00:00Each species on Earth, whether you, me or this unbearable neighbor, is destined to disappear one day, just like mammoths, hyenas and saber-toothed tigers.
00:12Statistics are not encouraging. Scientists estimate that 99% of all animal species that have ever existed are now extinct.
00:22Finally, no need to make this face. Disappearance is not the end of history.
00:30Listen to me. Mammoths could make the greatest comeback of all time and even be the key to saving humanity.
00:37Of course, they will not give us money so that we can stop working. But they could help to mitigate the climate crisis of our planet.
00:46In the Arctic tundra, there is a type of soil called permafrost. It is a permanently frozen soil.
00:53It becomes permafrost when it stays extremely cold for two consecutive years.
00:59But currently, this permafrost melts quickly. And this is bad news for everyone, because by melting, it releases a large amount of carbon into the atmosphere.
01:10But what would happen if large animals like mammoths still lived there today?
01:15They would move the soil, which would allow them to freeze more deeply in winter.
01:20Then, in summer, a grassy cover would help keep it cool and prevent it from melting.
01:27Some scientists think this is an excellent solution.
01:30And there is now a company in the United States that is trying to revive mammoths.
01:35Well, let's be honest, they will not be real mammoths, but a kind of hybrid between an elephant and 1% of mammoth DNA.
01:44A northern elephant, in short.
01:46Obtaining the DNA of a mammoth is easier than you think.
01:50They actually disappeared only 10,000 to 14,000 years ago, and scientists hope to create their first hybrid of mammoth elephants by 2027.
01:59Let's hope it doesn't turn into a real Jurassic Park.
02:06Ah, Australia. A place of nightmares and a sanctuary for the most fascinating creatures on Earth.
02:12This is where a sad fate struck Tasmania's tiger, also known as Thylacine.
02:18Don't confuse it with Tasmania's devil, which is still alive and thriving on this island.
02:24Thylacine was a marsupial predator found in Australia, south of Tasmania, as well as in New Guinea.
02:31It was a nocturnal animal that hunted other marsupials, such as kangaroos.
02:36In the 1930s, farmers began to claim that thylacines took over their livestock.
02:43With hindsight, it was probably exaggerated.
02:46But the Australians began to hunt these poor thylacines until their extinction.
02:51It would turn out that eliminating this crucial predator was not the best idea.
02:56Who would have thought?
02:58You see, thylacines played an essential role in regulating the populations of harmful animals.
03:03Once they disappeared, the Australian fauna found itself severely unbalanced.
03:0835% of the total mammal extinctions on Earth took place here.
03:13A sad world record.
03:15It may seem gloomy, but wait.
03:18We could fix it.
03:20Do you remember this company we talked about?
03:23It also plans to bring thylacine back to life.
03:26Fortunately, many embryos are still kept in burrows like repugnant cormorants.
03:31If we reintroduce them in Tasmania, it could revitalize the entire ecosystem.
03:37Would you be happy to see them return to the wild?
03:40Me yes.
03:41But what would be even better, would be that you subscribe to stay informed about these surprising facts throughout the year.
03:51We also place great hopes in smaller creatures.
03:55Here is the Mount Hotamski Resort in the state of Victoria, Australia,
03:59where you could discover the opossum of the mountains, which is incredibly cute.
04:04These little animals are very rare.
04:06We even thought they were dead, because all we had was their fossils.
04:11But one day, in 1966, a skier discovered an opossum in a pile of logs that bordered his chalet.
04:18Imagine making such a discovery during your holidays,
04:21these little opossums spend up to 7 months of the year sleeping in the snow.
04:25They wake up from time to time to nibble on their food.
04:28Then in the spring, they activate to eat even more.
04:33Find a partner and return to hibernation.
04:36Difficult not to recognize yourself, isn't it?
04:39And since they are mentioned in this video, you can guess that they are seriously threatened.
04:44There would be less than 2,000 left in the wild.
04:47This is due to the fact that their current habitat is not adapted to their needs.
04:51But let us rejoice, because we can also help them.
04:55Do you see?
04:56About 20 million years ago, the ancestors of these opossums lived in low-altitude forests.
05:01Perhaps they would behave better if we reintroduced them in such an environment?
05:05Of course, we can't just throw them in the woods hoping they will survive.
05:10Scientists are planning to gradually release them and observe how they adapt.
05:15Let's hope these adorable creatures will adapt to their new forest habitat.
05:23The Rheobatrachus frog, also nicknamed the Ornithorhynchus frog,
05:29was a unique creature of its kind.
05:32Discovered in 1972 in Queensland, Australia,
05:35its amazing reproduction practices stunned researchers.
05:41Imagine this.
05:42The frog mother swallows her eggs, transforming her stomach into a uterus.
05:46Then, she doesn't eat at all for six weeks.
05:49I could never do that.
05:51During this time, the tetrarchs hatch in her belly,
05:55begin to grow and become so large that the mother literally has to breathe through her skin.
06:00Then, she expels her little ones one by one.
06:03Burk.
06:06This extraordinary process is a remarkable evolutionary success,
06:10which explains why it so captivated researchers.
06:13Alas, this wonder must have been short-lived.
06:17Towards the middle of the 80s,
06:19all the species known to these frogs had disappeared from their habitats.
06:23Why?
06:24We have no precise idea.
06:26There are many theories, but almost no evidence to support them.
06:30In the end, these frogs were officially declared extinct.
06:35But everything changed in 2013,
06:37when scientists launched a revolutionary project called Project Lazarus.
06:42They hope to revive these frogs by experimenting with innovative cloning techniques.
06:47Are you ready to adopt their genetic conservation methods?
06:50Me neither.
06:54But let's go further, literally diving into the waters.
06:58Here is the Colacanth.
07:00This creature inhabited the oceans at the time of the dinosaurs
07:03and did not even notice the asteroid that passed through there.
07:08These fish are the sea moth.
07:11They can live up to 100 years and only start to consider reproduction from the age of 55.
07:17At least, they have a lot of time to enjoy life.
07:22We thought that this creature had disappeared about 65 million years ago.
07:27But the first specimen of the Atimeria was discovered off the South African coast in 1938.
07:33Today, they are known as living fossils.
07:37And these fish are huge.
07:40They weigh about 90 kg and are also stylized,
07:44with these lobed fins that make them look like faceted balls.
07:48They are also excellent acrobats.
07:50Thanks to its polyvalent fins, they can even swim on their backs.
07:57The Colacanth is also a cazanier.
08:00It is rather lethargic and prefers to spend its days in underwater caves,
08:04only going out at night to nibble on small fish and other squids.
08:09Another animal that looks literally like me.
08:13We are doing our best to preserve this species.
08:16And I would not be surprised if it survives us all.
08:21And finally, let's talk about the biggest and most clumsy specimen
08:25of all the birds unable to fly from New Zealand,
08:28the Takahē of the South Island.
08:32The history of the Takahē dates back to the Middle Ages.
08:35Men chased them to extinction.
08:38And at the end of the 19th century, it was thought that they had completely disappeared.
08:42But in 1948, they were rediscovered in New Zealand.
08:48These poor creatures had done their best to hide in the mountains.
08:52But we finally found them.
08:54However, things have changed.
08:56Since this rediscovery, we have put everything in place to preserve them from extinction.
09:00A program to restore the Takahē was put in place and it bore fruit.
09:05The population of these birds has increased considerably.
09:08In 2023, the Takahē population reached about 500 individuals.
09:13They are now considered vulnerable at the national level.
09:17And no longer in critical danger of extinction.
09:20It is a progress menu, but a progress all the same.
09:23Let's continue on this launch.
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