Extinct Animals from Ancient History

Dive into the astonishing world of extinct creatures with our latest episode! From the monstrous Smilodon to the colossal Titanoboa, uncover the mysteries of ancient beasts that once roamed the Earth.

[alancox]

I’m pretty sure as far as Australian birds go the cassowary it the most likely to unalive you

[LemurDreamer]

You or your scriptwriter seem to have gotten cassowaries (big, dangerous birds from Australia) confused with ostriches (that are from *Africa*).

[TheLittlestViking]

1:12 "The Ostrich really is the Chuck Norris of birds."
Said by someone who is not familiar with the Cassowary, clearly.

[julianlee-hausman]

I remember going to a natural history museum in Australia, as a young boy, (so 40-45 years ago), and there was a model of a giant spider, about the size of a large dog. One of the facts I recall about it, was that it was so large, it needed lungs, which arachnids don't have.

I'm guessing it was the product of bad science, or subsequently disproved, as I've never really seen it represented anywhere else.

It was truly nightmare inducing, as evidenced by the fact I still can clearly recall the display...

[aidrianpatullo]

you won't be finding any wild ostrich in Australia and very few in captivity, instead you'll find the emu which is a much smaller yet still very large flightless bird, although the cassowary is considered to be much more aggressive and likely to kill you

[TheNadnerb]

5:13 “Snakes are very much the Marmite of the animal kingdom.”

That’s gotta be one of Simon’s all-time best quotes

[josh]

Titanoboa looks like he's about to petrify some mudbloods.

[Delluvian]

2:45 - That guy behind Andrewsarchus is impressively tall! 😲

[seasonallyferal]

Ostrich may be Chuck Norris, but the cassowary is Bruce Lee

[BlairsVaultOfStarsAndDreams]

Personally think the Cassowary is a much more intimidating bird than an Ostrich.😂

[AntoekneeDE]

I love the Whistler-verse but these science ones often push my pedantry into a crisis.

1) Smilodon was NOT more closely related to lion than a tiger. The reason it’s correct to say ‘cat’ and not ‘tiger’ is because it was part of the Felidae family, but was not part of the Panthera ‘big cat’ family to which both tigers and lions belong (and are just about closely enough related to be able to partially breed) and nor the family to which small cats, Felinae (everything from your domestic moggie up to Cheetahs and their closest relatives pumas / cougars / mountain ‘lions’). These sabre toothed cats specifically sat just outside these two groups within the Machairodontinae. Its mighty teeth were also likely weak point meaning they were probably not used as forcefully as a lion’s canines to asphyxiate prey but perhaps for inflicting fatal blood loss upon a victim already subdued by those mighty paws

2) Although fragmentary at best, there are more remains than a single Andrewsarchus skull exist, and in fact more than one species within the genus. I believe the latest indication is that it would count Hippos amongst its most closely related extant families, it appears to be equally as closely related to all cetaceans (whales and dolphins), and more closely related to the extinct Entelodont ‘hell pigs’ (which were not pigs…). The interesting thing about these is that they were most likely hoofed creatures which has led some to quip they were sheep in wolves clothing.

3) I don’t believe there is a consensus that the Phorusrhacidae had poor sense of smell, I’ve seen the statement repeated on some websites but the opposite reported in papers. The size estimates are realistic because there are many other species that have been more completely recovered. As these truly are the descendants of the terrestrial theropod dinosaurs, what I find amazing about these bird is that they picked up where their non-avian family left off after the Cretaceous extinction. They also survived until amazing recently, and far from being simply wiped out by ‘superior’ mammal predators, they were one of the few creatures to colonise North America when the two Americas joined rather than the majority of travel in the other direction. As for their only living relatives, the phorusrhacids are not the ancestors to the extant seriema but rather relatives. The phorusrhacids diverged from the Cariama and their last common ancestor necessarily predates the earliest terror birds at 53 million years ago.

[Jayjay-qeum]

"Your scientist were so preoccupied whether they could that they didn't stop to think if they should."

-- Ian Malcolm

[Timmycoo]

lol why is Simon talking about ostriches being from Australia when they are native to Africa? Is he thinking of the Cassowary which is the most deadly bird and from Australia? Feel like this vid kinda misses a few factoids since ostriches are pretty unimpressive and would flee when provoked.

[ignitionfrn]

0:35 - Chapter 1 - The smilodon
1:50 - Chapter 2 - Andrewsarchus
3:25 - Chapter 3 - The short faced bear
5:10 - Chapter 4 - Titanoboa
7:10 - Chapter 5 - The wooly mammoth
9:50 - Chapter 6 - Terror birds

[IsThisHandleTaken]

"well over 6 feet tall at the shoulder"
*Shows a human for scale indicating maybe 4 foot height at shoulder*

[rodcab]

The ostrich isn't even a native Australian species. Wack comparison.

[DavidRamirez-vcdr]

Guy next to Andrewsarchus is 10 ft tall

[blinddave]

My most sincere apologies for the ostrich mixup.
Been doing this for too long for such amateur mistakes. Will do better :-)

[GanggangKGB]

We don't have ostriches in Australia hahahaha Emu and Cassowary yeah I'm pretty high rn but I've never seen a ostrich walking around out in the bush 😅 😂😂

[DangerSuitPrime]

Sabertooth CAT wasn't a tiger. It's not even a member of the panthera genus. It's a member of the felidae genus. Meaning the sabertooth is more closely related to your pet cat than a tiger.