Why did Crocodiles Survive and Dinosaurs Die?
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- Опубліковано 21 лис 2019
- #PaleoAnalysis
I have heard this question asked many times over the years, so I have decided to make my very first Paleo Analysis video about this subject and dive into the reasons why crocodiles still exist today despite being around during the time when the meteor struck the earth and ended the age of dinosaurs.
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Gators are pretty hardy animals, Saturn the alligator even survived the bombing of the Berlin zoo in WW2 and somehow managed to survive for years in a European warzone before British soldiers found and recaptured him, and he lived on to the ripe old age of 84 despite all he'd been through.
That's because he is really a Predicon.
He just ate dead bodies around him, thats not really hard to do by gator standards....
Amazing right!? It's fantastic how they can survive that bombing
interesting story, but Saturn is a terrible name for an alligator.
@@russellmarra8520 wdym??
Not a good name for a alligator?! Saturn is a cool name you know!
You omitted their ability to burrow as a major factor in their survival. The extant Nile crocodile can burrow to depths of 12 metres, and there's no doubt the surviving Mesozoic crocs had similar capabilities. This would have saved them from all the horrors on/near the surface, such as raining hot glass, noxious gases, extended winter etc. The fact they only need to eat once a year sealed the deal.
🎀Once a year?🎀
Thank you for your comments. I wish I could burrow and est only once a year.
@@autumnhomer9786 Crocs can survive for over a year without eating actually, yes. Up to two to three years.
@@DaI-rx3xg you might be on the wrong channel if you want the Bible taken seriously boss
@@DaI-rx3xg Internet missionary work is beyond useless. Consider volunteering your time in better ways.
No over exaggerated intro, No annoying music in the background, no beating around the bush, just straight to the point And very entertaining and interesting information. You sir have earned my sub.
Most definitely.
A ton of jump cuts though
mine too
Ok fine, I will too.
He's an idiot posing as "knowledgeable" but he us just overreacting in overuse of redundant terminology that inflates his message.
Crocs had plenty of aquatic animals to eat even when land based animals became scarce, also those that did survive had to drink water, so the crocs food source came to them, they didn't have to go out hunting, they sit back and wait. Ambush strategy works and not wasting calories roaming around hunting, also the crocs are cannibalistic.
Where’s the aquatic dinosaurs?
@@gobucs3146 I’m by all means no expert but I’d assume this might have effected the oceans in a similar way. Don’t things like plankton and alege (I can’t spell sorry xD) require some sun too? If so I assume it happened pretty much the same. And I think a lot of aquatic dinosaurs were specialized in what they did. But also I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some kind of long lost relatives to aquatic dinosaurs somewhere in our vast oceans
@@gobucs3146 not really. if you mean large marine reptiles yes, but they probably went extinct due to oceanic ecosystems collapsing to the point anything bigger than a barracuda or middle sized shark going extinct
I think more aquatic life actually went extinct, but yea animals still need to come to water and drink. and being ambush predators their hunting style for the most part wouldnt have to change to much.
@@LawAcieIV you’re probably right! I’m by no means an expert haha I’m just a stoner who enjoys learning things and thinking(probably too deeply) about stuff haha
Here in Florida humans have pushed bears, panthers, armadillos and many other mammals to the brick of extinction in our territories, yet gators are prospering as are turtles, rats and of course several birds. Resilient animals that adapt to change
All i know is that in East Asia (forget which river) there is a river where crocs thrive with a single food source: raw sewage, so i bet Florida even with humans is basically paradise to them.
@@jasonreed7522 swamp animals did better overall. I guess living in still putrid decaying water has its benefits.
Eh…American Alligators almost went extinct in the 1970’s. The US made it a priority to save them; so I wouldn’t attribute their recovery in Florida and Louisiana to the animals themselves.
Don't forget the Homo FloraMan species of primates here!
I have noticed here in South East La. armadillos are pretty rare to see any more.
Hard to imagine the sheer number of massive carcasses that would have filled the world at that time, choking rivers, floating in the ocean, just death everywhere. Granted, as you said carnivores would have been around a while to clean up the mess but with that much death all at once it would have been amazing in a smelly gross way.
That’s assuming they were killing for the purpose of killing. Most animals today and I would imagine in the past as well, they only killed as needed and ate as needed so I don’t think it would be that bad. It’s the human race that invented the kill just in case we need food mentality
@@kornanthony23 I'm not talking about killing alone as the reason for death. Watch the video, he says there would be mass starvation of herbivores. They are the ones that would have littered the ground first. As for animals needlessly killing, obviously you've never owned an outdoor cat.
@@DieLuftwaffel The extinction of large Ice Age fauna at the end of the last ice age ~10000 yrs ago shows something similar at a smaller scale. Large herbivores were the first ones to go when there was drastic change to the climate. In the Americas, deer and buffalo survived but Mastodons and giant sloths perished. Large predators that depended on the large herbivores like the saber-toothed cats also went extinct
@@nataliajimenez1870 Yes, though to my knowledge that extinction was much less rapid and involved much fewer species. The entire extinction probably took millennia due to shrinking habitats.
@@kornanthony23 you have never actually studied a thing about nature....nature today as in the past kills and rapes for lots of reasons 🙄🙄🙄
Crocodiles and their relatives are also known not only to bury their eggs, which offers a much greater chance for survival, but they will often burrow into the banks of rivers, lakes and streams for protection against predation and intense weather conditions. They share these traits with some other notable survivors, like turtles, snakes, and lizards.
Most of the animals that survived the extinction event at 66 Ma, lived or spent a lot of time in water. This included crocs, and turtles. They also laid eggs, but did not really need parents to survive.
As a crocodile specialist, this is a question I get asked all the time. Very nicely explained and kept simple and easy to understand. Also, that is a nice gator skull :P
Don’t some crocodilians dig burrows and hibernate?
@@tannerolafson3619 Strictly speaking it's not hibernation, but yes, they've been known to dig burrows where the temperature is constant.
@@Sarcosuchas When it's reptiles, it's called brumation. But yes...they can basically shut/slow their bodies down. This ability gave reptiles, amphibians, and small mammals a huge advantage during the extinction event.
@@Ispeakthetruthify what is the case of birds (avians)?
@@arta.xshaca Well avian dinosaurs(birds), have the greatest advantage(besides the human brain) EVER developed in the Animal Kingdom. And this of course is flight.
Birds could have flown to the few isolated spots of sanctuary around the planet. And the seabirds already living on small islands, and rocky ocean outcrops, would already have an advantage for long term survival. Birds don't need much space to survive, just a place to nest and rest. And in these pockets of sanctuary, and places less affected, they could eke out a living until the worst of the extinction event was over.
Once things began to turn around, they easily repopulated the virtually empty continents. And once the did, they diversified and flourished due to lack of competition. Which is why the time from when the dinosaurs went extinct, to around 10 million years afterwards, is called the 'Age of Birds'. Birds dominated skies and the land. It wasn't until medium to large sized mammalian herbivores and carnivores evolved, that they began to lose their grip.
I think it’s worth noting how small mammals tend to breed fast, some even having multiple sets of offspring in the corse of a year. Also small mammals tend to mature to breeding age quickly. I think a strong argument could be made that warm blooded mammals survive because they could evolve adaptations quickly. Planet is getting colder? Joe survived more winters than bob who had less fur, joe has more offspring, joe’s kids tend to have thicker fur. Larger creatures tend to have fewer offspring and invest more resources into each of them, making it harder to evolve quickly.
Great comment! Kinda makes me think of how infinities can be bigger or smaller than other infinities.
solid comment
It's also somewhat true for humans nowadays.
In the developed world people have fewer children but invest a lot in education, infrastructure(schools, hospitals etc) for these few children.
In developing countries it's the opposite, many children with little investment(because it's not available) in education/infrastructure.
If a meteorite would strike today those children in developing countries would have a better chance of survival based on sheer numbers AND because they are used to bad infrastructure.
I know Joe. Even his daughters are hairy. Unibrows, sideburns, and moustaches are prevalent.
Spot on. It's a complex game that survival, and I think breeding should have been mentioned. It is interesting how we still often focus on physical characteristics (although the tons of info we now manage to extract from bones is wizardry) and neglect behavioural theories to supplement.
I have never been into dinosaurs until my son came along. I know more species now than ever. Glad I came across your channel, very informative👍🏿
I am in my 30s and I love dinosaurs
Did you take him to watch Jurassic World?!
that’s adorable. i loved tjem and so did my brother lol
Lmfao I used to (probably) bore my parents cause I used to be obsessed with them
Dinosaurs are an enormous group. Even if we count just the birds there are more species of birds today than mammals. Kinda wild.
It’s likely turtles, lizards, and snakes followed similar routes in surviving the KT event. I’ve always been curious why studies of the survivors hasn’t been more vigorous. Good presentation.
I have a theory. Some crocodiles hibernate underground in a shell of hardened mud during droughts. Many small mammals live in burrows in the dirt. Snakes and lizards often live in underground nests. Some birds nest in holes in cliff faces. That seems like it is the commonn theme of the animals that survived the asteroid strike and asteroid winter that followed.. All terrestrial animals alive today evolved, I think, from species that had some kind of underground refuge.
Sounds like a Suspicious Observation 🤔
That explains cavemen
@@fffgff9714 ... Actually it does explain human survival from the eruption of the Toba supervolcano 70,000 or so years ago.
Yes, that did play a large part in it(or at least it is hypothesized to have played a large part.) It's of course not the whole picture/cause, but small animals, particularly those that lived underground, or in logs/trees, in nests, etc., would have had a huge advantage. Not only would the climate be much more stable in these types of areas,but small animals also require far less food than large ones. Also, birds had the ability to fly, and even migrate/emigrate if needed.
Living underwater could have similar benefits, especially in the short term, but once the environment changed the oceans enough to disrupt the food chains(through cooling, cyanobacteria and other marine autotrophes having far less sunlight, and thus far less food(which could potentially even change atmospheric oxygen levels), changes in ocean currents, which are largely due to differences in water temperature in different parts of the world, significant changes in pH levels(specifocally an increase in acidity), changes in nutrient levels, even entire ecosystems like coral reefs which not only require specific temperatures, sea levels, nutrients, etc., but also rely on the algae that lives on them for food(which in turn get their energy from the sun)), it led to an equally severe mass extinction there. It's estimated that about 75% of marine life/diversity was lost in the K-Pg extinction event.
I can't even imagine what it must have been like to observe such a thing(from the safety of a time traveling capsule or something of course. Lol.) Not only the meteor impact, but the ensuing days, weeks, and years. In fact, it's long been thought that there was bit of an extinction(a more gradual one) going on even before the asteroid hit. It would be interesting to learn more about that, and to determine if it really was a significant extinction, or more an issue of taphonomy.
I think this is it. Animals that lived underground during at least part of the time. Crocodillians, many of them, dig burrows often under water along the banks. Likewise with all frogs and lizards and small mammals and such, and the cliff birds. The scenario he posits here for the immediate aftermath of the strike is one of a lesser initial impact, like only bad in North America, but the lasting impact nuclear winter lasting many years to decades. I don't think this is right. The atmosphere would clear itself in a matter of months or just a few years. But the initial impact would, besides really destroying North America with the blast waves and tsunamis, also lofted gigatons of ejecta, both of the meteorite and the rock blasted out, up into and even beyond in some cases orbit. Most of it went into very high near orbit, that alter re-entered at crazy high velocities, giving a rain of super hot particles over the whole earth. This is the sky is an oven for a few hours scenario, and oven on hyper clean mode, like 700°F+, over more or less the whole earth. All land life was toasted and burned that was above ground. But studies of underground life at the UT Austin, I think, showed that even literal inches of soil, like near a foot or less provided protection for several hours. Thus even the roots of trees may have survived and any seeds that happened to be under ground deep enough. The smoke of all land plant vegetation plus all the sulfates from the Meteorite slamming into Gypsum rich sediments did certainly create a nasty "nuclear" winter, but I doubt it lasted many many years. Then all the things he said about warmblooded calorie needs also contributed, but I suspect that since no Dinos burrowed or even lived much in water, they just got cooked initially.
My guess, before having watched the video, would be that crocodiles largely managed to survive due to their relatively low metabolism.
I feel like the ability to just chill out for half a year or more without needing to eat might have come in handy during any kind of mass extinction event, whereas more active, warm blooded, large predators would not have had that luxury.
it blew my mind when i learnt crocs can survive with no food for 3 years
Awesome Mr important fact the water protected them along with other aquatic creatures so they still had a semi food source for a long time plus they're scavengers they eat rotten me they don't eat fresh stuff so that helped a lot
Isn't that basically what he said in the video?
@@richarddoan9172
He said BEFORE he watched the video
@@richarddoan9172 read the comment again
thought you were just gunna say "because being under water saved them" but i actually learned alot. Great video
That still is one reason.
Love this question. Things went dry and some areas still had swampy conditions with small things that they normally eat anyway. They reduced in size during this atmospheric condition over a period of thousands of years. They changed size and reduced how much food intake. When the earth's atmosphere became more habitable, they grew and changed a little in size and biology in varying ways in different places. And they stayed small and bigger birthers in other places like Caymans. Amazing evolutionary story of this animal. They survived and have never returned to a super large size like in ancient period, but they are a great predator and a beautiful animal. Crocs are awesome.
I like how they interact with hippos. They have a healthy fear of hippos. Hippos are actually kind of nasty. They will try for their young, but they will not mess with a bull. They run, swim away.
I imagine the same mechanisms were behind the survival of turtles and tortoises: animals that were (are?) viewed as "slow", "stupid" and "primitive", yet are still going after 200 million years.
Not the swamp one is had as pet for a period wasn't really slow tho
High-developed brain structure creates a lot of energy consumption
turtles survived for 200 million years yet cant survive the *Human Inquisition*
@@fwogboi
Humans are the harshest creatures on the globe. We kill for fun...
When being stupid is a survival trait
Their metabolism very slow and the fact that they could go months without eating. Not to mention that they could had easily hide underwater or underground
Very well explained and also I noticed how well you chose the words in the narrative. It was not only educational about the crocodilians but at least as much of a pleasure to just listen to you talking. Thank you for all this.
Yeah I just found this channel recently.
I can tell I will enjoy him talking in an ASMR sense as much as I will enjoy the content! 😎👍
Very cool video my dude! First video I watched from you and I was engaged and entertained the entire time.
I would like to add one 'theory'. It seems the most dinosaurs required considerable parental care from adults. While crocodilians receive parental protection they are quite able to survive upon hatching. This would be especially true in a world where most threats to hatchlings have already perished. Plus, they might hibernate as well as only needing to eat once or twice a year.
The meteorite that collided blew a portion of the atmosphere into space, reducing the oxygen pressure. Alligators dive, being used to live under whater with temporarely no air, not diving, they had sufficient oxygen to survive.
Avians can fly at altitude at reduced oxygen pressure, when the pressure was reduced, the survived by not flying or flying low. The large animals simply asphyxiated.
I believe alligators will eat other alligators should the opportunity arise. I would imagine crocs will do the same? Scarcity of food would exacerbate this and young gators/ crocs would be vulnerable. No basis for this, just my thoughts.
This makes me wonder how close to extinction some of these species got and how many species barely missed survival. Like were there 100 crocodiles left on earth before their numbers started coming back, or were there 100,000. A species only needs a few dozen survivors to come back
Yea that is a great question
I think i read somewhere that even our human population was in low numbers in certain point of our history
Typically once you get down to a certian number, the species is doomed for lack of genetic diversity.
@@duress8801 low as in 70,000.
@@Saturnius low as in 6 women
@@TheMachDisk there is no way I know of to varify if it was so little. it may be better to scew towards higher numbers, given our historic breeding habits, particularly in our pre-agricultural stage of society structures.
I remember visiting a gator farm in Florida. Even when they're big, they're super-cute. They enjoyed sunbathing on one another and when tossed hotdogs from the feeding platform, they were surprisingly docile with one another. They weren't snapping at one another for the same treat, just waiting their turn and moving off once they had a few bites.
Considering how many there were, it's not surprising they survived the last extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs.
Yeah, a gator in the wild is a different story🤣🤣🤣🤣
The key words there is "gator farm" 😂 not wild, u not saw the video of when a gator bites and rolls anothers arm off cause it was near food ? 😂 they will kill each other for food in the wild
Best explanation for the actual end of the dinosaurs I’ve heard. Me and my friends debated this because of the meteorite destroying the world sounding far fetched and reached the same conclusion as you’re putting forward here. I’m happy because many beers were consumed that night and some logic and sense were found still
cartoons really did a disservice in that matter, the love to depict the meteor coming, then cut away leaving the assumption that the impact itself killed the dinosaurs, the show dinosaurs was more realistic with a long could winter and starvation, even if it wasn't caused by a meteor
There's another factor when talking about the large dinosaurs and even why the extremely large insects that existed during the cretaceous period and that is the oxygen levels then versus in our modern era. It is estimated that the oxygen level during the dinosaur period was at 30%, whereas our oxygen level now is at 20%. Those extremely large dinosaurs needed higher oxygen levels and of course, the warmth.
what's your take on every molecule formed on earth, remained the same number since the dinosaurs? meaning, the water we are drinking, the air we are breathing is the exact same that passed through the dinosaurs millions of years ago.
I heard someone say we are breathing the same air spoken by Shakespeare or Hitler since that collection of oxygen, nitrogen, etc, molecules gets recycled or dispersed into the atmosphere.
How wrong am i in this understanding?
@@robosing225 it's a long discussion, but in short different fauna and flora can lockup gasses and other material. So a tree will capture carbon, die and then under the right conditions it won't decompose fully and slowly be pushed into the ground where it can lock up these resources. Furthermore, air is made up of multiple gasses which are captured in different forms like animals breathing or plants absorbing carbon dioxide, through processes we release a different gas, such as humans breathing oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide etc. And finally, the earth is moving on the mantel, so as tectonic plates shift they can release extra gas or molecules from the earth's centre changing the ratio.
This is a very insane simplification - it's easier to remember that generally nothing leaves earth however different molecules can be trapped in different ways for long periods of time.
Anyone correct me if I'm wrong!
@@robosing225 the amount of oxygen in the air was much higher during the time dinosaurs ruled the earth. When insects are bred and raised in a lab with a higher amount of oxygen they grow bigger. There are videos of that on UA-cam.
Oxygen level is not a reliable correlation to size. Just look at the blue whale, the largest animal ever and it lives in the modern era
@@davidc.w.2908 They do grow bigger, but up to an extent. The rest is based on genetics.
My zoology lecturer said it was the liver. Crocodiles have musculature around the liver that allows them to control their breath better. Not many people know that oxygen around the time of the dinosaurs was 30-40% and then decreased to today's 21%. This ushered in the era or mammals; warm blooded, small and diaphragm for good deep breath control. The crocodile was the only one that could still survive in these conditions.
Of course these lectures were 30 years ago, so not sure of modern thinking in science Take home message is that oxygen levels aren't stable so don't expect the earth's atmosphere to be suitable for humans/mammals forever either.
But crocodiles aren't the only reptiles still around?
Very interesting insight. Thanks for sharing.
@@Eclipse.7897 *Largest* is the key word, oxygen levels always has a role to play.
Pretty sure the oxygen level was why Dinosaurs got so big during that time aswell.
It was higher than it is today but not nearly that high.
I misread this completely as "Why did crocodiles deserve to die?" since I'm still waking up and I couldn't believe how harsh that was!
They know what they did...
I admire how you can just talk without looking at notes. Obviously your knowledge of this subject is very deep! I always enjoy your videos no matter what the subject. Many respects from Brisbane Australia. 🇦🇺
Great explanation! Makes a lot of sense. I remember seeing how some crocs or gators will survive freezing conditions by going into a lake and sticking their noses above the water surface. They go into a kind of suspended state that can last months.
Two items about Chixulub which I've seen many paleontologists argue played a part:
-It struck a sulfur-rich area, lofting enough sulfur into the atmosphere not only to cool temps for several years but in high enough concentrations for acid rain to strip leaves from plants. For quite a while there's almost no trees, and vegetation is predominantly ferns, with a major knock-on effect on the foodweb. (Luckily seeds can last a long time in the ground, so when the acid rain was finally done plants could recover) Lakes and rivers would have diluted this effect somewhat for aquatic plants.
-- So much material was lofted from the impact that tectites fell all over the earth- that's the iridium layer. The combined friction of that many small meteorites coming in at once was enough to heat the atmosphere to low broil over much of the planet, even on the far side, which is why there's evidence of fires everywhere- except New Zealand seems to have lucked out. Only burrowing animals, animals that nested in caves, animals in canyons or under rocks, and animals that could take refuge in water avoided this.
I know this second is a modified version of the "asteroid nuked the whole earth" hypothesis you dismissed, and maybe the calculations have been run again and it's been disproven.
But there are eyewitness reports of uncomfortable heat from both Chelyabinsk and Tunguska, both of which broke up in the high atmosphere, raining down only tectites and tiny spherules. The latter reportedly caused some 1st degree burns to people many tens of miles away. And those meteors were house-sized. We know the iridium layer covers the whole planet, and it's a lot thicker than the amount of debris from those Russian meteors.
If the broil hypothesis is trus, it explains why crocs, turtles and even frogs survived: enough of them and their eggs were protected by mud and/or water!
Birds are a bit more of a puzzle, but many nest in cliffs and even small caves, and some are burrowers.
Anything too big to find a cool hole to crawl into for a few hours would die of heat stroke. And that really would wipe out every dinosaur.
Birds are excellent at both radiating heat and reflecting it? Being non-terrestrial, their aerial and aquatic habitats could have kept them cooler than the ground would have. Either way, they're more intelligent, manipulative and adaptive than rodents. It would also be neat to see an opinion based on an analysis of brain, surface area/mass, complexity and ability to not generate too much endothermic heat as a product of basic metabolism. Rodents, some dinos and birds would have had high-energy consumptive brains compared to the same mass in other animals, yet the terrestrial dinos would have had brains so large that no amount of circulation could shed heat, and thick insulative craniums to boot. The brain is always the most vital organ to protect, and species survival in some scenarios could be a function of gray-matter vulnerability to the elements? Just random thoughts.. A lack of vegetative canopy for even one reproductive cycle/season would have been an ELE for many terrestrial species which relied on camouflage or coil soil. Even with a few survivors, they wouldn't have bounced back. They'd be bunched in clusters adapted to niches or too spread out to form groups. I'm thinking of lion packs vs roaming tiger models, as we have no more intelligent reptiles with complex social behavior to observe.
to be fair, most avian dinosaurs also died in the k-t
There were also the Deccan Traps eruptions that happened around 66 million years ago, these along with the Chicxulub impact event doomed the dinosaurs
Some Crocodilians and turtles hide in burrows dug into riverbanks. These burrows would provide temporary refuge from superheated air. Some birds (swifts fo example) nest in caves far enough in to be protected from the temporary hot air. Then the surviving mammals were mostly the size of current borrowers (mice, voles, hamsters, etc.). Many would survive in their burrows, though food shortage would face them when the heat passed.
Could you suggest any reading up for me on these?
I really appreciated how you broke this all down. I'd always wondered how some species survived and many didn't and now I have a clearer understanding of how that happened. Thank you very much. 😊
Stumbled across this video in the wee hours of the morning, and I was pleasantly surprised. Keep it up, I enjoy your work and admire your goals.👌👍
Bearded guy: [Talking]
Me: [Nodding absentmindedly and staring at cabinet behind him while drooling.] "Oooh, pretty pretty, shiny shiny."
Love how passionate this guy comes across about speaking on this topic
Brown detrital food chains in fresh and brackish water, where K-Pg extinction relatively minor.
Croc's are truly amazing creatures. The incredible thing about dinosaurs is that they're huge, majestic, terrifying creatures that were 100% real animals that did exist. And gators lived among them when they were alive, and they're still here right now after the dinosaurs are long gone.
The Bible never mentioned dinosaurs. I seriously doubt they really exist.
I think another factor is likely that mammals were largely nocturnal during the cretaceous; They were already better adapted than the dinosaurs were, to being active in the low(er) temperature / low light conditions of night. The conditions during the impact winter that followed the meteor strike, were as a result not quite as challenging to them, as they might have been for diurnal dinosaurs of similar size. That's not something I've heard pointed out yet by anyone.
I've been struggling for a few years now, to account for the fact that _all_ of the non-avian dinosaurs were wiped out.
Great vid! The survival of the crocodilians has never seemed that mysterious to me, due to their energy efficiency, as you mentioned; their good camouflage; and the fact that most animals need to go to the watering hole, so there's always plenty of prey coming to the ambush predator crocs, and all they need do is wait. Also, there's their strong immune systems that make them capable of eating rotting, waterlogged carcasses without concern.
I've always found non-bog-standard crocodilians like the gharials particularly cool, and in some ways the terrestrial crocs are scarier to me than the equivalent dinosaurs. I guess the terror is more palpable since crocs are still extant, so imagining them without one of their few weaknesses, their inability to run after you, is particularly easy to do. I was unaware of some of the other interesting extinct crocs you mentioned, though, particularly the herbivorous ones! Wild!!
It's also kind of amazing to imagine all the remaining carnivorous dinosaurs having to turn on each other and engage in Jurassic Park-style fights after the herbivorous dino prey had dried up. A big change to the "it's not worth the risk to fight you" equation.
Anyhow, despite the fact that I already had a pretty good idea why the crocs survived and the non-avian dinos didn't, your video kept me rapt throughout. I was especially impressed by your ability to talk extemporaneously for so long, and with so few cuts. Not sure what your usual line of work is, but you'd definitely make a good teacher. Very glad that UA-cam recommended this video to me, and you've got my subscription.
Well said. If u can look at nature non objectively...their survival is almost a no brainer
Eloquent sir!
I guess it s not about totally energy efficient
But only the Survivors must be able to HOLD THEIR BREATH LONG ENOUGH, during meteorites strikes on earth, causing Tsunami, worldwide temporary flood that drown most of land animal and suffocating most fish species.
Whales and dolphins do hold their breath but they will not walk back to sea, cuz they haven't got legs, compared to,says, sealion or walrus, if they lived those time, they will survived. Even they didnt got thick skins like
crocs, or armor like sea turtles, but their body covered with thick fat skin protect them in case that strong waves will strike them to the rocky clifff or rough shore.
Crocs can hold the breath upto 40 minutes, sea turtles ...4 hours.
@@komolkovathana8568 Hmm, I haven't before seen theories that there was worldwide flooding after the K-Pg event, and the "Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event" Wikipedia article, for instance, says nothing to that effect. I think the consensus is that the megatsunamis from the Chicxulub asteroid only affected coastal areas, especially low-lying ones, mostly around the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. Do you have a reference for that (besides religious flood myths)?
That said, you're no doubt correct that that would have been a significant factor _in_ those affected near-coast areas, and crocodiles probably did have had a pretty good chance of surviving that, due to their toughness, long breath-holding ability, and amphibious nature, as you note, plus their being built for spinning around in the water as in the "death rolls" they do to their prey.
@20 Twin, Kanishk Chaturvedi: Thank you kindly!
[And sorry for the delayed reply; UA-cam apparently decided to turn off my email notifications against my will at some point.]
The fact that he has to say "non-avian dinosaurs went extinct" proves that he knows the question is flawed from the start, because dinosaurs didn't go extinct; I had one for dinner last night. Birds are the dinosaurs that didn't go extinct, just like the modern crocodile family are the crocodilians that didn't go extinct.
Bingo 👍👍
Birds only came from one small group of dinosaurs
@@keegs2441 So? Modern humans only come from one small branch of hominids. Are hominids extinct?
@@craigrussell3062 get’em
@@keegs2441 Also, the history of dinosaurs is defined by a series of extinction events that cleared the playing field for a new group of dinosaurs to rise. As a famous xkcd reminded us, Tyrannosaurus rex is closer in time to a sparrow than a stegosaurus, and more closely related as well. In the era of T. rex, the stegosaurus was extinct, but dinosaurs continued on in new forms. In the age of the emu, the penguin, the raptor, the goose, and the robin, T. rex is extinct, but dinosaurs live on in an incredible variety of fascinating forms.
Never thought I'd be interested in this sort of content but it's really interesting! Keep it up!
Yeah, my first video from your channel and I’ve subbed.
My son asked me why crocs are still about but not tyrannosaurs. Although I knew the basics, I wanted to see what the modern take is, so now I’ve learned something more refreshing. Fantastic channel!
you talk very proper, up straight, and are extremely informative and you paint the whole picture instead of leaving anything out, im amazed you dont have at least 100k man.. what a great speaker.
Now he has !
That was absolutely brilliantly explained and answered an area that had caused me quite a lot of confusion. Your explanation of the meteor strike and the extinction, was absolutely brilliant and removed a lot of the doubts that I had had in my mind about that explanation (the meteor strike explanation). Thank you.
Subscribed! Very direct new info straight to my brain. Thanks, brother.
Thank you for the information! I like how you tell a story. Thanks for not sounding like a newscaster.
I'm serious in love with this channel! You've explained this topic really really well and easy to understand.
I'm glad you like it! And this is my oldest/worst video! XD
Now the question is, why did the small nonavain Dino’s die out? Wonder if it had to do with reproductive strategies. Bird incubation is relatively quick, but from what I’ve read dinosaurs took much longer to hatch. Thus requiring the nesting parent to be tied to the nest for that much longer.
I've seen a recent paper proposing that it's because of their teeth. On their own, teeth take up a huge amount of gestation time in the egg, so the avian dinosaurs that evolved beaks hatched their eggs much quicker. That probably gave them the edge come the extinction event.
I'm not an expert, but I can think two contributing factors:
First of all, there weren't many small nonavian dinosaur species left. The niches for smaller species were mostly filled by other groups by this point or by young animals of large species.
Second, most small species were theropods, so they were carnivores, which meant they had a hard time surviving as their prey disappeared. Avian dinosaurs could also be omnivores and could survive on a more diverse diet which also included seeds which would be around for a while even when the corresponding plant species had declined or disappeared completely.
I would guess it's because of the most obvious trait avian dinosaurs have, that non-avian don't have. They can fly and by this have a much larger area of operation. We have to remember, most animals went extinct because they didn't find enough food over several years due to winter. Birds simply flew somewhere else till they found a spot with food. It takes much longer for a similar sized animal to go the same distance.
@@mario97br so what about pterosaurs? It’s not as easy to justify. I’m pretty sure there were multiple small omnivorous dinosaurs, but their fragile skeletons are more difficult to preserve. And there are some data missing on the video. Expontaneous combustion of all forests on land as the atmosphere of the entire planet reached 600 C in the first hours after the impact. NASA proved it some years ago. So just burrowing animals survived or birds living in far away mid-oceanic islands, perhaps. Lot’s of questions still unresolved.
@@javierparraga6062 Most smaller pterosaurs were already out-completed by the early birds (avian dinos) during the mid-late Cretaceous, only the large pterosaurs were successful due to their size advantage. By the time the big extinction happened, the large pterosaurs couldn't find enough food and went extinct as well. Opening up the niche for the smaller birds that did survive to take over.
Awesome video! Facinating! Watched this all the way through to the end! Thank you for the superb upload!
UA-cam recommended this and I’m glad it did. Great content instant sub 👍
This was a great video man, the imagination (or is it memories?) of what went on during this event was pretty clear as you described it happening. Thanks for the history lesson. Cheers brother
How is there only one video on this channel? So good.
Come back & check it out there's more now! 😊
@@ThePurpleKrow even more now.
Come back you both.
@@LoisoPondohva I never left, I'm his girlfriend 😝
@@ThePurpleKrow good for you both I guess xd
Hello 👋
That was interesting, Croc’s immune system is unbelievable like a shark. I could see a Croc able to eat ever so often and eat rotten meat and make it past the global climate melt down.
truly chad animals
not if we don’t extinct them for their fine first
@@12gauge_shawtyy there's a glut of hides on the market, they commercially raise them all over
It could just as easily have been phrased "Why did avian dinosaurs survive and none aquatic crocodiles die?"
Did he talk much about birds…no he didn’t.
Exactly what I thought
Not all avians survived, otherwhise we would have nore than 2 kinds, and something closer to dinos even more than ratites
@@andryuu_2000 that's true but on the other hand, not all aquatic crocodilians survived either.
been binge-watching your channel. i love the stuff your putting out. the cartoon eyes on things are hilarious, i love watching the emotions come from those characters as you narrate. Looking forward to many more years of palio analysis!
Seriously amazing content man . You're going to get big . It's nice to see content made for laymen that is approachable . Really well done and thank you for making my work tollerable lol
This guy explained everything better and clearer than anyone I've heard before
That was ace! Thanks buddy. Love your treasure wall too. Awesome collection!
This was really entertaining, I appreciate the effort you put into it. I look forward to seeing your other videos!
Great video, Steve. Love the way you presented this answer in such a accessible way. Subscribed and looking forward to watching more great content!
Thank you for your efforts to allow people to learn high quality information for free.
Love the video man. I just subbed for more dino facts 🦖🦕
Thank you for this clearly explained and mellow presentation! Very informative. Especially learning that a modern crocodile can get by on eating only once a year. That’s crazy!
I’m that kid in the 60’s that had all the cool but ultimately incorrect plastic dinosaurs. Oh well, they tried.
But I’ve been having fun keeping up with new discoveries and theories about life before us. This question, however, has been rolling through my mind like a noisy marble. I just didn’t put 2 and 2 together, coz getting old. So I stopped and watched your vid. I liked it, enjoyed it, and learned quite a bit. I subscribed and I’m looking forward to a lot more informative and fun content. Well done and thank you so much!
I just found your channel. I am excited to see you grow, and learn with you as well.
Great vid and knowledge, thank for that mate.
aren't gators essentially able to go into hibernation in cold temperatures, shutting down and semi-freezing? I thought they might have slept through the worst...
Que pic of aligator sleeping with nose above ice covered pond.
Lmfao 🤣 imagine hibernating through the extinction level event and waking up after like “wtf happened while I was sleep?”
Pretty sure it's frogs that do this
@@Davums Gators for sure do it. They actually brumate though, not hibernate.
@@Tybren yes but didnt the worst after the asteroid last like a couple million years
Great video. If anyone is having trouble picturing how large a 50 foot crocodilian would be, consider the the 23 inch long skull on the desk. He said the body length was 11 feet, so if the ratio is similar these giants would have had heads that were over 9 feet long.
Imagine going out to your garage in the morning and being swallowed whole by the enormous alligator lying on your driveway.
The ratio is 8.7 ft for the skull, assuming that the head to body ratio was equal.
Oo nga. Súper rapsa Ng lamu kila te Nemeth, dang laki kamo Ng cheesecake eh. Baka pang diin nila si twinkle
Think of the crocodile that ate Captain Hook in the movie hook
@@tawnymarinoble3802 That was actually a solid ELI5 assist and you get bonus points because I was probably only a couple years older when that movie came out.
RUFIOOOOOOO
There was a man taken from his yard in Slidell La. after the hurricane last year
Fascinating! Thanks for posting this!
I have waited for the answer of this questions for 30 years. Thank You very much! 😭😄
Came across your channel while stuck in the youtube vortex, and I like it! Subscribing now.
I like your straightforward way of sharing information and your knowledge. No silliness, no clickbait.
Brilliant analysis, very enjoyable as well. Learnt a great deal from this short clip. Thank you very much for sharing this.
I like the way you explain it and talk, I can actually understand and comprehend everything
It's a question I had never though to ask, but I am really glad you answered it.
I know for a fact there was once caught a crocodile and when he got caught they put ducktape around his mouth.
At that moment the crocodile managed to escape and they couldn't catch him again. The crocodile was expected to die, but over 2 years later they found him back, still with the ducktape around his mouth. That crocodile has lived for over 2 years without eating anything at all! I also know that when it's freezing crocodiles often put their nose above the ice, and just let themself freeze in! As long as there's ice, they can't move at all, all they can do it just breath and that's it. In other words, appearantly crocodiles really don't (need to) eat as much as many people think they do. They just sit down doing nothing 90% of their lives and just wait till a meal appears. They are usually not really active hunters, they just wait till the right moment comes.
Also note that if their eggs are layed down at 30 degrees of below, they all become girls and 34 degrees or above they all will become males. So perhaps it was simply pretty cold and 90% of the crocodiles were girls so could reproduce pretty well soon after. Another thing is that crocodiles could become pretty old, so they really got the time to reproduce even at high age.
Interesting info. Thanx✌
2 years without opening mouth he probably still died anyway. Muscles would have atrophied away
I was the 69th like
Duct tape lasting 2 yrs in a wet, hot environment.....
Lol. Not a chance.
@@sails3538 Duct tape easely lasts far far longer then 2 years, also in the wet lol.
Thank you so much for your videos!! My 8 year old is OBSESSED with Dinosaurs and I can answer most of his questions as they pop up; but for the ones I can't, I turn to your videos. They are simply explained and he and I can learn the answer together..... Some of my favorite memories with him!
Perfectly explained, very interesting.
I subscribed 💯
Hey man. Great video, thanks for sharing your knowledge.
You talk about endo and exto therms. There is also something called a mesotherm. Only a small number of species fall under this listing. Sharks and tuna. Their body temperature will fluctuate with the temperature of thier environment but will reach a floor where their body temperature will not drop further. Good in warm waters where they would have to consume fewer calories and good in colder waters where they can be active.
This has filled such a substantial knowledge gap. So much clicks into place.
I see this video is 2 year, and this is my first contact with your channel.
Just wanted to say I respect your knowledge & passion and hope you are still doing what you do.
Appreciate you time and effort. Great content.
A very useful, informative and straight forward presentation full of facts and expert insight. Superb sir!
Well done!! During a trip to New Zealand many years ago, I was once asked about the tuatara and how come this dinosaur-like creature survived. I think you could have explained it better that I did at the time.
Missed you Steve! Glad to see you back!
This is such an incredible explanation. Thank you so much. It has made me think so much… just wow!
Great content. Keep it coming.
Wow! That was very interesting. Explaining the difference in how hot and cold blooded animals would respond to that long term environment is something I never considered! That difference alone does in fact explain a great deal! Thanks!
But they're also scavengers and there was still fish in other aquatic animals left to scavenger on...
I did not realize that I wanted to know the answer to this question until I saw the question. Awesome explanation! Thank you for making it scientific yet easy to understand. This was great just watched my first video on your channel. I’m off to explore more! Thank you! 🐊🐊🐊🐊 ☺️☺️☺️🧐🧐🧐
Good vid, very interesting. I’ll come back for more!
Excellent video with very interesting, pedagogic explanation. Thank you!
It’s wild how much more interesting the “first earth” is than our current one
But maybe that’s just because we can’t truly experience these fascinating creatures first hand 🤔
Grass is always greener on the other side! It's the allure of the unknown.
With that said, idk, giant lizards (still how I choose to imagine dinos) sound much more interesting than, idk, antelopes.
think of the giant bugs that's a big F*** No
One thing I'm going to say with 99.9% certainty is that if these things were alive today there would be no humanity.
@@zachdew9gaming985 lol maybe maybe not
There are plenty of defenseless creature who get around fine today
I think we could grind out an existence in cold regions or places with plenty of caves or trees
Not sure that's a pleasant experience
As I understand it, the devastation caused by the impact was exacerbated by where the meteor hit. It seems there was a massive amount if sulphur there that flew into the atmosphere as sulphur dioxide that rained down as sulphuric acid which destroyed the plants that herbivores needed to survive.
Wow that's amazing I never considered the cold blooded aspect as one of the key contributions to their survival.
This was an education. Articulate and easy to understand. I always wondered. Thanks!
Awesome video lots of interesting information thanks for sharing !
As I found out, crocodiles can hide under mud or anything hidden and just control their metabolism. They can do fasting to survive either.
They can freeze underwater with their snouts pointing out too. Look it up
Ran across you by accident. Good info, easy on the ears, great video.
Interesting topic, and great discussion. Thank you!
A great example of how important biodiversity is on Earth. Treating some species as pests to be eradicated or willful ignorance over our current extinction rates is dangerous. Another asteroid or meteor could be out there with our name on it. I for one applaud our soon to be (on a geological timescale) crocodile overlords.
Its a fine line i agree but some species like parasites or cancer viruses should at least be culled. They serve absolutely no purpose
...and its name is Apophis!
Stay tuned...
@@dawa7267 apophis is interesting if you are reading egyptian mythology there is a asteroid named that
How do you know it won’t be a turtle or avian? It’s weird that he didn’t explain why avians survived the meteor event. They are warm blooded. God knows my parrot eats constantly! Also, avians have quite sensitive lungs, like tissue paper, so I’d imagine all that ash in the air would be a sure killer for them.
Also, I know tortoises have weak immune systems. We used to keep a lot of turtles/tortoises as pets and rescues when I was young, and the tortoises were constantly getting sick with chest colds. There were a lot of visits to the vet to get shots for them to treat the colds, and them blowing mucus bubbles out of their nose.
I think it is a really miracle that turtles/tortoises and avians survived.
@@anti-ethniccleansing465 interesting no comment
That "terrestrial crocodile" looks like a fucking straight up nightmare. Kinda reminds me of a deathclaw from Fallout lol.
Ur channels awesome great stuff dude
I've thought of this before. All the large animals which survived have things in common. Turtles, sharks and crocodiles. Cold blooded, slow metabolism, long lifespans, and extremely hardy immune systems.
Rhinos, hippos, and elephants which are descended from prehistoric animals are not cold blooded. In his posited theory he uses words such as "probably", "likely", and then proceeds to pretend that he is speaking the truth. He is making a guess as to "why".
@@FRLN500 the discussion is not about mammals. Mammals and the predecessors to mammals were completely different to today’s mammalian megafauna. Crocodiles survived largely without changing their anatomy
@@FRLN500 That's why I said large animals. The mammals of that time were all small, including the ones which evolved into the animals you mentioned.
EXCEPT Mammals, Q. Ignorance? You need a new Education based on FACTS , any chance you had a USA Failed Education? PLUS most Thunder Lizards WERE Cold Blooded, slight problem in Brain power.
@@trevorhart545 Your ignorance shines bright as the sun, dim one. There were no large mammals then. The up to date information is that dinosaurs were possibly warm blooded and covered with feathers. So I'm afraid it's whatever crappy excuse for an education you've received which has failed you miserably. A true seeker of truth and knowledge continues their own education throughout life. There is much knowledge to be gained and you are woefully behind.