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Dive into the haunting stories of extinct species and their final encounters, explore the enigmatic creatures that have only been seen once, and uncover the unsettling truths about vampire bats. This journey through nature’s mysteries reveals both the fragility of life and the bizarre wonders that exist in our world.
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00:00Currently, there are approximately 20 billion animals inhabiting our world.
00:06If everything were ideal, we would have 5 billion more animals on Earth.
00:10But many species have gone extinct, and around 44,000 species are currently in danger.
00:17The largest, most recent mass extinction event in history occurred during the dinosaur era,
00:23leading to the eradication of 75% of species on Earth.
00:28The tulache wallaby is a long-lost relative of today's kangaroo.
00:33But they had a hidden superpower, night vision.
00:37That's why they were mostly active at night.
00:39They were 3 feet tall and fed on grass, fruit leaves, and other plants.
00:44Wallabies lived in grassy areas near swamps and other water bodies, but not for long.
00:49By the 19th century, their numbers had gone down, bringing them to the edge of extinction.
00:55Only 14 wallabies had been left in the wild by 1920.
00:59A rescue mission was launched.
01:02They tried to capture the last 14 animals to protect them.
01:05But the situation got out of control, and 10 wallabies lost their lives.
01:10The four remaining ones were transferred to a special facility.
01:14And in 1935, the last animal passed away.
01:18Only one picture of the tulache wallaby is left now.
01:21There were reports of the animal sightings after that, but no proof was shown.
01:26And the creature was officially declared extinct in the 70s.
01:31Short-faced bears were a unique species that lived in North America, particularly Alaska.
01:37It was a massive bear, weighing around 1,500 pounds.
01:42When standing on its hind legs, it was around 12 feet tall,
01:46a whole foot taller than today's biggest beast in this family, the polar bear.
01:50This animal was different from today's bears, because almost all of them are omnivores,
01:56except for polar bears.
01:57But this monster was solely carnivorous, which was the reason for their extinction.
02:03During the end of the Ice Age, many herbivores were gone,
02:06and those bears did not have enough food to survive.
02:10They were the Usain Bolt of the bear world, the fastest Bruins to have ever lived,
02:15reaching a top speed of 40 miles per hour, which is 5 miles faster than grizzlies.
02:22There are around 400 million pigeons in the world now.
02:26Some time ago, in America, a species of birds called passenger pigeons were abundant throughout
02:32the country, especially in the eastern forests.
02:35There were more than a billion of them, but they went from a billion to zero in a few years.
02:40They had small heads and necks, but long tails and wings, and strong breast muscles
02:46that allowed them to fly super long distances.
02:49The last passenger pigeon passed away in captivity in 1914.
02:54It was named Martha.
02:56With that, the ecosystem in the U.S. has never seen this bird again.
03:02Now, elks are enormous animals, but they look tiny when you compare them to long-gone Irish elks.
03:08That elk was around 7 feet tall at the shoulder, with a humongous antler of 12 feet.
03:15Today, elk are only 4.5 feet tall at the shoulder and have around 4 foot long antlers.
03:21Despite its name, this elk was found all over the world, from Asia to Europe.
03:26It got its name because, in Ireland, near Dublin, researchers found a perfectly preserved specimen.
03:32Since then, it's been called the Irish elk.
03:35The last one passed away in Ireland.
03:37The main reason for their disappearance was their inability to adapt to changes.
03:43When the Ice Age ended, the elk could not survive and became extinct.
03:48Now, somewhere deep in the forests of Costa Rica lives the interesting-looking golden toad.
03:54It was discovered in 1966 in one particular spot where all toads would gather to mate.
04:01In 1967, a large population of this golden nugget was noted in that same spot.
04:08But the following year, only 10 to 11 toads were seen.
04:12And the year after that, in 1968, only one lonely male toad showed up at the spot.
04:18For years, there were searches for golden toads.
04:22In 2004, the toads were officially declared extinct.
04:26Humans were not responsible this time.
04:29The drought in the area in the 80s had a significant impact on the toads.
04:33Still, the last straw was the arrival of a new fungal species that caused the animal skin to thicken,
04:40eventually leading to the toad passing away.
04:43This chryterid fungus is responsible for the extinction of more than 90 frog and amphibian species,
04:49becoming one of the biggest threats to their lives.
04:54Now, Canada is a very cold country, no surprise there,
04:58and nobody would expect tropical birds like parrots to live there.
05:02However, there was a parrot species that lived in America and some parts of Canada.
05:07I'm talking about the Carolina parakeet.
05:10Those were truly beautiful birds with orange-yellowish heads and green bodies.
05:15Their favorite breast spots were big trees alongside rivers.
05:19This parrot's favorite food was cocklebird seeds, which are poisonous to us.
05:24But the bird had no problem eating them.
05:27Also, they used the dangerous cocklebirds as a defense mechanism.
05:31After they ingested loads of them, their meat became poisonous,
05:35and predators do not enjoy eating toxic birds.
05:39Carolina parakeets were abundant, there were millions of them.
05:43But since the Ice Age, their numbers had been gradually going down because of natural reasons,
05:48mainly temperature.
05:50By 1935, no such parakeets were left in the wild.
05:56Today's African lion had a much more prominent and notorious cousin,
06:00the Barbary lion.
06:02Those cats were mentioned in many famous old books.
06:05They were described as mean, terrifying beasts.
06:09It's believed that they were the largest lion species ever.
06:12Those big cats weighed around 600 pounds and were 9 feet from the head to tail.
06:18Unfortunately, this lion was declared extinct in the 90s due to many factors.
06:23Today, we only have one photo of this animal taken from a plane.
06:29Paradise parrots were native to Australia.
06:32They were genuinely amazing birds with captivating colors.
06:36What was unique about them was their nesting habits.
06:39They only nested in termite mouths.
06:41This parrot was always on the edge of extinction.
06:44And the reason for that is still unknown.
06:47Mice, rats, and other animals also hunted them, and it added fuel to the fire.
06:52The last bird was spotted in the year 1972.
06:55Since then, paradise parrots have only been seen in museums.
07:01The Gulf of Mexico was once home to Caribbean monk seals.
07:05This species of seals enjoyed spending time in the warm subtropical climate of the Caribbean.
07:11Most of the time, they were found near reefs and islands, foraging for food.
07:15Like most of us, they also loved sandy beaches and were usually seen in groups of 100 seals, resting before
07:23the next adventure.
07:25In the year 1886, monk seals were declared extinct.
07:29You can still see this animal in two museums.
07:32Both are located in the UK.
07:35As we all know, zebras have black and white stripes.
07:39But once, a zebra species had only half the body covered with brown and white stripes.
07:45The rest was just brown, and the belly was white.
07:48It was called the quagga.
07:50They lived in the southern part of Africa in grass fields and wet pastures, like today's zebras, and ate grass
07:56and other plants.
07:57The last quagga perished in 1888.
08:01But not all hope is lost.
08:03Today, extensive research is being done to bring this animal back into the wild.
08:10Australia is home to many outlandish animals.
08:13But the craziest ones are probably gastric-brooding frogs.
08:17The species is not like your ordinary frog that lays eggs.
08:20They hatch their young inside their stomach and give birth by vomiting around 25 fully-formed young frogs.
08:29Sometimes their stomach becomes so bloated that they have to breathe through their skin.
08:34Two species of this frog were discovered in the northern and southern parts of Australia in the 1970s by Mike
08:40Taylor.
08:41A decade after their discovery, both species are gone.
08:46The main reason for their extinction is the chytrid fungus.
08:49Locally for them, they're also part of a de-extinction program that's putting serious efforts into bringing them back into
08:56the wild.
08:58In 2016, two researchers were trekking through the forests of Arunakal Pradesh, India,
09:04when they literally stumbled upon this camouflaged beauty hidden in the leaves.
09:09A local man pointed out the snake, and they quickly realized it wasn't just any average viper,
09:16with its unusual pointed snout, similar to a hump-nosed viper, and a stunning orange belly.
09:22This snake had them scratching their heads.
09:25Back at camp, they took a closer look and knew they'd found something special.
09:30DNA tests at the Indian Institute of Science confirmed it.
09:34They found a brand new species, now known scientifically as Trimerosurus arunachalensis.
09:40But the snake's unique features didn't stop there.
09:43The snake's paired reproductive organ was unlike any other viper, and its scale pattern was completely unique.
09:51While its closest relative has around 20 rows of scales around the middle of its body,
09:56this mysterious snake had only 17.
09:59The next species is a record-breaker, and it's known as the largest gecko ever discovered,
10:04measuring around 2 feet long and being as thick as a man's wrist.
10:08The only known specimen of Delcourt's giant gecko is currently in France.
10:13But its exact origins are still a little bit of a puzzle.
10:17At first, people thought it might be from New Zealand,
10:20because some local legends spoke of a giant, mysterious lizard that lived in forests.
10:25Even though it was a pretty fascinating theory,
10:29some recent DNA studies suggest that this nocturnal species is probably from New Caledonia.
10:35But as of now, no one can confirm it 100%.
10:39In general, sleeper sharks are big, slow-moving creatures that mostly hang out in deep, cold ocean waters.
10:47They usually have bulky bodies and a broad, flat head, which helps them blend into the dark sea.
10:52But in 2017, was caught at a fishing harbor and collected from a fish market located in Taiwan.
11:00And it didn't look like any of its relatives.
11:03First off, this 4.4-foot shark had smaller eyes and a tiny second dorsal fin compared to its cousins.
11:11It also had more rows of teeth in its upper jaw and fewer in the lower jaw.
11:15But the biggest surprise was that it was a pregnant female, carrying 33 embryos.
11:20This means there are probably more of these sharks hiding out there in the deep ocean.
11:25We just haven't found them yet.
11:27Meet the pocket shark.
11:29It is tiny, just about 5.5 inches long, while most deepwater sharks are around 6.5 feet.
11:36But don't let its small size make you underestimate it,
11:39because this creature is definitely one of the ocean's coolest secrets.
11:44Discovered in 1979 in the deep waters of Chile,
11:48this tiny shark is like a real-life spy gadget,
11:51with its mysterious pockets near its front fins.
11:54These pockets are large, measuring about 4% of its body length,
11:59and are believed to either glow or secrete pheromones.
12:03So, this shark might actually light up to either confuse predators or attract prey in the dark depths.
12:09And when I say deep, I mean really deep.
12:13It is believed that this creature hangs out over 9,000 feet down,
12:18which is roughly the height of 7 Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other,
12:23but inside the ocean.
12:25Besides its initial discovery in Chile,
12:28it was spotted again in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico,
12:31but it hasn't shown up since.
12:33The pocket shark is not the only glowing animal we're talking about today.
12:38This inch-long cockroach, scientifically known as Luchy hormetica lucae,
12:43was actually first collected back in 1939,
12:46but only got its moment in the spotlight decades later, in 2012.
12:50What makes this little body so interesting is that it uses bioluminescence,
12:54meaning it has spots that light up in the dark.
12:58Unlike fireflies that mostly use their glow to find a mate,
13:01this cockroach uses its light to mimic a toxic click beetle and scare off predators.
13:07Unfortunately, the region in Ecuador where it was found was hit hard by a volcanic eruption,
13:13raising fears that this glowing marvel might be a one-of-a-kind discovery.
13:19Continuing with tiny creatures, meet Hippocampus minotaur,
13:23also known as the bull-neck seahorse.
13:25This little seahorse stands out with its wide neck, large head, and small body,
13:30which is why it's got the minotaur nickname.
13:33The only known specimens were collected off the coast of Eden, Australia,
13:36and no one has ever seen it alive in its natural habitat.
13:40So that's why we don't know much about its day-to-day life.
13:44Some studies suggest it lives deep underwater, around 325 feet down,
13:49which is roughly the equivalent to the height of a 30-story building.
13:53It's believed this mysterious seahorse likes to wrap its prehensile tail around corals
13:59and might even hide in sand beds.
14:01Its yellow-orange color likely helps it blend into coral reefs.
14:05So spotting this intriguing creature in the ocean is pretty much like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
14:12Next on our list is the Nariño cat.
14:15In 1989, a single specimen of this mysterious spotted feline
14:20was discovered in Galera's volcano in southern Colombia.
14:24This little guy had a short tail with seven black rings and a black tip,
14:28and its fur was absolutely unique, being more reddish than that of its relatives.
14:33Understanding that it wasn't an ordinary animal,
14:36researchers decided to visit a bunch of museums all over Latin America
14:41to find similar felines, but they came up pretty empty-handed.
14:45Then, DNA analysis confirmed that it was unlike any other known cat,
14:50having split from its closest relatives around 1.9 million years ago.
14:55The Bogota sun angel is a hummingbird with a stunning purple color
15:00and black flight feathers, plus a bright green chin and crown.
15:04For years, we only knew of one specimen that was bought in Bogota, Colombia back in 1909,
15:09and that was pretty much it.
15:12Nobody knew much more about this beautiful and mysterious bird.
15:16But that changed in 2017, when a study decided to analyze its DNA once again.
15:21The results suggest that the Bogota sun angel might not be a completely separate species after all.
15:27It looks like it is actually a hybrid,
15:30meaning it was a mix of hummingbirds from two different species.
15:34And it's likely that its mother was a long-tailed sylph,
15:38which is a gorgeous hummingbird that mostly lives in the Andes in South America.
15:43The spotted green pigeon, also known as the Liverpool pigeon,
15:47is like the unicorn of the bird world.
15:49It was first described in 1783 by an English physician named John Latham,
15:55who saw it once and that's it.
15:57Since then, no one has ever doubted that it was a pigeon,
16:01and many researchers were convinced it was a distinct species.
16:04But recent DNA studies revealed that this bird could actually be closely related to the famous Doda.
16:11You know, that chubby, flightless bird from Mauritius that looked like a giant pigeon with a quirky beak.
16:16Anyway, the Liverpool pigeon is about 13 inches long and has a unique look with yellow spotted feathers.
16:23Unlike its ground-loving cousin, the Nicobar pigeon,
16:26the spotted green pigeon was likely more of a tree hugger,
16:29feasting on fruits up in the branches.
16:31Today, if you want to see this rare bird,
16:33you'll have to visit the World Museum in Liverpool,
16:36where the only known specimen resides.
16:39While you're in England,
16:41make sure to swing by London and check out the Natural History Museum.
16:44There, you will find the only specimen of a flying fox known scientifically as Terrapus Bruneus.
16:51Flying foxes are usually some of the largest bats in the world.
16:55Their body length, I mean their size excluding their wings, can be around 16 inches.
17:01But this special bat, discovered in 1874 at Percy Island,
17:06is more like a mini version of its cousins,
17:09measuring 8.3 inches from head to toe.
17:11So even though it hasn't been spotted in the wild for a while,
17:15I wouldn't worry too much if you happen to come across it.
17:19Picture this, a group of vampire bats,
17:22soaring through the dark skies in search of their next meal.
17:26These little creatures are just like the mythical vampires they're named after,
17:30as they rely on blood to survive.
17:33But don't worry, they usually go for cows, pigs, horses, and birds.
17:38Although every once in a while, they may pick a human, it's really rare.
17:44Rather than drinking blood like vampires,
17:46these bats make a tiny incision with their teeth,
17:49then lap up the flowing blood with their tongues.
17:52They're so smooth and dainty that they can actually drink blood from an animal for more than 30 minutes,
17:58without even waking it up.
18:00Plus, this action doesn't even hurt their prey.
18:05Vampire bats have a lot of special talents to help them with their feeding.
18:09For example, they can detect prey by listening to the sound of animal breathing.
18:14They're even able to recognize the breathing patterns of one particular animal,
18:19for example, a cow, and go back to it night after night.
18:23Hey Pete, this one's delicious. Let's come back here tomorrow.
18:28Now, here's something you might not know.
18:30These flying mammals can walk, run, and jump, unlike other bat species.
18:36These abilities help them catch their prey.
18:38They also have heat sensors to help them locate the perfect spot on an animal's body to feed.
18:44And their strong hind legs, along with a special thumb,
18:48help them take off after they've finished their dinner.
18:51But, what happens if a vampire bat can't find its nightly meal?
18:55If they go two nights without feeding, they won't survive.
18:59Luckily, some of these bats can be pretty generous towards one another.
19:03When they're well fed, they'll often spit up food to share it with other bats in exchange for grooming.
19:09And did you know that female bats are especially friendly to new mothers?
19:14How sweet is that?
19:17Meet the Egyptian tomb bat.
19:19A spooky-sounding name, huh?
19:21The body length of this creature is around 3 inches,
19:24with different subspecies varying in size.
19:27This little animal loves to hang out in ancient Egypt's dark, uncanny tombs.
19:33They look pretty cute with their big eyes and tiny ears, though.
19:36They love snacking on insects and roosting in cozy corners.
19:40Plus, they play an important role in maintaining the ecosystem
19:44by keeping insect populations in check.
19:48In the last decade, researchers discovered that bats could carry viruses.
19:53But I'll get to this dangerous part in a minute.
19:56Next up, we have a grey-headed flying fox.
19:59It's one of the biggest bats in Australia, with a wingspan of over 40 inches.
20:04It's like a bird, but cooler, because it's a bat.
20:08A grey-headed flying fox is a sleek dark brown creature with a touch of pizzazz,
20:14thanks to a grey head and an orange-red mantle around its neck.
20:18Think of it as a bat that's dressed to impress.
20:22This fella hangs out in all sorts of places,
20:25from bustling urban areas to quiet forests, woodlands, and even intertidal mangroves.
20:32At night, this flying fox spreads its wings and flies up to 31 miles
20:37and then chows down on some yummy fruit.
20:40They're not picky eaters and will happily munch on native and introduced species,
20:45with figs being their favorite.
20:47They're such fruit fiends that they've earned themselves the nickname, fruit bat.
20:52They also have a sweet tooth for nectar and pollen from native trees,
20:57especially gum trees.
20:59The grey-headed flying fox loves nothing more than to hang on tree branches
21:04and chatting with its bat buddies.
21:06They form camps of thousands of bats, which makes them the ultimate party animals.
21:12Even though they're social butterflies and love to hang out in large groups,
21:16grey-headed flying foxes are actually in decline due to habitat loss.
21:22We need to protect these furry creatures because they play a crucial role in healthy forest ecosystems.
21:28They pollinate and disperse the seeds of many important tree species.
21:33If you're looking for this bat, head to eastern Australia, including Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria.
21:40The tricky part is that you need to stay away from them.
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