The Worldwide Phenomenon That's Shrinking Animals

Animals across the globe are shrinking, and scientists think climate change might be to blame.


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Repetitive mammalian dwarfing during ancient greenhouse warming events
"Abrupt perturbations of the global carbon cycle during the early Eocene are associated with rapid global warming events, which are analogous in many ways to present greenhouse warming. Mammal dwarfing has been observed, along with other changes in community structure, during the largest of these ancient global warming events, known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum"

As the planet gets hotter, some mammals may get smaller
"Abigail D'Ambrosia, a graduate student at the University of New Hampshire, is interested in what happens to living things when the global temperature jumps. Do they go extinct? Do they adapt? Do they change? Her research, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, shows that at least in the case of some mammals, they shrink."

Mountain Goats Are Shrinking-A Lot-Because of Global Warming
"Although global warming is known to be driving changes in body size in a number of animals, this result was more dramatic than researchers expected and suggests that a changing climate may have significant impacts on natural systems in the near term, in ways that are only beginning to be understood."

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Seeker inspires us to see the world through the lens of science and evokes a sense of curiosity, optimism and adventure.









Special thanks to Julian Huguet for hosting and writing this episode of Seeker!

[salakasto]

1:28 "water for all the aminals"

[bananakandy]

Horses are just bigger dogs, everyone knows that.

[TheStealthDj]

What if the Animals are not shrinking, but everything else is expanding?

[JR-wbdh]

"Water for all the aminals" 1:28

[GenJotsu]

Oxygen was one of the reason why the dinosaurs were so big, there was plenty of it. If insects are given higher volumes of oxygen per air, they grow huge. It would only make sense that with too much of the foil of oxygen, carbon dioxide it would lead to smaller animals.

[hemshah]

Julian is back! I wish if Dnews came back. RIP Dnews

[scishowfan.]

who feels like seeker is not worse than dnews

[pierreuntel]

my little pony.. my little pony.... oh wait, wrong channel

[jhug]

I KNOW I SAID "AMINALS!" IT WAS A JOKE! A JOKE I SAY!

[werdarastrix]

At 1:27, did he just say "aminals" instead of 'animals'??? hahahahahahahahahahahaha

[vvdealmeida]

This guy is a much better presenter. Keep him doing this aswell! He doesnt try to show that he is confortable and confident and he doesnt struggle to look funny!

[NewMessage]

Between the tiny horses and the host, I just wrote a Disney blockbuster in my head.
Expect to hear your kids driving you crazy with songs from "The Nerdiest Viking' next Xmas.

A Tiny
A joke of
What shall we do, when our steeds wear such a tiny shoe,
And why do they still make soooo

[Mahtimeisseli]

Strange that horses got smaller when the temperature rose, but I do understand the consepts. The ice age was the time when the huge mammals roamed the Earth. The thing that makes that "warm temperature - small horses" strange, is that in recent history the smallest horses were from the colder and harsher areas. Finnhorses used to be pony size, Shetland pony is from the Shetland Islands north from Scotland, Icelandic horses are quite small etc.

[hannahlyons]

1:25 he says aminals instead of animals

[ShawnRavenfire]

Question:  If mammals get smaller in hotter environments, and larger in colder environments, why does it have the opposite effect on dinosaurs/birds?  Wouldn't a large dinosaur trap in more body heat than a small bird?  Or is it more to do with different food sources?

[johnnyj]

I've been having that problem of shrinkage myself, at least the my story and I'm sticking to it.

[erianle]

Any information on whether or not this phenomenon affects humans?

[a.b]

A tiny goat? that's just adorable

[RichD]

"Why the shrinkage?" ... they were in the pool, they were in the pool!!!

[thetommantom]

It was the beginning of February, I was riding my bike with two shirts, pants, sweatshirt, there was no snow, I was sweating.