🌍 At a time when we're able to perceive the infinitely small, microscopic organisms such as microbes, mites or bacteria, what do we know about the giants that once trod the earth of our planet?
The elephant, the rhinoceros, the giraffe, the brown bear or the blue whale are among the largest and fattest animals of our era. No matter how big or imposing, these animals have managed to survive in their environment and develop extraordinary adaptive skills, using their extraordinary size as an asset.
It's incredible to think that the blue whale, the highest-ranking animal on the podium, can measure over 30 metres and weigh up to 170 tonnes. The only reason it is able to move despite such dizzying dimensions is that it evolves in an aquatic environment. The buoyancy of the water enables it to support its own weight, move around the ocean, feed and reproduce. On land, its organs and bones would crumble under its weight.
Millions of years ago, even more impressive animals lived on our planet. Animals that, if they were still around today, would change the face of the Earth. These titans from another world have managed to survive for millions of years. They have carved out a place for themselves in the cycle of life and left their mark on the planet's history.
Surprisingly, unlike the whale, they didn't all live in the water. Some walked the earth, others even tamed the sky!
Who were these animals? What did they look like? How could their skeletons support so much weight? How did their morphology enable them to move around despite such extraordinary dimensions, whether in water, on land or even in the air? How did their metabolism enable them to survive? What is the largest animal of all time?
🔥 As a reminder, videos are published on SUNDAYS at 6pm.
-------------------------
💥 The Forgotten World of Prehistoric Giants:
- Let's start by familiarizing ourselves with our new surroundings. We have a somewhat marshy landscape ahead of us, with plants such as Rhynia, Rellimia bushes and Leclercquia lycopods. In the distance are the tallest trees of this era. The one you see here is an Archaeopteris. It can reach a height of almost 40 meters. It could be related to our modern-day fir trees. Calm and serenity seem to reign. Everything seems peaceful.
Its aerial virtuosity makes it a formidable predator, as it flies faster than most of its prey, and can suddenly change course, reverse or hover thanks to its four independently-moving wings.
Our Meganeura doesn't come close to the 90 km/h top speed of our modern dragonflies, but it's almost 5 to 7 times bigger.
This dragonfly has two pairs of wings. The larger of these two pairs can reach a wingspan of between 70 and 75 cm. To give you something of a comparison, the distance between its two wings is about the same as that between the two wingtips of the sharp-shinned hawk, a bird of prey specializing in the capture of birds, small mammals, lizards and frogs.
Mosasaurs are one of the great marine reptiles of the Cretaceous period. Most members of this unusual family are quite exceptional in size. But the biggest of them all is Mosasaurus. At 18 meters long, it terrorized the world's seas.
-------------------------
🎬 Today's program:
00:00 - Introduction
03:19 - On the land of the giants
04:59 - Giant insects
05:41 - Meganeura
12:35 - Arthropleura
14:58 - Jaekelopterus rhenaniae
16:52 - Sea giants
17:12 - Shonisaurus
18:40 - Pliosaurus
22:27 - Mosasaurus
23:58 - Titanoboa
27:17 - Megalodon
30:08 - Blue Whale
33:23 - Land giants
33:37 - Spinosaurus
38:45 - Futalognkosaurus and Alamosaurus
41:34 - Patagotitan and Notocolossus
44:47 - Argentinosaurus
49:02 - Giganotosaurus carolinii
53:06 - Mapusaurus
55:42 - Titanoceratops
57:59 - Magnapaulia
59:12 - Paraceratherium
1:02:18 - Giants of the air
1:03:01 - Quetzalcoatlus
1:06:33 - Hatzegopteryx thambema
1:08:17 - Ornithocheirus
1:10:11 - Pelagornis sanderci
Wondody is an official channel affiliated to the network ©Orbinea Studio
