When Did the First Flower Bloom?

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During the Cretaceous Period, dinosaurs were more diverse, more fierce, and more strange than ever. But something else was happening under the feet of the terrible lizards: for the first time in history, there were flowers.

Thanks to Julio Lacerda, Joschua Knüppe and Studio 252mya for their illustrations. You can find more of their work here:

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[RealEngineering]

I have a feeling this is going to grow to be one of my favourite shows.

[Phlebas]

Everyone focuses on ancient animals, but it's nice to see something about ancient plants.

You know what's interesting? Grass. Grass came about shortly after the dinosaurs died off and dramatically altered the environment. It made forest fires more frequent (grass does well in forest fires; it burns quickly, but it grows back, and with less competition from other plants), it created the conditions for grasslands, created a niche for grass-eating herbivores, and come to think of it, created the environment that humans first appeared in.

[judeathan]

Weird to think that dinosaurs are older than flowers

[netaniarivera]

When did corals first show up? Corals are pretty nice.

[theunholykitty]

Could you do an episode on common ancestors? I find it so fascinating that creatures like birds and alligators once shared an ancestor before breaking off.

[grossscienceshow]

Woohoo! I'm so excited about this series!!!

[lokivanni]

Now, I’m imagining a T-Rex skipping through a field of flowers 💐

[MicroBlogganism]

I wish I could give an extra like for the feathered _T. rex_

[Pfhorrest]

Let me tell you 'bout the birds and the bees and the flowers in the trees... none of them existed until around 70Mya.

[johnparx]

First, I'd like to say a slightly longer format would be awesome. I appreciate them deep dives! In terms of topics to cover, I think it would be really cool to see the history of grasses/grains. It's wild how new (geologically) they are, and how essential they were to the rise of humanity.

[SalianSaxon]

Please do an episode on the vegetation during the Carboniferous, because of the incredible record of that time. Other things that are interesting are the rise of seed plants in the early Permian and of coarse the recovery of vegetation after the Permian mass extinction, With how Pleuromeia briefly became the dominant plant on earth!

[faicotone]

A sequel of this would be nice. I would love to hear more about how animals adapt to incorporate flowers and fruits into their diet and lifestyle. Like the insects and the herbivores and stuff

[LangKuoch]

I really love the content of this new channel! But I also think it could really benefit from longer 8-11 minute videos that go a bit more in depth (depending on the scope of the topic of course)

[brysonfetters]

It's amazing how much plants have affected the history of life without them animal life would be impossible, and when ever plants change everything changes, animals couldn't go on land until plants did, the development of large plants (kind of trees) increased the oxygen in the atmosphere allowing for all the Carboniferous bugs, can't wait for the next episode!

[crazycatlady]

2:00-2:15 Basically 'There's not much to it, but what is there is exciting!'

[Pikminiman]

This is straight-up "Cosmos" for YouTube, and it's brilliant.

[spacegothgirl]

I'd like to know more about the Cambrian Explosion!

[GyaroMaguus]

Those little pictures that serve as illustrators really could be bigger

[MRSev_gh]

Why isn't this channel at 1 million subs yet

[theboyuanjcfan]

liaoningensis? It is named after China's Liaoning province, isn't it? As someone from Liaoning, I only know my hometown is the giant fossil bed for small feathered dinosaurs/early bird and the Cretacerous Pompeii. Now our land is the birthplace of fruits and flowers. Incredible!