WEBVTT - The King-sized World of Gigantism 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:14.040 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:16.560 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. Julie, 0:00:16.560 --> 0:00:20.840 How tall are you? That's pretty good, Lady Hyde right 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:24.720 for Lady Hid. Yeah, I'm a giant. No, it's I mean, yeah, 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:27.440 it's on the brand, but not so much. I mean, yeah, 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:30.880 well I'm I'm six three, which is like a good 0:00:31.480 --> 0:00:33.400 a good level of height, Like I think of that 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:35.760 as pretty tall. Actually well, I mean it's it's tall, 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:38.839 but it's it's not. I mean, it's a little inconvenient. 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:41.519 I do bump my head a lot and forget a 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:45.040 lot of things as a result. But but it's it's not. 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:47.000 It was a little more than I would just I 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:50.360 would just have terminal brain injuries from running into things. Yeah. 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:51.919 Is My family would say, it looks like you got 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:56.320 some Dutch in you, Dutch because the Dutch are tall. Well, 0:00:56.640 --> 0:01:00.000 there you go. But some people are taller than others, 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:03.760 for some people and for many things. Uh, we're really 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:06.640 getting into the area of gigantism. We're getting into areas 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:10.120 where it's amazing, into areas where it's it's kind of sad, 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:13.880 but well, And keep in mind too that humans are 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:18.559 already considered megafauna to some degree, right, Like we're pretty 0:01:18.640 --> 0:01:22.880 much dominating the mammal um species here, So when you 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:26.360 think of the ability to grow even larger, it seems 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:29.119 a bit odd, but it does happen. Um. This is 0:01:29.240 --> 0:01:34.240 known as acromegaly and uh. It is usually a disorder 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:37.600 of the tuitary gland. Usually there's a tumor that grows 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:41.039 there and it causes UM the body just to continue growing, 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:43.840 particularly in puberty when you are growing anyway, so your 0:01:43.880 --> 0:01:46.760 bones get very very large, a lot of human growth 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:51.040 hormone pumping out, increasing the bone sizes, which of course 0:01:51.040 --> 0:01:53.880 makes the body bigger. This isn't corrected, which we're gonna 0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:56.200 talk about in a minute. Again, you actually end up 0:01:56.240 --> 0:02:00.120 having or or organ omegaly, wit which case you have 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:04.160 the organs getting bigger in size too. And yes, you 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:06.960 end up with an individual that's very tall or can 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:10.160 be very tall. Not everyone with this condition ends up 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:13.520 becoming a legit giant, right, particularly if you get this 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:16.800 condition as an adult already. So which you find is that, like, 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:19.680 for instance, your tongue starts to swall get very large, 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:22.320 and that can lead to a host of problems, problems 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:28.480 like hypertension, high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep atna, breathing and 0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:33.280 stops during sleep, carpal tunnel syndrome UM and then and 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:37.200 then again as as organ omegaly, hits sets in even 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:41.400 more problems, you know, especially a higher incidence of heart disease. 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:45.000 So sadly you see these a lot of these individuals, 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:48.399 they they they are giants. They become they reach these 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:51.920 this great stature and uh and especially with with the 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:56.040 individuals that have have a gigantism that involved themselves and 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:58.200 in the entertainment industry, we end up getting this, uh, 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:02.240 this grandiose vision of them as just superman, you know, 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:05.600 strong men. And in many cases they are very strong individuals. 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:09.280 But but later in life, uh, it often takes a 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:11.560 real toll on them, right, because you think about all 0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:13.160 of that blood that needs to be pumping to all 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:16.760 those now oversized organs. It is very streshful in the body. 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:19.640 And when you talk about superhero component of that, I 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:24.160 instantly think of Andre the Giant. Yes, uh, Andre Rusumov, 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:29.480 the wrestler actor Frenchman. Uh. Yeah, he only lived to 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:33.919 the age of forty six, but he was seven ft 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:38.080 seven ft tall uh and five pounds at the end 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:41.400 he was he chose not to be treated uh and 0:03:41.480 --> 0:03:45.120 died of cardiac complications from the disease. But he's definitely 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:49.400 a legend as far as modern day TV and film 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:52.240 era giants goes. Oh yeah, I always think of him 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:54.880 in The Princess Pride. Yeah, because he's a wonderful movie. Yeah, 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:57.200 wonderful movie. He was great in that he was He 0:03:57.280 --> 0:04:00.800 was a larger than life character both on the screen 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:04.680 and inside the ring and outside where he he allegedly 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:09.320 had just an amazing um ability to drink alcohol. Could 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:13.000 just I'm sure he want most of those contests out 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:16.920 of style. And you still have individuals with gigantism that 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:20.600 are involved in um entertainment and pro wrestling today. Pro 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:25.160 wrestling alone, you have you have Paul White who wrestles 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:27.480 as his big show. You have this guy, there's an 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:31.880 Indian gentleman by the name of of Dolph singh Arana 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:35.839 who wrestles as the Great Kaleigue, various other individuals. So 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:39.640 because you have stature like that, inevitably some guy with 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:41.599 a few bucks is gonna come up to and be like, hey, 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:44.440 have you ever considered being an entertainment? Um? And then 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:47.800 you have. There are other characters of note as well. 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:50.680 There's a there was a man by the name of 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:55.320 Maurice Killett who was who was a Russian born French 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:57.800 professional wrestler who wrestled under the name the French Angel. 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.760 And he died back in again in fifty four. Um. 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:02.600 There's a man by the name of Rondo Hatton who 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:04.960 was an American actor. He died in six but he 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:09.320 became really iconic is playing these uh, these grotesque thug 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:12.160 type characters and a lot of old B movies and 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:15.240 and he was he was rather iconic. In fact. Um, 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:17.599 I believe the character of Shrek is actually based on 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:20.960 his general physical appearance, because he had a very brutish 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:23.960 look to her, you know. Um. And then of course 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:27.000 there's Richard Kyle who played Jaws, and then James Bond movies, 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:30.440 the old James. Yeah, he's he's still with us um 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:33.560 um over seven ft tall. I think he's he's shrunk 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:35.719 a little, just with age, you know, you kind of 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:39.560 end up stooping over a bit. But but the list 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:44.360 of other individuals who've who've who've had at least treated 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:50.080 acromegay is pretty interesting because it includes some surprises. For instance, 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:53.960 you were surprised at Tony Robbins. Yes, actually yeah, I 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:55.960 said that. I thought I just thought it was his 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:58.360 oversized ego that I was perceiving. Yeah, you just thought 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:00.800 it who was larger than life? And because he is, 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:05.320 and he is he's six ft seven um poet Walls Stevens. 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:08.279 This surprised me. He was only six three So it 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:13.400 wasn't you know, as an as noticeable a case of gigantism. 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:15.280 But it was a pretty tall individual. This is a 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:17.320 guy who wrote the poem The Emperor of ice Cream. 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:24.480 Another works um the the Roman emperor um maxim Maximinus, 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:28.159 the first who reigned from two thirty five to thirty eight. 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:34.560 According to um Um Herodians Historia Augusta, he was eight 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:38.360 foot six inches in height. But that's somewhat doubtful that 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:41.080 he was actually that tall. But but still, um, there 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:44.960 was a giant from from the the history books. And 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:47.080 uh and and really you can it look like a 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:49.520 whole list of individuals you can you can find out. Yeah, 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:52.880 I wanted to mention Sandy Allen. She was the world's 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:57.080 largest or tallest woman at seven seven and one quarter inch. 0:06:57.680 --> 0:07:01.080 And she actually was a wonderful educator and and um 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:05.560 a lot of her education materials centered around differences she was. 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:08.279 She was definitely trying to promote that with other kids 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:11.360 and respecting other differences. So um, So, a lot of 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:14.240 these individuals may have made a buck or two off 0:07:14.240 --> 0:07:17.480 of their stature, or it may have provided them with 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:20.320 opportunities that they wouldn't have otherwise had. But but a 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:24.080 lot of them were really fascinating and successful individuals in 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:27.119 their own right that had nothing to do with their height. 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:30.720 Maybe Wall of Stevens um poetic gifts were you know, 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:32.360 if he was a shorter man, he would have had them. 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:34.600 But but I think that's a difficult argument. It's hard 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:37.280 to say that's right. But as you mentioned, there is 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:39.600 treatment for this. One of it is one of the 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:43.240 treatments is surgical removal of the actually get in there 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:46.680 and remove the thing that is causing all of this 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:49.600 and checked growth. Right, And Sandy Allen actually had that 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:51.800 when she was twenty years old, but nonetheless, at the 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:54.440 age of fifty three, she still passed away because again 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:56.720 at that point, you know, she had reached such a 0:07:56.760 --> 0:07:58.800 height and her organs were so large that it did 0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:01.600 attack her body. And then there are other methods of 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:05.040 treating it um that you can also use medication to 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:10.000 halt the hormone and and then also some individuals undergo 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:14.040 radiation treatments as well. Yeah, and we should probably I 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:15.680 don't know if we mentioned that before, but because of 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:18.040 the tumor on the tutary gland, what is happening is 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:20.200 you're getting an excess amount of growth hormones that are 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:22.600 shooting out, so that that is the root cause, right, So, 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:25.760 and so you can't take medication to to check that, 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:29.120 but but in many cases they often just go for 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:34.120 the more you know, certain cure. I guess um. But 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:38.000 we're not just here to talk about humans that are large. 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:42.280 We're we're also here to talk about animals that became 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:45.720 true giants. And of course, when you're talking about gigantic animals, 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:50.679 you can't help but to think of our friends, the dinosaurs, Yeah, immediately, right, 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:54.440 And most of the reason for that is because we 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:58.880 don't really um get to see small bones of dinosaurs 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:01.480 because they don't preserve the well, so the bones that 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:05.400 we see exhibited in museums usually belong to the behemoth, 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:09.719 So immediately we think about these guys um which they 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:14.320 definitely had gigantism um or I guess you could say 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:17.319 in the natural world at that time. For the composition 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:19.880 of the elements in the world that they were living in, 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:23.360 this made most sense for them, some some animals depending 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:26.360 on their resources and energy. Yeah, and there's a theory 0:09:26.360 --> 0:09:28.840 too that it was basically an arms race of size, 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:33.120 because the larger the organism is, the fewer predators it has. 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:37.240 Because you're, you know, this gigantic, hulking beast, uh not 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:39.000 everything is going to be able to really eat you 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:41.560 or stand a chance of even taking you down. It's 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:43.040 gonna come and like pulling your leg and you need 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:46.240 to stop on it. So there's an evolutionary advantage to 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:49.880 uh to to having a larger body and a larger statue, 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:53.600 even if it comes with with certain negatives as well, 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:56.200 such as obviously you have to eat more food, and 0:09:56.200 --> 0:10:01.120 then that also affects uh the rate at which young developed, 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:06.040 and in various other approcreative necessities. Yeah, and it said 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:09.880 that sura pods were particularly um at an advantage for 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:13.960 this because they could have you know, a decent size 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:17.120 of of of young uns, and they could protect them 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:20.080 all and then they could pretty much rapidly grow to 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:23.680 these very huge sizes. And again another advantage of that 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:27.120 is you can stomp out the competition literally literally. Yeah, 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:31.240 they're actually um. From a Scientific American article called is 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:35.040 there any evolutionary advantage to gigantism um, They these sore 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:38.000 pods are actually called the first true giants of the land. 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:40.520 And they were small headed, long necked, that's probably what 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:42.400 you're thinking of when you think about a sore pod. 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:46.160 And they appeared at the beginning of that time, about 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:50.680 two hundred million years ago UM and uh, some of 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:54.080 these predatory dinosaurs exceeded one ton. Towards the end of 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:57.840 the Jurassic ministre pods reached ten to twenty tons, and 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:01.280 some weighed as much as twenty or excuse me, fifty tons, 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:05.040 and a few may have exceeded a hundred tons and 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:08.600 a hundred and fifty feet in length, which is actually 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:13.560 rivaling um, some of our largest modern whales because because 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:15.319 as we've mentioned before, the blue whale is still the 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:21.040 largest organism um the large certainly. Yeah, that's tricky too, Yeah, 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:25.320 because we discussed in our Largest Organism episode. Um, depending 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:27.400 on how you defined organism, you can actually get into 0:11:27.440 --> 0:11:32.040 some even larger things that are not vertebrates, but but 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:37.000 certainly the largest vertebrate that has ever lived, the blue whale. Um. So, 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:41.200 and of course you think about tyrannosaurs dominant meat eaters 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:44.360 of the late cretitious area, or scavengers whatever, the hot 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:47.360 theory of the moment happens to be exactly. They grew 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:50.880 slowly until they were teenagers and they were marauding in 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:53.880 moby um, and then they went through a growth spurt, 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:57.720 becoming five times larger in just seven years. So again 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:00.040 we're talking about I mean, the period of growth of 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:03.679 here is is pretty amazing. Um, when you become five 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:06.280 times larger. If you think about a teenager right now, 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:08.640 they maybe have a couple more inches that they're gonna 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:12.000 lop on, but they're certainly not going to become twenty 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:14.400 ft tall. Yeah, it's it's just crazy to think about 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:16.720 the amount of Like in the Milk podcast we mentioned 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:20.280 about about baby blue whales taking on like three pounds 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:22.880 of body weight a day as they feed off their 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:27.040 mother's milk. So um, Yeah, the amount of growth taking 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:31.000 place with these gigantic organisms is just incredible. Yeah, and 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:33.720 I wanted to to mention a couple of other advantages 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:37.679 to being so large before we talk about disadvantages. Your 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:42.240 metabolic rate decreases with increasing size, so for instance, um, 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:44.960 you only need to take in five percent of if 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:47.320 you're an elephant, for instance, you only need to take 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:50.160 in five percent of your own weight, whereas a shrew 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:52.280 or a mousee needs to eat more than its weight 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:57.120 each day to survive. Yeah, there's a there's actually you'll 0:12:57.120 --> 0:12:59.679 hear that that that stat There are out a lot 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:01.440 to when people make that make the point that the 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:04.600 shrew is the most ravenous creature on the planet because 0:13:04.600 --> 0:13:06.280 it's just it has to eat so much as he 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:10.600 constantly to survive. And they actually made a movie ages 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:14.160 that really horrible be movie that they they lampooda mystery 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:17.480 signs the thousand called the Giant Shrews or was it 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:20.880 the Killer Shrews, I can't remember, but the basic thing 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:22.959 was that they had these giant shrews who were running 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:25.200 around there were the size of dogs that of course 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:28.360 we're dogs with really bad costumes, breaped over them. And 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:30.920 then the idea was that the shrew is just incredibly 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:33.480 dangerous and if we're ever ever able to reach the 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:35.120 side of like a dog, then they would be the 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:38.280 most dangerous things ever. But of course this we've just 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:41.439 mentioned here, the appetite really plays into their size. That 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:44.839 the shrew became larger, they would be playing the violin 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:47.400 under our tree, having a couple of grapes and being like, 0:13:47.400 --> 0:13:50.920 hey guys, totally chilled out. Um, was this made in 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:55.119 the fifties. Yes, there seems to be a real obsession 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:57.839 with gigantism during that time period. Oh yeah, you saw 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:01.920 they were giant scorpions, giant spiders, giant ants them what 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:04.120 was the movie ants? There was a lot of fun 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:07.160 these to show that on on the on the the 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:09.120 cable channels back in the day when they were like 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:13.640 think grandpap Monster hosted a Saturday morning Monster movie show 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:15.640 and remember that, and they would play that, They would 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:18.800 play Islanded Dr Moreau, these studies type of films. But 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:21.640 the giant ants, all all these things. Yeah, well these 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:25.280 were also easy animals to implement in a B movie 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:29.040 because if you have a giant ant, all you needed 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:31.760 to just just get some ants in there. Uh, do 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:34.720 some you know, mess with perspective, uh dubby on an 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:39.080 actual ant and just make it look larger, although inevitably 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:42.440 they always have a puppet of whatever animal. Yeah, you 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:44.400 need the head which is with the pincher so it 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:47.240 can grab a lady and picture exactly better than that, 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:49.480 just throw in the ants and have some people react 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:53.680 to it. It's like early c g I. Alright, So, 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:56.640 so other than being featured in b phones, why might 0:14:56.720 --> 0:15:00.480 you not want to be a giant? H Really, if 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:03.640 you are a dinosaur, for starters, all that mass that 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:05.880 that allows you to stomp others out actually kind of 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:08.080 hems you in because you can't fly, you can't run, 0:15:08.560 --> 0:15:11.440 you can't climb or burrow into the ground to take cover. 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:14.640 So your your whole defensive tactic is, hey, I'm this 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:17.280 hulking thing and you can't take me down. But then 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:19.800 say you have a pack of velociraptors that come around 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:22.320 and they're like, actually we can because we can work 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:26.280 together and we're patient, and you're not going anywhere exactly exactly. 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:28.960 You're a very large target force, and because they're at 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:30.560 the top of the food chain, there are less of them, 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:34.000 and the chances for extinction actually become greater as well. Right, 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:37.960 large organism having to depend on a lot of other 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:41.040 organisms underneath it, even if most of them are just grass. Uh, 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:44.920 and then you wipe that out and there you go. Yeah. Um. 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:47.960 And this was really interesting to Sarah de Charred, Doctoral 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:51.360 Canada at North Carolina State has studied the plants available 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:54.080 during the age of dinosaurs, and she thinks that during 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:57.320 the Jurassic, when vegetation with fibrous and low nutrient, it 0:15:57.320 --> 0:16:00.200 would make sense to have a lot bigger bell eas 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:02.000 really what we're talking about here, because they acted a 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:06.800 huge vat for fermentation. But she says that when flowering 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:10.320 plants with high nutrient contents came along, it was actually 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:13.240 a boon too smaller dinos because I gave them an 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:17.400 evolutionary advantage because that was just the hit that they needed. Um. 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:19.360 So it's kind of interesting to look at it that way. 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:23.160 And I also wanted to mention too, although not dinosaurs, 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:28.200 there is a tale of Paleozoic dragonflies that may have 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:32.120 existed three million years ago. And how big were these things, uh, 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:36.520 wingspan of two and a half feet. And they think 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:38.960 this is still a bit of a theory, but this 0:16:39.040 --> 0:16:41.400 is owing to the planets. Then oxygen makeup of more 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:45.440 than so it was these auction levels that actually spawned 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:49.960 this dragonfly. Wow. Well that's interesting to imagine, especially during 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:52.800 mating season when they do their thing, you know. Yeah, 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:55.720 I mean, can you imagine it would be debauchery if 0:16:55.760 --> 0:16:57.720 today we looked at the window and saw in such 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:02.440 great detail and such largeness the mating. Yeah, dragonflies are great. 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:04.320 I love him. But you know what I love even 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:06.760 more in this Uh. And we're moving forward a bit 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:10.080 here from from dinosaurs. I love dinosaurs. I love them 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:12.239 as a kid, but you kind of get I kind 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:14.760 of got used to it at an early age. It's 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:18.840 the idea that it used to be giant lizards, even 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:21.200 though just as a tangent, I had to I was 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:25.760 trying to convince, um, um, I have a kid that, 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:28.000 like a four year old that I watched and over 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:30.640 a babysitting Uh. He had some toy dinosaurs and I'm 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:32.000 and I and I told him it's like, you know 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:33.560 those are real, right, And he's like, no, it's just 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:38.440 a toy. It was like that's heartbreaking. Um, he'll learn. 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:41.000 But but but I got used to the idea pretty 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:43.200 early on. Yes, there were giant dinosaurs at one point 0:17:43.280 --> 0:17:46.480 or another, and for some reason, giant mammals that and 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:50.639 and giant birds that was always a much more exciting 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:53.640 idea to me, Like it it felt newer, I guess 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:56.879 you know, it wasn't as um as uh as covered 0:17:57.040 --> 0:18:02.160 in the childhood science literature. So so anytime, even today, 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:03.760 when I see like a like a picture of a 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:08.000 giant sloth or or or certainly these giant birds, I'm 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:09.960 I'm really impressed. The giant birds are really kind of 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:13.359 heartbreaking though, because so many of these where we're not 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:16.280 even prehistoric creatures, they lived until very recent time. Yeah, 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:18.760 I was gonna say, let's talk about these more modern 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:23.400 terrestrial animals, which gigientis um. Yeah, there was a species 0:18:23.440 --> 0:18:27.679 of bird called the host eagle um that reached a 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:30.800 height of eight point five feet. It was a fierce 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:34.840 predator that lived in New Zealand and U Sadly, it 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:37.439 went to extinct about five hundred years ago due to 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:41.800 human hunting and habitat encroachment, which again is just kind 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:43.680 of sad because it's like, oh, we almost reached the 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:46.840 point where we could have seen these and and photographed 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:50.560 them and maybe conserve them, but they they blinked out 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:52.560 just a little too soon. And then there are others. 0:18:52.560 --> 0:18:55.720 There's the the elephant bird, which was ten feet tall 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:59.560 that lived on Madagascar and it uh it went on 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:04.160 sometime in seventeenth century and they think. Uh. There's also 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:07.920 of course the moa, which was the great flightless bird 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:11.400 of New Zealand. Uh and it probably went away about 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:14.679 seven hundred years ago when the may always wiped them 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:17.400 out because they're just they're these big birds. They've evolved 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:20.160 to to to pretty much do whatever they want within 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:24.080 a limited environment. But then suddenly you have an invasive 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:28.040 organism around. You have humans who are like the velociraptors 0:19:28.040 --> 0:19:31.480 we mentioned earlier. They're smart, they're patient, they're cunning, and 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:33.280 they know that they can work together to take this 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:35.399 animal down and eat it. And then since it's a 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:38.360 larger organism, um that you know, they're fewer of them. 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:41.920 Uh reproduction time plays into this as well. They're much 0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:44.679 more easily wiped out. So everyone feasts on moa for 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:46.880 a little bit and then there's no more. Yeah. I mean, 0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:50.000 it is mind boggling to think the amount in different 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:53.119 types of animals that have gone extinct um, not just 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:56.480 because of manning causes, but even something that I believe 0:19:56.480 --> 0:19:59.240 it was during the Order of Vicinian period. They're supposed 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:02.960 to be like a just a proliferation of different species 0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:05.200 that were then wiped out at the end of that period. 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:08.400 But anyway, it just doesn't boggle the mind to try 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:11.439 to imagine all different types of flora and fauna. But 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:14.000 not all the giants went away. We stall some rather 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:18.399 gigantic animals around today. They're worth mentioning. Oh yes, the 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:23.080 colossal squid. Yes, and we're we're doing another podcast on 0:20:23.400 --> 0:20:27.239 intelligence of cephalopods um, so there's gonna be even more 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:31.119 squid content there. But the colossal squid reaches some pretty 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:37.000 phenomenal links. Yep. Actually, the squid was accidentally caught by 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:40.440 New Zealand fisherman in two thousand and seven, weighing in 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:45.520 at one thousand pounds and spanning fourteen ft. Here's something 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:48.560 that really, um, kind of rattles me a bit. It's 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:54.000 i uh, nearly ten inches in diameter, so imagine nearly 0:20:54.040 --> 0:20:58.440 a foot long eye staring back at you. Uh So 0:20:58.520 --> 0:21:02.960 that I think, particularly rattling from squid. Eyes are amazing, um, 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:05.439 especially when you're talking about something that big and the 0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:09.000 biggest eye of any animal really very similar to our 0:21:09.119 --> 0:21:11.040 I actually um, and we'll talk more about that in 0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:14.200 our gigant or excuse me, in our cephalopod podcast. So 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:16.840 when we're talking about things like like the colossal squid 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:19.800 and and also various other giant animals that live in 0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:21.600 the deep, we're getting into the area of deep siege 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:26.440 gigantism um. Particularly you see this uh in invertebrates, crustaceans, 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:31.560 uh and other creatures where they'll they're they'll have cousins 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:33.920 that live in fresh water or shallow or not fresh 0:21:33.920 --> 0:21:37.200 water but shallower waters and uh, and they'll be much smaller. 0:21:37.240 --> 0:21:39.159 But in the deep and the cold, cold deep, they 0:21:39.200 --> 0:21:42.679 grow toal enormous size. And part of it is the cold. 0:21:43.640 --> 0:21:47.680 Scientists think they say that you look at the at 0:21:47.680 --> 0:21:51.439 the temperature and body body size, and the bigger animals 0:21:51.480 --> 0:21:55.199 have smaller surface to volume ratio, so they can more 0:21:55.240 --> 0:21:58.160 effectively conserve body heat in those cold environments. So would 0:21:58.160 --> 0:22:00.320 be to their advantage to grow bigger. Yeah, it's kind 0:22:00.320 --> 0:22:04.120 of like having a fur coat undersea fur couch. Yeah, 0:22:04.160 --> 0:22:05.879 it's just and there's more of me. So I got 0:22:06.040 --> 0:22:08.320 that way. I can I can go down into these lightless, 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:10.880