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00:07Nature has engineered an incredible mix of endurance champions,
00:12roaming all corners of the Earth.
00:14Equipped with a dazzling array of specialized internal systems,
00:18locomotion devices, and propulsion tools,
00:21these animals are designed by nature to fly, swim, run, and feed
00:27in awe-inspiring environments.
00:30Each of these creatures are equipped with specialized abilities
00:33and biological tools,
00:35making them some of the most resilient in the animal kingdom.
00:38The emperor penguin, the monarch butterfly,
00:41the prong-horned antelope, albatrosses, and the camel
00:45are all prime examples of beasts that were built to last.
01:10In the frozen wilderness of Earth's most southern region,
01:14where ice and darkness reign supreme,
01:17emperor penguins are masters of the deep,
01:20dominating the icy waters like no other bird on the planet.
01:23They're a little bigger than normal penguins.
01:26They have that sleek, slender body.
01:29Their torpedo-shaped bodies are black and white,
01:32with large yellow patches on each side of their head.
01:36While they do have wings, they can't fly,
01:40at least not in the air.
01:41These stiff black appendages are more akin to flippers.
01:46Found exclusively in Antarctica,
01:48they live in colonies that often exceed 5,000 penguins,
01:52where they breed and raise their young on flows or sea ice
01:56that are either attached to the mainland
01:58or are located on free-floating ice flows.
02:02And how do they keep warm in such a cool place?
02:05By cuddling up.
02:09You're going to see a lot of these penguins huddled together,
02:12and it's like a little cuddle session.
02:13And they'll rotate who's in the middle and who's on the outside
02:17to make sure that the entire colony gets warm.
02:20This collective body heat makes their environment
02:23noticeably warmer through the process of conduction,
02:27or direct contact, and convection,
02:30warming the air between each bird.
02:36Amid this bustling community,
02:38penguins will choose just one mate to spend their life with.
02:44Emperor penguins are serial monogamous.
02:46They will stick with their mate for an entire breeding season,
02:49and they will also co-parent to chicks.
02:55But raising young in the bitter winds of the south is no easy feat.
03:03The Antarctic is a very harsh climate to live in,
03:06so any animal that lives there needs special adaptations to survive.
03:10In this frigid landscape,
03:13food is scarce and often hidden far below the ice.
03:17So how do they catch it?
03:18By using an extraordinary evolutionary gift,
03:22the ability to dive.
03:25Emperor penguins eat krill, squid, and Antarctic silverfish.
03:29There's only one way for an emperor penguin to get food,
03:32and that is to dive into the water.
03:35Emperor penguins can reach depths of over 500 metres
03:39using a single breath of air.
03:42Recreational scuba divers are really limited to about 50 metres deep.
03:46Emperor penguins, on the other hand,
03:48can routinely dive to 500 metres,
03:51without any physiological effects.
03:54There are some huge adaptations in these animals
03:57to be able to do that.
03:58The longest recorded dive was a whopping 32 minutes.
04:04But how do they stay underwater for so long?
04:08When a penguin does dive,
04:11the first thing it does is hyperventilate.
04:12It super oxygenates its blood.
04:15They then take all of that oxygen-enriched blood
04:19and push it out into their muscles.
04:20And then they start their dive.
04:24And the first thing they do in their dive is immobilize everything.
04:28So basically, it's diving as a weight.
04:32To maximize their limited supply of oxygen,
04:36emperor penguins shut down non-essential organs.
04:40It will slow its heart rate down to 15 to 20 beats per minute.
04:45And that will allow it to conserve oxygen.
04:48To help support oxygen efficiency,
04:51they've been designed with exceptional muscles.
04:59It has a high rate of myoglobin in its muscles.
05:03That allows it to store oxygen in its muscles,
05:05so it doesn't have to store oxygen in its lungs.
05:09When this bird finally surfaces,
05:12it takes mere minutes to recover from a deep dive.
05:16When they get to the surface,
05:17their lungs expand and they breathe in oxygen
05:20and they recover within minutes.
05:21As opposed to when humans scuba dive,
05:24as we rise, we have to rise a lot slower,
05:26a foot per minute,
05:27so that we avoid getting decompression sickness
05:29when we get to the top.
05:30These deep dives put a lot of pressure on the penguins.
05:33But these endurance champions were built to handle it.
05:37Emperor penguins actually have strong, sturdy bones,
05:40so that they can withstand high water pressure
05:43when they dive down deep.
05:44At this depth, they are being pounded
05:46with 40 times the amount of pressure
05:48that they feel at the surface.
05:50How do they deal with such enormous pressure?
05:53By activating specialized internal structures.
06:00Their rib cage has to be extremely flexible,
06:03because their lungs are essentially going to compress
06:06to nearly nothing.
06:08So having that flexible rib cage and having avioli,
06:12the sacs in the lungs that allow for more compression
06:16is really important to the penguins
06:18as they're able to dive so deep.
06:20And it's not just their bones and muscle structure
06:23that aids in this perilous plunge.
06:25On a smaller scale,
06:27an incredible phenomenon unfolds
06:29within the penguins' bloodstream.
06:31When humans scuba dive, we have this big tank of air
06:35on our backs, so we're always breathing.
06:37Because we're breathing compressed air,
06:39some of the nitrogen in that air dissolves into our blood.
06:43And basically, our blood becomes saturated nitrogen
06:46at a higher pressure.
06:48And then when a scuba diver tries to come back up,
06:52if they come up too fast, what happens is that nitrogen,
06:55which is compressed in the blood, sees lower pressures.
06:59It creates bubbles in our circulatory system.
07:03These resulting bubbles can be incredibly dangerous.
07:09If you rise too quickly and you have nitrogen,
07:12that nitrogen doesn't get out of your system,
07:13you will get the bends.
07:15Basically a cramping feeling that could actually kill you.
07:18The penguin avoids this fate
07:20by relying on one powerful gulp of air.
07:24Because they're only taking a single breath,
07:26while they do have a propensity for nitrogen
07:29to dissolve into their blood,
07:31they never have excess nitrogen
07:33because they're not continually putting
07:35more and more pressurized nitrogen in.
07:38Essentially, penguins are free diving.
07:41They use a single lungful of air when they go down.
07:45To further optimize their diving abilities,
07:48emperor penguins utilize their feathers.
07:55Their feathers overlap like shingles on a roof,
07:58and this helps them create a barrier to the outside world.
08:01This insulates these animals so that they are warm
08:04both inside and out of the water.
08:06Each feather is engineered with a stiff or rigid outer layer
08:10and a downy inner layer.
08:12The outer layers repel water,
08:13and the inner layers trap warm air,
08:16providing fantastic thermal insulation.
08:18The seawater is exceptionally cold.
08:21It's salty water,
08:22so it'll actually be below the freezing point of fresh water.
08:25If that seawater makes it to the penguin's skin,
08:28it can literally freeze the skin.
08:30So having feathers that are very hydrophobic
08:34that prevent water absorption is really important.
08:37Just before plunging into the icy depths,
08:41emperor penguins flatten these feathers,
08:43creating a natural wetsuit that streamlines their bodies
08:47and reduces their buoyancy.
08:49And a smart addition to a diver's wetsuit
08:52is a trusty set of flippers.
08:54When we think about penguins,
08:56we think of them as flightless birds,
08:58but that's not actually correct.
09:00Penguins actually fly.
09:01They just do it underwater.
09:03What we call penguins flippers are actually wings.
09:06The wings of the emperor penguin act as large built-in flippers
09:10to help propel them through the water,
09:12similar to how a human diver might wear synthetic flippers.
09:21But to reach a meal swimming deep below the surface,
09:24the penguins will have to activate another set of specialized muscles.
09:30Emperor penguins are equipped with muscles between their shoulders
09:33that allow them to lift their flippers up
09:35and activate their chest muscles to bring them back down,
09:38allowing them to fly through the water
09:40at speeds of up to 10 kilometers per hour.
09:45This method of flapping inspired scientists
09:48to invent an underwater propulsion machine
09:50based on the emperor penguin's shoulder and wing system.
09:56This novel mechanism features a spherical joint,
10:00just like an arm allowing for 360 degrees of movement
10:03around a fixed center of rotation.
10:06This creates a highly maneuverable and efficient propulsion system.
10:10For the emperor penguin, however,
10:13these powerful flaps are given an added boost
10:16by their well-designed feet.
10:19Emperor penguins' feet are webbed,
10:21increasing their swimming efficiency
10:23by displacing a larger amount of water.
10:25When swimming, they'll paddle their feet back and forth,
10:28and the extra skin creates a propulsive force.
10:31The webbing is made up of durable layers of thin skin,
10:35connecting their toes and creating a paddle-like structure.
10:38Their webbed feet also make them extra agile,
10:42a necessary skill if it's to keep up with its fast-moving prey.
10:46In the middle of a deep dive,
10:49the emperor penguin will use its feet
10:50to make precise turns and rapidly change direction,
10:54just like the rudder of a ship.
10:58And their rudder-like feet aren't just useful in the water.
11:03Emperor penguins' feet are powered by robust flexor muscles,
11:06which decrease the angle between two joints,
11:10just like a human elbow.
11:11This ability to bend not only allows them
11:13to steer underwater with precision,
11:15but also allows them to stand upright
11:17and waddle around on land.
11:22These adaptations not only support a variety of movement,
11:26but they also help regulate body temperature,
11:29allowing these birds to thrive in frigid environments.
11:37Emperor penguins have specialized scales on their feet
11:40that reduce thermal conductivity.
11:42This means they have less risk of frostbite,
11:44allowing them to have better endurance and extreme cold.
11:49When we think about penguins and their adaptations,
11:53to me it brings to mind spacesuits.
11:56The feathers keep their body at the ideal temperature
11:59even though they're in an extremely harsh environment.
12:01In 1984, spacesuit manufacturer Zvezda
12:05created the prophylactic body load suit,
12:09better known as the penguin.
12:12Nature has endowed this Arctic bird with such an effective suit
12:16that it's inspired protective gear
12:18for one of the most unforgiving environments known to humankind.
12:23Both emperor penguins and spacesuits
12:25are built to regulate pressure changes,
12:28which can cause decompression sickness.
12:29These spacesuits are equipped with gas pressure layers
12:33that prevent astronauts from feeling decompression sickness
12:36in low pressure environments.
12:38Emperor penguins are some of the most hardcore endurance champions on Earth.
12:43Their specialized feathers, feet and internal operating systems
12:48all contribute to their incredible ability to dive deep.
12:53While these icy adventurers plunge below the frozen waves,
12:58a very different journey is unfolding thousands of kilometers away.
13:02Above the fields and forests of North America,
13:06a majestic monarch butterfly embarks on an epic migration.
13:12But how exactly does it navigate this grueling journey across the continent?
13:19The monarch is probably the most famous butterfly in the world.
13:24Recognizable by its beautifully warm hue,
13:27this insect's wings are the first line of defense on its grand voyage.
13:32Their bright orange colors are indications that they are toxic.
13:35It is actually a warning signal to many of their predators to say,
13:39don't eat me, I'm disgusting, and you will vomit.
13:42The monarch weighs less than 0.5 grams, but don't let its tiny size fool you.
13:48These insects are powerhouses, especially when they band together,
13:53something they often do in the wintering grounds in the mountains of central Mexico.
14:01To keep warm overnight, monarch butterflies will cluster together in tens of thousands of individuals.
14:07Even though a single monarch butterfly might not weigh very much,
14:11thousands and thousands of them can actually break a tree branch.
14:18This power in numbers also helps them activate one of the most fascinating migrations in the animal kingdom.
14:25But before these eager bugs can begin, they have to reach maturity.
14:30Like all butterflies, monarchs undergo complete metamorphosis.
14:33This means that they start their life as an egg, become a caterpillar,
14:38transform into a chrysalis, and then emerge as the butterfly that we all know and love.
14:45This is like nature's shape-shifting magic.
14:48Then it's time to fly.
14:54Butterflies spend their summers in North America,
14:58and there will be certain triggers at the end of the season that will let them know that it's time
15:02to go south.
15:03But what exactly sets the departure date?
15:10Some of the triggers that monarch butterflies use to let them know that it's time to go south are dying
15:16milkweed,
15:16which is one of their main food sources, shorter daytime periods, and also lower temperatures.
15:22Once they receive their cue, these insects commence one of the longest journeys in the animal kingdom.
15:30Monarch butterflies travel up to 160 kilometers in a single day, fly between four and six hours every day,
15:38and their entire migration can be as many as 4,800 kilometers.
15:47After a long day of fluttering their delicate wings, they descend to the earth to find a roosting spot and
15:54a filling meal.
15:56But it's not the same butterfly who starts and ends the journey.
16:01The adults from the northern hemisphere fly south to their southern locations,
16:05and then they have multiple generations before they fly back north again.
16:12That seems almost science fiction to me that a species can evolve to follow a cycle
16:19and have that happen over multiple generations.
16:21A vast majority of all monarchs start their migration from a single forest in the mountains of central Mexico.
16:30This first generation arrives, mates, and lays eggs.
16:35And those eggs become what is the second generation that flies further north.
16:39Again, this generation mates and lays eggs,
16:42and those eggs will become the third generation of monarch butterflies on this migration cycle.
16:47This third generation of monarch butterflies can either stay put if they're far enough north,
16:52or they can continue journeying north into southern Canada.
16:56From here, this generation will then mate and lay eggs, and that will start the fourth generation.
17:02This fourth generation of monarch butterflies is born in the northern U.S. and southern Canada.
17:07These animals will be the ones that travel all the way south to places like Mexico.
17:13Once they reach their southernmost point in their migration,
17:16they will then live there for three to five months over the winter
17:19and become the parents of the next year's first generation.
17:25To prepare for their momentous journey south,
17:28the fate of future generations resting on their wings,
17:32monarch butterflies gorge on nectar from flowers to build up their fat reserves.
17:37They have to survive on very limited food once they arrive in Mexico
17:41because there's just not that much food in their environment.
17:43Because of this, they have to live on their own fat reserves.
17:47At the end of the day during migration, monarch butterflies will attempt to fill their tank ahead of this scarce
17:53period.
17:55Butterflies stocking up on fat is really analogous to a car getting filled with gasoline.
18:00It has a lot of carbon energy stored up in it, so it has a really high energy density.
18:05The fat reserves are stored within the monarch butterfly's abdomen,
18:10but the buildup of their reserves actually starts at birth, when they're still caterpillars.
18:19Monarch caterpillars are exceptionally hungry.
18:22They can devour an entire milkweed leaf in less than five minutes and can consume 200 times their body weight.
18:29But their gluttony is justified.
18:31Monarch caterpillars that find and eat lots of milkweed leaves turn into big, healthy butterflies with lots of fat reserves.
18:39These fat reserves give them an opportunity to survive the harsh winters in Mexico
18:44and reproduce to lay the eggs that will be the next generation to travel north.
18:50But how do these small creatures reach their breeding grounds in the first place?
18:54To chart their course of migration, monarchs rely on an internal sun compass.
19:00Butterflies have a sun compass, and basically the sun compass allows them to figure out where they are in their
19:08migration pattern.
19:09Do I need to go south further? Do I need to go north further?
19:12The butterfly first detects the position of the sun using their eyes.
19:16This information is picked up from their eyes and transmitted to the central complex region of their brain.
19:21A lot like a global positioning system or GPS.
19:26To ensure they're on the right flight path, the monarch has another optimization to help keep the sun compass on
19:33track.
19:34The monarch butterflies have an internal magnetic compass.
19:38There's an organ that says, this way's north, and the butterflies can then orient themselves to either fly north or
19:46south based on that organ's direction.
19:51But their internal mechanisms are only half their might.
19:55To survive this long trek, monarchs are also engineered with incredibly robust wings.
20:02Monarch butterflies have long, large wings that allow them to glide and cover large distances.
20:10The wings are connected to its thorax by small structures called flight muscles, which is how the monarch butterfly flaps
20:17its wings.
20:20When these flight muscles contract, it actually flattens the thorax of the butterfly.
20:25This flattened thorax causes the wings to move up.
20:29And when the monarch butterfly relaxes these flight muscles, the wings actually move downward.
20:35But before it can fly, they must literally warm up.
20:39A monarch's flight muscles have to reach a minimum temperature of 12.5 degrees Celsius in order to be able
20:46to fly.
20:47They use the sun as their primary heat source in order to be able to get airborne.
20:51But their wings aren't only used for flying, they're also used to communicate.
20:57When thousands of monarchs are roosting on the exact same tree, especially during migration,
21:01they will all start flapping their wings to let each other know where they are, kind of to say,
21:05don't land on me, this space is taken.
21:10When a monarch is ready to fly from their roost, they use an unusual method to stay in the air.
21:17Monarch butterflies fly using thermal air currents.
21:22It will take this circular motion up the air current until it reaches the top and then it will glide
21:27the rest of the way.
21:28It's analogous to a glider plane.
21:34If a butterfly reaches 2,000 metres, it can glide 600 metres while only losing 200 metres in altitude.
21:43Their efficiency has inspired a team at the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany to develop robot wings powered entirely
21:52by magnets.
21:54Like many insects, butterflies use their wings for lift and motion.
21:59By mimicking that, we can make small robots that do the same thing.
22:04So there's been scientists who have 3D printed wings very similar to monarch wings
22:10and basically built mini drones that use the same type of locomotion as monarch butterflies.
22:16These magnetic robot wings could be a game changer in environmental monitoring,
22:22search and rescue missions and medical operations if produced on a larger scale.
22:30To further optimise the monarch's flight, they are equipped with a secret weapon, microscopic scales.
22:39Monarch butterfly wings are covered in over a million teensy tiny little scales on both sides of their wings.
22:45Each one is about 0.1 millimetres in size and they work together to bolster the strength of the butterfly's
22:52wings.
22:54Butterfly scales are made of chitin, a thin fibrous protein similar to keratin.
22:59And keratin is a material that lots of mammals have in their hair, their nails and their horns.
23:03These scales can help monarchs absorb sunlight to warm up to reach the temperature they need to be in order
23:09to fly.
23:10The orientation of these scales actually improves the efficiency of flight, reduces drag.
23:16But these microscopic marvels aren't only used for flying.
23:20They also protect monarchs from the rain.
23:24Raindrops can physically damage a butterfly's wings and also make the flight muscles too cold to be able to fly.
23:30If rainfall coincides with cold temperatures, it can cause ice crystals to form inside the butterfly and this is lethal.
23:38To help them stay dry, monarch butterflies activate their tiny scales, which work like rain gutters.
23:45The scales funnel water away from the butterfly's wings to keep them dry ahead of a long journey.
23:52All of these adaptations working in harmony is exactly what allowed this butterfly to make its extraordinary voyage.
24:01The monarch butterfly's internal compass, beautiful wings, fat reserves and microscopic scales come together to create one of nature's most
24:10incredible endurance specialists.
24:12With all these incredible components, it's no wonder the monarch butterfly can migrate such an incredible distance.
24:25As the monarch paints the sky in a wave of orange and black, another endurance champion traverses the grassy plains
24:33below.
24:39The pronghorn is a rare sight to see, partially because it's mastered the art of a speedy getaway.
24:47Pronghorns are engineered to run. They are one of the fastest land animals in the world other than a cheetah.
24:53They can run up to 92 kilometres an hour. Cheetahs can sprint faster than a pronghorn.
25:00But pronghorns have far better endurance.
25:08Pronghorns make their homes in North America, extending from southern Canada down to northern Mexico.
25:17Each year these tireless herds will embark on an epic quest south, chasing the promise of greener pastures.
25:28Pronghorns have the longest migration distance of any land mammal in North America. It's a whopping 240 kilometres.
25:35In November each year, when the snow starts to fall and the temperatures drop below zero, they leave and start
25:42moving south in search of food.
25:44In Wyoming, which is home to the largest pronghorn population, they migrate from the Grand Tetan National Park to the
25:52Green River Valley.
25:53It takes the pronghorn approximately three days to reach their final destination, moving about 80 kilometres every day.
26:00This is nowhere near their top speed, but many human-made obstacles will get in their way.
26:05Things such as fences, housing developments and highways.
26:09Luckily, these clever mammals are equipped for the challenge.
26:13Pronghorns are classified as ungulates, and ungulates are mammals that have hooves.
26:19Ungulates are an integral part of the food chain, eating plants and spreading nutrients and seeds.
26:25But they're also a primary food source for the many predators lurking across the wilds of America.
26:32So how do they avoid becoming a meal on this treacherous journey?
26:37Pronghorn can reach the impressive speed of 92 kilometres per hour.
26:42And can keep a pace of up to 48 kilometres per hour over distances of over 30 kilometres.
26:50The secret to their speed begins with the anatomy of their legs, structured to maximise power and minimise weight for
26:58rapid locomotion.
26:59Their long, slender leg bones contain modified joints that essentially act like hinges, that only allow movement in the plane
27:08of travel.
27:08This is really efficient for sustaining high speeds over very long distances.
27:15These migratory marathons are physically strenuous.
27:18So to keep the creature comfortable on a long chase, the pronghorn has specialised hooves that function like nature's own
27:26custom running shoes.
27:28The hoof of a pronghorn has two toes, and their front hooves are larger than their back hooves.
27:33Each hoof is equipped with a padding to cushion shock when running over hard grounds and rock, just like a
27:40shock absorber inside your vehicle.
27:42When we talk about moving over rough terrain at high speeds, you really need something to absorb the shock so
27:49that that shock isn't degrading the bones and the joints.
27:54Pronghorns have a cartilaginous absorption system in their hooves.
28:00Cartilaginous collagen is very similar to springs and hydraulic shocks.
28:05Their feet have been engineered by nature to keep this padding in good condition.
28:10They have glands on their feet that secrete an oily conditioner that basically keeps their foot pads in good working
28:16order.
28:17This is like lubricating a machine with oil so it won't seize up while it's doing its job.
28:22But why the need for such extreme speed?
28:28It's thought that the pronghorns' incredible running ability is the result of a prehistoric arms race with the now extinct
28:35American cheetah.
28:37Pronghorns evolved to have incredible endurance to outrun their prehistoric predators like the saber-toothed cats and American cheetahs.
28:46Their ability to survive across millennia proves they're true endurance champions, even outlasting all their close relatives.
28:55Pronghorns are the only surviving members of the antelope capridae family. While we call them antelopes, they're actually more closely
29:03related to giraffes.
29:04Like the giraffe, the pronghorn boasts oversized organs to help fuel its legendary speeds.
29:11Pronghorns are about the same size as goats, but their hearts, lungs, and trachea are two to four times bigger.
29:16The larger the animal's heart and lungs, the greater its capacity to take in oxygen from the environment and use
29:23it.
29:23All mammals have hearts with four chambers.
29:26They have two atria, which are essentially collecting chambers that receive blood that are flowing back to the heart.
29:33They also have ventricles, which are the really big pumps that are responsible for pumping blood away from the heart
29:41out to all the tissues.
29:42The pronghorn's large heart has really big chambers and has much larger ventricles.
29:48And those ventricles can pump more blood and more oxygen out to the tissues with every heartbeat.
29:56The pronghorn's oversized heart is like an evolutionary powerhouse, flooding its muscles with oxygen-rich blood like a high-performance
30:05engine built for speed.
30:07This vital fuel is carried by a protein known as hemoglobin.
30:12Hemoglobin is a really important protein inside red blood cells.
30:17And it operates by binding oxygen and carries that oxygen throughout the body to tissues like the muscles,
30:24where oxygen is released and it can enter those muscles to support metabolism.
30:29The more hemoglobin an animal has, the faster its muscles can work.
30:34And how do these muscles work so quickly? The pronghorn's extra-high VO2 max.
30:40Having large lungs and a large heart enable the antelope to transport a large amount of oxygen from the environment
30:47into its tissues.
30:48And this is called its VO2 max.
30:51Pronghorns have much higher VO2 max than other animals their body size.
30:56And what that means is that those active muscles can get much more of the oxygen they need to support
31:02their muscle contraction and their metabolism.
31:08The pronghorn has a VO2 max of 300 milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body mass per minute.
31:15By contrast, for the average human middle-aged male, the number drops to 42 milliliters, a staggering difference.
31:25The perfect companion to the pronghorn's hard-working heart is its extra-large lungs.
31:30The larger the lungs and the windpipe that feeds them, the better the oxygen uptake.
31:35When the pronghorn takes a breath, air enters the mouth and nose, flows down the windpipe, and goes through a
31:42series of branches until it reaches tiny sacs called alveoli.
31:47Pronghorn's lungs contain about 600 million of these small alveoli, and that's almost twice as much as a mammal of
31:55a similar body size.
31:56This is part of what makes them such amazing endurance athletes.
32:01Once its muscles are injected with oxygen, the pronghorn is ready for the long journey, passing through temperatures colder than
32:08negative 13 degrees Celsius.
32:11Evolution's answer to this chilling challenge are ingeniously hollow hairs that create a warm thermal barrier.
32:20The pronghorn has a very innovative approach to trapping air and creating insulation.
32:26Its spur is hollow.
32:27So not only does the space between the hairs that's full of air act as insulation, but because the hairs
32:35themselves are hollow, they also add to the insulation value.
32:39This is a really effective insulator when these animals are in cold environments.
32:45Pronghorn's specialization, including its hollow hair, its large heart, lungs, and windpipe, and its shock-absorbing feet, have allowed this
32:54endurance champion to thrive throughout the millennia.
33:00While the pronghorn dominates the races across the North American plains, another resilient creature rules the skies above the Pacific.
33:08This is an albatross, a bird so supremely adapted to flight, you'll rarely find it on hard ground.
33:16Albatrosses barely ever land, boasting an incredible ability to fly for over 16,000 kilometers without landing.
33:27At these distances, most other animals would succumb to exhaustion.
33:31Even many human-made aircraft would have to land for refueling.
33:35So how do these humble seabirds do it?
33:39These creatures have a skill set that's been forged over an astounding period of time.
33:45Albatrosses' ancestors have been around for 50 million years.
33:49Albatrosses have been evolved for this solitary life at sea with incredible endurance.
33:5522 species of albatross span the globe.
33:59Most are concentrated in the southern hemisphere, ranging from Antarctica to South America.
34:04But there are four species in the North Pacific that can be found from Hawaii to Japan, Alaska, and California.
34:12This spectacular bird spends the first six years of its life soaring above the open ocean in the pursuit of
34:19food.
34:21Albatrosses eat squid, octopuses, and other small fish that they catch from the surface of the water.
34:27An albatross can eat up to three kilograms in a single feeding, and that's a quarter of their body weight.
34:32Their fishing trips tend to last between 10 and 20 days at a time.
34:36After a feeding, albatrosses will take a run and get air under their wings so that they can take off.
34:41It's like a big heavy plane having to have a lot of extra runway to take off.
34:46Sometimes an albatross is too heavy to fly, so it'll throw up just so it can get airborne.
34:58Once ready to take to the skies, albatrosses engage their specially designed wings.
35:04Albatrosses have a wingspan of about 3.6 meters, and it can weigh up to 10 kilograms.
35:13Albatrosses have these huge wings that are very light, and the flow of air over the top of the wings
35:20occurs faster than the flow of air below the wings.
35:23This difference in the rate of flow of air creates a pressure difference between the bottom and the top of
35:29the wing, and that's what gives rise to lift.
35:32The huge surface area of the wings allows albatrosses to soar with essentially no effort.
35:42Albatrosses have winglets, and what winglets are are little turns at the tip of the wings that go up and
35:49or down.
35:50And what these winglets do is they prevent eddies or circular currents from running off the ends of the wings.
35:58Bird winglets are so effective, they've inspired the design of modern aircraft wings.
36:08Albatrosses really evolved these winglets to have very efficient flight.
36:14And we look to the albatrosses and many other birds for the innovations that we've now added to aircraft.
36:20By adding winglets to the tips of airplane wings, we've been able to increase the efficiency of wings, decrease the
36:29drag, and get more fuel efficiency.
36:31But how do albatrosses remain in the air for such long periods of time?
36:36For one, their wings have been designed with a specialized elbow lock tendon system.
36:42They have tendons, ligaments, that can be locked.
36:46And essentially by locking those ligaments in place, they no longer have to rely on the muscles to support their
36:53body weight.
36:54To further preserve their energy during flight, albatrosses tap into a flight technique, dynamic soaring.
37:02Dynamic soaring is a flight technique where bird or aircraft extract energy from wind by flying between areas of different
37:10wind speed.
37:11By surfing on the wind shear, they can maintain or increase speeds without actually flapping their wings.
37:18Albatrosses can travel a thousand kilometers in a single day, and they can spend years at sea without ever touching
37:23land.
37:24These incredible fliers can reach a top speed of 127 kilometers an hour.
37:30But like any aerial acrobat, albatrosses have to keep hydrated.
37:35How does it do this atop the salt ridden seas?
37:39Remarkably, these birds have evolved to drink ocean water, a feat that can be dangerous to many other animals, including
37:47humans.
37:48They have a gland essentially above their eyes that extracts the salt that builds up in their blood and excretes
37:57it as a very concentrated saline solution.
38:01Albatrosses supraorbital gland works like a water desalination plant using a high-tech purification process, reverse osmosis.
38:10We've developed technologies to desalinate seawater so we can get fresh water from seawater.
38:16We use a process called reverse osmosis where we force water through semi-permeable membranes that allow the water through
38:24but not the salt.
38:25And we have to do that through multiple stages to get the salinity down to an acceptable level where we
38:31can use it for drinking or irrigation.
38:33The unfortunate thing is those technologies aren't very efficient.
38:38Albatrosses doing this in their desalination glands really is something that we look to as scientists to help us address
38:45how to do desalinization more cost-effectively.
38:52Seawater is undrinkable for most other animals for a few key reasons.
38:57Because seawater is so much saltier than the other fluids in the body, this creates an imbalance.
39:03In the kidneys, we need to work overtime to filter out this water and remove excess salt.
39:08This would lead to dehydration, removing the benefit of drinking salt water at all.
39:12Being able to hydrate from seawater really boosts the albatross endurance.
39:16Since it isn't forced to stop to drink fresh water, it can continue to soar uninhibited.
39:25And when it comes to rest, albatrosses have yet another workaround.
39:30They can shut down their brain in short bursts and catch some shut-eye a few seconds at a time.
39:35To be able to stay aware of their surroundings and control their flight path, one hemisphere of the brain falls
39:41asleep while the other stays awake.
39:43This is called unihemispheric slow-wave sleep.
39:47While grabbing a few seconds of sleep at a time doesn't sound like a lot, these can really add up
39:52over a long journey.
39:54Unlike humans and mammals, birds can thrive on shockingly little sleep.
39:59Generally, birds only sleep for a few minutes at a time, repeating these short bouts of sleep up to hundreds
40:05of times throughout the day.
40:07But to ensure they don't get overtired, albatrosses supplement in-flight sleep with more substantial sleeping periods when they land
40:14on water, which can last several hours.
40:19When the albatrosses need to rest, their wingspan and large body size allow them to float on the ocean like
40:25a little boat.
40:28Albatrosses' incredible endurance and design has inspired the invention of cutting-edge machines.
40:36What we've realized is that continuous flight is really difficult.
40:40So we've been mimicking the albatross in trying to build things that can stay in the air for long periods
40:47of time.
40:48There's been a number of scientific experiments and prototypes that use solar cells on the top of a wing to
40:56try and keep drones essentially in the air for days or weeks at a time.
41:00These types of aircraft can provide wireless internet, wireless cell phone service to extremely remote areas with no need to
41:10build infrastructure.
41:11But this drone's endurance doesn't even come close to matching the birds it was modeled after.
41:17The mighty albatrosses are equipped with the most impressive wingspan in the animal kingdom.
41:22Their specialized wings, saltwater processing glands, and ability to sleep during flight make them the premier endurance champion of the
41:32skies.
41:34Far from the sea, another endurance champion is synonymous with the desert.
41:40Engineered with specialized noses, long legs, and iconic humps, the captivating camel is engineered to survive in one of the
41:48world's most unforgiving landscapes.
41:52Camels were built to withstand extreme temperatures from zero degrees Celsius to over 40 degrees Celsius.
42:00This comes in really handy in hot scorching desert days and cold desert nights.
42:06This sturdy animal is typically distinguished by the unique feature on its back.
42:12There are two types of camels, the dromedary or one hump camel and the bactrian or two hump camel.
42:18The dromedary is more common and is found in arid regions in the Middle East and Northern Africa, while the
42:25bactrian camel is much more common in Central Asia.
42:28There are all sorts of hurdles to pass while crossing the desert, such as extreme heat, predators like wolves, and
42:35of course the ever-present sand.
42:37But the camel has been well designed by nature to conquer these challenges like a true endurance champion.
42:43But how do they get from point A to point B in a landscape riddled with danger?
42:48First and foremost, they rely on their long legs.
42:51Their long legs measure between 1.2 and 1.5 meters long.
42:56This extra length allows camels to take much longer strides and move more efficiently across the sand,
43:02which is essential for traveling between sparse food and water in the desert.
43:06Their long legs also raise their body up high, keeping their body further away from the sand and avoiding heat
43:13exposure.
43:14This is crucial for maintaining a safe body temperature under the relentless heat of the desert sun.
43:20But these sturdy stilts require an equally strong base.
43:24Camels have adapted to have very large feet with two very large toes.
43:30And these large feet divide the camel's weight over a much larger area.
43:35This is really useful for distributing their body weight so that when they walk through the sand they won't sink.
43:41And it's not just body weight these creatures have to consider.
43:45Their large feet and dense leg bones have made them prime companions for carrying cargo.
43:50For more than a thousand years, 20,000 camel caravans would be loaded up with goods to transport them across
43:57the Sahara Desert.
43:58A journey of more than 1,600 kilometers, camels are able to cover up to 40 kilometers a day while
44:05carrying really heavy loads of up to 200 kilograms.
44:08Their incredible load-bearing capacity is why they became known as the ships of the desert.
44:15The camel's endurance and efficiency works in much the same way as today's cutting-edge cargo vessels.
44:21The Maersk Tripoli container ships were designed to operate at low speeds and also very low CO2 emissions while boasting
44:29the highest carrying capacity of any vessels in the world.
44:32This is a lot like how a camel carries heavy weights across long distances at relatively low speed.
44:38The Tripoli's advanced waste heat recovery system captures heat and pressure inside exhaust gases and harnesses them to move turbines
44:47that propel the ship forward, recycling existing fuel throughout the ship.
44:51This is also very similar to how the camel's most iconic feature works, its humps.
44:58Camels utilize their iconic humps as a source of nourishment when fuel is scarce.
45:03Allowing this endurance champion to go an incredible 15 days without water.
45:09But surprisingly, camel humps aren't filled with water as you might assume.
45:14Rather, they're filled with fat.
45:16A camel's hump is quite incredible.
45:18It stores about 80 pounds of fat tissue in the hump and that can metabolize into water and energy.
45:25So how exactly does the animal access these nutrient reserves?
45:29Through a process called lipolysis.
45:32Lipolysis is the breakdown of fat into fatty acids and the fatty acids go into the body and produce energy.
45:38For every one gram of fat that's broken down, 1.1 grams of water is produced.
45:42The larger the humps, the better fed the camel is.
45:46After a while, if it hasn't eaten any food and it's just breaking down fats, the camel's hump will deflate.
45:51As soon as the camel refuels, the hump will rebuild its fatty tissue and it will go back to normal.
45:56So how does all this extra stored fat affect the camel's comfort in the relentless heat of the desert?
46:03Remarkably, these natural mounds act like climate control systems.
46:07Instead of having fat distributed all over their body, it concentrates the fat in their humps, allowing the rest of
46:12the body to stay cool.
46:13To cope with the scorching temperatures, the camels also utilize specialized sweat glands.
46:19Camels have sweat glands spread all throughout their skin except for a few places like the upper lip and the
46:26nostrils.
46:26These large sweat glands are designed with two key areas, the secretory portion and the excretory duct.
46:33The secretory portion is a coiled, tubular part of the gland where the sweat is actually produced.
46:39The secretory has an end piece that connects to the excretory duct.
46:43The excretory duct is a narrow tube that channels the sweat out to the skin surface.
46:49But camels don't sweat out water in extreme heat the same way humans do.
46:54A camel will only sweat if its body reaches higher than 41 degrees Celsius.
46:58And so essentially they conserve water and don't release it in sweat until it's absolutely necessary.
47:04These biological gifts suit this mammal perfectly to its harsh, hot terrain.
47:09Yet strangely, even after millions of years of evolution, it still wears a bulky coat of fur.
47:17Camels have thick fur that could be up to 10 centimeters deep.
47:20Counterintuitively, this cozy jacket helps cool the camel in extreme heat.
47:25The camel's thick fur prevents the sun radiation from reaching the camel's skin.
47:30And also the fur is thick enough to prevent water loss through the skin.
47:34Inspired by the camel's ability to regulate their body temperature,
47:37scientists have invented an innovative cooling system using new technology.
47:43Trying to stay cool in 40 to 50 degrees Celsius temperatures,
47:48you need to have a very efficient cooling system.
47:51So that's evolved in camels and now we're trying to mimic it.
47:55There's a series of compounds called hydrogels.
47:57And basically hydrogels are materials that contain very small amounts of salts,
48:04but immense amounts of liquid.
48:07By placing a layer of hydrogel below a semipermeable membrane,
48:13we can have a slow release of water onto the surface of the membrane
48:17that evaporates slowly and provides cooling as the hydrogel is slowly consumed.
48:23So we have a way to passively cool things for relatively long periods of time
48:29with no direct energy input.
48:31This hydrogel and membrane system is really analogous to how a camel's sweat glands work.
48:39To minimize water loss during exhalation, camels also boast a special nasal structure.
48:47Camels have spongy, curled tissues inside their nose called nasal turbinates.
48:52Normally, we lose a lot of water in the air that we exhale.
48:56These special respiratory turbinates in the camels are designed to reabsorb as much of that water as possible
49:03to avoid losing it to the environment.
49:06These nasal turbinates actually extract water vapor from the cool air it exhales.
49:14When camels exhale, the warm air from their lungs passes over the cooler tissue in the nasal turbinates.
49:21Water then condenses on that cooler tissue and can be reabsorbed and recaptured
49:26so it's not lost in the exhaled breath.
49:28To maximize this effort, their nasal tissue is enormously large.
49:33The interior surface area of the camel's nose is five times as expansive as the surface area inside our noses.
49:42This is really effective for recapturing the moisture in the exhaled air so that it's not lost in the breath.
49:48But heat isn't the only challenge these hardy mammals endure.
49:53Out on the exposed dunes, there's nowhere to hide from the elements.
49:57When fierce sandstorms sweep across the desert, what's a camel to do?
50:02Fortunately, their special noses also act as natural shields, protecting them from the piercing grains of sand and swirling dust
50:10in the desert's harshest moments.
50:13Camels can also close their nostrils, which is a great adaptation, especially in a sandstorm.
50:18Camels actually have small hairs and mucous membranes inside their nostrils, which helps filter dust and sand before it reaches
50:25their lungs.
50:27But if debris manage to get into their eyes, they have a little known tool to wick it away, a
50:33third eyelid.
50:34Camels have developed an additional eyelid called a nictitating membrane.
50:39This is an additional layer that they can place over their eyes that prevents the corneas from being scratched by
50:46sand particles.
50:48And to keep their ears in working order, acutely tuned for any incoming dangers, is yet another helpful design.
50:56Camels have a lot of hair on their inner ear. It helps them to keep sand out and it protects
51:01their hearing.
51:01This is just one more tool in the camel's kit that keeps it cool and comfortable in the planet's driest
51:07ecosystems.
51:09A creature perfectly equipped to thrive where few others dare to roam.
51:13Along with the camel, the emperor penguin, the monarch butterfly, the pronghorned antelope, and the albatross have all been engineered
51:22to endure extreme environments and activities.
51:25From Antarctica, to North America, to the South and North Pacific, and Middle East and North Africa.
51:31These endurance champions were built to outlast and conquer the harshest environments on Earth.
51:36Theatched by itself is only awareness or impossible in the north.
52:06The
52:06You
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