I have many fossil teeth; from North Central Montana, all found loose, slightly "river-tumbled." All interesting. Most unknown to me. This is an amazing video!
I really like your videos, they’re such a cool breakdown of why we infer what we do from small details, keep it up! I thought I had already subbed but I was wrong, so I dinged that bell too so I’ll get notifications from now on. Can’t wait to keep watching your channel grow! Such cool stuff! Absolutely fascinating!
Thanks for the comment! This is perhaps the case for many species, but it depends on how a herbivore is defined. Almost all animals are facultative omnivores, which makes diet categories pretty fuzzy in general. Even well known herbivorous animals will often take up an easy hit of protein if its available. For example, both deer and tree-kangaroos have been observed hunting and eating small birds. Or kangaroos and bettongs have been seen feeding on carrion. Protein is valuable because it's easy to digest, but it's also harder to obtain, so a lot of these animals live with mostly plant-based diets, and only supplement with protein when needed. At least in most small diprotodont species, like those I discuss here, animal protein only accounts for less than 1-5% of their diets. Even then, its usually invertebrates, and only on the very rare occasion, frogs or lizards. Naturally, this gives them a skull and teeth better suited to processing plant material than efficient processing of animal parts. BUT, there are some examples of recently introduced possums wreaking havoc on bird populations. I've met the researchers looking into how this switch to a more predatory ecology is reshaping their skulls. Check out this link for context if you're interested: www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2017/04/killer-possums/
@@TheSkullywagLab Perhaps but insectivores are another category entirely. Sure they eat plant material but a whole lot of animal protein too. Just not a lot of vertebrate meat.
@@StevenHughes-hr5hp There's a really nice reconstruction of the evolution of diet in extant marsupials done by Lucila Amador and Norberto Giannini. It shows that the ancestral dietary mode of all Diprotodontia was most likely a browsing kind of herbivory, from which all other dietary modes seen today evolved, including the omnivorous (but mostly fungi feeding) potoroos and bettongs, and the carnivorous Thylacoleonidae. See onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/mam.12223
I think most animals are really omnivorous to some extent. We get swamp wallabies and cockatoos in the backyard and we feed them regularly... we also get more carnivorous species like Kookaburras and Lace Monitors, so we'll also put meat scraps out. For years we've seen the Wallabies munching away on things like meat curries, or grabbing a chicken leg between their very hand like front paws and chomping away enthusiastically... and then a few months ago there was a group of Kookaburra's in the backyard and there was a packet of mince beef in the fridge that had passed it's expiry the previous day so I decided to go feed it to them instead of wasting it in the bin. As I was throwing chunks of mince out on the lawn, suddenly a few of the cockatoos that regularly visit swooped down and started eating the mince beef as casually as they do when I feed them some bread or seeds. It was eye opening... and kind of disturbing... but hey, there's plenty of videos on UA-cam of cows or horses or deer eating birds etc so I guess it's pretty universal across what are generally herbivorous species.
@@TheSkullywagLabHonestly, when it comes to a candidate for "herbivory" to carnivory I'd pick deer. Clearly not built to hunt despite trying it a lot and taking any free protein that appears on their way (famously bird eggs) and scavenge. In one wolfless place they got overpoulated in they even put more of a dent on the ground nesting bird population than the actual nest raiders too. One that happened irl was a wombat like animal turning carnivore with Thylacoleo. Kangaroos could work as well, they have the arms and ability to theoretically hunt was that niche to open.
Even just from the intro I thought this was a bigger channel! 274 subscribers? The algorithm has blessed me with a small channel that will blow up soon. Great video! ❤
Thanks! It's amazing to get feedback like this. This is a team of 1, and it's just a hobby while I do the research, so uploads aren't as fast as I would like. Hope to have more videos coming soon
Meanwhile 3 days later, it was about 950 earlier when I catched the last video, it's 1080 already now few hours later. Really cool to see this happening.
Brilliant video, I love your expertise in this niche zoological field! So so facinating looking at antomy and contrasts across the vast evolotionary lineages!
I love this show now. I remember winning some prizes in school for naming the different species of skulls I got to 100% on them, I've always loved science and animals.
@@TheSkullywagLab I even made dragons that have four legs and extra "bat" wings using that. It's the best way to feel realistic and at the same time original, and also a nice way to make ancient mythical pseudo hybrids scary as fuck, since they feel unnatural when the rest feels natural. I don't get why designers don't take speculative as a base lol
@@melissaharris3389 plausible! I would guess that an animal like this would have a few key strategies for securing a meal, depending on the circumstances. But one thing's for sure, high-speed pursuit over distance, like what a cheetah does, was not one of them, based on the skeleton. So yes, other ambush methods were more likely :)
One of my favorite extinct animals for its unique anatomy alone. Something to note about the a-frame shape of the incisors, they also resemble the mouths of a completely different apex predator- carnivorous birds. In particular I'm reminded of the structure of falcon beaks, birds which rely primarily on their beaks to hunt rather than their talons. Considering they also dive from above to hunt their prey, it makes me wonder if there's some unconventional convergence going on other than just converging with cats.
what universal pictures did to the marsupial lion jaw is unforgivable, and on top of that just plain stupid. would have been way more enigmatic and terrifying with the real teeth, just like changing the claw layout was unnecessary and counterproductive. but other than that i found the depictions enjoyable actually
Agree! The movie was itself ok. But the teeth took me straight out of it. A very sad moment - to anybody who knows about them, marsupial lion teeth are singular and iconic.
Interesting take on the Australian lion. I knew it had pound for pound the strongest bite of any mammal but yeah all that force behind that A frame tooth combination probably means those two teeth could probably pierce through anything on an animal it wanted to.
Awesome video! I had to have look after your mate suggested you in his great video. Some believe there's something similar still about or are these reports just big ferrals.
Also that demon kangaroo Predator the teeth the way they come together remind me of the beak of a parrot almost what's a chunkier skull for and the way the teeth come together like a beak kind of a hooked A-frame I hope you're picking up what I'm laying down
Interesting you mention that! There's some really interesting convergent evolution in the skulls of some rodents and diprotodontid marsupials. Google and compare the skull of a wombat and a mountain beaver, for example 💀
I'll never get over PBS Eons describing this bad boy as the 'combat wombat'. Comedy gold and also pretty damn accurate.
I love PBS eons. Combat wombat is the perfect descriptor.
That's an awesome and terrifying speculative concept! Talk about death from above!!! 😨
I have many fossil teeth; from North Central Montana, all found loose, slightly "river-tumbled." All interesting. Most unknown to me. This is an amazing video!
I really like your videos, they’re such a cool breakdown of why we infer what we do from small details, keep it up! I thought I had already subbed but I was wrong, so I dinged that bell too so I’ll get notifications from now on. Can’t wait to keep watching your channel grow! Such cool stuff! Absolutely fascinating!
Small opossum sized mammals are pretty much all omnivores and not herbivores.
Thanks for the comment! This is perhaps the case for many species, but it depends on how a herbivore is defined. Almost all animals are facultative omnivores, which makes diet categories pretty fuzzy in general. Even well known herbivorous animals will often take up an easy hit of protein if its available. For example, both deer and tree-kangaroos have been observed hunting and eating small birds. Or kangaroos and bettongs have been seen feeding on carrion.
Protein is valuable because it's easy to digest, but it's also harder to obtain, so a lot of these animals live with mostly plant-based diets, and only supplement with protein when needed. At least in most small diprotodont species, like those I discuss here, animal protein only accounts for less than 1-5% of their diets. Even then, its usually invertebrates, and only on the very rare occasion, frogs or lizards. Naturally, this gives them a skull and teeth better suited to processing plant material than efficient processing of animal parts.
BUT, there are some examples of recently introduced possums wreaking havoc on bird populations. I've met the researchers looking into how this switch to a more predatory ecology is reshaping their skulls. Check out this link for context if you're interested: www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2017/04/killer-possums/
@@TheSkullywagLab Perhaps but insectivores are another category entirely. Sure they eat plant material but a whole lot of animal protein too. Just not a lot of vertebrate meat.
@@StevenHughes-hr5hp There's a really nice reconstruction of the evolution of diet in extant marsupials done by Lucila Amador and Norberto Giannini. It shows that the ancestral dietary mode of all Diprotodontia was most likely a browsing kind of herbivory, from which all other dietary modes seen today evolved, including the omnivorous (but mostly fungi feeding) potoroos and bettongs, and the carnivorous Thylacoleonidae. See onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/mam.12223
I think most animals are really omnivorous to some extent. We get swamp wallabies and cockatoos in the backyard and we feed them regularly... we also get more carnivorous species like Kookaburras and Lace Monitors, so we'll also put meat scraps out. For years we've seen the Wallabies munching away on things like meat curries, or grabbing a chicken leg between their very hand like front paws and chomping away enthusiastically... and then a few months ago there was a group of Kookaburra's in the backyard and there was a packet of mince beef in the fridge that had passed it's expiry the previous day so I decided to go feed it to them instead of wasting it in the bin. As I was throwing chunks of mince out on the lawn, suddenly a few of the cockatoos that regularly visit swooped down and started eating the mince beef as casually as they do when I feed them some bread or seeds. It was eye opening... and kind of disturbing... but hey, there's plenty of videos on UA-cam of cows or horses or deer eating birds etc so I guess it's pretty universal across what are generally herbivorous species.
@@TheSkullywagLabHonestly, when it comes to a candidate for "herbivory" to carnivory I'd pick deer. Clearly not built to hunt despite trying it a lot and taking any free protein that appears on their way (famously bird eggs) and scavenge. In one wolfless place they got overpoulated in they even put more of a dent on the ground nesting bird population than the actual nest raiders too.
One that happened irl was a wombat like animal turning carnivore with Thylacoleo. Kangaroos could work as well, they have the arms and ability to theoretically hunt was that niche to open.
Holy smokes, the skull of thylacoleo looks so similar to the dunkleosteus with those huge "plates" and wide cheeks.
Even just from the intro I thought this was a bigger channel! 274 subscribers? The algorithm has blessed me with a small channel that will blow up soon. Great video! ❤
Thanks! It's amazing to get feedback like this. This is a team of 1, and it's just a hobby while I do the research, so uploads aren't as fast as I would like. Hope to have more videos coming soon
Meanwhile 3 days later, it was about 950 earlier when I catched the last video, it's 1080 already now few hours later. Really cool to see this happening.
Brilliant video, I love your expertise in this niche zoological field! So so facinating looking at antomy and contrasts across the vast evolotionary lineages!
I recently watched the video on giant hominins and found your channel, really underrated content
I love this show now. I remember winning some prizes in school for naming the different species of skulls I got to 100% on them, I've always loved science and animals.
The algorithm sent me here. All hail the Omnissiah.
I loved the video. I've never heard about the A shaped teeth argument before.
Me neither 🤭
with these "bolt cutters" they probably went through pretty much the entirety of the neck of most animals in one bite.
Now I wanna search for the thylocene.
I'm a mangaka that loves speculative biology, so you bet I'm going to subscribe
Great! I have huge appreciation for the speculative artist community 🙏
@@TheSkullywagLab I even made dragons that have four legs and extra "bat" wings using that.
It's the best way to feel realistic and at the same time original, and also a nice way to make ancient mythical pseudo hybrids scary as fuck, since they feel unnatural when the rest feels natural. I don't get why designers don't take speculative as a base lol
It's interesting that your professor is a famous paleontologist who studies bite forces I knew him since I was a kid
Awesome! Yeah, he's done some incredible research. Have you seen his new channel? @realpaleontology
This was really great!
Thanks mate! You've been supporting the channel and sharing the content since the start - much appreciated 🙏
Are you saying that Australia had drop _LIONS?!_
@@melissaharris3389 plausible! I would guess that an animal like this would have a few key strategies for securing a meal, depending on the circumstances. But one thing's for sure, high-speed pursuit over distance, like what a cheetah does, was not one of them, based on the skeleton. So yes, other ambush methods were more likely :)
One of my favorite extinct animals for its unique anatomy alone.
Something to note about the a-frame shape of the incisors, they also resemble the mouths of a completely different apex predator- carnivorous birds.
In particular I'm reminded of the structure of falcon beaks, birds which rely primarily on their beaks to hunt rather than their talons. Considering they also dive from above to hunt their prey, it makes me wonder if there's some unconventional convergence going on other than just converging with cats.
Great point!
This is the first video of yours I've watched. Instant subscription. Excellent work in science communication!
Much appreciated 🙏
I know there's some interesting research coming up for Thylacoleo's hunting technique.
@miquelescribanoivars5049 yep. Some interesting ideas are coming, for sure!
what universal pictures did to the marsupial lion jaw is unforgivable, and on top of that just plain stupid. would have been way more enigmatic and terrifying with the real teeth, just like changing the claw layout was unnecessary and counterproductive. but other than that i found the depictions enjoyable actually
Agree! The movie was itself ok. But the teeth took me straight out of it. A very sad moment - to anybody who knows about them, marsupial lion teeth are singular and iconic.
Interesting take on the Australian lion. I knew it had pound for pound the strongest bite of any mammal but yeah all that force behind that A frame tooth combination probably means those two teeth could probably pierce through anything on an animal it wanted to.
Mammalian Herbivores evolving into carnivores just isn't possible, huh?
Idk about the rest of the world, but it's definitely possible in Australia. 😂
It's a niche thing
It's entirely possible.
The opposite, a carnivore evolving into a herbivore, happens in Asia, if giant panda and therizinosaur anything to go by
Now lets talk about the evolutionary possibility of Drop Bear
I love skulls! You are awesome! Yay Aussie palaeo!
Awesome video! I had to have look after your mate suggested you in his great video. Some believe there's something similar still about or are these reports just big ferrals.
Thanks! Yeah it's unlikely they're still around. Feral cats are getting bigger each year though
@TheSkullywagLab I've taken pics of tracks I've found in mud. But one doesn't match any animals.
Pretty good video 😂
Compare & contrast with thylacine?
Also that demon kangaroo Predator the teeth the way they come together remind me of the beak of a parrot almost what's a chunkier skull for and the way the teeth come together like a beak kind of a hooked A-frame I hope you're picking up what I'm laying down
I actually have a sort of a skull replica of it I don't have the skull I just have the carnarcels
11:37 So you are basically saying that Thylacoleo could have been the Drop Bear.
A 100% sure.This is what the drop bear is
12:11 they had one job... )':
Looks like beaver to me!😁
Interesting you mention that! There's some really interesting convergent evolution in the skulls of some rodents and diprotodontid marsupials. Google and compare the skull of a wombat and a mountain beaver, for example 💀
drop saying "O"
Pity they are not still around. A man can dream, a man can dream..