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Transcript
00:00:00 Hey there! Grab your popcorn and hot dogs, this is gearing up to be the spectacle of
00:00:06 the century. We'll compare ancient water monsters in several categories, then pit them against
00:00:11 each other in a duel to see which one's the true queen of the water.
00:00:17 The contender on the left needs no introduction. The Alpha, the boss, the legend that lived
00:00:22 on our planet 3.6 million years ago. She's still the hero of myths and legends, and a
00:00:28 nightmare for fishermen around the world. Make some noise for Meg the Megalodon!
00:00:37 In the right corner, Sarcosuchus, aka Sarky. She's the ancestor of today's crocodiles,
00:00:44 and a real grandma compared to Meg. She lived about 120 million years ago, and saw the dinosaurs
00:00:51 come and go. They were even her breakfast sometimes. She lived in what is now the Sahara,
00:00:57 but there was no desert then, and the world looked totally different. Although this crocodile
00:01:02 isn't as famous as Meg, she's still not afraid to go up against the giant shark.
00:01:13 Since the only remains of the Megalodon are teeth and vertebrae, her true size remains
00:01:18 a mystery. But if we compare her remains to the bodies of modern sharks, we get the incredible
00:01:23 size of 50 feet. That's like one and a half buses. But I bet you wouldn't want to take
00:01:29 a ride on that kind of transport. Meg's fin alone is the size of an adult. This ancient
00:01:36 monster remains the largest shark that ever existed. The largest white shark ever measured
00:01:42 was 17 feet long. That's less than half. Now, Sarky's turn. Until recently, we only
00:01:50 had the teeth of this ancient crocodile to go on. But then, scientists discovered some
00:01:55 new remains, and they were able to figure out just how big she really was. Sarky was
00:02:00 as long as a limousine, about 30 feet. The largest crocodile ever measured was a saltwater
00:02:07 crocodile, only 20 feet. Sarky's head was 5 feet long. That's almost a whole person.
00:02:14 And her mouth had a special mace-shaped tip. But even with that, she's still only half
00:02:20 the length of Meg. So, the ancient shark wins this round, and the first point goes to Meg.
00:02:27 One to nothing. The next category is weight. Let's start with the contender in the right
00:02:36 corner. The largest modern crocodiles weigh about a ton. Sarky made it all the way up
00:02:41 to 4 tons. That's like two helicopters heavy. Her weight and size allowed Sarky to be queen
00:02:48 of the ancient river. But she's pretty much a toothpick compared to Meg. You'd need a
00:02:55 pretty hefty set of bathroom scales to weigh the contender in the left corner. Once fully
00:03:00 grown, Meg weighed between 30 to 60 tons. That's a lot. A cargo helicopter can lift
00:03:08 9 tons. It would take around 5 of them to lift Meg safely. The heaviest shark nowadays?
00:03:15 The white shark. Only 3,500 pounds. Meg wins the second round, and the giant shark gets
00:03:22 another point. Two to nothing. Moving on. The next category is agility. We can assume
00:03:31 that Sarky could reach the same speed as most modern crocodiles. In the water, we're looking
00:03:36 at up to 20 miles per hour. That's about three times faster than the fastest human swimmer.
00:03:42 Her speed mostly comes from her long and muscly tail. It's one of the strongest muscles in
00:03:47 her body and gives her speed and agility. But Sarky wasn't limited to the water world.
00:03:53 She liked to move around on land, too. Like the big modern crocodiles, she could probably
00:03:58 run at speeds up to 20 miles per hour. This allowed her to go after other animals, not
00:04:04 just fish. She definitely had a soft spot for large lizards and even small dinosaurs.
00:04:13 So what about Meg? It's hard to move such a massive muscle machine. Her maximum speed
00:04:19 was around 10 miles per hour. That allowed her to catch up with whales and smaller fish.
00:04:24 She felt pretty good about herself. But 10 miles per hour is not really that fast. Modern
00:04:30 white sharks can reach 35 miles per hour. That's three times faster than Meg. So our
00:04:35 giant shark was more like a truck than a Ferrari. Slow to accelerate, slow to brake, and extremely
00:04:42 bad at turning. If Meg wanted to run the 100 meters, it'd probably take her about 50 seconds.
00:04:49 The human world record is just under 47 seconds. But that's in a pool where you have to pull
00:04:55 a U-turn halfway. There's no way Meg could do that.
00:05:00 Looks like Meg lost a bit of ground to the agile crocodile. And our river monster is
00:05:05 finally up on the board, 2-1 in favor of Meg.
00:05:09 Okay, next round. How about we call it eating tools? Of course, Meg's main tool is her teeth.
00:05:18 Bigladon means big tooth. She had the largest teeth ever recorded. Five rows of teeth, 250
00:05:26 in total. The largest ones were over 7 inches long, and you better believe they were all
00:05:32 razor sharp. That's definitely enough to bite through a tough leather couch, know what I
00:05:38 mean? So if you ever saw Meg smile at you, well, that's probably the last smile you'll
00:05:43 ever see.
00:05:45 And her jaw's incredible. You could drive a car into her mouth or lie down in it with
00:05:50 room to spare. Her bite force was so strong that it could easily bend metal. Whales, dolphins,
00:05:58 fish, fishing boats, crunch, munch, gone.
00:06:03 Sarky's teeth are a bit different, but no less awesome and powerful than the biggest
00:06:08 shark of all time. She had 70 teeth up top and 62 down on the bottom. Their shape allowed
00:06:15 Sarky to grab her lunch and never let go. Crocodiles in general have one of the strongest
00:06:20 bites of any species, and it's their main superpower. But don't forget about that tail.
00:06:27 Sarky's was so heavy and strong, it'd be like getting hit by a motorbike. That kind of versatility
00:06:33 earned Sarky one more point. We're all tied up at two.
00:06:38 Bonus Round. Audience Sympathy Prize.
00:06:43 If Meg were around today, she'd definitely live in Hollywood, making movies, TV shows,
00:06:49 commercials, and she always seems to play the villain. She's also the hero of countless
00:06:55 scary stories told by fishermen around the world. Many people even believe that she's
00:07:00 still swimming about down there, somewhere, hiding from us in deep waters like the Mariana
00:07:06 Trench. But Meg needs a lot of food to feed such a large body. She'd have to keep coming
00:07:11 up to the surface to find enough to eat. So, so much for that myth.
00:07:17 And Sarky? She's more of an indie artist, not really the Hollywood type. But like all
00:07:24 crocodiles, she puts fear into anyone who lives near a river. Crocodiles love that late-night
00:07:30 snack, so a lot of people are even afraid to leave their homes after sunset. And locals
00:07:36 sometimes find crocodiles in their backyards. Imagine seeing Sarky laid out on your brand
00:07:42 new deck. Let's give Sarky this round, and she's taking
00:07:46 the lead, three to two. Okay, the final round is all about that X
00:07:53 factor - combat skills. Meg still holds the crown for the most dangerous
00:07:58 you'd ever come across in open water. And it's mostly thanks to her intelligence and
00:08:04 strategy. We can figure out Meg's tactics by looking
00:08:07 at other animals from that time. Many ancient whale bones have scratches from Meg's teeth.
00:08:14 It seems like she knew where the weakest points of various animals were located, so she knew
00:08:19 where to nibble at first. She seemed to enjoy a little thin appetizer before each meal.
00:08:25 Sometimes she'd give them a nudge first. They weren't swimming away after that kind
00:08:29 of impact. Then it's main course time. Sarky may seem weaker, but she's full of
00:08:36 surprises. She's fast and agile, so she could easily catch up with even the fastest mammals
00:08:42 that had come to get a little drink of river water. And when she bites, she never lets
00:08:47 go. But scientists say Sarky probably couldn't do all those awesome wrestling moves that
00:08:52 today's crocodiles love to do. She couldn't roll around, holding her lunch in her teeth.
00:08:58 The structure of her head simply didn't allow her to do that. But even so, she pretty
00:09:03 much always came out on top. Not too many crocodiles go hungry.
00:09:09 Sarky had a good round, but we have to give this one to Meg. She's just too awesome.
00:09:14 And we're all tied up again. 3-3. Well, it's time for the big face-to-face
00:09:20 matchup. The arena, the place where the mighty river meets the vast ocean. Sarky's great
00:09:26 at hiding and sneaking up on people, and so she gets the first go. Meg tries to dodge,
00:09:32 but the ancient crocodile already found a tasty fin. Unfortunately, Sarky's teeth are
00:09:38 a little too short to cause even the slightest harm to big old Meg. She breaks free and pushes
00:09:44 the crocodile with her powerful body. Sarky looks stunned, and Meg sees her chance to
00:09:49 make a U-turn and end it. She gathers speed, and...
00:09:53 Oh, it's all over with a single bite. K.O. Meg has defended her title and remains the
00:10:00 undisputed champion of the world. Who will challenge her next?
00:10:07 Scientists and sea biologists say that the mass of squids on the planet exceeds the mass
00:10:11 of all people. Keep this fact in your mind while you listen to the story of the Kraken.
00:10:19 So no one knows exactly what this giant sea monster looks like, but according to the stories
00:10:26 of old fishers and taverns, the records of travelers and legends, the Kraken looks like
00:10:31 a giant squid. If so, it has the squid's anatomical properties and reproductive functions.
00:10:37 And this is a big problem for us. A female squid can lay anywhere from three to one hundred
00:10:42 thousand eggs, even if most of them don't survive. It's still a lot. Many of these creatures
00:10:48 live in the ocean's dark depths that people haven't yet fully explored, and it seems we'll
00:10:52 know more about squids soon. The metabolism of these creatures is accelerating thanks
00:10:57 to the increase in water temperature, and this causes population growth. Scientists
00:11:02 call squids the weeds of the seas because of their rapid reproduction. They can potentially
00:11:06 exceed the population of all fish and mammals. Perhaps there will be so many of them soon
00:11:11 that they won't have enough food on the ocean floor. They will begin to migrate closer to
00:11:16 the surface, small squid and monstrous giant ones. There may be a Kraken among them, or
00:11:22 a few, or even tens, hundreds of thousands. And if this happens, humanity and all animals
00:11:28 on Earth will face a huge problem. As the kings of nature, people can easily invent
00:11:33 poison to destroy Krakens, but how to spread this poison? Giant squids, along with ordinary
00:11:39 fish, dolphins, whales, seaweed, and phytoplankton will suffer if it gets into the water. More
00:11:46 than half of the world's oxygen is produced by the ocean, and if people spread this poison
00:11:51 in the water, they'll risk disrupting the entire planet's ecosystem. The ocean will
00:11:55 become lifeless. So people have to forget about poisoning the water. For a while, we
00:12:00 will be helpless against the squid apocalypse. Let's say a couple of billion squids rise
00:12:04 to the surface. A couple million of them are Krakens. The first thing these monsters will
00:12:09 want to do is get food. Lunch for them can be both shoals of fish and massive whales,
00:12:14 and no one can stop them. Even if megalodons existed, they wouldn't be able to resist the
00:12:19 giant tentacles and strong beaks of Krakens. The fish population in the ocean has declined.
00:12:26 This means that people can't go fishing anymore. We can catch fish in lakes, rivers, and seas,
00:12:30 but it's not enough. Seafood has become very expensive all over the world. A fish tank
00:12:35 with goldfish is a luxury. Of course, humans learn to catch giant squids, which solves
00:12:40 the problem of hunger in some areas. The profession of a squid catcher is becoming prestigious
00:12:44 all over the world. This kind of fishing is dangerous and requires a lot of strength and
00:12:49 courage. The second problem is sea travel. Every day people transport millions of tons
00:12:54 of cargo across the ocean. Huge businesses and economies of entire countries work thanks
00:12:59 to such transportation. But now, Krakens swim close to the surface and make any voyage dangerous.
00:13:06 One monster can quickly destroy a small ship. Ten or twenty Krakens are able to sink a giant
00:13:11 cargo vessel. This leads to a reduction in logistics chains. Communication between continents
00:13:17 is now maintained by air. The number of flights is increasing. Plane tickets are rising in
00:13:22 price. Travel is becoming too expensive. This leads to a reduction in the number of tourists
00:13:27 in some countries, which disrupts their economies. There are more Krakens and less food. Resting
00:13:33 on a beach also becomes dangerous. Aggressive, hungry giant squids can come ashore to catch
00:13:38 sunbathers. All shores are fenced. Swimming is forbidden. Of course, scientists invent
00:13:43 some things to fight squids. Sound barriers, for example. Every ship is now equipped with
00:13:48 a device that launches powerful ultrasonic waves into the water. They scare away all the
00:13:53 fish and clear the way for boats. In the beginning, it helps. But then Krakens stop fearing it.
00:14:00 Ultrasound only angers them. They pounce on ships and break sound barriers. Another thing
00:14:04 that scares them away is sunlight. For millions of years, Krakens have been living on the
00:14:09 dark ocean floor. Their eyes are used to the darkness, so they fear the bright light. During
00:14:15 sunny weather, ships move freely. But as soon as the sun goes below the horizon or clouds
00:14:20 obscure it, sea monsters come out of the ocean depths. It doesn't help much because it's
00:14:26 impossible to sail across any ocean within a single sunny day. In addition, there is
00:14:31 no guarantee that you won't get caught in a storm when the sun is hidden behind the
00:14:35 clouds. That's why people invent powerful floodlights. They direct their beams at monster's
00:14:41 heads and drive them into the dark depths. Such projectors are expensive because they
00:14:46 require a lot of energy. Only some ships can afford such a device. And while people seek
00:14:50 more effective ways to fight Krakens, squids multiply, and this becomes the solution to
00:14:55 the problem. The ocean is running out of fish. Food is not available on land. Like a snake
00:15:01 devouring its tail, squids start fighting with one another. The water foams, and squids
00:15:07 cling to each other with tentacles. Big Krakens defeat smaller monsters. Their population
00:15:12 is shrinking. A few giant squids the size of the Eiffel Tower survive after long battles.
00:15:18 And when the fight is over, little squids come into play. Billions of cephalopods pounce
00:15:22 on giant Krakens. They are like flies clinging from all sides. Giant monsters can't fight
00:15:28 them. Great. The problem with voyages is solved. Large ships can set sail, but it's still dangerous
00:15:33 for people to swim in the sea since tiny monsters are still hungry. Logistics chains have been
00:15:38 restored, but fish are still scarce in the ocean. Squids, like parasites, don't allow
00:15:43 other creatures to dominate. And here, scientists come to help fish. Let's go back to our reality
00:15:49 for a second. There's such a thing as a gene drive. It's a substance that changes the genetic
00:15:54 code of living creatures. For example, scientists have implemented a gene drive in mosquitoes
00:15:59 that cause malaria. Biologists changed the genome of these insects, so some female mosquitoes
00:16:05 became infertile. Then these females spread the gene throughout the mosquito colony. As
00:16:10 a result, more insects that couldn't conceive appeared. They continued to spread the gene,
00:16:16 and this went on until the population reduced significantly. A gene drive is a low-cost
00:16:21 way to get rid of invasive species of insects or rodents. Thus, scientists can control the
00:16:26 population of entire species. But such actions can be dangerous. If some animal disappears,
00:16:33 it can disrupt the whole ecosystem and lead to the disappearance of other animals. In
00:16:37 the case of mosquitoes, nature didn't suffer much. So scientists use a gene drive against
00:16:44 squid. But why couldn't they do it from the very beginning? Ordinary squids didn't pose
00:16:48 a threat, and their average life expectancy is from 3 to 5 years. If scientists had launched
00:16:53 a gene drive, then in 7 years, all small squids would have disappeared. But it wouldn't have
00:16:58 worked with krakens. According to myths and legends, one such monster can live for several
00:17:04 hundred years, now when small squids have solved the problem with large ones. A gene
00:17:08 drive comes into play. It takes several years to get rid of the squid. The ocean ecosystem
00:17:13 begins to recover. People take fish and marine mammals from seas and rivers and transfer
00:17:18 them to the ocean. The population of whales, sharks, octopuses, salmon, and hundreds of
00:17:24 thousands of other species is growing. But then another threat awakens in the depths
00:17:29 of the ocean. It turns out that when squids and krakens lived on the ocean floor, they
00:17:33 didn't let even more terrible monsters move to the surface. Now that all arthropods have
00:17:38 disappeared, new monsters are breaking free. First, marine earthquakes begin. But then,
00:17:44 scientists discover that it's not the seabed shaking. Those are the backs of giant crabs.
00:17:50 Hundreds of thousands of armored monsters with claws are rising to the surface. And
00:17:54 this time, they can come ashore.
00:18:08 The Stonefish Stonefish aren't going to win any beauty contests,
00:18:14 unless the pageant is for best rock look-alike. Their tiny unreflective eyes and rough skin
00:18:20 blend in perfectly with their environment. A large head, an even bigger mouth, and a
00:18:25 home full of, yeah, it's rocks. And just because you're on the beach doesn't mean you're safe.
00:18:32 Stonefish can survive for 24 hours out of the water. Stepping on one, or even handling
00:18:38 one, won't be that fun. Their dorsal fin spines have extremely strong venom. It shoots out
00:18:45 when they get stepped on, and can lead to paralysis or even heart failure. You'll need
00:18:50 help fast. No wonder they're one of the most dangerous creatures in the water, or anywhere.
00:18:56 Be careful when scrambling around rocky areas. They love to play hide and seek.
00:19:02 The Deep Sea Dragonfish If there were a prize for the most hideous
00:19:08 fish in the ocean, the deep sea dragonfish would win. With slimy, scaleless skin, massive
00:19:14 teeth, and a face only a mother could love, this bad boy of the sea is nothing to mess
00:19:20 with. It likes to swim between 700 feet and 6,000 feet below the surface of the ocean,
00:19:26 where the waters are the darkest and coldest. Along with some other creatures on this list,
00:19:32 the deep sea dragonfish relies on its bioluminescent body parts to catch prey. It also uses its
00:19:38 hanging appendage, which boasts a little red light on the end, coming out from its lower
00:19:44 jaw. Many fish mistake this little light for prey, luring them right into the jaws of the
00:19:50 deep sea dragonfish. Very clever, dragonfish. Very clever indeed.
00:19:56 The Fangtooth The Mariana Trench is an underwater trench
00:20:02 with a depth of 35,000 feet, nearly 7 miles below the ocean's surface. Let that sink
00:20:09 in. While scientists know the Mariana Trench exists, it's one of the least explored places
00:20:14 on Earth. It's also the deepest area of Earth's oceans, and although many creatures
00:20:20 down there probably haven't even been seen by humans yet, scientists have had the creepy
00:20:25 pleasure of getting to know the Fangtooth. The Fangtooth fish shamelessly lives up to
00:20:31 its name. Just look at that thing. The Fangtooth is carnivorous and feeds on just about anything
00:20:37 it can find that gets caught in its sharp-toothed mouth. These fish rely on their contact chemoreception
00:20:44 to find prey. In other words, they can sense chemical residue that comes off of other living
00:20:50 organisms in the deep sea. This is because they don't have any light-producing cells
00:20:55 on their bodies, unlike many other deep-sea fish. On top of all that, it's pretty dark
00:21:01 down there, so whatever crosses their path, they chomp on. While these guys look pretty
00:21:07 scary, they're not a threat to humans. They only grow about 7 inches long. Even so, I
00:21:14 wouldn't want to run into one of these things during a relaxing swim in the ocean.
00:21:19 The Dunkleosteus Strangely enough, this prehistoric fish, known
00:21:25 as the T-Rex of the seas, had no teeth. Those were replaced with bony plates that allowed
00:21:31 it to have the strongest bite among other monsters of its size.
00:21:37 The Goblin Shark If you thought the movies about sharks were
00:21:42 scary, this next deep-sea creature will make you swear off going for dips in the ocean
00:21:47 forever. However, it lives 3,000 feet underwater, so you'll never likely see it face to face.
00:21:55 The Goblin Shark looks like a cross between a shark and a creature from your worst nightmare.
00:22:01 These sharks boast a protruding, sword-like snout with a jaw that juts out to match. Unlike
00:22:07 other sharks that have more of a gray hue, this creepy thing looks not so pretty in pink.
00:22:13 Aside from their scary demeanor, what do scientists really know about the Goblin Shark? Well,
00:22:19 not much, except that they can grow up to 18 feet in length. Looks like there's still
00:22:24 a lot to learn about these guys, if you dare to.
00:22:29 By the way, did you know that sharks don't sleep? Many species have to keep water moving
00:22:35 over their gills to get oxygen, so they can't fall into a deep sleep like we do. That's
00:22:41 why they stay half-awake during rest. Typically, sharks don't even close their eyes.
00:22:48 The Cookie Cutter Shark This shark is a living horror, with lower
00:22:53 teeth being big and sharp, while the upper ones are much smaller. When its teeth fall
00:22:59 off, the shark eats them to maintain calcium levels. Pretty smart solution for a shark.
00:23:07 The Frilled Shark Studying the frilled shark is like looking
00:23:12 through a portal back to prehistoric times. That's because scientists think that these
00:23:17 eel-like sharks haven't changed much since their oldest ancestors roamed the deep sea
00:23:22 waters, so they're sometimes referred to as "living fossils." These sharks' mouths are
00:23:28 filled with a terrifying 25 rows of backward-facing sharp teeth, 300 in total. They're designed
00:23:35 to grasp prey and hold them tight so they can't get away, according to early studies
00:23:41 of the shark conducted in 1884 and published in the Bulletin of the Essex Institute. Luckily
00:23:47 for swimmers, the frilled sharks live between 390 feet and 4,200 feet below the ocean's
00:23:55 surface, so they'll probably never run into them. Probably. This is probably the worst
00:24:00 nightmare of any dentist. The Northern Stargazer
00:24:06 Take a look at this cutie. The Northern Stargazer is definitely not something you'd wish to
00:24:12 see on the ocean floor. This horrid creature hides its body under the sand, leaving its
00:24:17 face above to wait for prey. The Tasseled Wobbegong
00:24:26 There's another carpet shark on our list. It lies low on the bottom of the sea and patiently
00:24:32 waits for its prey to come by. The Australian Ghost Shark
00:24:39 The Australian Ghost Shark isn't really even a shark, but a very bony fish. It's also a
00:24:45 living fossil. It hasn't changed within the last 400 million years. Believe it or not,
00:24:53 sharks and humans have a common ancestor that lived around 440 million years ago. Even though
00:24:59 we both evolved in our own way, there are still some signs of that connection. For example,
00:25:05 the genome of an elephant shark is very similar to humans.
00:25:11 The Leoplerodon This list of terrifying creatures would be
00:25:17 incomplete without mentioning the terrifying and prehistoric Leoplerodon. This carnivorous
00:25:24 marine reptile existed during the Colobian stage of the Middle Jurassic era and ruled
00:25:29 the waters at 9 feet in length. Scientists believe Leoplerodon thrived in this deep-sea
00:25:36 trench because of its ability to swim long distances and its four paddle-like limbs.
00:25:42 While they probably weren't able to propel themselves toward prey like other animals of
00:25:47 the area, they did manage to accelerate and attack very ruthlessly and efficiently. Additionally,
00:25:53 they relied on their long snouts to smell prey, which leads scientists to believe they
00:25:59 didn't rely on sight for hunting. This means they could have thrived in the dark Mariana
00:26:04 Trench. Around 150 million years ago, Leoplerodon
00:26:10 became extinct due to competition for prey against other thriving marine reptiles. And
00:26:16 I think I speak for all of us when I say, "Thank goodness for that!"
00:26:22 Considering that scientists have only explored 5% of the ocean floor and found some of the
00:26:27 scariest sea creatures imaginable, one can only dream of what other animals reside in
00:26:32 the deep-sea waters. Perhaps it's best to keep them in your imagination, am I right?
00:26:39 The Megamouth Shark This shark is a filter feeder and it's friendly
00:26:45 to humans, although its huge mouth can look quite threatening. Like basking sharks, it
00:26:51 swims with its mouth constantly wide open, as if it were on Twitter.
00:26:58 The Gulper Eel This deep-sea eel has an easily distended
00:27:02 belly that allows it to swallow prey twice its size in a single monstrous bite. They
00:27:08 have very unusual jaw shapes and can reach about 2-3 feet in length.
00:27:16 Do you see that large log near the ocean floor? Maybe it's part of an old ship. Treasure!
00:27:21 Gold! Diamonds! I'm rich! As you get closer, you notice something. It's swimming! It's
00:27:29 not a shark or a dolphin. It's a saltwater crocodile!
00:27:34 Now don't panic. If you bump into one of these reptiles in the sea, it's unlikely
00:27:39 it'll think of you as food. Crocodiles have a special valve in their throat that stops
00:27:44 them from drowning underwater. But that doesn't mean they can't bite!
00:27:49 Usually, they're heading to a nearby island, and the quickest way there is to body surf.
00:27:55 They can't really take the ferry, you know. Watching one from a distance should be okay.
00:28:01 But don't swim to shore right away. They love to ambush their lunch in shallow water.
00:28:06 If there's one time I'd want to see a great white shark, it's when I'm diving with
00:28:12 crocodiles. They'll gladly take a crocodile-sized nibble, given the right motivation.
00:28:19 Think you know what lurks in the depths of the ocean? While nearly 95% of our oceans
00:28:24 haven't been explored yet, it's hard not to let your imagination run wild.
00:28:30 Thanks to brave explorers, deep-sea cameras, and awesome archaeologists, we do know about
00:28:36 some pretty incredible sea creatures living in our waters today, and millions of years
00:28:41 ago. From the 9-foot spider crab to the 60-foot
00:28:45 prehistoric megalodon, these sea dwellers come in all shapes and sizes.
00:28:50 But let's focus on sea creatures famous for their huge size.
00:28:55 Can you guess which living species of whale is the largest? Well, it's not the orca,
00:29:01 but that's a good guess. The orca is a toothed whale that can grow
00:29:04 to anywhere from 23 feet to 32 feet, which is slightly smaller than a school bus.
00:29:11 How about the narwhal? Nope, they're not the biggest either. These
00:29:15 unicorns of the sea live mainly in Arctic waters and only grow 13 feet to 20 feet in
00:29:21 length, and that's including their 9-foot tusk.
00:29:25 Tired of guessing? Okay, I give in. The largest whale that still exists today
00:29:31 is the blue whale. At a jaw-dropping 82 feet to 105 feet, the
00:29:36 blue whale is not only the biggest whale we know of, but is currently the largest animal
00:29:41 to have ever lived on Earth. Seriously. These animals are bigger than a T-Rex and
00:29:47 even the prehistoric megalodon. If you were to put a blue whale next to a school bus,
00:29:52 it would look like it could swallow it. Think about that. According to National Geographic,
00:29:58 a blue whale's tongue can weigh the same as an elephant, and their hearts can weigh as
00:30:03 much as a car. That doesn't even sound possible. It's no wonder these giants need to eat about
00:30:10 four tons of krill every day. While there aren't too many animals living
00:30:15 today that can compete with the blue whale's epic proportions, there is an entirely different
00:30:20 species that is a good contender, and it's not quite what you would expect. It's a jellyfish.
00:30:26 No, I'm not talking about the little jellyfish that wash up on the shore and ruin a perfectly
00:30:31 good day at the beach. I'm referring to the lion's mane jellyfish,
00:30:36 the biggest jellyfish around. This invertebrate can grow up to 120 feet long. They also come
00:30:43 in different gorgeous colors, like red, purple, or even shades of orange. As if their length
00:30:50 wasn't impressive, the lion's mane jellyfish boast a whopping eight sets of 70 to 150 tentacles.
00:30:58 That means they can have up to 1,200 in total. And here's the giant oceanic manta ray, the
00:31:06 largest type of ray in the world. Their wingspan can be longer than a bus. These guys can reach
00:31:13 30 feet in length. They also have the biggest brain compared to body size among all fish.
00:31:20 Unlike their stingray cousins, mantas don't have venomous tails.
00:31:25 And while the lion's mane jellyfish and the blue whale are yet to be beaten for the longest
00:31:30 sea creature, there is one marine creature that can grow even larger in length. The Portuguese
00:31:36 Fisalia fisalis. Tentacles and all can reach a length of 165 feet long, and that's according
00:31:43 to mentalfloss.com. While this thing may look a lot like a jellyfish, it's actually known
00:31:49 as a siphonophore, and there are hundreds and sometimes thousands of them that are genetically
00:31:54 identical. Their long tentacles help the organism catch
00:31:59 prey, and its sting is fatal to most animals, even humans in some cases. What's even creepier
00:32:07 is that if one of the tentacles comes off the organism for whatever reason, it can float
00:32:11 around the water for days before decomposing. Even if it's detached, this tentacle can still
00:32:18 sting you. But don't go running out of the ocean just yet. Your chances of being hurt
00:32:23 by a Portuguese Fisalia fisalis sting are pretty slim. However, if you do get stung,
00:32:31 the side effects aren't pretty, with welts, stomach cramps, an elevated heart rate, and
00:32:36 an upset stomach. While you don't want to go anywhere near these long creatures, they
00:32:41 sure are pretty to look at. Check out all those colors!
00:32:46 The Shastasaurus is the biggest marine reptile that has ever existed. These predators lived
00:32:52 during the Late Triassic Period, about 210 million years ago. These amazing giants could
00:32:58 reach lengths of up to 69 feet and weighed more than 75 tons. This made the Shastasaurus
00:33:05 as heavy as a blue whale. And if you could stand this creature up vertically, it'd be
00:33:11 as tall as a 7-story building. Despite appearances, the Shastasaurus was actually pretty slim for
00:33:17 its size. Its ribcage was only 6 feet across. You'd think that this big guy was chowing
00:33:23 down on other dinosaurs, but that's not the case at all. This reptile survived on a diet
00:33:29 that consisted of small fish and cephalopods, like octopuses and squids.
00:33:36 The Albertonectes is a bright representative of the Pliosaur family, meaning that this
00:33:41 marine reptile had a small head on an incredibly long neck and large flipper-like limbs that
00:33:47 helped it move through the water. These creatures occupied the seas around North America 76
00:33:53 to 70 million years ago. The length of this sea monster could reach 38 feet, with its
00:33:59 neck taking up 23 feet of that length. Its neck was a true record-breaker. It had a whopping
00:34:07 76 bones in it. No other animal known to humankind has had so many vertebrae in its neck. Scientists
00:34:15 aren't sure why they needed such a lengthy neck. They might have used it to collect shellfish
00:34:20 off the seabed. Or perhaps it helped them capture their main prey, fish and squids.
00:34:26 This aquatic reptile also had gastroliths in its stomachs. Some of them were as big
00:34:31 as 5.5 inches in diameter.
00:34:35 The Tylosaurus belonged to the Mosasaur family. It dominated the shallow seas of North America
00:34:41 about 85 to 80 million years ago. This was an enormous predator, with the biggest representatives
00:34:48 reaching 45 feet in length. It had a narrow hydrodynamic body with a blunt powerful head
00:34:55 that the animal used to ram and stun its prey. Its body was equipped with agile flippers
00:35:01 and a long tail decorated with a maneuverable fin. The Tylosaurus was a carnivore, and its
00:35:07 diet included not only fish, turtles, and small sharks, but also other mosasaurs, pleosaurs,
00:35:14 and flightless birds.
00:35:17 Meet Ophthalmosaurus. This prehistoric reptile thrived during the late Jurassic period and
00:35:23 lived in oceans all over the world. Ophthalmosaurus weighed somewhere around 6,000 pounds and
00:35:30 grew to approximately 16 feet long, according to NewDinosaurs.com. That's about the same
00:35:36 length as the beluga whale that exists today. It's too bad these guys went extinct before
00:35:41 we had a chance to see them ourselves, as their cartoonish wide eyes and dolphin-like
00:35:46 features are pretty darn cute. Of course, the Ophthalmosaurus evolved over time to become
00:35:52 ophthalmologists, or eye doctors that we know today. No, that's just a lie. Just testing
00:35:58 you.
00:36:00 The Mosasaurus is a truly gigantic predator that dominated the seas all over the world
00:36:06 about 66 million years ago. According to fossil evidence, some specimens could be more than
00:36:11 50 feet in length. This fact makes the Mosasaurus the biggest marine carnivore of its time.
00:36:18 One of the most terrifying things about this creature was its crocodile-like head, decorated
00:36:23 with literally hundreds of razor-sharp teeth neatly organized in two rows on both jaws.
00:36:29 The thing is that it was pretty challenging for the Mosasaurus to grab its prey in the
00:36:33 water. That's why it had all these teeth, plus something special, pterygoid teeth anchored
00:36:40 to the bones on the roof of its mouth. This made hunting and holding onto its prey much
00:36:45 easier.
00:36:47 The Stixosaurus belonged to the Pliosaur family and lived during the Late Cretaceous period,
00:36:53 around 85 to 70 million years ago. Upon first glance at this dinosaur, you might mistake
00:36:58 it for a sea snake, and it'd be an honest mistake.
00:37:02 Stixosauruses were about 35 feet in length, but over 16 feet of that consisted just of
00:37:08 their long snake-like neck. They had a comparatively small body and weighed approximately 4 tons.
00:37:15 Their mouths were full of razor-sharp cone-shaped teeth that they used to catch fish. They didn't
00:37:21 need to chew their prey, thanks to the 200 small stones called gastroliths in their bellies
00:37:26 that probably aided in digestion. At the same time, some scientists believe that the Stixosaurus
00:37:32 used these stones to sink to the ocean bottom in search of particular types of fish. Huh,
00:37:38 looks kinda like Nessie to me.
00:37:43 What's the scariest predator under the ocean? The crocodile? I don't think so. Loch Ness
00:37:49 monster? It never existed. How about the Cronosaurus? Well, it is extinct, but you might
00:37:56 be onto something. Let's take a look at what it'd be like if these creatures were still
00:38:01 around today.
00:38:03 First things first, what on earth was it? The Cronosaurus was a marine carnivore that
00:38:08 lived in the cool, high-latitude Aralmanga Sea. It covered vast areas of inland Australia
00:38:14 between 90 and 120 million years ago, during the early Cretaceous period. Near-complete
00:38:20 fossils of the creature were also found near Colombia, which is a country that has a noted
00:38:25 connection to prehistoric reptiles and turtles. This fact makes it extremely possible that
00:38:30 the monster I'm about to describe existed worldwide.
00:38:35 You might have heard "saurus" and thought, "Oh, it's a dinosaur!" But these were actually
00:38:40 reptiles. They were the largest member of the Pleiosauroidea family, referred to as
00:38:45 Pleiosaurs. Fossil evidence suggests they weighed over 20,000 pounds and were roughly
00:38:51 30 feet in length.
00:38:54 Just to put that in perspective, the longest crocodile ever measured was a saltwater crocodile
00:38:59 by the name of Lolong from the Philippines. It was 20 feet in length and weighed just
00:39:04 under 2,500 pounds. And that's still 10 feet shorter and incredibly lighter than the average
00:39:11 Cronosaurus, making the crocodile seem like nothing more than a glorified goldfish in
00:39:17 comparison.
00:39:18 Despite its terrifying length, the most physically daunting feature of the Cronosaurus was its
00:39:23 head. Its skull was about 8 feet long, which was actually proportionally large given the
00:39:29 size of its body length. Anything that was unfortunate enough to end up inside the Cronosaurus's
00:39:35 mouth may have been given false hope. After all, the teeth of the beast weren't actually
00:39:40 that sharp. On second thought, I take that back. I wouldn't feel confident around a toothless
00:39:46 snake, let alone being inside the mouth of this monster.
00:39:52 But it's true that the Cronosaurus's teeth weren't sharp, especially when compared to
00:39:56 other carnivorous reptiles such as crocodiles and alligators. The teeth of this prehistoric
00:40:02 sea creature were instead conical. This means that they were cone-like in shape. Unfortunately,
00:40:09 this lack of sharpness didn't make them less dangerous. The teeth were enormous and could
00:40:14 be up to 12 inches long from the crown tips to the bottom of the roots. This obviously
00:40:19 meant that the Cronosaurus had an extremely powerful bite. It was estimated to be up to
00:40:25 30,000 newtons, which is almost twice as powerful as the bite of a large saltwater crocodile.
00:40:32 Because of the bluntness of their teeth, they weren't suited for twisting their prey once
00:40:36 in their grasp. But the size and shape of the teeth made them perfect for simple open
00:40:41 and shut biting. They would have had no problem crushing hard objects such as the toughest
00:40:47 of shells any sea turtle could offer.
00:40:50 Just like crocodiles, the Cronosaurus is believed to have had a short neck. This may have been
00:40:55 an adaptation to allow the beast to successfully catch small, evasive animals. Their body,
00:41:02 in general, was fusiform and streamlined. This means it was narrowed at both ends and
00:41:07 had very little resistance to the flow of water.
00:41:11 The Cronosaurus was also equipped with four paddle-like limbs. The hind limbs were larger
00:41:16 than the front ones. They could span approximately 7 feet in diameter. All in all, this set the
00:41:22 Cronosaurus up to effortlessly propel itself through the waters and be an ultimate predator.
00:41:29 Predator X, if you will. That's the name that was given to the fossil of a creature discovered
00:41:34 near Svalbard, a Norwegian island group, in 2009. The fossil was identified as a 50-foot-long,
00:41:41 100,000-pound monster with a bite force of 33,000 pounds per square inch. This might
00:41:48 be the highest bite force of any known animal.
00:41:52 Although Predator X is yet to be classified as any specific type of animal, it was definitely
00:41:57 a pleosaur like the Cronosaurus. And even if it wasn't Predator X, the Cronosaurus was
00:42:03 still most definitely a ferocious titan when it roamed Earth's oceans.
00:42:09 The Cronosaurus actually got its name from the Greek mythological figure of Cronus, the
00:42:14 father of Zeus. Cronus was viewed as a titan from a generation of super-powerful beings.
00:42:21 So what was it that the Cronosaurus, this terrifying monster, actually feasted on to
00:42:27 satisfy its appetite? This creature was known to eat sea turtles, squid, and other larger
00:42:32 marine reptiles of that time, such as Elasmosaurus and Ighthyosaurus. This suggests that if crocodiles
00:42:40 existed in the realms of the Cronosaurus, they too might have turned into lunch for
00:42:44 the beast. There's evidence from the fossil remains of the Cronosaurus that suggests that
00:42:50 they also feasted on sharks, which I know is a disappointment to those of you who view
00:42:55 that beast as the king of the ocean, not when the Cronosaurus was around, my friend.
00:43:02 In any case, grounding all kinds of food into small pieces to help digest them would have
00:43:07 been difficult without small teeth. This explains the presence of rounded stones found in many
00:43:13 of the remains of these sea creatures. Researchers believe these stones may have been swallowed
00:43:18 to control buoyancy or to help process food. It's also entirely possible they were accidentally
00:43:25 swallowed while feeding on other animals from the sea floor.
00:43:29 As if the Cronosaurus even needed to be a meanie with its already existing power and
00:43:33 size, there's also evidence to suggest that it indeed might have been. It turns out that
00:43:39 after using all its impressive attributes to catch its dinner, the Cronosaurus first
00:43:44 liked to play with its food, like a cat does with a mouse. I guess since the hunt was so
00:43:50 easy for them, they needed to get their fun from somewhere else.
00:43:54 Well, I think now you should have a good idea about these creatures. So let's ask ourselves
00:44:00 what it would be like if they were still around today. And by the way, why aren't they? Well,
00:44:07 the Cronosaurus was completely finished off by the same KT meteor that took out the dinosaurs
00:44:12 66 million years ago. But even before this catastrophic event, they were coming under
00:44:17 increased pressure from an even bigger and more vicious family of carnivorous marine
00:44:22 reptiles known as mosasaurs. You can't always be a top dog, I guess. Or rather, top marine
00:44:29 reptile. But what if this never happened and they were
00:44:33 still roaming Earth? Well, this might be obvious, but can you imagine what kind of impact that
00:44:39 would have on sea tourism? Based on the impact that famous movies about sharks and killer
00:44:45 whales had, what do you think the presence of a Cronosaurus in the ocean would do to
00:44:49 beaches? The very creature that would eat sharks and whales for breakfast? Beaches would
00:44:54 certainly become a great place to go for a quiet walk, because nobody else would even
00:45:00 be there. And what about such activities as boating,
00:45:03 surfing, and scuba diving? You think anyone would dare try them, knowing that this 30-foot
00:45:09 beast could be lurking beneath them? Let's give humans some credit and assume
00:45:14 most of them wouldn't. This would cripple the global sea tourism industry, which is
00:45:19 responsible for earning roughly $143 billion every year.
00:45:24 Just to make sure this shocking point hits home, the most expensive yacht to ever roam
00:45:28 the ocean was called the History Supreme. Its master bedroom was believed to have a
00:45:33 statue made of T-Rex's bone and a wall made of meteorite rocks, as well as a 24-carat
00:45:39 gold panoramic wall aquarium. Anyway, this yacht was worth nearly $5 billion,
00:45:46 meaning you could buy 38 of them with the money lost and potential damages to sea tourism
00:45:52 caused by the Cronosaurus. I'm sure that the yacht's owner was happy the beast never made
00:45:57 an appearance in their luxurious aquarium. So luxurious, in fact, that some people believe
00:46:02 the History Supreme, reportedly owned by some business genius from Malaysia, never even
00:46:08 existed. Rumor has it that it was simply an elaborate hoax fabricated by the supposed
00:46:13 designer. Anyway, I don't think the trouble would just
00:46:17 stop there. People could actually be in serious danger, regardless of being near the ocean
00:46:21 or not. No, I'm not about to tell you that this thing
00:46:25 would grow legs, adapt to living on land, and start picking us off one by one. At least,
00:46:30 I hope not. I'm just going to point out the damage that
00:46:34 the Cronosaurus would inflict through its devastating impact on sea trade. In America,
00:46:39 ocean transit accounts for 76% of national trade. On top of this, more than 100 vital
00:46:45 pharmaceutical products originate in the sea. I'll also state the obvious and point out
00:46:51 that the ocean is a huge food source for us humans. The presence of the Cronosaurus could
00:46:56 have a great impact on our relationship with the ocean, something we usually take for granted.
00:47:02 The water is bubbling under the fishing boat as if something is coming up out of the water.
00:47:06 It gets closer and closer. The water seems to boil. Suddenly, you see giant jaws and
00:47:12 glistening teeth. Seconds later, a huge shark jumps out of the water and crushes the boat
00:47:17 in one bite. It was the Megalodon, the largest fish that ever existed on Earth.
00:47:23 Now, we pictured the Megalodon as this, an enlarged version of the white shark for a
00:47:27 long time. But scientists continue to argue about its appearance. So far, they agree that
00:47:33 the image of this giant shark was wrong. Here's the data that scientists are sure of. Size,
00:47:39 about 50 feet long. That's as big as a school bus and comparable to the length of a subway
00:47:44 car. 8.5 times the height of an average person. Let's compare it to the modern white shark.
00:47:51 The Megalodon is three times bigger. But that's just a rough estimate. We don't have a full
00:47:57 fully preserved skeleton of the Megalodon. That's because it didn't have any bones,
00:48:02 but cartilage. Not much of that left in the 3.6 million years since the Megalodons went
00:48:07 extinct. All that survived were teeth and a few vertebrae. By comparison, dinosaurs went
00:48:13 extinct about 66 million years ago. But their solid bones are perfectly preserved, and we
00:48:19 have many different examples of their skeletons. Scientists have calculated the size of a Megalodon
00:48:25 based on its teeth and jaw. Now, this is one tooth. It's about 7 inches long, bigger than
00:48:31 the palm of your hand, and three times the size of a modern white shark's teeth. The
00:48:36 Megalodon jaw was 6 feet wide and chalked up 5 rows of teeth. A total of 276 razor-sharp
00:48:44 chompers. The other preserved remains are the vertebral column. It consists of 150 vertebrae,
00:48:50 each 6 inches wide. They contain much calcium because, well, Megalodon love fresh cold milk.
00:48:57 Nah, it's because the vertebrae had to withstand the enormous mass of a giant shark. Based
00:49:03 on those fossils, scientists created a model and calculated only the approximate size of
00:49:08 the Megalodon. But it could hardly have been any bigger. It's all about breathing. The
00:49:13 bigger the fish, the more oxygen it needs. Which means a larger gill area. That's the
00:49:19 organ that filters the water and collects oxygen. If the Megalodon were any larger,
00:49:24 it would have trouble breathing. So, scientists believe that 50 feet is the maximum size of
00:49:29 an individual. On average, they were a few feet smaller. Now, let's talk weight. On average,
00:49:36 one Megalodon weighed about 30 to 35 tons. By comparison, a white shark weighs 1 ton,
00:49:43 which is 30 times less. Trust me. A school bus is 4 times lighter at 7.5 tons. The weight
00:49:50 of a Megalodon can be compared to an empty Boeing 737. But the modern blue whale beats
00:49:56 the Megalodon in size and weight. 98 feet long vs 50, almost twice as long. Blue whale's
00:50:04 weight is about 180 tons. That's like 6 Megalodons or 6 passenger planes. Or like 33 adult elephants.
00:50:11 Hey, don't you love the comparisons? Now, about the appearance of the Megalodon.
00:50:17 Scientists believe it didn't look like a white shark. The Megalodon belongs to a different
00:50:21 fish family and most likely looked like a giant sand tiger shark. Flattened snout, small
00:50:27 eyes. Its dorsal fin is moved backwards. The sand shark has 2 dorsal fins about the same
00:50:33 size. The coloration is light brown with a white belly and may have had brown-red spots
00:50:39 like a sand shark all over its body. We used to think of the Megalodon as something
00:50:44 scary from the first finds of its fossils. That was back in the Renaissance era. People
00:50:49 found some teeth in the rocks. At first, these teeth were thought to be the tongues of dragons
00:50:54 or snakes. And here's the first drawing of what the owner of these teeth supposedly looked
00:50:59 like. A massive snout with a scary nose and a bunch of razor-sharp teeth. We also have
00:51:06 the evidence that Megalodons were brutal hunters, kings of the food chain. The first combat
00:51:11 tool in their arsenal was the battering ram. The Megalodon was a slow swimmer, though.
00:51:16 It could only accelerate up to 11 miles per hour. In comparison, the modern white shark
00:51:22 can reach 35 miles per hour in a dash for its meal. The fastest human swimmer could
00:51:27 only go 6 miles per hour. Well, good luck with that. But the Megalodon had incredible
00:51:33 mass. Though slow, its battering ram had tremendous power. The Megalodon would take its prey by
00:51:39 surprise. It had only one chance to hit it. If it missed, it would take too long for a
00:51:44 second round. The maneuverability of the Megalodon was comparable to a large truck. But if the
00:51:50 ram was successful, the prey was stunned and couldn't move. At this point, the Megalodon
00:51:56 aimed at vulnerable spots, like the fins and tail of the prey. Scientists have found many
00:52:02 ancient whale remains with Megalodon tooth marks. It turned out that the giant shark
00:52:06 knew where its prey's vital organs were located and could strike at them. When the
00:52:11 prey was immobilized, the Megalodon bared its teeth. An adult person could easily fit
00:52:17 into its open jaw at full height. And according to various estimates, the bite force of the
00:52:22 Megalodon was almost 11 tons. Now imagine the weight of 3 SUVs concentrated at the tip
00:52:29 of a sharp tooth. That's 9 times the power of the largest white shark bite, and 6 times
00:52:35 the power of the modern record holder for biting – the saltwater crocodile. Here,
00:52:40 look at a map of where the remains of the Megalodon were found. South and North America,
00:52:45 Europe, Asia, Australia. It was the master of all seas and was comfortable anywhere on
00:52:51 our planet. We've even found some remains of the giant shark in freshwater sediments.
00:52:57 Perhaps it wasn't afraid to enter rivers to hunt.
00:53:00 Other scientists say that maybe the Megalodon wasn't even a predator. All because of
00:53:05 its size. It couldn't swim fast. It couldn't even make short dashes like the white shark.
00:53:10 If prey tried to escape, the Megalodon didn't rush into pursuit because it could never catch
00:53:16 up with it. Another problem is the skeleton of the Megalodon.
00:53:20 The cartilage is weaker than the bones, so the musculature of the giant shark was not
00:53:25 as massive and robust in the first place. The Megalodon may even have been a scavenger
00:53:31 and never got into fights. This is one of the reasons why ancient sharks became extinct.
00:53:37 Megalodons like shallow warm waters with temperatures ranging from 53 degrees Fahrenheit. But over
00:53:43 3 million years ago, the climate turned colder. This deprived the Megalodons of territories
00:53:49 and plenty of food. The primitive whales that had been the main
00:53:53 diet of the giant sharks began to disappear. Faster predators took the remnants of food.
00:53:59 The Megalodon started a star. In evolution, a new player entered the field.
00:54:04 The toothed whales, ancestors of the modern killer whales. They lived in packs and had
00:54:09 bigger brains than the Megalodon. So, over time, they started to compete with
00:54:14 the Megalodon. They took advantage of its clumsiness. A group of killer whales could
00:54:18 easily win a competition against a giant shark. Many scientists believe this was the reason
00:54:24 for the disappearance of the largest shark in the world.
00:54:27 But there are theories that the Megalodon is still alive and roaming the dark waters
00:54:32 of our planet. Several Australian fishers have allegedly encountered a shark of incredible
00:54:38 size. But no one can confirm these testimonies. Fans of this theory believe that giant sharks
00:54:45 can hide in deep waters away from human eyes. In the Mariana Trench, for example. It's
00:54:51 the deepest place on our planet. It's deeper than if you stuck Mount Everest in the water.
00:54:56 And we've even found the teeth of a Megalodon there.
00:54:59 But science says that such a giant shark couldn't live in the Mariana Trench for many reasons.
00:55:04 One, it's too cold. The Megalodon was probably a cold-blooded fish, so it had to use the
00:55:10 warmth of its environment to survive. But the water in the Mariana Trench is cold, about
00:55:15 40 degrees Fahrenheit. That's because the deeper down, the less sunlight gets in there.
00:55:21 The second reason is pressure. Every 30 feet deep increases the pressure by 1 atmosphere.
00:55:26 That is, at the depth of 100 feet, the water presses you 3 times harder than you would
00:55:31 feel it at the surface. The weak muscles and cartilage of the Megalodon wouldn't allow
00:55:36 it to dive too deep into the Mariana Trench. And, most importantly, food. The farther from
00:55:42 the ocean's surface, the fewer living organisms. Megalodons used to eat primitive whales, ranging
00:55:47 from 10 to 20 feet. Small fish only inhabit the Mariana Trench. A Megalodon would never
00:55:54 be able to catch one. And, judging by its size, all the Megalodon did was eat and then
00:55:59 look for food again. Compare its weight to that of a human. The average human should
00:56:04 get about 2,000 calories a day, with an average weight of about 180 pounds. The Megalodon
00:56:10 weighed 470 times that and needed many more calories. So, even all the fish inhabiting
00:56:17 the Mariana Trench could hardly feed a Megalodon for even a few days. So, all these theories,
00:56:23 of course, are not true. But still, it's just smart to be careful out there. Know what
00:56:29 I mean? At the beginning of the 20th century, somewhere
00:56:37 off the coast of West Africa, a German steamship was leaving the port. Suddenly, the weather
00:56:43 got worse and the vessel entered a thick fog. The sailors ran aground on a sandbank close
00:56:50 to the shore. Luckily, no one was hurt and they were even able to save their precious
00:56:55 cargo. But the ship was stuck in the sand, for good. And it was not alone there.
00:57:01 Nearly the entire length of the western coast of Namibia is called Skeleton Coast. If the
00:57:07 name sounds scary, that's because it is. This 976-mile-long beachline is among the
00:57:13 most dangerous places on Earth. The local Bushmen tribes believe that their supreme
00:57:19 deity made this land when it was angry. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to set
00:57:24 foot in Namibia in the 15th century. And yep, they didn't like Skeleton Coast either.
00:57:30 Portuguese explorers thought this land presented the gates to the underworld. This is the place
00:57:36 where the Namib desert meets the Atlantic Ocean. It might be dangerous, but it's actually
00:57:41 beautiful. Plus, it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
00:57:46 If Skeleton Coast had a PR manager, they would quit on the first day on the job. The area
00:57:51 is not exactly tourist-friendly because of its geography and history. Beneath the sand
00:57:57 and the waves, there is a secret ocean currently lurking for unsuspecting sailors. It's called
00:58:03 Benguela Current. It flows towards the north along the coast of southern Africa. This part
00:58:09 of the Atlantic is rich in marine life. But the current's land neighbor isn't that happy
00:58:14 with the deal. This arid climate created the Namib desert, one of the driest regions on
00:58:20 Earth. And that marine life I just mentioned? It's
00:58:24 sharks. 11 species of them to be exact. And yes, the Great White decides to pop by once
00:58:30 in a while. So far, we've got a desert landscape, strong
00:58:34 currents, and sharks. Not a place for a beachside resort, definitely. But if someone ends up
00:58:39 on Skeleton Coast, will they know they're in danger? Don't worry, they will.
00:58:46 The beach is littered with wrecks of all sizes and shapes. If you remember that German ship
00:58:51 I mentioned in the very beginning, its massive and rusted stern is now sticking out from
00:58:56 the desert sand. There are some 500 wrecks in total scattered along the coast. And it's
00:59:02 a mixed crowd, from Portuguese galleons centuries old to ships that ran ashore here in the 21st
00:59:09 century. A modern fishing ship called Zela India managed to slip from its tow rope in
00:59:14 2008 and ended up on Skeleton Coast. Ok, it didn't escape on its own, it had some
00:59:21 help from the elements. But it's better to be a tourist attraction on a beach than to
00:59:25 be broken up for scrap. That's where the trawler was originally going. Poor thing.
00:59:31 Skeleton Coast's most famous inhabitant, to call it such a place, is the wreck of the
00:59:36 Dunedin Star. The British cargo liner ran aground here in
00:59:40 1942. The massive rescue operation that followed reveals why it's so dangerous for sailors
00:59:47 to end up here. The rescuers managed to save all of the crew and passengers, but at a heavy
00:59:53 price. An aircraft and a tugboat were lost in the process. It took the last of the rescuers
00:59:59 a full two months to return home to Cape Town. Why you might wonder? One look at the map
01:00:05 of the region reveals the reason. It's an endless sea of yellow, which is the sand.
01:00:11 There are so few roads here, so Skeleton Coast is hard to reach by land. There are also legal
01:00:18 obstacles. You need a special permit to drive into the area.
01:00:23 But the skeletons in the name of the area don't only refer to ships. They also stand
01:00:27 for animal bones. Most of these belong to whales and seals. Many animals have adapted
01:00:33 to the area, so lions and hyenas roam the coastline in search of a meal. Yeah, now there
01:00:39 are hungry lions as well, as if those sharks weren't enough. Other animals with a temporary
01:00:45 residence on Skeleton Coast include elephants, cheetahs, leopards, and giraffes.
01:00:51 In 1971, the Namibian authorities established a national park here, but except for surfers,
01:00:57 after an adrenaline rush, they don't get many visitors. You can understand why.
01:01:02 The Namib Desert is the oldest desert in the world, and it's not very tourist-friendly
01:01:07 either. Those who travel to the region should pack sunscreen and a warm winter jacket. A
01:01:13 weird combo, right? Well, not so much when you think that during the day, temperatures
01:01:17 soar over 110 degrees Fahrenheit. At night, the air temperature drops below freezing.
01:01:25 What a climate rollercoaster! And that's not the final danger. Yep, there's more.
01:01:31 Remember how that German ship got lost in thick fog? Yeah, it wasn't a one-off event.
01:01:37 Because of the region's climate, fog shows up frequently. Sailors should cover their
01:01:41 ears now, but this fog is actually good for wildlife. This is their only source of water
01:01:47 in the Namib Desert. Reptiles and mammals have adapted to the harsh climate. They use
01:01:53 as little water as possible.
01:01:57 Strong sands, thick fog, strong currents, lions and sharks. Not the stuff you would
01:02:02 put in a tourist booklet. But Skeleton Coast isn't the only beach on Earth you wouldn't
01:02:06 want to spend your vacation on. I will take you to Cape Tribulation in Australia. The
01:02:12 area covers some 48 square miles in the northwestern part of the continent. And no, the area is
01:02:18 not as dry as Skeleton Coast. It's part of the Daintree Rainforest. You could say
01:02:23 that here, it is the rainforest, not the desert that meets the ocean. The beach at Cape Tribulation
01:02:30 is straight from a postcard.
01:02:33 But looks can be deceiving. Hmm, Australia? Probably sharks. No, crocodiles are out here
01:02:39 to get you if you decide to go for a dip in the sea. There are saltwater crocodiles that
01:02:44 the locals call "salties". Well, that's a cute nickname for such a dangerous reptile.
01:02:50 And it's not just them. The wildlife seems to have a beef with visitors. From October
01:02:55 to June, the waters around Cape Tribulation are full of box jellyfish. Their venom affects
01:03:02 the human cardiovascular system. When touched by a jellyfish out at sea, swimmers won't
01:03:07 have enough time to reach land for help. Vinegar helps neutralize the sting, so you might want
01:03:12 to keep a spare bottle in your luggage.
01:03:16 Crocodiles and jellyfish sound dangerous, but there's one more animal you should look
01:03:20 after. It's the wild boar. It might sound funny, but you won't laugh when you're
01:03:25 being chased by one of these across the beach. 21 million wild boars live in Australia. They're
01:03:32 mostly active at night, making it even more dangerous if they charge at you. The best
01:03:37 defense is running in circles. Wild boars can't cut corners well. That's probably
01:03:42 why we don't see many of them taking up careers as race drivers.
01:03:48 Cape Tribulation has one last danger installed for you, and it's not an animal. Out here,
01:03:54 even the trees are plotting against visitors. The stinging tree got its name for a reason.
01:04:00 If you try to pick one of its beautiful red berries, it'll fight back. Its prickles
01:04:05 are like tiny glass shards. The less than pleasant effect on your skin will last for
01:04:11 a month. Then there is this wait-a-while bush. Who keeps naming them like this? This long
01:04:18 vine has spikes that grab hold and just don't let go. They are so strong, they can pull
01:04:24 a human off a horse. You'll have to wait for someone to come by and save you from this
01:04:29 thorny grabber. If you are about to cross this Australian
01:04:34 beach from the vacation list, hold on for a second. Tourism is booming here. The local
01:04:39 authorities have restricted access to all of the danger zones. Visitors go swimming
01:04:44 in dreamy waterholes that are surrounded by lush vegetation. There are even ropes to swing
01:04:49 from! Now that's a beach you can finally relax on!
01:04:54 Some sharks have an eerie ability to spit out their stomach and then pull it back into
01:04:58 place. That would be handy. Most sharks eat huge amounts of food, but the problem is they
01:05:03 can't digest everything they've gulped down. So they need a way to get rid of such
01:05:08 stuff as sea turtle shells and beaks, bird feathers and bones, lobster claws, and whatnot.
01:05:14 And then these amazing creatures willingly barf up their whole stomach, along with all
01:05:18 the contents. After the shark is done, it pulls its main digestive organ back in. And
01:05:24 the entire process usually takes no more than a second.
01:05:27 Some shark species, like great whites or mako, have a special eye-warming system. Their retina
01:05:33 heats up their eyes and brain. This not only helps them detect movement better, but also
01:05:38 improves resolution. As for the mako shark, this species often travels vertically across
01:05:44 different temperatures. Unlike most people with only one movable jaw, sharks can freely
01:05:49 move both their lower and upper jaws. This allows them to get a better grip on their
01:05:54 meal and chew it up faster and more thoroughly. That's comforting.
01:05:59 Sharks give birth to a large number of little ones at once. It depends on the species, of
01:06:04 course, but let's say the blue shark is famous for producing more than 130 pups at
01:06:09 a time.
01:06:10 Great white sharks have a more powerful bite than most jungle cats. A 20-foot-long underwater
01:06:16 hunter can produce a force of more than 4,000 pounds per square inch. And that's a bite
01:06:21 four times stronger than that of a lion or tiger. People, with their measly 150-200 psi
01:06:28 bites, aren't in the running whatsoever.
01:06:32 Swell sharks defend themselves by swallowing huge amounts of water. Then the shark's
01:06:36 body becomes twice its normal size. And this scares potential danger away.
01:06:42 Sharks can grow more than 50,000 teeth during their lifetime. But not all of their teeth
01:06:47 are the same. The strongest and most massive ones are at the front, and those closer to
01:06:51 the back are smaller and not so powerful. But if the front teeth are damaged, these
01:06:56 weaker ones can replace them. It's possible because sharks' teeth aren't as deeply
01:07:01 rooted as humans' and can move.
01:07:04 Shark skin has the same feel as sandpaper. It's made of teeny, teeth-like scales. They
01:07:10 point towards the animal's tail. This helps to reduce the friction that occurs when sharks
01:07:14 move through the water.
01:07:16 Whale sharks have extremely thick skin. In some places on their body, it can be 6 inches
01:07:21 thick. It's one of the toughest in the animal world. Scientists have to make loads of effort
01:07:26 if they want to get this creature's blood sample.
01:07:30 Sharks have an incredible sense of smell. But besides that, they use one more sense
01:07:34 to detect other animals. There are special pores around their head, near the nostrils,
01:07:40 and under the snout. Those are special organs, something like second sight. Every creature
01:07:45 generates a tiny electrical field. Thanks to the pores, sharks can spot these electrical
01:07:51 fields and figure out where other animals are.
01:07:55 Sharks are incredibly sharp-eared. They can hear their potential meal from 3,000 feet
01:07:59 away. They can also catch low-frequency sounds, like the ones produced by a fish's contracting
01:08:05 muscle tissue.
01:08:07 Sharks have been around for more than 400 million years. It means they've lived through
01:08:11 4 out of 5 mass extinctions. This makes them way older than Mount Everest, humans, dinosaurs,
01:08:18 and even trees. These creatures go back to the period when coral reefs were just beginning
01:08:23 to form.
01:08:24 Some shark species can jump out of the water, like the great white shark or the basking
01:08:29 shark. They're known to leap for more than 8 feet up into the air. Thanks to this maneuver,
01:08:34 they can catch such animals as seals or seabirds. But unless you're in South Africa, you aren't
01:08:40 likely to see sharks jumping out of the water.
01:08:43 Shark skeletons are made of muscle and cartilage, which are lighter and twice less dense than
01:08:47 bones. This makes sharks more flexible, which allows them to make sharp turns when they're
01:08:52 chasing other animals.
01:08:55 Hammerhead sharks have a weirdly shaped head for a reason. Thanks to it, these creatures
01:08:59 have incredible 360-degree vision. Their eyes are tilted a bit forward, and it allows them
01:09:06 to have an overlapping field of view.
01:09:09 The goblin shark's terrifying jaws are attached to elastic ligaments. They can unfold from
01:09:14 the animal's snout for up to 3 inches. It allows the animal to catapult its mouth forward
01:09:19 to catch other marine creatures.
01:09:22 Sharks don't sleep as you do. Some species have to keep swimming all the time. Otherwise,
01:09:27 water will stop flowing through their gills, and they won't be able to breathe. Others
01:09:31 do rest, but they don't enter an unconscious state. They just go into special rest periods.
01:09:38 These creatures don't have eyelids. That's why their eyes remain always open, and their
01:09:42 pupils monitor their surroundings. They also keep their mouth open so that the water can
01:09:47 pass through their gills.
01:09:49 Sharks can travel remarkably long distances without needing any rest. All thanks to their
01:09:54 bizarre sleeping pattern. For example, great whites can swim distances of more than 2,000
01:10:00 miles without stopping to eat or rest.
01:10:03 How come these creatures don't starve? They draw on the fat stored in their livers. By
01:10:08 the way, this organ can compose up to a third of the animal's body weight.
01:10:13 Contrary to popular belief, sharks do not and cannot swim in reverse. Their tails propel
01:10:19 them forward, and their pectoral fins help them to keep their balance and turn. It means
01:10:24 that, anatomically, these animals can't move in any direction other than forward.
01:10:30 Sharks have no vocal cords. They can't produce sounds to communicate with one another or
01:10:34 express their emotions. That's why they have to use body movements, like twisting
01:10:38 their bodies or flipping over.
01:10:41 Sharks live in all of the world's oceans, but several species also inhabit freshwater
01:10:45 rivers and lakes. For instance, bull sharks have been found in tropical rivers. They're
01:10:51 also known to be able to swim between fresh and salt water.
01:10:55 The smallest shark out there is the dwarf lantern shark. This unique creature doesn't
01:11:00 grow longer than 8 inches. But the shark makes up for its tiny size in other ways. For example,
01:11:07 some of its organs emit light. And since the creature lives in the shallow waters, this
01:11:12 helps to camouflage it in the rays of sunlight.
01:11:15 Blue sharks eat a lot, often more than they need. Some of this food can remain undigested
01:11:21 for weeks till it's needed for energy.
01:11:24 Sharks have something that looks similar to a tongue. But this organ is called the bashial.
01:11:29 It's the front section of the cartilage that goes from the shark's chest to its
01:11:33 mouth. It doesn't move and is pretty much useless. The so-called tongue doesn't take
01:11:38 part in the process of feeding. It isn't covered in taste buds. Its only real use might
01:11:43 be that it supports some of the bones connecting the shark's gills.
01:11:48 There are hundreds of shark species in the world, more precisely, around 500. Some of
01:11:53 them are pretty bizarre. Just look at the goblin, basking, or cookie-cutter shark.
01:11:58 All these sharks vary in size, from several inches to dozens of feet long. They also live
01:12:04 in absolutely different environments.
01:12:07 Tiger sharks eat whatever they can get their jaws around. Some of the weirdest things they've
01:12:11 munched on are video cameras, bags of money, license plates (from almost any US state),
01:12:17 dog leashes, you name it.
01:12:20 Each whale shark has a unique pattern on its skin. These spots and stripes can be used
01:12:25 to identify individual sharks, just like fingerprints are used to identify people.
01:12:30 The blunt-nosed six-gill shark can dive to a depth as great as 5 Empire State Buildings.
01:12:37 Baby sharks are called pups. When they get born or hatch, they are already fully nourished.
01:12:43 And if they choose to swim away from their mama shark, they don't need to hunt for
01:12:47 food for at least several weeks.
01:12:49 Uh-oh, did somebody say "baby shark"?
01:12:55 So you're swimming 2 miles down at the bottom of the ocean. Don't ask me how, just play
01:13:00 along. It's cold and the pressure is intense. No fish in sight. Then you notice a green
01:13:07 shiny thing. It's a cookie-cutter shark. Its neck glows in the dark to attract fish
01:13:14 and other delicious treats.
01:13:16 The shark doesn't look like much. It's small, about the size of a cat. It has brown
01:13:21 skin and large green eyes. But looks can be deceiving. Every night, this creature rises
01:13:28 to the surface and goes after great white sharks, whales, even swordfish. If you look
01:13:34 closely, you'll see a round mouth with a bunch of sharp teeth in it. They don't just
01:13:38 bite, they work kind of like a saw.
01:13:41 This one's called a cookie-cutter shark because when it sees something delicious,
01:13:46 it takes a cookie-shaped bite out of it. These sharks have even been known to disable submarines.
01:13:52 Wonder what flavor they are?
01:13:54 Our next shark is about the length of a car. Only about a hundred of these sharks have
01:13:58 ever been seen, but if you met one, you'd never forget it. It has a big mouth, a huge
01:14:04 mouth, a mega mouth, like me! It's the mega-mouth shark. You could easily fit in it if you curled
01:14:11 yourself up. They're not dangerous, though. Not to humans. They feed by swimming around
01:14:16 with their mouths open, filtering out plankton and other underwater goodies.
01:14:22 The shark has special organs in its mouth that glow, attracting little crustaceans.
01:14:27 It swims deep in the ocean in total darkness. Probably has a great smile, though.
01:14:33 Thresher sharks also have a huge body part – the tail. It's almost half the length
01:14:38 of the shark itself, and it looks like a helicopter blade. It's one of the few animals that
01:14:43 hunts using its tail. The shark snakes up on a school of fish and starts to shake its
01:14:49 money-maker. This freaks out some of the fish, which is exactly the plan. In a pinch, it
01:14:55 can also use its tail to defend itself. The best thing about this shark – it doesn't
01:15:00 attack people.
01:15:02 The angel shark There are quite a few types of angel shark
01:15:06 out there, but they're more shark than angel. They're flat like stingrays, and their skin
01:15:11 is covered with patterns that help them blend in with the seafloor. Because of this disguise,
01:15:17 divers sometimes accidentally touch them, which isn't the best idea. They're fast
01:15:22 and have powerful jaws. Still, they prefer the taste of small fish to you.
01:15:28 The horn shark has two ridges that look like horns right above its eyes. It's definitely
01:15:34 the grandpa of the shark world. Not aggressive, swims pretty slowly, and is up late almost
01:15:40 every night. It's two favorite meals – sea urchins and crustaceans. It moves its fin
01:15:45 on the seafloor almost as if it had paws. But don't underestimate this guy – it
01:15:51 has one of the strongest bites of any shark. It needs those strong teeth to crush the shells
01:15:57 of its late-night meals. And if something tries to attack it, watch out! Horn sharks
01:16:03 have sharp spikes on their fins.
01:16:06 The award for the ugliest shark goes to the goblin shark, and it's not even close. From
01:16:11 the outside, it already looks kinda weird, and is about the size of a pink underwater
01:16:16 motorbike. It has a long tail and a seriously long nose. It lives way down in the depths
01:16:23 of the ocean and loves to eat squid. It's not as fast as its relatives, but it's way
01:16:28 more sneaky. It has a secret squid-catching technique which is totally wild. The shark
01:16:35 swims behind the squid, it's catching up, getting closer and closer, but the squid isn't
01:16:40 slowing down, no way! It looks like the poor goblin shark won't have any lunch today.
01:16:46 Then it opens its mouth. Its jaw is attached to folds of skin that mean it can literally
01:16:52 throw its jaw out of its mouth. And it's a shark, so those teeth are sharp. That extra
01:16:59 reach helps it grab its lunch, and when the meal's over, it pops its jaw back in its
01:17:04 mouth.
01:17:05 These sharks have been seen many times off the coast of Japan. They're actually named
01:17:10 after the goblins in Japanese myths and fairy tales.
01:17:14 There's only one thing out there cooler than a ninja shark. It's the ninja lantern shark.
01:17:20 Imagine there's a tube you can slide down that takes you to the bottom of the ocean.
01:17:24 It's too dark, you can't see anything. Suddenly, a glowing dot, moving around in
01:17:30 the distance. It's coming closer, shooting towards you. It's a blue glowing head. Worse,
01:17:37 it looks like this head doesn't have a body attached to it.
01:17:41 The ninja lantern shark has black skin, so it's almost invisible in the dark. It's
01:17:47 only the size of a human arm, but its small, sharp teeth are no joke. No one really knows
01:17:53 why this shark glows. Maybe to attract tasty fish? Another theory out there is that it
01:17:58 uses this light to communicate with its friends. It has friends.
01:18:03 The hammerhead shark. These ferocious sharks can weigh up to half a ton. They live in tropical
01:18:09 waters all over the world, and they're one of the most recognizable sharks out there.
01:18:15 Their eyes really are located on the sides of their hammerhead. This means they can see
01:18:20 in almost all directions. They even have special neck muscles to lift their head up and down
01:18:27 just to see that little bit better. Their favorite food? Stingrays. You know,
01:18:32 those flat things that swim along the seafloor, camouflaged to look like sand and bits of
01:18:37 rock. Stingrays get by by blending in with their surroundings. Danger mostly just swims
01:18:43 by. But the hammerhead's eyes see everything. Uh-oh.
01:18:49 Great white sharks, hammerheads, and other large sharks live for about 25 years. But
01:18:55 one shark can live much, much longer. The Greenland shark can live anywhere from 300
01:19:01 to 500 years. It lives mostly in the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans. It loves to swim
01:19:08 deep down where it's dark, so it uses its nose to sniff out food. Since it spends so
01:19:14 much time down there, it's figured out how to withstand the strong pressure. It's one
01:19:19 of the oldest living, largest, and slowest fish on Earth. Just imagine, you're on an
01:19:25 Arctic cruise, and you see one of these sharks, moving slowly through the freezing cold water.
01:19:30 It might be 400 years older than you! Most sharks are omnivorous. They can go after
01:19:36 dolphins, other sharks, crabs, sea urchins, smaller or even larger fish, hot dogs (kidding
01:19:44 about the hot dogs). But the bonnethead shark is a bit different. It eats algae for about
01:19:50 half its meals. It's actually related to the hammerhead shark, but its head looks more
01:19:55 like a shovel. Can you dig it? If you see this guy swimming around, you
01:20:00 might think it's a sea snake or a huge water worm. Frilled sharks like to swim way down
01:20:07 at the bottom of the ocean, like a lot of sharks. When they're chasing something delicious,
01:20:12 they move kind of like a snake. And just like a snake, they like to gulp down their lunch
01:20:17 all in one piece. But that doesn't mean they don't have teeth. They have about 200 nice
01:20:23 and sharp ones. The saw shark has a long, flat, and seriously
01:20:28 spiky nose. Those teeth on its nose never stop growing. Each tooth is equipped with
01:20:34 electric receptors to help the saw shark feel around for nearby fish, like a ship's radar.
01:20:41 When dinner's nearby, the shark swims up and strikes with its nose, waving it around
01:20:46 like a knight showing off his skills. Meanwhile, you won't have time to blink if
01:20:51 this guy floats past. Did you see it? How about now? Meet the fastest shark in the world,
01:20:58 the shortfin mako shark. It can swim up to 35 mph. That doesn't seem that quick on land,
01:21:04 but underwater, that's fast! Slower than a cheetah, but faster than most dogs. It's warm-blooded,
01:21:12 which is super rare for a shark. That helps it swim to cold and distant places where an
01:21:17 ordinary shark simply wouldn't survive. The swordfish goes much faster. It can swim
01:21:23 up to 60 mph. It's not a shark, but it's still an amazing creature. In a race, the
01:21:29 swordfish will usually come out on top. But it's not just fast, it's ingeniously fast.
01:21:36 It has a gland next to its nose that pumps out a special oil. This oil spreads through
01:21:42 its nose and comes out through tiny holes. This special oil is waterproof, which lets
01:21:47 the swordfish glide through the water at high speed.
01:21:56 So you're diving in the Atlantic Ocean, and suddenly you realize you haven't seen anyone
01:22:02 else around for a while. You come up to the surface, and your boat's gone. No! In the
01:22:08 distance, you can see an ocean buoy you can climb onto. You scramble to safety and look
01:22:15 out at the open ocean around you. There's nothing but blue in every direction, except
01:22:21 something large moving in the water grabs your attention. A dorsal fin breaks through
01:22:26 the surface. It's all over! It's a great big shi… wait a minute, it just rolled onto
01:22:32 its side! Oh, it's not a shark at all! You just encountered
01:22:38 the heaviest bonefish in the world – the sunfish. It can grow up to 14 feet long, and
01:22:45 it lives deep down in the ocean. What you're seeing is the sunfish surfacing. Some people
01:22:50 call it the Mola Mola. It mostly dines on jellyfish and can dive down anywhere from
01:22:56 600 to 2,600 feet. It's not sunbathing or anything, it's
01:23:01 letting seabirds eat any little bugs that try to get away with a free ride. A delicious
01:23:06 meal, I'm sure, yeah. The sunfish is so large and heavy, it's extremely difficult
01:23:12 for scientists to study it, especially when it swims down so deep.
01:23:17 The Mola Mola, just like the jellyfish, is not even a fish. It's a plankton. It's
01:23:22 kind of a laid-back creature that drifts with the current rather than swimming against it
01:23:27 like normal fish. The sheepshead fish lives around the Gulf
01:23:31 of Mexico and off the West Atlantic. It lives quite far down from the surface, and I hope
01:23:37 it stays down there. Its teeth help snag its favorite food, shellfish.
01:23:44 While it may look scary at first, the sheepshead fish is a regular at fish markets and some
01:23:49 restaurants if you're game to try it. I know I wouldn't eat anything with teeth
01:23:53 that looked like mine. The world's most misunderstood fish also
01:23:59 happens to look like the saddest. The blobfish lives deep down off the coasts of Australia
01:24:05 and New Zealand. It's considered one of the strangest creatures
01:24:09 ever caught, and for good reason. This fish just isn't made for the surface. It looks
01:24:14 like a melting pile of goo with a frown. One thing we know about deep-sea fish is that
01:24:21 we don't know anything about what really goes on down there.
01:24:25 So you make it to dry land, and you hear a deep grumbling sound coming from the muddy
01:24:29 sand nearby. Some strange eel-like animals are moving around. They might be cute, but
01:24:36 picking one up might be a big mistake. They might mistake your finger for a nice mid-afternoon
01:24:42 snack. The giant mudskipper lives throughout Southeast
01:24:46 Asia and, surprisingly, can outrun a human if needed for a little while at least. They
01:24:51 love muddy water, so they mostly hang out near shorelines. What makes these fish unique
01:24:57 is that they spend most of their time out of the water. Although they only grow to about
01:25:03 one foot long, they can jump about two feet. The walking trees of the Amazon are one of
01:25:09 the biggest secrets of the forest. You head over there.
01:25:14 These trees aren't walking around with legs like you or me, but they're still able to
01:25:18 move about 60 feet every year or two. What happens is that new roots search for sunlight
01:25:25 while the old roots leave the soil, one root in front of the other. Their movements are
01:25:31 incredibly slow. You won't be able to sit there and watch them strut their stuff. But
01:25:36 if you've got nothing but time on your hands, you'll notice the trees shifting week by
01:25:41 week, trying to find the best possible light. You're walking in the West African jungle,
01:25:47 wrestling away. You pick up a small stick to get rid of some spiderwebs in your path.
01:25:53 It's all good until you realize that stick is tickling your hand and bending.
01:25:59 Lucky for you, you just picked up a giant African millipede. They grow to about a foot
01:26:05 long, so they kinda look like a small snake. That tickling you feel is their 250 legs wiggling
01:26:12 around. These millipedes are part of the same family
01:26:15 as crabs and spiders, but they only really eat plants and fallen leaves.
01:26:22 You pop over to Nevada for a nice walk. It's way too hot, so you decide to jump into that
01:26:29 nice pool of water you just found. The only problem? This place is way off-limits, and
01:26:35 swimming definitely isn't allowed. Why? Because of what could be the rarest fish in
01:26:40 the world – the pupfish. They only grow about an inch long, and they only live here.
01:26:47 They're precious and protected fish, so read the signs and don't even think about
01:26:51 going swimming anywhere near them. The pupfish's backyard pool has another claim
01:26:57 to fame – it's an earthquake indicator. When there's an earthquake, say in Indonesia,
01:27:02 Japan, or China, waves start popping up right there in Nevada.
01:27:08 You wouldn't be wrong for wanting to get your eyes checked if you saw this little guy
01:27:12 sniffing around. The star-nosed mole is one of the weirdest creatures anywhere.
01:27:19 Each one of the feelers on its nose help the almost-blind mole find its food. Its nose
01:27:24 is so sensitive, it can feel 5 times more than a human hand.
01:27:29 That's not all – star-nosed moles are also the world's fastest eaters. Wow, faster
01:27:35 than me! They can even smell around for food underwater. Is there anything this mole can't
01:27:41 do?
01:27:42 Cartogrades, or as they're sometimes called, water bears, are one of the most interesting
01:27:47 creatures on the planet, and also the craziest. These microscopic animals are the toughest
01:27:53 creatures on Earth. How tough, you ask? Well, you can find them in the deepest parts of
01:27:58 the ocean, high up on mountaintops, in volcanoes, rainforests, and even Antarctica. They're
01:28:05 also the first animals to survive exposure to outer space.
01:28:10 They can sleep for thousands of years without any food or water, and then get up and walk
01:28:15 it off like it was nothing. The water bear could rule the planet, if only it was a little
01:28:21 bigger.
01:28:22 The blue gawkus looks something like out of a sci-fi movie. But no, this little animal
01:28:28 is the weird uncle of the sea slug family, and you definitely don't want to pick it
01:28:33 up. It blends perfectly into the ocean waves as it floats on the surface. The gawkus's
01:28:39 bright shade of blue helps it melt into its background, but that's not what makes it
01:28:44 special. Its sting is quite potent and not very pleasant, but the gawkus doesn't even
01:28:50 produce its own venom. It just steals it off of other venomous water creatures. Not
01:28:55 bad for something that's only an inch long.
01:28:59 How about a delicious coconut? You need to regroup after seeing so many weird animals.
01:29:04 Luckily, a coconut just fell from that tree. Although, something else fell as well. It
01:29:11 seems like this coconut's already got an owner. Coconut crabs find coconuts on the
01:29:17 floor and rip off that hairy brown stuff that's all over them. Then they grab the coconut
01:29:22 with a claw and climb up a tree. From there, they chuck it down to the ground to open it
01:29:27 up. So, the crab's up there, and its lunch is down on the ground. No problem! Coconut
01:29:33 crabs love to jump from trees and can land unharmed from a 15-foot fall.
01:29:39 This is one crab you wouldn't want to try to catch with your hands. The coconut crab's
01:29:44 claw is the strongest of all crustaceans. If it can bust through a coconut, hmm, yeah.
01:29:51 By now, you've seen your share of crazy, but no one is prepared for the hagfish. This
01:29:57 fish looks like an eel, but with one extra superpower – slime! Less than a teaspoon
01:30:04 of slime when combined with water can multiply up to 10,000 times! Once the hagfish oozes
01:30:10 out its slime, nothing can get close. And what if some of the slime gets in its own
01:30:16 nose? It learned to sneeze it out. They're also boneless and made entirely out of cartilage.
01:30:23 Last one for today, introducing the purple frog. Not a very exciting name, I know. The
01:30:29 purple frog is a strange-looking frog species. It looks like it just ate way too much, and
01:30:35 it's got a nose like no other. What makes this creature even stranger is that it lives
01:30:41 underground, and I don't mean just for a short while. The purple frog only comes out
01:30:46 of its hole for 2 weeks a year. It mainly eats termites it finds underground, so why
01:30:52 would it bother coming up to the surface at all?
01:30:57 In the past 30 years, scientists have made an incredible discovery of a new creature
01:31:02 living deep beneath the surface of the ocean. And the name of the creature is the harp sponge.
01:31:08 Now if you're wondering why it took so long to come across this animal, then I might have
01:31:12 the answer. These creatures typically hang out at a depth of roughly 11,100 feet beneath
01:31:18 the ocean's waves. This sponge species was first discovered off the coast of California
01:31:24 thanks to a robot that was sturdy enough to explore those crazy depths the ocean has to
01:31:29 offer. This is no doubt an area of the planet where even the most benign-looking creatures
01:31:34 can be potentially dangerous. But even scientists were surprised to find that this creature
01:31:40 was more than just a sponge. Now this might seem obvious, but the harp sponge got its
01:31:45 name because its basic structure, referred to as a vein, is the same shape as a harp.
01:31:52 Each vein is made up of a horizontal branch, supporting several parallel vertical branches.
01:31:57 But don't let the harp sponge's fanciful and amusing appearance or its non-intimidating
01:32:02 name fool you. Yeah, the harp sponge is very much a deep-sea hunter. It has a unique ability
01:32:09 to capture and envelop small animals using its rhizoids – short, thin fibers. With
01:32:15 their help, the harp sponge clings on to the soft, muddy bottom and catches tiny creatures
01:32:20 that get swept into its branches by deep-sea currents. Uh-oh.
01:32:25 Other sponge creatures often feed by pulling bacteria and bits of organic matter from the
01:32:29 seawater and filtering them through their bodies. But not our harp sponge. Instead,
01:32:36 it snatches its future meal with miniscule barbed hooks that cover each of the harp sponge's
01:32:42 branches. Now, harp sponges prefer tiny crustaceans, like crabs, crayfish, shrimps, and prawns.
01:32:49 Once the harp sponge has one of them in its clutches, it envelops the animal in a thin
01:32:54 membrane before slowly beginning to digest it.
01:32:58 So pal, what's eating you? Oh, Harpo? Too bad.
01:33:02 Researchers believe that harp sponges use this method of feeding because there aren't
01:33:06 enough nutrients that deep down. This makes traditional filter feeding less effective.
01:33:12 Research has shown that the creature is still in the process of evolving. Early harp sponges
01:33:16 researchers found only had two veins. But later, scientists discovered other harp sponges
01:33:22 that had six veins. The harp sponge might've evolved this elaborate candle-holder-like structure
01:33:28 to increase its surface area. In general, harp sponges typically grow up to a length
01:33:33 of one foot, but researchers have seen a creature that was two feet in length. The harp sponge
01:33:39 is not only very unusual, but also beautiful to look at. See those tiny white balls on
01:33:45 top of the branches?
01:33:47 Now why don't we look at some other creatures that live below the photic zone of Earth's
01:33:52 oceans? The photic zone means the area beneath the ocean's surface that still receives some
01:33:57 sunlight. Thanks to this, there are loads of different creatures and organisms living
01:34:02 there. Any animal living beyond this layer qualifies as a deep-sea creature.
01:34:07 The tomopterous worm is a segmented worm you can find in the twilight zone of the ocean.
01:34:12 This is the area that lies between 650 and 3,300 feet beneath the surface. These creatures
01:34:19 are often no more than one inch long, but the largest of them can grow up to one foot.
01:34:25 While swimming around and feeding, these worms do what researchers describe as an amazing
01:34:29 smooth dance. That's because the creatures can swim extremely quickly and maneuver at
01:34:35 tight angles with ease.
01:34:37 Now, I know most people hear the word "worm" and think of the common earthworm, so it's
01:34:42 quite interesting to know there's a deep-sea worm out there that never leaves the water
01:34:47 during its entire life. Similarly, most of us try to avoid jellyfish that either rest
01:34:53 on the sand or sit on top of the ocean waves. This isn't the case with a cressoda jelly
01:34:58 – that's a deep-sea creature too. This beautiful jellyfish is mostly ruby red, bright
01:35:03 orange, or electric purple. That's what helped researchers realize they'd found a new species
01:35:09 of jellyfish.
01:35:11 The creature grows to a maximum size of one inch across. It has tentacles that stretch
01:35:16 out in every direction. Now, if you come close to this jellyfish, it'll pull all these
01:35:21 tentacles in toward its body before rapidly swimming away to avoid danger. Yes, you are
01:35:27 dangerous.
01:35:28 The cressoda jelly is extremely rare – you won't see it very often. You might need
01:35:32 to borrow that deep-sea diving robot I mentioned earlier.
01:35:36 While worms and jellyfish might seem quite harmless, this isn't the case with the Pacific
01:35:41 viperfish. This creature is equipped with a noticeably big mouth, like me. And the needle-like
01:35:48 teeth inside are key to its hunting strategy.
01:35:52 Pacific viperfish live at around 5,000 feet below the ocean surface. But they're among
01:35:57 those numerous marine animals that migrate each night from the ocean depths toward shallower
01:36:02 waters to dine. What's on the menu for dinner tonight? Lots of small fish and shrimp!
01:36:09 The creature can grow up to 12 inches in length. Its two front fangs, which stick up from the
01:36:15 fish's bottom jaw past its own eyes, are especially dramatic. When the fish unhinges
01:36:20 its jaw, its mouth can open wide enough to engulf smaller animals, and the teeth form
01:36:26 a cage to prevent an escape.
01:36:29 Have you ever seen an underwater creature that looks like a strawberry? Trust me, it
01:36:33 does exist. Just look at these dots on the strawberry squid.
01:36:38 The creature has a big eye and a smaller one. You might think this unconventional pairing
01:36:43 would be awkward and uncomfortable, but it's actually the opposite. The big left eye looks
01:36:48 upward. It spots shadows cast by other animals in the dimly lit waters above. The eye's
01:36:54 tupular shape helps it collect as much light as possible.
01:36:58 On the other side of the squid's head, you can see its right eye. It's small and looks
01:37:03 downward. This eye searches for flashes of bioluminescence produced by animals lurking
01:37:08 in the darker waters below. Bioluminescence means the production and emission of light
01:37:14 by living organisms.
01:37:16 By the way, the squid has a nickname. And no, it's not Squiggy, although that's a
01:37:21 great one. It's known as the cockeyed squid. This is simply due to the remarkable difference
01:37:26 in size between its two eyes. I think I like Squiggy better. And so it goes.
01:37:33 Since light doesn't reach the deep sea, the strawberry squid's body actually looks
01:37:37 black. This helps the creature hide from enemies, such as sharks and dolphins. In general, the
01:37:43 strawberry squid grows to a length of 5 inches. It typically lives around 3,000 feet below
01:37:49 the surface but floats to shallower waters at night.
01:37:53 The feather star is a marine creature without a backbone, but with feather-like arms that
01:37:58 radiate from the center of its body. These creatures first appeared around 200 million
01:38:03 years ago. Related to sea stars, they look like a flower, but if you approach them, they'll
01:38:09 quickly swim away.
01:38:11 But not all feather stars can swim. Many species can only crawl along the bottom of the sea
01:38:16 floor. Like some of the other deep-sea creatures we've looked at, the feather star can adapt
01:38:21 to its surroundings. It has a creepy ability to shed its arms, the same way some lizards
01:38:27 can shed their tails. This also helps them escape from their enemies.
01:38:32 Feather stars live all across the globe, from the equator to the poles, from the shallow
01:38:36 waters on top of reefs to the deep, deep sea.
01:38:40 Given that we're dealing with mysterious creatures, the name of this one is quite fitting.
01:38:46 The swift vampire squid should be the official symbol of life in the deep sea. The animal
01:38:51 has a dark red body, huge blue eyes, and a cloak-like web that stretches between its
01:38:57 eight arms. This, along with its name, may suggest that the creature is some form of
01:39:03 a terrifying hunter.
01:39:05 In reality, though, the vampire squid is a soft-bodied, timid creature, about the size,
01:39:10 shape, and color of a football. It grows to roughly 12 inches in length and lives 3,000
01:39:16 feet below the waves. There's almost no oxygen there, but also relatively few predators.
01:39:22 Oof, I think I'll need to decompress from this one.
01:39:27 Most of the ocean is still shrouded in mystery, whether we're talking about dark corners
01:39:32 or creatures that are hiding in the depths. But sometimes, it gives us a peek into scary
01:39:37 things it hides in its cold, dark depths. Like when you hear on the news that there
01:39:42 are some deep sea creatures washed ashore after a powerful storm once again. Some just
01:39:48 look weird, while others are real monsters that live at depths of more than 3,300 feet.
01:39:55 The coldest and deepest parts of the ocean have created one specific phenomenon called
01:40:00 gigantism. So, sea spiders, squids, worms, and many other animals, mostly invertebrates,
01:40:08 or creatures without backbones, they're all way bigger and scarier than the versions we
01:40:12 see in the more shallow areas. In the Pacific depths, you can see a sea sponge as large
01:40:18 as a minivan. Or what about the colossal squid that lives in sub-Antarctic waters and is
01:40:25 nearly 14 times longer than the arrow squid, a type that mostly lives in New Zealand. Researchers
01:40:32 found many of these underwater monsters in the abyssal zone of the ocean. Back in 2021,
01:40:38 the researchers showed images of the giant phantom jelly. It was at a depth of 3,200
01:40:43 feet. Its tentacles were 33 feet long. Wow, I wouldn't like to face that one on the beach.
01:40:51 It probably eats only small fish and plankton, but it can swim to depths of more than 21,900
01:40:58 feet. And down there, this giant jelly doesn't have enough food. How does it survive then?
01:41:05 Scientists haven't figured it out yet. And there are even more questions related to the
01:41:10 giant squid, the biggest one ever found. This monster is 43 feet long with a weight of nearly
01:41:17 a ton. Imagine if those tentacles would grab your car or something like that. They would
01:41:23 smash it like it was a toy. There's no light in the abyssal zone. Sunrays just can't penetrate
01:41:30 that deep. So there's no algae or underwater plants there. Local animals mostly eat snow.
01:41:38 Marine snow is not like the regular one you build a snowman with. It consists of any small
01:41:44 flakes or remains that fall from the surface of the ocean. Maybe even some leftovers that
01:41:49 animals up there couldn't eat. So it's not much, but apparently it's enough for very
01:41:56 large creatures that hide deep down there, like giant squids.
01:42:01 Squids that generally live at such depths don't bother going after their prey. They
01:42:05 just wait until the poor animal swims right up to their long tentacles and falls into
01:42:09 a trap. It may not be the best method ever because not many animals will even swim into
01:42:15 these dark, cold parts. But it's the method that saves energy. A giant squid eats only
01:42:22 one ounce of fish daily, which is approximately 45 calories. That's nearly 50 times fewer
01:42:28 calories than an average person should eat per day. So when a squid gets one fish, it
01:42:34 saves it for a couple of days. I hope giant squids won't get the idea to go to the surface
01:42:40 and look for food when there's not enough of it in the abyssal zone. And I hope even
01:42:44 more that giant Greenland sharks won't get that same idea.
01:42:49 You can find them at depths of up to 7,200 feet. They're twice as slow as we usually
01:42:56 walk. They swim at a speed of 1.12 feet per second. Their slowness is part of the energy-saving
01:43:02 mechanism that creatures down there need to survive. But they can speed up in the form
01:43:07 of short bursts when they need to catch prey. But they kinda change their diet from predator
01:43:12 to scavenger, considering their environment. There will be more leftovers falling from
01:43:17 the surface than animals to go after.
01:43:21 Greenland sharks grow just 0.4 inches per year. And they're mostly 20 feet long, which
01:43:27 means they live for a very long time, sometimes up to 400 years. They also have a slow metabolism,
01:43:35 and that's one of the main factors for their long life, too.
01:43:39 Greenland sharks like to spend their time in cold waters. They're adapted to that,
01:43:44 since their tissues have specific chemical compounds that prevent the forming of ice
01:43:48 crystals all over their body. That means they have some sort of natural antifreeze.
01:43:55 So what makes them so big? Scientists are still not sure, but some theories try to explain
01:44:01 it. There's this thing called Kluiber's rule that says bigger animals tend to be more efficient.
01:44:08 Just take a small fish and compare it to a whale, with a mass hundreds of times bigger.
01:44:13 The whale has a greater metabolism. It conserves energy more efficiently and loses less of
01:44:19 it to the surroundings through heat.
01:44:22 Moving on, bigger animals can ingest bigger prey. They're more likely to go through tough
01:44:27 issues in their environment or defend themselves from predators going after them. Also, the
01:44:32 body gets bigger when temperatures are lower. The Greenland shark is a perfect example.
01:44:38 So are giant sea spiders.
01:44:41 Sea spiders are generally common, and you find some very small ones at 0.04 inches.
01:44:47 But in deeper parts of the Antarctic, they become 3-foot-long giants. They grow so big
01:44:53 because the cold water has more oxygen. That way, more of it diffuses into the animal's
01:44:58 body, and that allows it to grow bigger. Yeah, both as a creature and a nightmare.
01:45:05 But how about this giant tube worm? Researchers found it accidentally while they were exploring
01:45:10 the mysteries of the Pacific Ocean floor. They stumbled upon unusual hydrothermal vents.
01:45:17 Volcanic heat is a thing that gets them going. As water seeps down through faults or cracks
01:45:21 in the rock, these vents change their direction. When the water gets out of the vent, it's
01:45:27 rich in different minerals and chemicals. Most animals wouldn't survive being around
01:45:31 this toxic soup of chemicals, but not these tube worms.
01:45:40 They came as a true surprise, because not only are they not bothered by these toxic
01:45:45 vents and the almost boiling temperature of the water, but they developed entire ecosystems
01:45:50 there. They're unique because they don't need sunlight to survive. Instead, small bacteria
01:45:56 are their main source of energy. That bacteria gets their energy directly from these toxic
01:46:01 chemicals. So it's not photosynthesis, but a process called chemosynthesis. And these
01:46:08 tube worms don't have mouths. These bacteria live inside them. Strange story, huh? Plus,
01:46:15 these scary worms reach up to 8 feet.
01:46:19 Giant isopods are no better either. They lurk at the depths of the ocean of 1,640 feet or
01:46:25 more below, far away from the sunlight, looking like some monstrous wood lice. They spend
01:46:32 most of their time on the seabed, hoping to find some food falling from higher levels
01:46:37 of the ocean. Check out their small hooked claws at the ends of their legs. Isopods use
01:46:43 them to remain more stable while moving around the ocean floor.
01:46:47 Since there's no light, they have long antennae that help them feel their way around. These
01:46:52 sensory antennas are about half the length of their body. Giant isopods have pretty big
01:46:58 eyes compared to their body size, too. They can grow over 12 inches from head to tail.
01:47:04 And these fellas are really patient. Remember how we said animals down there rarely get
01:47:08 food?
01:47:10 Sometimes they need to wait for years to get a proper meal. That's why their metabolism
01:47:15 is amazingly slow. They can go for five years without eating anything. Imagine that. I get
01:47:24 hungry just talking about this.
01:47:27 In 2006, a biologist did research to compare the differences between the shallows and the
01:47:33 deep sea regions. He realized the deep sea mirrors the "island rule." First, isolated
01:47:39 parts of land develop biodiversity you won't find anywhere else. Second, small-bodied life
01:47:45 there grows much bigger when it's isolated, compared to life on large land masses. Resources
01:47:51 are limited, but also competition and predators.
01:47:56 And we don't know much about these deep sea creatures. It's too expensive and too complicated
01:48:01 to carry out such research. So we'll just wait for more raging storms to show us at
01:48:06 least part of the monstrous world cold ocean depths hide.
01:48:13 Wanna high-five a sea creature? Well, put your flipper, I mean hand up, for the Tasmanian
01:48:17 red handfish. This fish doesn't swim like a fish. It walks. It uses its flipper-like
01:48:24 hands to stroll around on the ocean floor. These bottom walkers are disturbed by swimmers
01:48:29 and boats a lot. Some people even want to take them home as pets. I think it's better
01:48:35 to just give them a wave and swim on by.
01:48:38 The Vampire Squid
01:48:41 Its species name is Vampyroteuthis infernalis, which translates to "vampire squid from
01:48:47 hell." Oh yes, this vampire squid means to terrify everyone with its name. Its dark red
01:48:53 color, its spikes at the bottom, and the scary fact that it can basically turn itself inside
01:48:59 out. The vampire squid loves putting on a good show, but it's as harmless as a kitten
01:49:04 is to humans. It's as if Dracula scared the pants off you, but he didn't have blood-sucking
01:49:10 fangs. The vampire squid feeds on food particles from plants and animal matter floating near
01:49:16 the ocean's surface. Since they're not predators, they need good defensive strategies,
01:49:21 and their vampiric look is designed to ward off large creatures who want to eat them.
01:49:26 Turning themselves inside out is a defensive mechanism since the spiky areas in the inner
01:49:31 skin are more intimidating. They also shoot out a substance that does not have color,
01:49:36 but is packed with bioluminescent particles to distract predators.
01:49:42 The Vaquita
01:49:43 Going out on a boat off the coast of Mexico sounds like the perfect vacation. The sun,
01:49:49 the blue water, the most endangered sea creature… wait, what? The vaquita isn't dangerous,
01:49:55 but don't expect it to stick around to say hello or sign any autographs. It's incredibly
01:50:00 shy. This little cow, that's what it means in Spanish, is one tiny sea mammal. With those
01:50:06 black markings around its eyes, it looks more like a sea panda to me. Seeing one should
01:50:11 make you feel very special. They're on the brink of extinction, mostly because they get
01:50:15 caught by accident in fishing nets. It's estimated that there's only 10 left in the
01:50:20 wild.
01:50:23 The blue dragon
01:50:24 This little creature looks like something out of a kid's fantasy movie. It's called
01:50:28 the blue glaucus, casually referred to as the blue dragon or blue angel. It can be found
01:50:34 in many places, the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. It's kind of a mollusk and
01:50:39 it only grows to be about an inch long. What you think is the back is actually the mollusk's
01:50:45 bright underbelly. It regularly floats on its back so that its blue colors help it camouflage
01:50:50 with the water's waves. The blue dragon isn't just pretty, it's also smart. It usually feasts
01:50:56 on Portuguese man o' wars, also known as Fisalia fisalis. The blue dragon stores their
01:51:03 stinging cells for later use, in essence, stealing their defensive mechanisms. When
01:51:07 the blue dragon is threatened, it releases those stinging cells it's stored, directing
01:51:12 them at an enemy to sting them with more power than the Portuguese man o' war would have
01:51:16 been capable of. As they can store a huge amount of stinging cells, they can be a threat
01:51:21 to humans. So, if you find one, don't pick it up. It's best to admire it from a distance.
01:51:28 The barrel-eye fish If you ever wanted to have Superman's X-ray
01:51:31 vision, looking at the barrel-eye fish will make you feel like you gained that superpower
01:51:36 at some point in your life without even realizing it. The barrel-eye has a transparent head
01:51:41 so you can see how their eyes and brain look inside. This magnificent creature lives in
01:51:47 the deep sea. This is the lowest level of the ocean, where strange creatures roam in
01:51:52 near freezing temperatures and constant darkness. They're exposed to water's pressure that's
01:51:57 almost 1,000 times that of the surface. If the idea of the deep sea sends a shiver down
01:52:03 your spine, stay tuned to learn about another of its creatures later on.
01:52:08 The barrel-eye fish can be found in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. You might be wondering,
01:52:14 why oh why would a fish have a see-through head? And that would be a fair question. Since
01:52:19 the species was discovered in 1939, it was believed that the fish's eyes were set to
01:52:24 see straight ahead and couldn't move. So, it was assumed that they had tunnel vision.
01:52:30 Scientists Bruce Robinson and Kim Riesenbichler from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
01:52:35 recently discovered that the fish can move its eyes vertically to see through the top
01:52:39 of its translucent head, thus noticing if there are predators or prey nearby. The transparent
01:52:45 head also allows more light to enter so they can detect prey better. It's believed that
01:52:50 the barrel-eye fish eats jellyfish and small fish species.
01:52:55 If you dive in the ocean at night, you might be lucky enough to see how orange ball coralimorph
01:53:00 blooms in the dark. But make sure to be quick because as soon as you turn on your flashlight
01:53:05 to take a good look, it will retract its tubes back into itself.
01:53:10 The Megalodon The whale shark isn't the biggest shark known
01:53:14 to humans. If the entire shark species were a kingdom, the prehistoric Megalodon would
01:53:19 be the ruler of the sea. Megalodon roamed the ocean a long time ago, oh about 15.9 to
01:53:25 2.6 million years back between the early Miocene and late Pliocene eras. While they've long
01:53:31 been extinct, people are still amazed to learn about these gigantic sea beasts. Megalodon
01:53:36 could reach anywhere between 45 feet to 60 feet in length with jaws more than 6 feet
01:53:42 wide. A fossil of a tooth that once belonged to a Megalodon measured at 7 inches. Needless
01:53:48 to say, I'm pretty stoked that these guys have long been extinct.
01:53:52 But there's still some adventurers out there hoping to meet this monster one day.
01:53:57 The Dumbo Octopus This adorable creature or creepy creature,
01:54:02 or however you want to see it, is officially called Grampotiuthis. More casually, it's
01:54:07 referred to as the Dumbo Octopus named after the Disney character. Though Dumbo, the elephant,
01:54:13 not the octopus, was teased for his big ears, it's highly unlikely that this adorable
01:54:18 octopus gets teased by its water neighbors. They are the deepest living octopuses, living
01:54:24 in the deep sea. And you know how scary that place is. They're only about 8 inches tall
01:54:29 and spend their days hovering just above the sea floor eating snails, worms, and other
01:54:34 food they find in the current or near ocean vents. There are nearly 17 species of Dumbo
01:54:40 Octopus, and they all have differences in height, color, and body parts. If you can't
01:54:45 get enough strange animals, you'll be glad to learn that the deep sea has barely been
01:54:49 explored by humans. So, keep an eye out, there are bound to be more fascinating animals discovered
01:54:55 in the deep in the future!
01:54:57 The Sea Angel These creatures might look and sound pretty
01:55:01 cute, but their diet is far from sunshine and lollipops. Their favorite food are sea
01:55:07 butterflies. They lay mucus traps for them and wait in ambush.
01:55:12 The Squat Anemone Shrimp This shrimp is tiny, only 0.5 inches. It's
01:55:17 also known as a "dancer shrimp" because of its peculiar behavior. When agitated, it
01:55:23 raises its bottom above its head and does a little dance. Divers also say it readily
01:55:28 jumps on their hands and cleans them.
01:55:31 The Coconut Crab This guy may look pretty creepy, especially
01:55:35 when the sun goes down. Mature coconut crabs are around 3 feet in length. Their preferred
01:55:41 foods are coconuts, but they can also hunt down lizards and even large birds.
01:55:47 The Slender Snipe Eel Slender snipe eel is a slim and long creature
01:55:52 that's still a mystery for marine scientists. It's 4 feet long and it has at least 750 bones
01:55:59 in its spine, which is much more than any other animal in the world.
01:56:03 The Sea Pen Sea pen is 7 feet long and it has a lot of
01:56:07 varieties, but most of them look indeed like a pen or a quill. The similarity is even more
01:56:13 striking when the animal has a water-filled bulb that anchors it to the floor.
01:56:19 The Persian Carpet Flatworm This creature looks indeed like a carpet,
01:56:23 despite being very small by comparison. It's only 4 inches long, able to become both male
01:56:29 and female. It doesn't really mate with other flatworms. Rather, it fights them for the
01:56:34 right to bear posterity. The Flamingo Tongue Sea Snails
01:56:38 Tourists love these extraordinary snails for their pretty colors. Thinking it's a shell,
01:56:43 but in fact, the shell is quite dull and hidden underneath colorful soft tissues. They eat
01:56:49 softer toxic parts of corals and store their toxins to protect themselves.
01:57:00 A pod of dolphins is happily playing near the water's surface in the North Pacific Ocean
01:57:04 on a sunny day. They're about as happy as can be, until the surface of the water begins
01:57:10 to ripple. It becomes more pronounced, like a possible tsunami or an underwater volcano
01:57:18 preparing to blast. Their instincts tell them to hightail it out of there, but they don't
01:57:23 know which way is the safest path out. Abruptly, a tremendous roaring sound fills the air.
01:57:30 The water explodes outwards as a giant whale bursts into the air. Hello, mama! Wait, that's
01:57:40 no whale. It's an ichthyosaur, a giant sea dragon type monster from the Triassic period.
01:57:47 It's a massive 55 feet long and weighs 45 tons. It doesn't look too dissimilar to a
01:57:53 dolphin, but this sea monster isn't any cousin.
01:57:57 The dolphins scatter back beneath the water. Fortunately for them, the ichthyosaur is not
01:58:02 interested in having them for lunch. It's merely playing as well. This particular species
01:58:07 is far more used to eating marine mollusks, smaller fish, and squid, but there's nothing
01:58:12 in sight, so it disappears back below the surface, swimming majestically with its huge
01:58:17 fins and long, eel-like tail. It had once roamed the land, but like other prehistoric
01:58:23 land reptiles, including modern-day whales and dolphins, it returned to the sea and evolved
01:58:29 over millions of years. Its limbs have been transformed into flippers. Some species had
01:58:34 digits on their flippers, or phalanges. They could almost pass for human hands. Well, hello
01:58:40 there!
01:58:41 Some possessed a dorsal fin. Their heads were pointed, and their jaws contained conical
01:58:46 teeth to catch smaller prey. They had large eyes, probably used for seeing in deep waters.
01:58:52 Their tail fin made for a powerful stroke.
01:58:56 Like some other sea creatures, they could breathe air and were warm-blooded. They were
01:59:01 sleek and as beautiful as some of today's ocean creatures. Unexpectedly, an underwater
01:59:07 time vortex opens in front of it, sucking in everything in its path like an underwater
01:59:12 black hole. The ichthyosaur disappears inside, flailing about, unable to control its journey
01:59:18 back into the deep past. Soon, it spat out again, into its own natural timeline of the
01:59:24 Triassic Period, during the Early Dinosaur Age, approximately 247 million years ago.
01:59:31 It swims with others of its kind. They lived in herds or hunting groups. While varying
01:59:36 forms evolved worldwide, such as the smaller myxosaurus, let's stay with this one because
01:59:42 it will eventually find its way into modern human hands.
01:59:46 In evolutionary terms, the ichthyosaurs lasted for a very long time, millions of years. There
01:59:52 are many complex factors involved with how they became extinct, but in simplistic terms,
01:59:57 environmental changes brought out declines in smaller food groups and more brutal predatory
02:00:03 groups. Some fish had evolved as well and became too fast for the ichthyosaur. So, we
02:00:09 will leave our poor friend here, unable to find enough food and losing out to the tougher
02:00:14 competition. It's hungry, tired, and weak. It simply drifts away with the currents, eventually
02:00:20 finding itself resting on the ocean floor.
02:00:27 Millions of years passed. During the Triassic and Jurassic Era, sea levels gradually ebb
02:00:32 away, exposing vast regions of the desert. The area we're focusing on became Nevada,
02:00:39 in the western part of the United States. During the Cretaceous Period, a volcanic island
02:00:44 chain formed. Geological upheaval continued, bringing the ocean floor up into modern mountains.
02:00:50 Embedded in the rock, well, you can guess, not only ancient invertebrates, but more modern
02:00:56 creatures such as mammoths and giant sloths. What an incredible array of wildlife!
02:01:03 But we're not here for them today. Let's find out what happened to our friend. Jump forward
02:01:08 in time again to 1998. The place, the Augusta Mountains of northwestern Nevada, or more
02:01:15 specifically, a place called Fossil Hill. Protruding out of the rock were a few vertebrae.
02:01:21 Excavators could tell whatever creature it belonged to. It was clearly enormous. It was
02:01:26 so embedded in the rock, and complex, that the excavation took many years. In September
02:01:32 of 2011, the excavators found more of the beast, the well-preserved skull, forelimbs,
02:01:38 and chest region. It wasn't until 2015 that the now obviously giant ichthyosaur could
02:01:44 be fully extracted. The surviving fossils were a skull the size of a fully grown man,
02:01:50 a shoulder, and a flipper-like appendage. Even then, it took a helicopter to move it.
02:01:58 The team named the new species Cymbospondylus yungorum. Cymbospondylus is a Greek word meaning
02:02:04 "spine." Let's call this one Ichthyosaur Spiny from now on, because it should have
02:02:09 a name by now. And let's face it, it's a lot easier to pronounce. Spiny was airlifted
02:02:14 to the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, and further shipped to the University of Bonn
02:02:19 in Germany. The study was undertaken by vertebrate paleontologist Martin Sander and his colleagues,
02:02:25 while collaborating with the University of Mainz. It was a unique and truly electrifying
02:02:30 find, as the marine reptile was the largest animal ever discovered from this time. "As
02:02:36 far as we know," stated Martin Sandler, "it was even the first giant creature ever to
02:02:40 inhabit the Earth." You can think of Spiny as the underwater T-Rex of his time. He's
02:02:46 also quite remarkable, as his type lived only 3 to 5 million years after a mass extinction
02:02:51 event known as the Great Dying. It happened roughly 252 million years ago. It took out
02:02:58 approximately 90% of the world's life forms. What caused it? The short version is elevated
02:03:07 temperatures and increased acidification in the oceans. Once one part of the food chain
02:03:12 extinguishes, it causes a domino effect, as you can imagine. Soon, there's little left
02:03:18 to eat, and only the sturdiest can survive. The atmosphere also had high levels of carbon
02:03:24 dioxide. Theories argue that giant volcanic eruptions caused this in Siberia, known as
02:03:30 the Siberian Traps. It was the largest volcanic eruption in the past 500 million years. The
02:03:37 eruptions lasted a staggering 2 million years. Large volumes of basaltic lava covered a large
02:03:43 area of Siberia. Even today, the site is covered by about 3 million square miles of basaltic
02:03:49 rock. Other theories say that an asteroid caused the Great Dying, rather than the volcanoes.
02:03:56 In any regard, the impact was the same, and 81% of Earth's marine species and 70% of the
02:04:02 land-based vertebrae species were no more. There have been numerous mass extinction events,
02:04:09 but Spiny's size and existence are extraordinary compared to the Great Dying. It usually took
02:04:16 9 million years for species to recover and grow to this size, but he came into being
02:04:21 in less than half that time. Using sophisticated computer models, the researchers examined
02:04:26 the likely food web running through the area now known as Fossil Hill. They recreated the
02:04:32 ancient environment through the available data, finding that marine food webs must have
02:04:36 supported giant creatures like the ichthyosaurs. The theory is that our Spiny fed on a diverse
02:04:43 and rich diet of marine mollusks, known as ammonoids, that flourished from 1 to 3 million
02:04:48 years after the Great Dying. The now extinct ammonites filled the ecological void following
02:04:54 the mass extinction, and had excellent living conditions without much prey to interfere
02:04:58 with them. Ichthyosaurs also evolved rapidly because they were the first more giant creatures
02:05:04 to populate the world's oceans. The mollusks they fed off were also exposed to less competition.
02:05:10 Spiny had a massive food supply. He chowed down like there was no tomorrow. Unlike whales
02:05:16 that become large due to eating foods like plankton, Spiny and his fellow species grew
02:05:20 big on the ammonites, and it took them a much shorter time. That's a good message for you
02:05:25 kids to eat healthily! The exciting thing for us today is that these results show that
02:05:30 marine ecosystems can build up and respond well to such dramatic changes as climate,
02:05:36 atmosphere, or water conditions. They may have had different pathways, but some ichthyosaurs
02:05:41 and whales have similarities. They both have large sizes and a lack of prominent teeth.
02:05:47 Sperm whales dive deep to hunt giant squid. Spiny hunted similarly. They use a type of
02:05:53 filter feeding to extract the food from the water. Our friend likely ate fish and possibly
02:05:59 squid and ever smaller ichthyosaurs. Ouch! Other ichthyosaur forms had lots of teeth
02:06:05 with a skull more like a giant lizard. They had razor sharp teeth. Ichthyosaurs swam the
02:06:11 ancient oceans for nearly the whole of the dinosaur age. Ichthyosaur fossils have been
02:06:15 found in many other countries such as England, Norway, Japan, Germany, Colombia, China, and
02:06:21 Australia. They were the underwater planet rulers of their day. As the sun sets 250 million
02:06:28 years ago, we might imagine Spiny having a better outcome than he ultimately did and
02:06:33 popping his head out of the water to watch the orange hues of the pristine sky. He pauses
02:06:38 for a moment before, once again, dipping underwater to join his friends, swimming happily away
02:06:44 with the herd, looking for food and adventure in the deep blues of the Triassic Ocean.
02:06:49 That's it for today! So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like
02:06:59 and share it with your friends! Or, if you want more, just click on these videos and
02:07:03 stay on the Bright Side!

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