always wondered is, since they're Metatherians but not proper Marsupials, how did they reproduce? Did they have a pouch like marsupials, or did they have a placenta?
They presumably gave birth to tiny fetus-like young like modern marsupials, although it is unknown if they had pouches. Sparassodonts had highly reduced epipubic bones, which may mean they lacked pouches too. However, thylacines also lacked ossified epipubic bones but still had pouches.
@@dr.polaris6423 very interesting, thank you for sharing your knowledge! Keep up the great content :)
Another superb video on mammals. I'd be very keen to see an updated series of "The Velvet Claw" with your narration and your spot-on pronunciation of some very difficult names.
I know you've got plenty on your plate. But us Spec Evo enthusiasts are dying for the next video in your Alter-Earth series.
We Spec Evo enthusiasts.
I've said it before and I will state it again. Island South America was like Australia but on steroids. The true Narnia of the prehistoric world. It's interaction with North American biomes was the greatest biodiversity loss on Earth between the loss of the dinos and the arrival of humans.
Such is life
Its interaction.
Humans are just another footnote in time on Earth.
Another excellent presentation and discussion of the evidence, many thanks.
(ps. I’m currently nursing a Tiger Quoll hit by a car, so your inclusions of quolls and thylacines is extra interesting …)
Another highly informative and well researched presentation - thank you. Difficult to take it all in though...please keep making these great videos
Hi Dr Polaris, in relation to your Alter Earth Project, what’s the largest land predator during the Holocene? And what does New Zealand’s fauna look like? Also, how are pterosaurs doing by the time of the Holocene?
I love his Alter Earth project!
Oft copied never duplicated. The species featured and their broad variations are extremely interesting. The detail of the presentations are w/o peer. Keep up the good work.
Great post for real, thanks a bunch big dog!
Thank you for making videos on like everything lmao
Its so helpful when trying to research these weird mammals for my project
12:52/12:53 Someone mentioned that article on Raptor Chatter's video of Thylacosmilus and the hunting/feeding lifestyle.
But wouldn't they also fed on the muscles of their prey?
Most predators prefer the organs of their prey as they are much softer and easier to eat. They will also eat muscle but think about how tough gristle is, and realise that wild animals are much more sinew and connective tissue than our domesticated species, and you'll realise why they prefer organs.
Great video, sparassodonts are just so cool but so underrated. I wonder why they had ever growing teeth
Perhaps by specializing in the internal organs of their prey, their saber teeth were subject to severe wear from the highly acidic levels of those organs so they had to be continually growing to compensate for that wear.
excellent as always
I understand the delay. With the war, power will be iffy for a few months. Thank you for the video.
I Have A Question Can You Make A Video About Prionosuchus Or Koolasuchus?
Sure, Koolasuchus and relatives are really fascinating.
@@dr.polaris6423 True!
13:10 What about any competition from either Argentavis or the various croc species (terrestrial and semi-aquatic)?
Oh yes! I've been waiting for a new video from you for a long time and I wasn't disappointed. 🤩 "Thylacos" are a prime example of convergent evolution. You actually covered all the important aspects of their story in this short video. 😳 Chapeu! 🎩 And I'm really looking forward to the next topic. 🤤
Thanks for your always great content! 🦖🥳
I really enjoy your presentations-I had no idea that large marsupialoid critters were in South America. One bit I have been puzzling over-feet. Specifically dinosaur feet and Synapsid feet. I've never seen a video detailing how the evolved separately, let alone one on how something like a really big grazing dinosaur's feet were structured. I've watched videos on how delicate and fragile cow and big horse hooves are. What sort of foot problems did big dinos have? Parasitic infections? Bone spurs? Deep infections?
Could thylecosmilis have been a specialist bird predator? An animal with vulnerable necks. Not to mention large ground living birds existed here. Birds took up many niches that mammals would normally have been present.
I can see predation on young birds being a predator stradegy for part of the season.
I love this channel!!
What an interesting batch of critters this time! Well, I've not seen you cover any boring ones, frankly. Still, here's your like and comment for the Almighty Algorithm! 🙂
My idea on a video!!!
Absolutely fascinating to learn that South America had even more marsupial-ish predators that convergently evolved similar body plans as better known predatory placental mammals, than Australia did. I've already been familiar with Thylacosmilus and Borhyena but I didn't know they had parallels to stoats and weasels, or even grizzly bears...
Bravo ,Dottore!
"Then it was a scavenger" is the paleontology version of "then it was ceremonial" , only dumber. What do we know about scavengers? It ain't having huge weapons. Imagine a vulture with a eagle beak. Same with these sabertooths - that massive energy investment couldn't be just for scavenging.
Thank Jack Horner with his "scavenger t-rex" hypothesis.
One of the interesting differences between thylacosmilids and the sabre tooth cats is that their teeth have enormous roots, making them a lot more robust than the relatively delicate teeth of the big cats.
the naming conventions of this group are definintely interesting.
Also the convergence are very amazing, shame they went extinct
14:27 Even though it's mostly unpopular nowadays, would their interaction with any placental carnivorans be extremely minimal at best?
It would probably have been very minimal, considering that Procyonids were generally small and omnivorous, while the last Sparassodonts were hypercarnivores.
Even today, the canids that arrived in South America are unique and wolves never made it there. The continent is notable for only one big cat species and the other is a felid that grew to become an ambush predator of larger sized prey.
My goodness there were a lot of strange mammals with outlandish names in prehistory. They seem much less easy to remember than dinosaurs, as so many of them looked similar. What a blessing I'll never need to take an exam on the subject!
The creature at 12:48 looks like a chupacabra.
I wonder if it made noises like a Tasmanian devil?
That would be truly terrifying! Sprassodont skulls have been found with bite and gouge marks made by individuals of the same species, suggesting some kind of territorial face biting similar to modern devils.
Only Australia could out-weird pre-link up South America
in my estimation they are evenly matched - IDK if Australia had marsupial grizzly bears or sabretooth tigers!
What's this South America had pouched Animal's and here I thought Auz had the monopoly on that , you learn something new all the time.
The pouched Marsupials actually evolved in South America by migrating to Australia via Antarctica during the Eocene, which is not brought up as often as it should be.
@@dr.polaris6423 🤯😲
The Americans still have a few marsupials hanging around. I believe it’s 3.
Animals.
@@dr.polaris6423 that fact is one of my favourite weird things about evolutionary history
The marsupials survived in South America where their metatherian ancestors couldn’t. Living on an island continent was no guarantee of long term survival and what also worked against the metatherians is the other ecological niches were already filled by placental mammals, forcing them to fill the only vacant niches available to them in South America. It just wasn’t enough to see them through to the present.
Babe wake up…. Dr. Polaris uploaded a new video!
Never thought there’d be an actual (prehistoric) *”great-fanged tree-rat!”*
The artwork is phenomenal
but did a thylacosmilus ever meet a smilodon?
Nope, thylacosmilus died out a few million years before Smilodon arrived.
Next-level jowls.
I love prehistoric life
More Cryptid videos when?
Makes you wonder if things had gone differently for the sparassodonts, how different would the ecosystems of south America would or even central and North America if they had a chance of migrating north and adapting well to the new continent like the ground sloths
Its likely they would have migrated north but very few of them would have established themselves in North America. There are a handful of South American arrivals here but nothing like the migration in the other direction.
When will cryptid profiles return?
My dream is to see a therizinosaur episode
I wonder if some of them migrated to the Antarctica like some Liptopterns
The size of a large leopard at 260 lbs? I am not sure even the Amur leopard attained that size. More like a medium sized African lioness.
I love your vids but I can’t be the only who sees a open mouth soyjak with a top hat instead of a polar bear when looking at your channel profile picture
A few days ago I was stunned when I seen a giant skeleton of a giant Lemur, so I was thinking about King Julian 🤣😂😁😜🙄🤦🏻♀️
When I saw...or when I had seen.
The monkeys and the hystricognant rodents colonised South America from Africa during the Oligocene.
Hystricognath rodents.
Nice
I hope one day I can get a skull of thylacosmilus
It's so sad that this creature went extinct because of simple cooling If it survive guess what it would have survived to this day Because the food and the habitat is still here to this day And that includes many other creatures They could have survived to this day but yet they just died out from something Simple
If these animals were not marsupials, but close relatives of marsupials, then how did they give birth to their young? Did they have pouches like marsupials do? 🤔🤨🤔
Very likely they were pouched mammals though not all metatherians had pouches.
That Noah fellow missed more than he caught. He would have gotten a good smitting. That's not what the Big Man said.
DATES please, even if only in millions of years. NOT everyone is familiar with when epochs started and ended... so miocine, oligocine etc, sounds like gobbledygook.
Miocene, Oligocene. They can pause the videos to look them up in books or in another window on the Internet.
Jaw flaps
weird teeth for sure
Dr Polaris I sent you an email
Who ?… lol