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Join us as we delve into these profound oceanic narratives, unveiling the past and present challenges our marine environments face.
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00:00The Meg, aka Megalodon, roamed the oceans long after dinosaurs were wiped out by the great meteorite.
00:06It was one of the largest and most dangerous hunters that have ever lived on Earth, as well as the
00:11biggest shark.
00:13But then, about 3.6 million years ago, the last of its kind disappeared from our planet,
00:19leaving only huge teeth for modern archaeologists to keep finding.
00:23There are a few theories about why it could have happened, but scientists might have found the true reason.
00:29The Megalodon, which means big tooth, was the largest shark ever to exist.
00:34It reportedly lived around 20 to 3.6 million years ago and was truly enormous.
00:40Its bite was more powerful than that of a T-Rex, and likely any other powerful predator that has ever
00:45roamed this planet.
00:47It's probably not surprising, since this marine creature had extremely strong jaws that could span from 9 to 10 fin
00:53wide.
00:54That's enough to swallow two grown-up people side by side.
00:58The jaws were also lined with 276 teeth, and they reached 7 inches in length.
01:03That's as long as a small hedgehog.
01:06Once these teeth got worn down, the shark got rid of them and grew new ones.
01:10Such large sedated teeth helped the Meg to eat meat easily.
01:14The shark itself could grow up to 59 feet long.
01:18That's twice the length of a London double-decker bus.
01:21The animal was also pretty heavy.
01:23While a fully grown T-Rex weighed about 8 tons, the weight of a large Megalodon could be more than
01:2830 tons.
01:29With no competitors, the enormous shark was the real king of the oceans.
01:33It hunted other sharks, large fish, and even whales.
01:37Then why did such a magnificent creature disappear from the face of the Earth?
01:41The previous theories mentioned the great white shark.
01:43The Megalodon is usually described as some gigantic version of this marine animal.
01:48And this is a common mistake made because most people think these creatures were related.
01:53But in reality, the Meg looked more like a modern bull shark.
01:56Its snout was snout, its lower jaw was rather flat, and long and massive pectoral fins supported the animal's weight.
02:04But what's more important, the ancestors of today's great whites existed at the same time as the Megalodon.
02:10Now, with great size comes great clumsiness.
02:13And although the Meg was huge and powerful, it was also not as nimble as smaller and quicker great white
02:18sharks.
02:19Great whites could have rivaled a Megalodon for food, and were often more successful hunters thanks to their agility.
02:24They couldn't fight the Meg openly, but were fast enough to steal its food.
02:29So according to this theory, the only food left for the Megalodon were whales and equally big marine animals.
02:36Grown-up Megs could easily catch such beasts, but their offspring were much smaller and more vulnerable than their parents.
02:43Could smaller sharks have used this to their advantage?
02:46Maybe while megasharks were still little, they became a meal for great whites, as well as bull and tiger sharks.
02:52Even at those times, a great white shark could reach the length of 20 feet, while a Megalodon kid was
02:59definitely smaller.
03:01But even if there had been no open confrontation between young Megalodons and smaller grown-up sharks,
03:07Meg kids wouldn't have been able to find food for themselves to grow to adulthood.
03:10The reason is the same.
03:12The population of other sharks was growing, and they were rivaling each other and the Meg for convenient food.
03:18The more great whites and other sharks appeared in the oceans, the less food remained for young monster sharks.
03:25Eventually, they probably starved.
03:27But it's just one of the theories that try to explain why the Meg went extinct, and here's another one.
03:33A new study has shown that the Meg was most likely a warm-blooded predator, able to regulate its body
03:39temperature,
03:39and that might have been the reason why this species disappeared with time.
03:44Scientists analyzed isotopes of the tooth enamel of the Megalodon,
03:47and concluded that the animal could easily maintain a body temperature that was around 13 degrees F warmer than the
03:54temperature of the surrounding water.
03:56Such a temperature difference is much greater than what other sharks living at the same time as the Meg had,
04:01and it's large enough for the ancient predator to be classified as warm-blooded.
04:06These days, most fish are cold-blooded.
04:08Their body temperature is the same as the surrounding water.
04:11But some sharks, like mackerel sharks, keep the temperature of all parts of their bodies a bit warmer than the
04:17surrounding water.
04:18But it doesn't make them completely warm-blooded because they simply store heat generated by their muscles.
04:23And in mammals, body temperature is regulated by a special region of the brain called the hypothalamus.
04:30Anyway, the Meg's warmer body allowed the animal to move faster, deal with cold water better, and spread out all
04:36over the world.
04:38But eventually, it might have led to a disaster.
04:41The Megalodon lived during the Pliocene epoch pronunciation.
04:45It began approximately 5.3 million years ago, and finished 2.5 million years ago.
04:51During that period, global cooling occurred.
04:53It also caused the changes in sea level, which the Megalodon probably didn't survive.
04:59The main problem for the predator was to maintain an energy level allowing its body temperature to remain elevated.
05:05But to do it, the animal had to eat a lot, and I mean it.
05:08But it was a challenging task in a time of changing marine ecosystems, and while competing with newcomers, such as
05:14the great white shark.
05:15If this theory is true, then the amount of energy the Meg had to use to remain warm could have
05:21contributed to its extinction.
05:23This new information is very important to us.
05:26It shows that many marine predators in modern oceans might be experiencing the effects of ongoing climate change, too.
05:33By the way, have you heard that there have been several cases when people were sure they had seen the
05:38Meg?
05:38Or at least some similar extremely large monsters.
05:41And these sightings happened relatively recently.
05:44For example, in July 1916, the New Jersey coast of the U.S. was terrified by a series of shark
05:50attacks.
05:51They happened during an oppressive heat wave when hundreds of beachgoers tried to find shelter from the heat near the
05:56water.
05:58People described the culprit that had caused all that havoc as a giant shark, much bigger than any regular one.
06:04Since then, scientists have been debating which shark species was involved in those accidents.
06:10The most popular guesses have been the bull shark and the great white.
06:15A picture of a huge shark roaming the Pacific Ocean not far from Guadalupe Island appeared in 1999.
06:21The creature was nicknamed Deep Blue.
06:24It could be distinguished from others by a wavy pattern separating its gray back and white belly.
06:30But even though some people claimed it could be the infamous Megalodon,
06:34experts came to the conclusion it was a female white shark, the largest ever seen.
06:40The average length of a male white shark is 11 to 13 feet.
06:44Females are bigger, up to 15 or 16 feet.
06:46But Deep Blue reached more than 25th in length.
06:49No wonder people were confused.
06:51For the last time, Deep Blue was spotted in 2013 near the western coast of Mexico's Baja, California.
06:58But look, there's another jumbo shark, and you can meet it in any part of the world.
07:03The largest specimens can reach 40 feet long and weigh about 5 or even 6 tons.
07:08Could it be if not the Megalodon itself but one of its relatives?
07:11Again, a wrong guess.
07:14That's the basking shark.
07:16This animal prefers subpolar seas, with temperatures not higher than 58 degrees F,
07:21even though some of these animals do migrate to warmer places.
07:25Like whale sharks, basking sharks are harmless and don't attack snorkelers or divers.
07:31These creatures have loads of small teeth, but they don't use them when feeding.
07:35Instead, they swim with their huge mouths open and swallow plankton.
07:40A grown-up basking shark can filter nearly 2,000 tons of water per hour.
08:00Oh wow, there's a hole in the bottom of the ocean!
08:03It seems that the ocean has a leak.
08:05But it's not like a leak you would expect, where water is flowing out.
08:09It's more like a spring, since water is flowing in, not out.
08:13This unique leak is something we know as Pythia's Oasis.
08:18A grad student was the one who accidentally discovered it.
08:21He noticed bubbles that were rising to the surface.
08:25Normally, bubbles in the ocean tell us there might be some hydrothermal vents,
08:29which are hot spots for some pretty cool things.
08:33These vents are actually like hot springs on the seafloor,
08:36but instead of bubbling with warm water,
08:38they release a fluid that has been superheated in the crust of our planet.
08:42When seawater seeps into these cracks and travels deep into the crust,
08:47it comes into contact with the extremely hot mantle.
08:50This heats seawater to very high temperatures,
08:53and as it moves back up towards the surface,
08:56it carries dissolved gases and minerals.
08:59When the hot fluid shoots out of the vents,
09:01it mixes with the surrounding seawater and quickly cools down.
09:04Just a short distance away from the vent,
09:07the temperature can drop to a comfortable 68 degrees Fahrenheit or so,
09:11which is, as it seems, exactly what some creatures like.
09:16And there are some real weirdos living down there in the darkness,
09:20like ghostly fish, giant red-tipped tube worms,
09:23and a unique type of shrimp with eyes on their back.
09:26And some of them, like tube worms and bacteria,
09:29rely on the chemicals and minerals released by the vents
09:32to survive in harsh conditions.
09:35But in this case,
09:36the bubbling water didn't come from a hydrothermal vent.
09:40It was there because of a spring,
09:42and that's a bit more concerning.
09:44You see, the water in this reservoir needs to stay where it is.
09:48If too much of it seeps out,
09:50there could be some serious consequences,
09:52especially for the surrounding area.
09:55You can see this unusual leak along the Cascadia subduction zone,
09:59which is a massive fault line off the Pacific Northwest coast.
10:03It's a place where two pretty big plates that make up Earth's crust
10:06come together and slide along each other.
10:09The water from Pythia's oasis
10:11kind of acts as a lubricant between these plates.
10:15You can think of the fault zone as an air hockey table.
10:18When the fluid pressure is high,
10:20it's like you've turned the air on.
10:21That means the friction between the plates
10:24is reduced, which allows the plates to move.
10:27But if the fluid pressure is lower,
10:29the two plates can lock together,
10:31which then leads to the buildup of stress.
10:34Not that they'll feel bad.
10:36In the context of tectonic plates,
10:38stress is some pressure or force
10:40that can cause deformation.
10:42And if this stress starts to build up,
10:44at some point, it's got to go somewhere.
10:47When it's too much,
10:48it can trigger earthquakes,
10:49and most likely not small ones.
10:51For example,
10:52a release of stress in the Cascadia subduction zone
10:55could lead to a magnitude 9 earthquake.
10:59For comparison,
11:00the biggest earthquake we've ever recorded
11:02happened in Chile in 1960,
11:04and it had a magnitude of 9.5.
11:07The damage was enormous.
11:10So, we hope the water will stay in its reservoir
11:13and keep maintaining the delicate balance
11:15between the tectonic plates.
11:17We've explored only 5% of the ocean.
11:20Who knows how many cool things are there at the bottom,
11:23waiting to be found?
11:24For example,
11:26check out these mysterious holes
11:27scientists have stumbled upon
11:29in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean,
11:31near the Azores.
11:33They're neatly aligned
11:35and are about 4 inches apart,
11:37or in some cases,
11:38even several feet.
11:39They resemble punctures
11:41left by a sewing machine.
11:43Some think these holes
11:44could have a biological origin.
11:46For instance,
11:47some fish may have made them
11:48while walking along the seafloor.
11:50Others believe we could be looking
11:52at something that's human-made,
11:54maybe left by a spiked tire.
11:56Of course,
11:57such holes are perfect
11:59for making up stories
12:00about creatures from other planets
12:01who allegedly made them.
12:03Or maybe even legendary monsters,
12:05like that one from Loch Ness.
12:08It's definitely hard to explain
12:10such symmetry of the holes,
12:12but one deep-sea biologist
12:13offered a pretty good explanation.
12:16He said there could be an animal
12:18burrowing beneath the sediment,
12:19and from time to time,
12:21it could make little chimneys
12:22just to get access
12:23to clean water circulation
12:24in its small burrow.
12:26I mean,
12:27there are sediment piles
12:28around the opening of each hole,
12:30and they do support the idea
12:31that something pushed the soil
12:33from below.
12:34But there's still no proof
12:36these holes are actually connected
12:38beneath the surface.
12:40And there are also
12:41a lot of things hidden
12:43at the bottom of the oceans
12:44and seas
12:45that ancient civilizations left us.
12:47For instance,
12:49archaeologists made
12:50a really cool discovery
12:51off the southern coast of Croatia,
12:53a road hidden under layers of sea mud
12:56that's 7,000 years old.
12:58They found the ancient road
13:00at the sunken Neolithic site
13:02of Solin.
13:03The site of Solin
13:05was a human-made island
13:06in ancient times,
13:07and an archaeologist
13:08discovered it two years ago.
13:10He was studying satellite images
13:12of the area around Korcula,
13:14one of the beautiful Croatian islands.
13:16When he realized
13:17there could be something interesting
13:19at the bottom of the sea,
13:20he dove into the water
13:22with his colleague.
13:24And under the surface
13:25of the Adriatic Sea,
13:26which is part of the Mediterranean Sea,
13:28at a depth of 13 to 16 feet,
13:31they found stone walls
13:33that were most likely part
13:34of some ancient settlement.
13:36The landmass
13:37where people built the settlement
13:38was separated from the main island
13:40by a narrow stretch of land.
13:42Luckily,
13:43this area is protected
13:44from big waves
13:45by the surrounding islands,
13:46so the site remained
13:47relatively well preserved.
13:49It's now hidden
13:51beneath the surface of the sea
13:52and covered in mud.
13:54But it's so exciting
13:55to imagine
13:55how people walked on that road
13:57nearly 7,000 years ago,
13:59visiting nearby settlements.
14:01If you want to see
14:03the weirdest creatures,
14:04you can always head
14:05to the bottom of the sea.
14:07Actually,
14:07scientists have determined
14:09there could be more than
14:1030 potentially new species
14:11at the bottom
14:12of the Pacific Ocean.
14:14They've collected them
14:15using their remote-controlled vehicle.
14:17That's a big step
14:18because until recently,
14:20they could only study
14:21such creatures
14:21through photographs.
14:22I'm talking about
14:24segmented worms,
14:25different types of coral,
14:27some invertebrates
14:27similar to centipedes,
14:29and many others.
14:31But there are also
14:32many old freaky creatures
14:34that we already know about
14:35that look like
14:36they came from sci-fi movies.
14:39Red octopus,
14:40blobfish,
14:41okay,
14:41this one kind of looks normal
14:42until you raise it
14:43to the surface,
14:44the goblin shark,
14:46Sloan's viperfish,
14:47zombie worms,
14:48ugh,
14:49yeah,
14:50I hear ya,
14:50let's move on.
14:53The seafloor hides things
14:54from space too.
14:56There are traces
14:57of rare forms
14:58of plutonium and iron
14:59at the bottom
15:00of the Pacific Ocean.
15:01And what's awesome
15:02is that all this
15:03has come from space.
15:05These radioactive materials
15:07probably formed
15:08during some kind
15:09of cataclysmic event
15:10in space
15:11and eventually
15:12made their way out
15:13to our beautiful
15:14home planet.
15:15And this extraterrestrial debris
15:17most likely appeared
15:19on Earth
15:19within the past
15:2010 million years.
15:22After it fell
15:23to the Pacific Ocean
15:24and settled
15:24at a depth
15:25of almost a mile,
15:26it became part
15:28of all those layers
15:29of rock down there.
15:30Plutonium
15:31is especially exciting
15:32for scientists.
15:33I mean,
15:34only tiny amounts
15:35of it have been found.
15:37Hundreds of atoms,
15:38maybe.
15:39But it's still remarkable
15:40because these atoms
15:41are created
15:42by exploding stars.
15:45Things like this
15:46can help us
15:47better understand
15:48how the universe
15:49produces elements
15:50heavier than iron
15:51like plutonium,
15:52gold,
15:53uranium,
15:54and platinum.
15:55We're still not sure
15:56about the origins
15:57of these elements.
15:58For a long time,
16:00scientists believed
16:00that supernovae,
16:01which is when a star
16:02comes to its end
16:03in a fabulous explosion,
16:05were responsible
16:06for creating
16:07these heavy elements.
16:08But it seems
16:09it's not just that.
16:11Some other cosmic events,
16:13such as the collision
16:14of neutron stars,
16:15which are super-dense
16:16collapsed stars,
16:17or some rare types
16:18of supernovae,
16:19could also be involved.
16:21Whoa!
16:22Let me get my popcorn
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