The Insane Evolution of: Flight

Credits:
Narrator: Stephanie Sammann
Writer: Lorraine Boissoneault
Editor: David O'Sullivan

Imagery courtesy of Getty Images

References:

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[cleanerben]

I'm glad this includes insect flight because that is barely ever talked about and pretty much unknown

[CountCocofang]

Being able to condense such a complex and far reaching topic into a roughly 15 minute presentation is a phenomenal skill. Not a second wasted, every small tangent fits into the overarching theme and it all flows so naturally.
Your incredible dedication and passion is awe inspiring. And you cultivated an increasingly amazing community with a wealth of knowledge where even minor mistakes get explained, so even reading through the comments on your videos is worthwhile.

[polymathpark]

This channel always puts out 10/10 content. Great production.

[MaikelRonnau]

Could you add measurements in the metric system as well?

[sciencenerd]

I've struggled for so long to understand how breathing works with birds. Thanks to your animation now I finally understand.

[khango]

Excellent video!
Although I do have a correction for the section that compares the leg segments of insects, crustaceans, and "arthropods" represented by the horseshoe crab. This comparison is confusing, because both insects and crustaceans *belong* to the phylum Arthropoda. For the horseshoe crab, they are members of the subphylum Chelicerata (which includes arachnids, and also belongs to Arthropoda). I believe the video's creator meant to compare the legs of insects, crustaceans to those of more basal arthropods? Or to those of Chelicerates.
Second correction: birds are still dinosaurs, nothing has stopped them from being dinosaurs. The asteroid did not kill all dinosaurs, but neither did it spare all birds as seen with the extinction of Enantiornithes (the 'Opposite Birds'). :)

[christophhanke]

8:00 when I was in my second-to-last-year in school I did a scientific Research paper in my biology class about this topic. There I also talked about the arboreal and cursorial theory and theropods. So this Video is such a blast to watch and to check in on this topic 6 years later

[xevious]

Insects, crustaceans, myriapods, and horseshoe crabs are all arthropods. Horseshoe crabs, along with arachnids and sea spiders are in a clade called Chelicerata. And at 1:53, the family tree shows bats being closely related to rodents, and more related to primates than they are to dogs and horses. Primates and rodents are Euarchontoglires more related to eachother than to bats. Bats are in the clade Laurasiatheria, and are a sister group to Ferungulata (a group that includes hooved animals, whales, carnivorans like cats and dogs, and pangolins)

[CHRB-nnqp]

I've always loved the anatomy of Pterosaurian wings. The idea that their entire wing membrane was supported on just one finger is fascinating. Not to mention that it allowed for their hands to continue existing separate from the wings, which is the leading theory on why they evolved to be so much bigger than birds and bats; the Quad Launch theory. I wish they still existed, they were fascinating and unique animals :)

[highasheaven]

Really looking forward to the human series! Keep up the amazing work!

[heidirabenau]

Congratulations on 1M Subscribers, I have watched the first episode of the Nebula Original and can't wait for the next one!

[brandophiri]

I learn a lot from this channel. Keep up the good work

[michaelfutch]

Thanks for the info on insects and pterosaurs. It's been incredibly hard finding anything on their development of flight.

[Brambrew]

I heard a theory that insect flight originally evolved from swimming paddles
Insects evolved wings to help them escape water by paddling or gliding across the surface
Some insects, like stoneflies, still somewhat show this behavior
But evolving wings further for flight has much more utility than skimming across the surface of ponds or lakes

[kaitlynboss]

Thank you for finally explaining how air sacks in the bones helps birds fly. It’s because with them they can constantly take in air which makes sense why that would help.

[iceboorg]

Oh small criticism
Id love to hear things like wingspan in meters as well
I cant imagine anything when hearing feet

[Mike-ozcv]

Small creatures have such a high surface to mass ratio that flight is actually quite easy for them. On a breezy day it can actually be hard for them to stay on the ground.

[anaran]

I just love this channel. As someone who's into science but doesn't have a background in biology, it's a great starting point to satisfy my curiosity.

[zy]

This video is truly amazing, honestly I didn't expect you will cover so much depth and breath since you also covered pterosaurs, whose info is not so easy to find. Would be interesting to research which kind of breathing they had. The insect segments part was also a nice inclusion as was the microraptor mention and the nice touch on the timing of the Archeopterix discovery and Darwin's book. Congratulations

[cesarvidelac]

We live in times when information is widespread as never before, yet ignorance reigns as never before. People openly believe in such things like plain earth and creationism. We need this science to be shared more than ever. Thanks so much for sharing. Subscribed.