One showed up at my door I'd punch it in the face.Jeeves me out like those pictures of what raptors actrually looked like and not what jurassic park shows us. Those legs are so Alien.
Fun fact, owls are very friendly with effort. Had a returning female who would nest yearly in my barn as a kid. Got tame enough I could offer her mice by hand. And she would follow me around as I disturbed the fields in broad daylight. Easy snakes easy mice.
Robert E Fuller channel has amazing videos that show owls behavior. In this one an owl baby is scared by hearing thunder for the first time. Incredibly relatable for an animal so far removed from us evolutionary speaking. ua-cam.com/video/71PD2f1ogyk/v-deo.html
There’s an owl who always nests in my front yard and I take close up pics of her everyday and she doesn’t seem to mind lmao but I’m too scared to do anything other than that.
It’s amazing they’re evolved from dinosaurs it makes me think that maybe there where dinosaurs that where smart enough that we could have trained or been “friends” with them if we lived back then or if we could somehow time travel. Every time I look at birds I always think wow “dinosaurs”!
I believe that one of the things that people overlook about owls that contributes to their somewhat bizarre and "wise" appearance, is the fact that all other bird's eyes close by the lower lid up, and an owl's eyes close by the upper lid down, thus resulting in a "human-like" effect. And then there's that robotic closing of the eyes as the bird's head turns.
Dear, I don't know about you, but I feel those prehistoric owls were not also cute, but rather Devilish in appearance 😰😰😰, probably capable of attacking and killing Humans just like modern day eagles
@@johnmurdoch8534 That's because the eyeballs are so large that they fill the ENTIRETY of the orbit, NOT leaving ANY slack at all to allow any rotation. The ability to swivel the head so greatly compensates for this.
If possible, could you please do one on parrots? It’s be cool to know why they separated from falcons, which are more closely related to parrots than eagles and hawks.
Owls are definitely that type of animal that look almost entirely fake or made up, but aren't. I think it might have to do with the whole "eyes are so specialized they can't rotate them" thing.
Falcon are most closely related to *parrots* and owls to woodpeckers?! I have learned something, today. Speaking of extinct owls, stilts owls were a group of long legged Hawaiian owls that were the inspiration for the Pokemon, Decidueye.
As a Bahamian, let me add a bit of supplemental info. On the island of Andros, there are tales of a cryptid known as a Chickcharnie; it was sid to be a Dwarf-like creature with big glowing red eyes. These were certainly due to one last population of Tyto Pollens that existed in the Old Growth Pine Forests of the island. However, as is often the case, when people showed up they cut down the forests and when the owls lost their home it was truly the final nail in the coffin for such a magnificent species.
This just finally explained why owls can be unsettling when stared at. They can’t swivel their eyes. I never made that connection and it’s fascinating! Thanks!!
Ahh yes, evolved to fly quieter with precision in the dark. Tell that to the damnable fool of an owl that flew into the side of my house the other night, making a heck of a racket! Neither precise or quiet, that one.
Ancient humans arriving in Cuba: Time to explore this new land, and make it our…what in God’s name is that? The tall flightless owl in Cuba: Hello Blitzy~
Correction: the order Cathartiformes contains the New World vultures and condors. The Old World vultures belong to the order Accipitriformes, the same as hawks, eagles, and kites. As such they shouldn't be lumped together as they are the results of convergent evolution but are barely related to each other.
I call the birds in the order (Cathariformes), as American vulturine = (vulture like), so Vulturines and condors, so Scarlet headed vulturine, Black headed vulturine and Greater and Lesser yellow headed vulturine. Then, Californa condor, Andean condor and King condor, i refer to the king as a condor, because it is even more related to the Andean condor, than the California condor is, so it sits in the middle of that branch. And the vultures in the order (Accipitriformes), as they are, vultures.
@@toeval622 Based on DNA data things are changing, as they always do in science, when new evidence comes to light. (Cathartiformes) and (Accipitriformes) are both in the same Clade of (Accipitrimorphae), but are in different orders the (Cathartiformes) with the living family (Cathartidae) American vulturines, and (Accipitriformes) the living families (Sagittariidae) Secretarybird, (Pandionidae) Osprey, (Accipitridae) Vultures, Eagles, Vulture-eagles, Harriers, Hawks, Kites.
That's true, but both of those families are actually sister families, and some say Acciptriformes might even encompass them both. All vultures are more closely related to each other than they are to owls, but owls are most closely related to that larger family, whether taxonomists use Acciptriformes for them all or Acciptrimorphae.
Thanks for mention Ornymegalonix (oteroi Arrendondo). In my youth in Cuba, I was fascinated by this bird. I even asked my uncle to go see it on my last night before I left my country on July 18, 1966. It was exhibited in the Museum of Science, at that time housed in the former Cuban Congress Building (a replica of the US one). My cousin worked for a while in museums in Cuba (after being expelled from his position in the Cuban Armed Forces as a Lieutenant Colonel due to her "petit bourgeois mentality." Even landing a job in a museum took considerable courage from the museum director as she was a "disgraced person") and told me that remains of the bird mysteriously disappeared and were never found again. But again, thanks for mentioning it.
I live in an area of Polan where owls are really one of the most proficient hunters. Thanks for teaching me how they came up to be. It was interesting and ominous story. Thanks again for bering there for us people willing to learn something new about pre human past
I’d like to add a comment on the nocturnal nature of owls. I’ve lived most of my life in the boreal regions of Alaska, and have traveled the state widely. Owls thrive here everywhere, and at all times of year, including the Summers when the sun barely sets at all. Owls of all kinds are hunting quite successfully in broad daylight for much of the year. Great horned, snowy, grey and boreal owls, in addition to the hawk owls you mentioned being diurnal. Just thought I’d mention this as food for thought. I think it adds to the admirable nature of owls that they are so highly adaptable to extremes.
Snowy owls are cathemeral: they hunt both day AND night, and have to, because they live in places with 24-hour sunlight in summer and no sunlight at all in winter. Great horned and boreal owls are truly nocturnal, they’re just forced to hunt during daytime at high latitudes in summer; everywhere else they largely stick to hunting at night.
That owl fossil found in Cuba would have been the equivalent of the Kakapo parrot from New Zealand. They're big parrots that can still fly yet prefer to walk around. They are also called owl-parrots due to their flat face.
@Riko's postmodern life A lot of UFOlogists on the skeptical side of things thing that that's what sightings of "gray aliens" have always been. Certainly, terrifying. They're known to exist/have existed. They're huge. And they eat meat.
I cannot remember the last time I had such a reaction upon being introduced to a new animal as I did to _Ornimegalonyx_ . I shuddered at the image of it, followed closely by the thought of encountering those saucer eyes floating in the gloom at the edge of a forest clearing on some moonless night. I've always prided myself on giving no harbour to irrational prejudice against any animal or any person, but this bush stalker perturbs me for some reason I cannot put my finger on.
I wrote once, asking you to make a video on owls. and then i donated a little, because these videos were well worth whatever i could give. whether or not i had a hand in that, i'm so very happy to have seen this. thank you, you've made my night once again.
I didn’t realize how much I’d like this video. If there’s any chance you can continue the series with the evolution of different birds of prey- it might be something worth the time and I’d definitely watch any and all of that series. :) Regardless, best wishes
@MLM host/narrator: When you say that the ancient ancestor of modern barn owls was twice the size of present-day barn owls, are you referring to linear height or volumar mass? If the latter, then it would've only been slightly taller, but if the former, then it would've been like eight times the mass; so, the difference is significant
Given some of the size comparison charts, and that I believe the general meaning of that sentence in biology is volumar mass, he'd be twice as massive. I say this because animals often have different body plans when comparing species, so "double the size" may often not be useful if understood as "height when standing in a relaxed position". Not sure though.
Imagine how cool it would be to see an Ornimegalonyx in real life. If we’re ever able to revive ancient mammals that have gone extinct at the end of the last Ice Age, Ornimegalonyx would be at the top of my list alongside Giant Ground Sloths and Mastodons
Really well done video, owls are some of my favorite birds, and it's unfortunate that giant forms like Ornimegalonyx or Grallistrix from the Hawaii went extinct very recently
I’m from the Bahamas (but I didn’t grow up there) and we have a legend about a creature called the Chickcharney, they say it has the power to give good or bad luck depending on how you treat it. It’s believed to be based on Tyto pollens.
Ohhh my Gosh! That is the video that I've been waiting for so loong. I love so much owls and it's perfect, my favorite animals with my favorite chanel!! Thank you so much!!!!
If you just described an owl to someone (that doesn’t know much about owls) they would probably think it’s a cryptid. Amazing predator, long legs mostly hidden by their body and feathers, can fly almost completely silently, have tube eyes that it can’t move, can rotate its head 180+ degrees, they screech, can see in the dark, can be pretty damn big. Like that sounds absolutely insane
6:28 "Barn Owls were the more dominant animals" 6:31 "Barn Owls were often much larger around this time as well" 6:34 "There were several monstrous Miocene owls" *AMOTHUS*
Just found your channel today, immediately impressed with the production quality and interesting topics!! I’m so happy I stumbled across your videos!! Keep it up man I’m loving it
This channel is constantly teaching me about the evolution of animals I hadn't previously thought about the evolution of. I mean, everyone hears about the whales and the horses, but not the owls. Keep up the good work!
I’ve probably watched all of your videos twice, some even trice and learned so many interesting and fascinating things. But learning that there were flightless owls just blows my mind. The pictures just doesn’t compute in my brain. Running crocodilomorphs, alright. But wingless owls?! I’m flabbergasted.
If the fossil record suggests that the modern nocturnal owls came right after the occurance of eagles and hawks, then it could be possible that this change happened due to competition from the latter, which forced them to go to less demanding nocturnal niches. This makes eagles and hawks more impressive because it means they came later in the party and pushed an already existing catagory of birds out of their niche, a testament to their excellent hunting ability.
I absolutely love your videos; it helps me get back into the spirit of world-building and allows me to better predict the evolution and design of my fictional species, as well as the habitats that shape them. Thank you for making these, and I hope you continue to do so! On another note, do you think you could do an episode on the evolution of bone? I imagine there's not much fossil evidence of it due to the nature of soft-bodied animals fossilizing far less often, but it'd be really cool to see how some animals evolved into the bony creatures we know and love today.
Barn owls are my favorite animal I love them so much they're so fascinating I have ADHD and autism and I've always been obsessed with birds and animals in general and owls especially I love this
I honestly wish the giant owls of the Caribbean (not just Ornimegalonyx, but also some giant barn owls) were still around. Also, Tyto pollens actually lived and went extinct only recently (to the extent it likely went extinct due to humans), evolving in the Pleistocene and living through multiple glacial cycles (and thus multiple occasions where the Bahamas shrank to their current sizes due to interglacials bringing higher sea levels).
Really interesting about the Bahamas Tyto owl. I feel like the Tyto Owls are much more diverse and widespread in east Asia/India and I wonder if a tropical climate helps them thrive
Thanks for the video, and the great information therein. I feel like it just scratched the surface of the evolution of owls, however,. Especially their many distinctive features, and how, over time, they came to be -- or, at least, if we lack fossil evidence, what is known through any DNA analysis. I personally don't know much about this, but owls are so fascinating that I'd love to learn more! Here's hoping that if you get the chance/inclination, you decide to delve a bit deeper in some future video! :-) Cheers!
This is possibly my favorite video so far! It is so cool to know about the prehistory or the country I am from. Growing up in Cuba, I never learned about prehistory, only about communist propaganda. How did you come across information on prehistoric Cuba? I would love to learn more!
First time viewer: this was a terrific presentation! I hope you continue to work on this video --- expand it to discuss the unique evolutionary qualities of the Owl families. HOW did owls evolve to regurgitate pellets, instead of the products of digestion passing through the digestive tract? WHAT qualities were refined in owl vision by the change in the internal structures of their eyes? WHY are the ears of owls asymmetrical, and how did their ears evolve differently from other birds of prey? Thank you once again. Greetings from the USA.
The thought of a child-sized flightless owl is both terrifying and adorable
Gon get me one as a pet
Pure masculinity
You guys are gonna lose your minds when you meet Metal Beak
Have you seen an owl without any feathers you'll quickly realize they aren't adorable
@@butterqueen767 Is that a kinda bird? Or like a myth?
One showed up at my door I'd punch it in the face.Jeeves me out like those pictures of what raptors actrually looked like and not what jurassic park shows us. Those legs are so Alien.
Fun fact, owls are very friendly with effort.
Had a returning female who would nest yearly in my barn as a kid.
Got tame enough I could offer her mice by hand. And she would follow me around as I disturbed the fields in broad daylight.
Easy snakes easy mice.
Robert E Fuller channel has amazing videos that show owls behavior.
In this one an owl baby is scared by hearing thunder for the first time. Incredibly relatable for an animal so far removed from us evolutionary speaking.
ua-cam.com/video/71PD2f1ogyk/v-deo.html
There’s an owl who always nests in my front yard and I take close up pics of her everyday and she doesn’t seem to mind lmao but I’m too scared to do anything other than that.
Who?
It’s amazing they’re evolved from dinosaurs it makes me think that maybe there where dinosaurs that where smart enough that we could have trained or been “friends” with them if we lived back then or if we could somehow time travel. Every time I look at birds I always think wow “dinosaurs”!
@@samsalamander8147 but there was such a case. They even made a documentary about it called Denver the Last Dinosaur.
I believe that one of the things that people overlook about owls that contributes to their somewhat bizarre and "wise" appearance, is the fact that all other bird's eyes close by the lower lid up, and an owl's eyes close by the upper lid down, thus resulting in a "human-like" effect. And then there's that robotic closing of the eyes as the bird's head turns.
I definitely see why the Indonesian/Malay word for owl is literally 'ghost bird'.
The Chinese word for owl is "Cat Head Eagle", due to the human like effect.
Dear, I don't know about you, but I feel those prehistoric owls were not also cute, but rather Devilish in appearance 😰😰😰, probably capable of attacking and killing Humans just like modern day eagles
Also thry apparebtly cant move their eyes..ie they cant look without swiveling their whole head.
@@johnmurdoch8534 That's because the eyeballs are so large that they fill the ENTIRETY of the orbit, NOT leaving ANY slack at all to allow any rotation. The ability to swivel the head so greatly compensates for this.
And in a few hundreds years, they will create a new civilisation on an island named Ga'Hoole
Ah, I see you're a person of culture too.
By glaux-
@@badubiyum
METAL BEAK!! METAL BEAK!!
Hoot
YES
If possible, could you please do one on parrots? It’s be cool to know why they separated from falcons, which are more closely related to parrots than eagles and hawks.
I owned a parrot as a kid and would love to hear a video about them too!
Yes pls do Parrots.
É
Yes please
I'm sorry, *what?*
Owls are definitely that type of animal that look almost entirely fake or made up, but aren't. I think it might have to do with the whole "eyes are so specialized they can't rotate them" thing.
:O
Whale!
I think a big reason why they look fake is because many owls like this one 0:01 look like they don't even have a mouth. Just a head with eyes
thank you for your opinion
Seeing stuff from Hans Wormhat makes that both hilarious and shiver-inducing to me...
all birds of prey eyes can’t rotate
Falcon are most closely related to *parrots* and owls to woodpeckers?! I have learned something, today.
Speaking of extinct owls, stilts owls were a group of long legged Hawaiian owls that were the inspiration for the Pokemon, Decidueye.
Rowlett gang!
Yes, the raptors we have classically put together actually developed their traits convergently.
Yes, and falcons are also second cousins to songbirds (robins, wrens, crows, etc.).
What's a pokemon??
And the Pokémon fans go wilddd!
As a Bahamian, let me add a bit of supplemental info. On the island of Andros, there are tales of a cryptid known as a Chickcharnie; it was sid to be a Dwarf-like creature with big glowing red eyes.
These were certainly due to one last population of Tyto Pollens that existed in the Old Growth Pine Forests of the island. However, as is often the case, when people showed up they cut down the forests and when the owls lost their home it was truly the final nail in the coffin for such a magnificent species.
sad
Pine and Owl eyes, so very important to study.
This just finally explained why owls can be unsettling when stared at. They can’t swivel their eyes. I never made that connection and it’s fascinating! Thanks!!
Finally a video to watch with my dinner
“Owls don’t have eyeballs”
… maybe not
What'yu got against eyecylinders?
@@planescaped I won't have no damn tube eyes at my dinner table
@@planescaped I'm not racist, I have owl friends
Actually only the older owls have those tube eyes - the newer ones have already moved to flatscreen.
underrated comment
i hhaaaaateed that :D
Lmfao
V nice
😂
Ahh yes, evolved to fly quieter with precision in the dark. Tell that to the damnable fool of an owl that flew into the side of my house the other night, making a heck of a racket! Neither precise or quiet, that one.
give him a break! had a bit too much bingle juice
Me and my friends were driving around in the Green Swamp in central Florida. An owl had flew right into my friend's car,and became chunks. Poor owl.
Maybe he was looking for Ron Weasly?
Another proof évolution is still taking place 😉
Silent: No
Precise: Hell yeah… not that big of an opening to get in or out… relatively a far smaller opening compared to a fly getting into the house
Ancient humans arriving in Cuba: Time to explore this new land, and make it our…what in God’s name is that?
The tall flightless owl in Cuba: Hello Blitzy~
I am ashamed that I know this reference...
LOL!!! 🤣🤣👍
Ayyy
This is an amazing reference
Needs more likes, deserves more likes rather
Correction: the order Cathartiformes contains the New World vultures and condors. The Old World vultures belong to the order Accipitriformes, the same as hawks, eagles, and kites. As such they shouldn't be lumped together as they are the results of convergent evolution but are barely related to each other.
I call the birds in the order (Cathariformes), as American vulturine = (vulture like), so Vulturines and condors, so Scarlet headed vulturine, Black headed vulturine and Greater and Lesser yellow headed vulturine. Then, Californa condor, Andean condor and King condor, i refer to the king as a condor, because it is even more related to the Andean condor, than the California condor is, so it sits in the middle of that branch. And the vultures in the order (Accipitriformes), as they are, vultures.
@@toeval622 Based on DNA data things are changing, as they always do in science, when new evidence comes to light. (Cathartiformes) and (Accipitriformes) are both in the same Clade of (Accipitrimorphae), but are in different orders the (Cathartiformes) with the living family (Cathartidae) American vulturines, and (Accipitriformes) the living families (Sagittariidae) Secretarybird, (Pandionidae) Osprey, (Accipitridae) Vultures, Eagles, Vulture-eagles, Harriers, Hawks, Kites.
That's true, but both of those families are actually sister families, and some say Acciptriformes might even encompass them both. All vultures are more closely related to each other than they are to owls, but owls are most closely related to that larger family, whether taxonomists use Acciptriformes for them all or Acciptrimorphae.
Thanks for mention Ornymegalonix (oteroi Arrendondo).
In my youth in Cuba, I was fascinated by this bird. I even asked my uncle to go see it on my last night before I left my country on July 18, 1966. It was exhibited in the Museum of Science, at that time housed in the former Cuban Congress Building (a replica of the US one).
My cousin worked for a while in museums in Cuba (after being expelled from his position in the Cuban Armed Forces as a Lieutenant Colonel due to her "petit bourgeois mentality." Even landing a job in a museum took considerable courage from the museum director as she was a "disgraced person") and told me that remains of the bird mysteriously disappeared and were never found again.
But again, thanks for mentioning it.
So cool, Owls are just such an interesting study on evolutionary niches.
no
@@vwarner3534 How constructive
@@potatofuryy nerd
@@vwarner3534 shut up
@@vwarner3534 Based.
Therapist: 1m Owl isnt real and cant hurt you.
1m Owl:
Licensed Psychiatrist 1m Owl: I'm not real and can't hurt you
You:
RIP Norm
@@marca4443 and these owls were weighting about 30 kg.
The thought that owls are more closely related to woodpeckers than to eagles just blows my mind away.
wait till you find out about fish evolutionary relationships 🥴
Owls are so awesome, I feel like it’s one of the first woodland animals we learn about as kids
I love owls... even though they're prolific cat murderers.
They cleared out a barn owl nest near us a few years back and found over 60 cat collars.
@@planescaped they're just getting revenge since cats eat small birds for fun
@@planescaped cats attack their nests too... and if they are eaten it means their owners let them outside at night
I live in an area of Polan where owls are really one of the most proficient hunters. Thanks for teaching me how they came up to be. It was interesting and ominous story.
Thanks again for bering there for us people willing to learn something new about pre human past
I’d like to add a comment on the nocturnal nature of owls. I’ve lived most of my life in the boreal regions of Alaska, and have traveled the state widely. Owls thrive here everywhere, and at all times of year, including the Summers when the sun barely sets at all. Owls of all kinds are hunting quite successfully in broad daylight for much of the year. Great horned, snowy, grey and boreal owls, in addition to the hawk owls you mentioned being diurnal.
Just thought I’d mention this as food for thought. I think it adds to the admirable nature of owls that they are so highly adaptable to extremes.
Snowy owls are cathemeral: they hunt both day AND night, and have to, because they live in places with 24-hour sunlight in summer and no sunlight at all in winter.
Great horned and boreal owls are truly nocturnal, they’re just forced to hunt during daytime at high latitudes in summer; everywhere else they largely stick to hunting at night.
That owl fossil found in Cuba would have been the equivalent of the Kakapo parrot from New Zealand. They're big parrots that can still fly yet prefer to walk around. They are also called owl-parrots due to their flat face.
Nah, Kakapos are softy herbivores, that owl sounds like a beast.
@@davidhouseman4328 it's an almost astronomical reach, but I offer the panda's anatomy and current way of living as a counterpoint.
@@davidhouseman4328 That owl could probably scratch my face into a bloody mess
Actually Kakapos are flightless birds.
Kakapos are cute Ornimegalonyx sounds like a beast
7:32
Can we take a moment to appreciate how gloriously f'd up that tiger was drawn?
I didn't think owls appeared in the fossil record that early, fantastic video as always
The mention of Tyto giganteus always makes me dream. Big ass owls are such a beautiful fantasy.
There’s something disturbing about the image of a flightless owl-terror bird. It channels jersey devil energy.
Or Moth Man
They'd literally look like grey aliens
I wonder if there is any movie on them.
And Mothman.
@Riko's postmodern life A lot of UFOlogists on the skeptical side of things thing that that's what sightings of "gray aliens" have always been. Certainly, terrifying. They're known to exist/have existed. They're huge. And they eat meat.
I cannot remember the last time I had such a reaction upon being introduced to a new animal as I did to _Ornimegalonyx_ . I shuddered at the image of it, followed closely by the thought of encountering those saucer eyes floating in the gloom at the edge of a forest clearing on some moonless night. I've always prided myself on giving no harbour to irrational prejudice against any animal or any person, but this bush stalker perturbs me for some reason I cannot put my finger on.
Ok Lovecraft
I wrote once, asking you to make a video on owls. and then i donated a little, because these videos were well worth whatever i could give. whether or not i had a hand in that, i'm so very happy to have seen this. thank you, you've made my night once again.
Always a good day when you post content
I didn’t realize how much I’d like this video.
If there’s any chance you can continue the series with the evolution of different birds of prey- it might be something worth the time and I’d definitely watch any and all of that series. :)
Regardless, best wishes
@MLM host/narrator:
When you say that the ancient ancestor of modern barn owls was twice the size of present-day barn owls, are you referring to linear height or volumar mass?
If the latter, then it would've only been slightly taller, but if the former, then it would've been like eight times the mass; so, the difference is significant
Given some of the size comparison charts, and that I believe the general meaning of that sentence in biology is volumar mass, he'd be twice as massive. I say this because animals often have different body plans when comparing species, so "double the size" may often not be useful if understood as "height when standing in a relaxed position". Not sure though.
Imagine how cool it would be to see an Ornimegalonyx in real life. If we’re ever able to revive ancient mammals that have gone extinct at the end of the last Ice Age, Ornimegalonyx would be at the top of my list alongside Giant Ground Sloths and Mastodons
Really well done video, owls are some of my favorite birds, and it's unfortunate that giant forms like Ornimegalonyx or Grallistrix from the Hawaii went extinct very recently
Really interesting and well-made as always. I really love this channel, probably one of the best on youtube. Keep up the good work! :D
I wonder if owls are weirded out when other animals swivel their pupils around, like watching a horror movie where someone's arm bends the wrong way
Life is truly amazing, the history of life is so interesting and strange, it’s truly a beautiful thing
I’m from the Bahamas (but I didn’t grow up there) and we have a legend about a creature called the Chickcharney, they say it has the power to give good or bad luck depending on how you treat it. It’s believed to be based on Tyto pollens.
Owls are endlessly fascinating and beautifully unique.
Great video! You have such a good voice.
These "evolution of" videos are some of my favorite videos on youtube. keep up the great work.
I always enjoy your content and voice. Thanks!
Ohhh my Gosh! That is the video that I've been waiting for so loong. I love so much owls and it's perfect, my favorite animals with my favorite chanel!! Thank you so much!!!!
"Big flightless owl" sounds perfect for a fantasy setting. Gotta send this to my cousin who makes great DnD campaigns.
Ornimegalonyx looks similar to Stolas.
always glad to see new videos from you, the best paleo youtuber
If you just described an owl to someone (that doesn’t know much about owls) they would probably think it’s a cryptid. Amazing predator, long legs mostly hidden by their body and feathers, can fly almost completely silently, have tube eyes that it can’t move, can rotate its head 180+ degrees, they screech, can see in the dark, can be pretty damn big. Like that sounds absolutely insane
Mr MLM keep up the good work educating the public about past times.. always soothing to hear your voice about the history of our beautiful planet :)
I like to imagine a world where more people take an interest in these strange and unique creatures, but frankly no one really gives a hoot.
I do. Thats why Im here.
Whenever I think of birds as dinosaurs, for some reason owls never come to mind.
Only goes to show how alien and diverse dinosaurs must’ve looked.
I am delighted at the fact that there used to be massive owls trotting through Cuba lol
The other day I joined you as a patreon, your channel is fantastic, thanks for your uploads
YESSSSS
I WAS WONDERING WHEN YOU WOULD MAKE A VID ON OWLS
YESSS
Owls are creatures that have always interested me! Thanks for the great post!
6:28 "Barn Owls were the more dominant animals"
6:31 "Barn Owls were often much larger around this time as well"
6:34 "There were several monstrous Miocene owls"
*AMOTHUS*
Thank you for taking your time to do these so well
I love the ancient owl fossil with the coin, showing that ancient owls were smart enough to have developed commerce. :)
Just found your channel today, immediately impressed with the production quality and interesting topics!! I’m so happy I stumbled across your videos!! Keep it up man I’m loving it
I saw a piece of artwork that had a velociraptor with similar feathering to an owl, it was a bit creepy but overall beautiful nonetheless.
Sinoraptor*
This channel is constantly teaching me about the evolution of animals I hadn't previously thought about the evolution of. I mean, everyone hears about the whales and the horses, but not the owls. Keep up the good work!
This was such a great and informative video!
This is an excellent resource. So informative and easy to listen to. Keep making these videos please.
Loved this, owls are so interesting. There is a tawny owl near my house that hoots through the night.
Love this subject and video! Best paleo channel, bar none, on UA-cam!
This is awesome. Please do one on the falcon-parrot relationship you mentioned!
I’ve probably watched all of your videos twice, some even trice and learned so many interesting and fascinating things.
But learning that there were flightless owls just blows my mind. The pictures just doesn’t compute in my brain. Running crocodilomorphs, alright. But wingless owls?!
I’m flabbergasted.
If the fossil record suggests that the modern nocturnal owls came right after the occurance of eagles and hawks, then it could be possible that this change happened due to competition from the latter, which forced them to go to less demanding nocturnal niches. This makes eagles and hawks more impressive because it means they came later in the party and pushed an already existing catagory of birds out of their niche, a testament to their excellent hunting ability.
I absolutely love your videos; it helps me get back into the spirit of world-building and allows me to better predict the evolution and design of my fictional species, as well as the habitats that shape them. Thank you for making these, and I hope you continue to do so!
On another note, do you think you could do an episode on the evolution of bone? I imagine there's not much fossil evidence of it due to the nature of soft-bodied animals fossilizing far less often, but it'd be really cool to see how some animals evolved into the bony creatures we know and love today.
You should do next a video about teleost fish evolution such as tetras and cichlids.
Barn owls are my favorite animal I love them so much they're so fascinating I have ADHD and autism and I've always been obsessed with birds and animals in general and owls especially I love this
I honestly wish the giant owls of the Caribbean (not just Ornimegalonyx, but also some giant barn owls) were still around.
Also, Tyto pollens actually lived and went extinct only recently (to the extent it likely went extinct due to humans), evolving in the Pleistocene and living through multiple glacial cycles (and thus multiple occasions where the Bahamas shrank to their current sizes due to interglacials bringing higher sea levels).
Very neat video, owls have so many cool traits.
Always fascinated by owls.
Hope we will get more information about their evolution.
Yay I've waited for this video!!!
Really interesting about the Bahamas Tyto owl. I feel like the Tyto Owls are much more diverse and widespread in east Asia/India and I wonder if a tropical climate helps them thrive
I love the simple , non-obnoxious intros.
And now they’ve somehow evolved the ability to become the Guardian of Civilization and a livestreamer
I once saw a great horned owl nesting in a rock crevice on a climb in Wyoming. Cool to know that might be the home of owls.
Can't think about owls without thinking about that one owl from Ocarina of Time who could turn his head upside down instead of front/back lol
You are my favourite UA-camr!!
I didn’t realize that owls were birds when I was a kid lol
I love listening to British/Australian people talk about nature. Very refreshing
Yay new video!
Also, owls, so double yay!!
0:01 barn owls just creeps me out
It looks great you should try the evolution of other animals that are scary for this year’s Halloween month.
Yesss
An owl bonked me on the head when I ran under its tree a few days ago. Didn’t strike me with claws or break skin, just gave me a bonk.
Owl are one of the most interesting of the bird species in my opinion
Thanks for sharing that vital comment.
excellent video
i'm glad that your channel exists 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Cases like the fate of the island owls make me sad, there are so many species we just barely missed
Thanks for the video, and the great information therein. I feel like it just scratched the surface of the evolution of owls, however,. Especially their many distinctive features, and how, over time, they came to be -- or, at least, if we lack fossil evidence, what is known through any DNA analysis. I personally don't know much about this, but owls are so fascinating that I'd love to learn more! Here's hoping that if you get the chance/inclination, you decide to delve a bit deeper in some future video! :-) Cheers!
Would be interesting to watch a video from you on the evolution of other raptors, namely Acciptriiformes and Falconiformes
Excellent video. I speak to families on nature reserves about wildlife. People love raptors and owls. This is fascinating information to share. 👍
This is possibly my favorite video so far! It is so cool to know about the prehistory or the country I am from. Growing up in Cuba, I never learned about prehistory, only about communist propaganda.
How did you come across information on prehistoric Cuba? I would love to learn more!
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us! Once again a very interesting topic that I didn't even know how much it interested me
I just found your channel earlier this month and have been waiting so long for your next video, this one has to be one of my favorites
Ever since I found your channel I was waiting for the Evolution of Owls
i love owls
this is slowly helping me understand guardians of ga'hoole lol
Could you look into Kakapos? They’re so funny and charming.
First time viewer: this was a terrific presentation!
I hope you continue to work on this video --- expand it to discuss the unique evolutionary qualities of the Owl families.
HOW did owls evolve to regurgitate pellets, instead of the products of digestion passing through the digestive tract?
WHAT qualities were refined in owl vision by the change in the internal structures of their eyes?
WHY are the ears of owls asymmetrical, and how did their ears evolve differently from other birds of prey?
Thank you once again.
Greetings from the USA.
Honestly, science is better than science fiction, sometimes.
Absolute fantastic content as always!