The Amazing BIOGEOGRAPHY of Hawaii

Deep in the Pacific Ocean lies a chain of islands cut off from the rest of the world. Here life from all across the world has come to establish itself, only to find an environment unlike any other the Earth has to offer.

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Sources / Further Reading:

[zolacnomiko]

I was born and raised in Hawai‘i and I have a masters degree in Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science, and I want to thank you so so much for this video, and sharing with your audience how unique and special the Hawaiian islands are when it comes to their biogeography, as well as how fragile their ecosystems are and how damaged they've become. I want to say also that you did fairly well with the pronunciations! Not perfect, but I've seen worse haha! And I can tell you did your research and tried to be accurate—both with the language and with the larger subject material. Mahalo palena ‘ole!

[StefanMilo]

The way you present images is insane. You're actually an after effects pro!

[aaronmarks]

It's absolutely mindblowing to me as a Californian to think that a little plant from the Sierras made it out to Hawai'i millions of years ago and ended up becoming a whole group of incredibly diverse plants that occupied every biome on the islands! It's almost like bringing a flower to Mars and seeing it evolve into an entire new phylum.

[ericwright]

4:40 Correct me if I’m misinterpreting this hypothesis but the crater in South Africa would not necessarily have been perfectly opposite Hawaii 2 Billion years ago. Correct? The current day alignment is probably just coincidental. The Hawaiian hotspot stays relatively stationary (relative to the pacific plate that slides over it) while that crater has been moving around with the African continent.

[flyinsquirell]

As a native Hawaiian, and someone born and raised there. Thank you so much for this video! Ancient and modern Hawaiian flora and fauna is not taught enough in school, and learning about these things helps me appreciate my home so much more!

Also, your genuine effort pronouncing those Hawaiian words makes up for the lack of execution. So I’ll give you a B- 🤣.

Mahalo Nui Loa!

[daeseongkim]

As someone who is a Hawaii local, I appreciate the attempt at pronouncing the names of the extinct birds of the islands!

[joelconolly]

Even though the video is 50 min long. The fact that it's interactive, informative and interesting makes it a worthy watch. It's like watching television all over again. Definitely my go to channel for long, documentary type videos.

[domino_]

Off topic but I love the consistency of your channel. High-quality, educational and fun content and I've noticed that you ALWAYS upload at 7am EST exactly. My favorite channel :))

[sebastardito]

I'm carrying out my PhD research in the Galápagos Islands with avian evolutionary history from a genomic perspective. I just want to say, what an awesome video/job you did to introduce these topics to the people! You are a great science communicator! Congrats!!! Keep this up!!!

[mangokane]

You're initial struggle with our language was expected, editing aside. you actually progressed pretty well. The "W" doesn't have to be, but is pronounced as a "V" in traditional Hawaiian languagI.
Ha-Vai`i. Kaho`o-la-Ve. The okina ( ` ) is the separation of vowel pronunciation often of the same vowel. Which you nailed successfully! That's awesome!. The kahakou stretches the pronunciation of a vowel. ( a line or dash over the specified vowel to be stretched ) all in all, I think you did a great. I appreciate that and thank you for this video.

[randomnebulawithinternet]

These videos keep getting longer and longer and that's a good thing (for me atleast).

[estivalbloom]

You actually might find the hypothesis in a scientific journal! "Antipodal hotspots and bipolar catastrophes: Were oceanic large-body impacts the cause?" by Jonathan T. Hagstrum

[nicholasdavidchoy]

A question about your impact crater theory: the impact crater in Africa might be directly across the globe from Hawaii 2 billion years ago but surely there has been significant continental shift since that time? Great content as always.

[DaKloneLiving]

Love your content.

I live on Oahu, and now have friends from all over. I met this guy from the islands of Palau and he told me all about his islands.

I met a Chuukese from the federated states of Micronesia. He introduced me to a higher totality of inter-island sociology in the Pacific regions.

I spoke with a Tongan that told stories older than history, passed to him from his great great grandfather, stories about the Lost continent of Mu.

I've spoken with people from the Marshallese Islands - they spoke about the differences between islands around the Pacific.

I lived in American Samoa for a year, 2004-2005, Samoans are close to my heart.

[zacharyscottdesign]

Hawaiian born and raised, thank you for the great work! It’s truly an amazing place and needs all the help it can get

[jacobgorokhovsky]

I live in Hawaii and I had no idea how many extinct species there were here and how evolutionary active this place is! Mahalo for this great video Atlas Pro.

[Jack-]

I live in the Midwest, and I pretty much always get up at around 7 am. It’s such a great treat to wake up and see that you just posted a video about an hour ago, since they are high-quality and don’t come out very often. If I ever launch a YouTube channel, you will have been a HUGE inspiration!

[Simpli_Solo]

From what my professor was telling us, there were records of the silver sword grass so plentiful on mauna kea that it would make the mountain shine silver in the sunlight. Must have been a sight to see.

[ArcticTron]

You know I got to thank Atlas Pro for making this video because I actually was inspired to buy the very book Atlas Pro used as a source in this video for the birds and I gotta say it is quite nice.

[mk_]

The amount of passion you have for geography and the range of research you do is amazing! I never thought I could see someone being as enthusiastic about geography as me. Keep it up man!