The First Apex Predators on Earth (that we know of)! 🦐 GEO GIRL

Рет қаралды 18,015

Күн бұрын

The first predator on Earth looked a lot different than predators on Earth today! These huge arthropods, called Anomalocarids, lived in Cambrian seas about 500 million years ago! They reached sizes much larger than other organisms at the time and acted as the apex predators in Earth's very first complex ecosystems. Before the Ediacaran period and Cambrian Explosion, animals did not exist yet. Sure, microbes ate other microbes on this early, 'pre-animal' Earth, but there was no real predation until animals came along. Animals evolved before the Cambrian, in the Ediacaran, but these first animals did not seem to have the complex hierarchy ecosystems that we see later during and after the Cambrian explosion. The Cambrian explosion marked not only a remarkable diversification of animal life, but also an increase in skeletons, shells, and other hard parts. This 'skeletonization' of life was likely in part allowed by changes in ocean chemistry, but the ultimate driver of this increase in organisms with hard parts was predation. Hard parts provide organisms with protection from predation which, until this time, had not been a threat. However, during the Cambrian explosion, Anomalocarids evolved, which changed everything! Hope you enjoy the video ;)
GEO GIRL Website: www.geogirlscience.com/ (visit my website to see all my courses, shop merch, learn more about me, & donate to support the channel if you'd like!)
0:00 Ediacaran Fauna & Cambrian Explosion
1:26 First Predators on Earth
2:14 Their Methods of Predation
4:20 Their Diversity
4:43 Their Surprisingly Short Time Range
5:23 Resulting Evolutionary Adaptations
8:33 Why Did They Go Extinct?
11:35 What Types of Predators Followed?
12:59 Lasting Impact of the First Predators
References:
Prothero, 2013 (Bringing Fossils to Life: An Introduction to Paleobiology), & references therein: amzn.to/3nU0ada
Earth System History: amzn.to/3v1Iy0G
Daley & Edgecombe, 2014 (Morphology of Anomalocaris canadensis from the Burgess Shale): doi.org/10.1666/13-067
Briggs & Fortey, 2005 (Wonderful strife: systematics, stem groups, and the phylogenetic signal of the Cambrian radiation): doi.org/10.1666/0094-8373(200...[0094:WSSSGA]2.0.CO;2
Gaines et al., 2008 (Cambrian Burgess Shale-type deposits share a common mode of fossilization): doi.org/10.1130/G24961A.1
Potin & Daley, 2023 (The significance of Anomalocaris and other Radiodonta for understanding paleoecology and evolution during the Cambrian explosion): doi.org/10.3389/feart.2023.11...
Vannier & Chen, 2000 (Early Cambrian food chain: new evidence from fossil aggregates in the Maotianshan Shale biota, SW China): doi.org/10.2110/palo.2003.p03-40
Vinther et al., 2014 (A suspension-feeding anomalocarid from the early Cambrian. Nature): doi.org/10.1038/nature13010
Yang et al., 2020 (Anomalocaridid trunk limb homology revealed by a giant filter-feeder with paired flaps. Nature): doi.org/10.1038/nature14256
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Пікірлер: 153

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

Correction/Clarification: I mentioned they may have fed on arthropods like trilobites, but more recent research suggests that they probably preyed more so on worms and potentially non-shelled worm-like mollusks rather than trilobites. But this targetting of soft-bodied prey even more so indicates their role in pressuring organisms to produce hard parts, and it also suggests this is one of the reasons trilobites weren't that affected by them! ;) Thanks to the commenters who pointed this out! Hope you all enjoy the video :D Also, Remember: I don't normally state this out loud, but every time I discuss things that happened in Earth's history or ancient extinct organisms, it should be noted that although I say things as though they are facts like "this happened" or "this organism was the first 'fill in blank'", it is always of course only hypotheses. Some hypotheses about events or organisms in Earth's past are more backed up than others, but if you want to learn more about how we study Earth's past, check out this video: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gJ-EmMKkrMDDk2Q.html ;)

@joecanales9631 10 ай бұрын

I remember seeing somewhere that there was a fossil trilobite that had a bite taken out that closely matched the circular mouth shape of Anomalocaris. Someone sketched it.

@DJFracus 10 ай бұрын

There are trilobite fossils with bites possibly from Anomalocaris so the issue is not settled. But yeah it probably fed on soft-bodied animals the most.

@adamwu4565 9 ай бұрын

I wonder if Trilobites could be vulnerable to attacks from Anomalocarids during the periods when they molted their exoskeletons and their new exoskeleton was still soft and hadn't finished hardening. That could potentially explain both the fossils of trilobites with bite marks in them that look like they were made by Anomalocarid mouthparts and the analyses that showed that trilobite armor was more mineralized than anomalocarid mouth-plates and thus could not be broken or penetrated by them.

@Paul_C 9 ай бұрын

Were the remains silicates?

@donaldbrizzolara7720 10 ай бұрын

Rachel, from what I understand the eyes of Anomalocaris cement the creature as the probable top predator of its day. Apparently, Anomalocaris had some of the largest and most sophisticated compound eyes ever known. It is proposed that only a few arthropods have similar or better resolution, such as modern predatory dragonflies. It’s fascinating to contemplate the early evolution of such complex visual organs.

@elihyland4781 9 ай бұрын

🤘🪩🌈

@goyoelburro 10 ай бұрын

The format of your videos is perfect. It feels like a "Friendly Informal University Intro Class". You don't shy away from using scientific descriptive terms, but it's set in an upbeat and fun way that I think really stimulates learning. This is good stuff and I hope your channel and viewership grows.

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

Thank you so much! This means so much! That is exactly the vibe I am going for lol ;D

@newms3450 10 ай бұрын

@@GEOGIRL I also like the fact that when you do use those so-called scientific descriptive terms, you often then rephrase them to explain what you mean. Really good pedagogy!

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

Sorry guys, I made a last minute edit on this video, so it's still processing and it may not include all the cards and end screen pop ups that I refer to until after it's processed, so those are coming, but it's gonne be a bit delayed ;)

@tedetienne7639 10 ай бұрын

I definitely like the graphic of the Paleozoic Era at the bottom of the screen from 8:34 to 9:00. It reinforces the periods' ages, their dates, and what was generally happening during the periods - helping out the newcomer. But it also runs along the bottom of the screen, like a chyron during a news broadcast - so someone more experienced can easily ignore it. It seems like a very handy tool! Will you be using it in the future? I've always noticed that you very often reinforce the historical geology knowledge - saying things like "the end-Permian extinction - or the Great Dying - approximately 252 million years ago...", instead of simply "the end-Permian extinction..." I appreciate that effort to emphasize the basics often. That's the sign of a great teacher!

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

Haha thank you but I haven't always been great at that, you probably remember early videos where I didn't add much context, well it was commenters that helped me learn where I need to add context every time I say that thing and I have started to get better at that :) But yes, I love that graphic as well, I didn't initially realize how helpful it may be to a newcomer since I know the general timing and what happened in thes time ranges but since you mention it that is a great idea! I think I will try to incorporate some sort of version of this in future historical geo videos to give more context. If not the full graphic, maybe at least a timeline for proportional context in geologic time. I think that is a great idea because whenever I say 250 million years ago, I can picture the timescale in my head to scale and understand what that means with regards to how long ago that was (I mean to the extent that a human can 'understand' that haha), but you commenting this made me remember that not everybody can just picture the timescale in their head at any given moment lol, so thank you for reminding me that! ;)

@shadeen3604 10 ай бұрын

Thanks geo girl for excellent presentation

@ptredhead 10 ай бұрын

Cool video, thanks! My interpretation of Anomalocarids' mouth parts is that they look like they were specialized in eating worms. The appendages would wrap around tubular shapes and the spikes would grasp and eviscerate the slimy worm (gross!) Their flat body shape would be suited to gliding along the ocean floor digging up worms and maybe that's why Anomalocarids didn't have much of an effect on Trilobites. I'd be down for a video all about ancient worms haha XD

@barbaradurfee645 10 ай бұрын

Good listen for my walk this morning, thanks👍🏼❤️😊

@terenzo50 10 ай бұрын

Rachel -- Partway through this week's talk the song "New Kid In Town" by the Eagles started playing in my head (New Anomalocarid In Town doesn't quite scan...). My only quibble is that the "first" predators were most likely microbial and started a good deal earlier than these multi-cellular johnny-come-lately's of the Cambrian. Microbes! Microbes! Rah! Rah! Rah! (Hope you got the vid I sent to your email re microbes and tectonics.)

@stefanlaskowski6660 10 ай бұрын

I have read that the evolution of eyes was a major instigator of the Cambrian explosion, as eyes became extremely important both for seeking out prey and for avoiding becoming prey. It's certainly an interesting theory.

@michaeleisenberg7867 10 ай бұрын

Hi Rachel, Very nice lecture. A lot of new material. Very interesting. Thank you.

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it ;D

@victorkrawchuk9141 10 ай бұрын

Thanks for the video! Anomalocaris is my favorite prehistoric animal. Not bad for Evolution's first attempt at a predator. The story of how the first fossil was discovered is creepy but also really cool. If multicellular life has evolved in the oceans of Europa, I wonder if it might look anything like this.

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

Ooo great question! I wouldn’t that be cool a complete underworld of arthropods on Europa! 😍

@NocturnalTyphlosion 21 күн бұрын

this is a good video but even better is that thumbnail i think it's my favourite on the entire platform

@darth856 9 ай бұрын

Great video. Anomalocarids were fascinating animals. One other group of apex predators that followed them, besides the sea scorpions, were the large cephalopods that ruled in the Ordovician.

@noeditbookreviews 10 ай бұрын

I love the stuff you've been covering lately! Between the geo and the bio content, this is becoming one of my favorite channels. I gotta share something that just blows me away with the Cambrian explosion, the incredible diversity of body plans. Most living things today are similar to eachother by comparison. We see mostly segmented, sagittal symmetry with largely predictable apendages, various outliers not withstanding. But during the Cambrian, there were so many unusual body plans. Most of them went extinct and we were left with a tiny sample from to build from. But consider if they hadn't gone extinct. The life we see today would be absolutely alien and bizarre to our eyes. Just look at anomalocaris. Then you have guys like opabinia, halucigenia, wiwaxia and marrella. They looked more like pokemon than real creatures.

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

You are so right! Their body plans are insanely diverse! It is so crazy I wish I could’ve seen them for real! Also thank you so much for the kind words! I am so happy you are enjoying the content :) If you ever have an urge to hear about something specific just comment a suggestion! I’d be happy to cover it :)

@noeditbookreviews 10 ай бұрын

@@GEOGIRL you're welcome, and I will certainly keep that in mind 😊

@josephjackson5088 10 ай бұрын

So basically this was the wild west of times for evolution. Some lived fast and died hard. 👍 love your work and keep it coming. Thanks

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

Exactly ;)

@robbabcock_ 10 ай бұрын

Terrific video and a really fascinating era.

@user-nb5sr7by6y 10 ай бұрын

Excellent as always. I have never figured out what nature values more heavily; scavenging, salvaging, or predation. Thanks for showcasing the pressure to evolve. The next stage would have been more chances for commensalism, as evolution tamped down on predation risks of 'over grazing.'

@davevann9795 10 ай бұрын

How about a video on eyes and vision, or generally, detection of light. How did changing ocean chemistry effect light detection? How does Earth's largest migration know when to rise during dark, and descend into the depths during the day? What minerals and chemistry is needed for detecting and focusing light? Why are our lenses squishy when trilobite lenses were hard, and which is better? Are multi-faceted eyes better than our single-lens fish-derived eyes, and does one scale larger or smaller better than the other? What was the first focusing eye, and was that sighted critter the ruling animal in the kingdom of the semi-blind? Why is animal vision limited to near-ultraviolet through near-infra-red, with no animals seeing radio waves or gamma-rays? When did the earliest bioluminescence evolve? Why does some prawn have 16 primary colors in its vision when I am only allowed to have 3 primary colors, plus it can see polarizations when I can't see any? How do starfish see their prey or see for traveling in groups, when they don't have focusing eyes and don't have brains? Evolution of light detection would be a good topic.

@JCO2002 10 ай бұрын

Actually, I already knew, but I'm watching it anyway because I like your videos and I'm sure I'll learn more in the process. Thanks.

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

That's awesome! I hope you learn something new or at the very least enjoy hearing about things you already knew! ;D

@glennnile7918 10 ай бұрын

One of my very favorite ancient creatures.

@cavetroll666 10 ай бұрын

very cool thanks for video :)

@Grumpyoldman037 10 ай бұрын

As always, a fun video. Can you imagine coming face to face with one of those 6 foot critters? Probably ruin my day.

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

Haha, yea but I bet they would be less threatening to humans than modern day predators (aka: sharks that have big mouths and jaw bones lol) ;)

@Grumpyoldman037 10 ай бұрын

@@GEOGIRL And maybe they would be tasty on the grill. You think?

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

@@Grumpyoldman037 Oh yea, if they were still around I am sure there would be a "red anomalocarid" equivalent of red lobster lol! ;)

@wafikiri_ 10 ай бұрын

I was waiting for a video like this. Thank you!

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

You're welcome! I hope you enjoy ;D

@wafikiri_ 10 ай бұрын

@@GEOGIRL Indeed I did. Ir was a pleasure to watch.

@billkallas1762 10 ай бұрын

Reminds me of the first Rodan movie, where the Japanese mine workers were attacked by 12 foot "bugs", that turned out to be the "small" food that Rodan fed on. It would make a great "monster" for a SiFi "B" movie.

@shovelspade480 10 ай бұрын

Thank you again for another awesome presentation. I've enjoyed Natural History all my life, focusing on ecology, plant and animal relationships between species and the environments they live in. You really bring geology to life and add a whole new depth to my understanding of time and evolution. Much love, wonderful lady.

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

Thanks so much! I am so glad you enjoy my geo content! ;D

@flyingskyward2153 10 ай бұрын

This is a lovely channel. I love learning about early animals and their diversity, it's so interesting

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

Thank you so much, I am so glad you enjoy it! ;D

@joecanales9631 10 ай бұрын

Thanks for an enjoyable video. I thought I could find a sketch of that worm you were having problems finding, so I pulled out Stephen Jay Gould’s book, ‘Wonderful Life’ which has some great sketches but black and white. I got sidetracked and forgot what I was looking for. I haven’t leafed through this book in years. Got to Pikaia, first known chordate and our phylum then realized I had no idea what I was looking for. Some time had passed and decided I had to get on with my day. I enjoyed Stephen Jay Gould’s essays in Natural History magazine years ago (last century), was it an illustration of a worm you were looking for? Thanks again!

@entropybentwhistle 10 ай бұрын

The adventure and thoroughness of Wonderful Life are the best features of the book and should still be required reading for anyone interested in biological origins and paleontological methods, even if some of the science and interpretations have changed since the time the book was published.

@lugnutdecepticon 10 ай бұрын

Great video GEO GIRL! I LOVE your channel!

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

Thank you so much! :D

@FrancisFjordCupola 10 ай бұрын

Yes! Wondered about it multiple times.

@georgestewart9001 10 ай бұрын

very cool video i liked watching this video alot thank you for a really great video

@ericmaclaurin8525 10 ай бұрын

I thought "bones" started to maintain stable PH. That also fits with the "explosion" coming as that advantage was settling in and different mutations in those early stages provided very significant advantage for a variety of reasons which in turn provided a lot of branching in different directions built around the very different advantages provided by the different mutations of the initial calcium pellet that gave the whole group the metabolism advantage provided by the ability to buffer PH. Or something like that. :)

@1969kodiakbear 10 ай бұрын

Very interesting. By the way, I have difficulty communicating because I had a stroke in Broca’s area, the part of the brain that controls speech. 2/8/2021 but I lived again. (My wife helped me compose this.)

@demidron. 9 ай бұрын

The captions keep saying "anomaly carrots" 😂

@Kosmonooit 10 ай бұрын

Was there a key biological evolutionary event that allowed digestive systems to use other life forms for energy/food?

@spiralsun1 10 ай бұрын

I love the way you bust the old school rhymes. ❤🎙️

@od1452 6 ай бұрын

interesting. I've wondered about that guy. I'd like to see you take on the First Animal.

@GEOGIRL 6 ай бұрын

That is a brilliant idea! I don't know how I didn't think of that, thank you so much! ;D

@christianhunt7382 10 ай бұрын

Little off subject, but as you were talking about the predator/prey relationship, I was thinking about flowering plants. Could the large herbavores of the cretacious have spurred the evolution of flowering/fruiting bodies? I know flowers are largley associated with insects, but as multidimensional as the natural world is, the pressure to produce fruit could be explained away by thier predation, while insects helped drive the reproduction structures of the flower itself. Love the natural history videos btw, geochemistry ties it together Geo Girl Rocks!

@artificercreator 10 ай бұрын

Oh that would be super interesting to investigate! Nice point!

@reidflemingworldstoughestm1394 10 ай бұрын

Flowering and fruiting evolved primarily in cooperation with different animal species. In trade for the reward of nectar, insects and such greatly improved on the wind blown pollination process of gymnosperms. Some fruiting plants made fruit that attracted consumers who in turn dispersed the seeds. Other fruit, like the foxtail for example did not attract consumers, but used animals for dispersal in other ways. Still other fruit dispersed seeds without any help from animals, such as modern cottonwood and dandelion fruit do.

@artificercreator 10 ай бұрын

@@reidflemingworldstoughestm1394 That sounds so solid man, thanks!

@christianhunt7382 10 ай бұрын

@reidflemingworldstoughestm1394 yup, PBS EONS had a great episode explaining just what your talking about, and more!

@reidflemingworldstoughestm1394 10 ай бұрын

@@christianhunt7382 Freshman botany had it too. :)

@SiqueScarface 9 ай бұрын

Even today, there are predatory annelids, like the horse-leech, and some annelids grow up to 10 feet length, like the Giant Gippsland earthworm.

@johnstevenson9956 10 ай бұрын

I first heard of anomalocarids many years ago but found it almost impossible to research them as I constantly misspelled it, as I suspect a lot of people still do.

@AnnoyingNewsletters 10 ай бұрын

🎵🎶This ain't a [sea], it's a goddamn arms race, but I digress 🎶🎵

@mymom1462 10 ай бұрын

Can you do an episode on Auroralumina attenbouroughi? The Cnidarian predator that dethroned Anomalocaris as the first predator last August? I feel it is still not widely known.

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

Oh cool I didn’t know about that, I will look into it for a future video, of course! 😃 thanks so much!

@trilobite3120 4 ай бұрын

Isn't their also evidence of predation on Cloudina from later in the Ediacaran? I'd like to see a video on that, or maybe Timorebestia, the recently described giant Cambrian arrow worm.

@eerokutale277 10 ай бұрын

Maybe the extinction of Anomalocaris species has something to do with their exoskeletons.

@RadScorpion888 10 ай бұрын

My inkling is protazoa, archaea and bacteria would have engaged in predation, scavenging and autotrophic activities - thereby engendering hierarchical ecological communities long before the anomalocarids came by. I assume lacking direct evidence and the semantics in what constitutes 'true predation' is the reason for this interpretation. That being said, if we are discussing first animal predators - Auroralumina is first. Great discussion on factors bringing about Anomalocarids and the Cambrian evoloutionary arms race.

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

I agree with you. Some do not define what bacteria and archaea and other microbes do as predation; but others have actually made a whole group called ‘predatory bacteria’ so it depends who you ask. I honestly just needed a catchy title lol ;)

@RadScorpion888 10 ай бұрын

@@GEOGIRL Well, the title worked a charm. I'm hooked to all things geoscience (besides petrology admittedly), so I appreciate the ability of your videos to generate discussions around, some would say, niche topics.

@adamwu4565 9 ай бұрын

The Anomalocarids did not completely go extinct at the end of the Cambrian. There is at least one known Ordovician species from about 480 million years ago, and one from the Devonian from 390 million years ago. So that actually extends their tenure on Earth to a pretty respectable 120 million years or so (compare that to the non-avian Dinosaurs' 180-ish million year span, and the 65 million years of the entire Cenozoic). Granted the Ordovician species was apparently a filter feeder, and the Devonian species was pretty small, so they did lose their spot as apex predators after the Cambrian.

@takashitamagawa5881 10 ай бұрын

I remember how Stephen Jay Gould, in his book "Wonderful Life", describes how it too decades to properly describe anomalocaris, whose parts are preserved in the Burgess Shale but which for a long time were attributed to different animals. The bulk of the animal was soft bodied and preservation of the animal as a whole was not a likely occurrence. Fascinating to speculate how much of the perceived "Cambrian Explosion" following the Ediacaran period may be due to the evolution of hard body parts with the increased likelihood of preservation. In describing Paleozoic predators of the Paleozoic following the Cambrian and Ordovician the cephalopod mollusks such as squids, octopi, and their kin and certainly the nautiloids must be mentioned. The nautilus is with us to this day although it is a rare animal with its few species restricted to certain region. Hopefully the current episode of climate change will not drive these splendid animals to extinction but even if it doesn't it's not clear how much longer they will be around. Trilobites may have had a 300+ million year evolutionary history but by the end of the Permian they were hanging by a thread, having dwindled down to just a few species. Maybe the nautilus is headed for the same fate in geologic time, however much we want them to remain.

@moshekrinsky4882 10 ай бұрын

pleas apply the kea word palaeopetrology 🙏its not finding me anything in your search bar AND I LOVE YOUR VIDOS 💖💖💖😇 YOUR A GRATE TEACHER

@artificercreator 10 ай бұрын

Good video! I was wondering, does anyone know how the concept of predation appeared? i'm imagining that at first, it was very diffuse. Like, for example the way zooids behave where they add/or remove themselves from the main body(colony). And what is up with the endosymbiosis, does it count as predation?

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

What a great question! I don't think so, because although early microbes were eating and sometimes engulfing one another, they were not actively hunting down and capturing prey like modern predators, but I am sure the term has undergone some changes through time so who knows! haha ;)

@artificercreator 10 ай бұрын

@@GEOGIRL Thank you for the answer!

@keiththorpe9571 10 ай бұрын

Yeah, what animal was out there doing all that predating... Predating...? Is that a word? Sounds like something you do before a night out.

@nw5524 10 ай бұрын

Will there be video on the animal called the "Alien Goldfish," Typhloesus wellsi?

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

I'll put it on the list ;)

@nw5524 10 ай бұрын

@@GEOGIRL Thank you!

@robloggia 10 ай бұрын

The artist didn't shy away from making the Anomalocarus look evil. Are the eyes supposed to glow red?

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

Haha you know I have no clue lol😅

@GeraldBlack1 10 ай бұрын

The first cell that ate other cells #1predator!

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

But is that predation??? I don’t know I have found multiple definitions so you could very well be right, but I needed a catchy title and saying the first animal apex predator really took away the magic lol ;)

@stevoplex 10 ай бұрын

😀 I remained patiently benthic this whole time.

@M1l1taryM1nD 5 күн бұрын

As a rule apex predators don't last for long. Makes you think about us. We may be the ultimate apex predator that lived the shortest amount of time with all the weapons of mass destruction waiting to be used

@xyreniaofcthrayn1195 10 ай бұрын

I have no basis or evidence but anomolocaris evolved into the eurypterids and eventually went land bound.

@nicholasmaude6906 10 ай бұрын

So, Rachel, did you like the portrayal of the Anomalocaris in the BBC's 2005 "Walking with Monsters"?

@MrX-nv8kp 10 ай бұрын

Wouldn't it make sense, that the first predator lved in the ediacaran as a soft bodied animal and forced the other animals to develop hard shells?

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

Absolutely, that’s why I changed the title to (that we know of) hahaha ;)

@MrX-nv8kp 10 ай бұрын

@@GEOGIRL nice change. Now I'm wondering, which predator made anomalocaris develop a hard shell 😬 Great video, as always well researched and presented. Thanks a lot! Just watching your channel for entertainment, but it is really very informative👌

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

@@MrX-nv8kp hahaha that is a great question! Well skeletons serve two major purposes: protection and structural support so it could’ve been for support but who knows there very well could’ve been a previous predator that caused that ;)

@johnvl6358 10 ай бұрын

😎

@cernunnos_lives 10 ай бұрын

Just seeing this thing -It just gets your imagination going. You have to remember how rare fossilized remains are & then finding them is another thing. There are other related animals we aren't even seeing. So larger and smaller species had to be around. We are only seeing a small snapshot. Life is stranger than anything you can imagine.

@Chris-op7yt 10 ай бұрын

predation is an alternative strategy to direct competition for resources. it achieves same outcome. predation has been around since the tiniest eukaryotes. our macro centric focus gives special attention to multi-cellular larger life forms exhibiting predation.

@SiqueScarface 9 ай бұрын

GEO GIRL saying: "their time range [...] which is not that long..." and talking about a span of time that is about as long as the time passed between the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs and today.

@cykkm 9 ай бұрын

My two favorite early Cambrian life forms are Hallucigenia and Opabinia, the latter being, I believe, also an Anomalocarid. The former had a truly hilarious history of reconstruction, when it was made to walk on her spines for nearly a century-albeit they are obviously as good for walking as hedgehog's spines. And in addition to the Great up/down debate, there was the Great front/back debate... And it's aptly name what makes it-the both, in fact-even more weird and beautiful at the same time. An animal with five eye pods (were they all eyes?) and a proboscis ending in a claw... I'm at a loss for words trying to express this feeling of dreaminess and beauty of the life forms produced by Nature... Except the blobfish, _P. marcidus,_ of course-but Nature also has to have her bad days!

@trilobite3120 4 ай бұрын

Opabinia is not an anomalocarid, but they are a dinocaridid, part of a wider group containing both the Radiodonts (Anomalocarids, Hurdiids, Amplectobeluids, Tamisiocarids) and their close relatives like the filled lobopods.

@cykkm 4 ай бұрын

@@trilobite3120 Thank you for the correction, appreciate it!

@Chiavaccio 10 ай бұрын

👏👏👏👍

@2RANbit 9 ай бұрын

NO. The largest anomalcaris did NOT measure 2 meters, just two feet. The latest known anomalocarid, shinderhannes, lived in the Ordoviician.

@GEOGIRL 8 ай бұрын

This article from 1994 and others since then have argued that some fossil anomalocarids preserved in China may have reached 2m (Chen et al., 1994)- doi.org/10.1126/science.264.5163.1304 :)

@crunks420 10 ай бұрын

The first predators def ate microbes...

@mavrickindigo 8 ай бұрын

Can't help but hear evanescence

@mickwilson99 10 ай бұрын

Question: large Anomalocids logically from smaller ones predating smaller prey. Probably the ancestral forms were less skeletal. As far as you know, what evidence have we of those progenitors?

@valkyriereader 10 ай бұрын

Would you say it's difficult to find a job in either seismology, volcanology, or planetary science?

@Hellbender8574 10 ай бұрын

What do we know about anomalocaris eggs and life cycle? Sometimes a biotic or abiotic factor attacks a specific stage of the cycle and explains why it went extinct.

@barbaradurfee645 10 ай бұрын

Wow I wonder if there is any fossil evidence of anomalocaris eggs or if it is just assumed that they laid eggs

@KAZVorpal 10 ай бұрын

Isn't it prounounced a-NAH-mo-lo-KAH-is? No long A.

@erikboehm8210 9 ай бұрын

You left out an ordivician anomalacarid : en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schinderhannes_bartelsi

@iseriver3982 10 ай бұрын

If that's the first predator, the you must think all those jellyfish and worms that preceded the Cambrian were vegetarian?

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

Haha well I tried to stick with the definition of predation that necessitates the hunting capturing and eating of prey but yes before this there were many animals and microbes that ate other animals and microbes, but I am not sure I’d call them predators. I did update the title though to ‘apex’ predators to be more specific just in case ;)

@iseriver3982 10 ай бұрын

@@GEOGIRL come to think of it I'm sure there's plenty of biologists who'll say herbivores like cows actually are predators. Apex predators are cooler anyway.

@Enkaptaton 10 ай бұрын

I have a bizarre question: Would a meteor shower of elemental calcium and magnesium remove enough CO2 from the atmosphere to stop climate change? My train of thought was the following: Ca and Mg lower the pH of the oceans, allowing it to absorb more CO2. Is that the case at all? After that, the two ions would precipitate with CO2 as limestone. Or dolomite. I know that the probability of such a meteor shower is rather small, but would that work purely hypothetically?

@the_eternal_student 18 күн бұрын

Is not predation mainly about securing fuel? I wonder why no animals consume coal or uranium for energy.

@LeonidiumProkopenko 10 ай бұрын

What "predator" stands for? I thought we can call it any animal, bacteria, who ate another bacteria (it was animal, when I was in school))) I'm not native speaker, so be understanding, if I can say so.

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

That's a great question and something I should've explained in the video, but to my understanding predation requires an animal or organism to hunt and capture prey. So, although early microbes were eating one another, they were not actively hunting down and capturing prey like modern predators, but I am sure the term is used differently in some cases so who knows! haha ;)

@LeonidiumProkopenko 10 ай бұрын

@@GEOGIRL actually, I thought it's kind of my misunderstanding of the terminology, due to all russian occupied countries stopped in development and it reflected on our languages (same as with russian - they modern science language is even less developed than Ukrainian in lot of science activity branches). I have a lot of examples in architecture or project management, where there is a new term or the old one has changed its meaning.

@mikolajtrzeciecki1188 10 ай бұрын

Aren't there one-cell predators? I would think those would be earlier.

@TragoudistrosMPH 10 ай бұрын

Chris Hansen wasn't there to protect us!

@jujjuj7676 9 ай бұрын

A better way to say same title, is first animal that decided to be a total douchbag to all the other friendly animals..😂

@pettread 10 ай бұрын

Not sure why we say these were the first predators, there is evidence of single-celled predation nearly a billion years older (jumping genes, phagocytosis, etc). Or is this only considering eukaryotic predation as predation?

@DJFracus 10 ай бұрын

The formal definition of predator refers to eating animals, so that doesn't count. You probably wouldn't consider something that eats plants a "predator".

@bocckoka 10 ай бұрын

Calling someone's 15My time range 'short' with our what? 200ky? is a bit strong. (Just kidding, I know you're referencing other species.)

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

Haha Yea as a geologist everything under like 50 million years seems short to me, especially humans time range! lol 😂

@wdd3141 10 ай бұрын

"This CHANGES EVERYTHING!" "That CHANGES EVERYTHING!" "This will leave you SPEECHLESS!" "That will leave you SPEECHLESS!" These mega-overused manipulative clickbait statements lead me to delete videos from my feed, sight-unseen, regardless of whatever merit they may actually have. What a waste.

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

I am sorry you feel that way. My thumbnail text of “this changed everything” was completely genuine as I feel that the first predators did change everything by setting life on a rapid course of evolutionary advancement and diversification. It was not meant as clickbait but rather to emphasize the importance of these animals and my genuine excitement about their impact ;)

@herbertkeithmiller 10 ай бұрын

I argued with a creationist online quite a while ago who could not believe that the Cambrian explosion actually happened because all of a sudden life just exploded. Life In this period developed the tiered predator and prey ecosystems and predators became fast moving animals with limbs designed to attack. (Thanks to @GEOGIRL for correcting an earlier mistake in this comment.) . Pray animals developed developed defenses the first armor and other strategies. You either changed or were eaten. Those factors along probably with the three major contributors.

@GEOGIRL 10 ай бұрын

Well jaws didn’t come about til later but yes I see your point :)

@herbertkeithmiller 10 ай бұрын

@@GEOGIRL♥️ thank you for correcting that I will edit and credit my comment.