WEBVTT - Would King Kong Be Considered an Endangered Species?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren bog Obam Here. If you're considering a summer vacation

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<v Speaker 1>to a fictitious land, then Skull Island is an eco

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<v Speaker 1>tourism dream come true. There you can avoid the genetic

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<v Speaker 1>mischief of Jurassic Park's Island, Newbar and the radioactive horror

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<v Speaker 1>of Monster Island, but still visit a place where prehistoric

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<v Speaker 1>creatures thrive in the wild. Skull Island, sometimes called Kong's Island,

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<v Speaker 1>is home to a perplexing array of organisms, as captured

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<v Speaker 1>in the nineteen thirty three film King Kong and its

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<v Speaker 1>sequels and remakes. It houses everything from native populations of

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<v Speaker 1>Homo sapiens to dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus and Stegosaurus, and then

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<v Speaker 1>there's the ape lord himself, King Kong. Unlike the dinosaurs, pterosaurs,

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<v Speaker 1>and plesiosaurs upon the island, Kong doesn't quite line up

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<v Speaker 1>with any known prehistoric beast. Even Gigantipithecus, the largest known

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<v Speaker 1>primate of all time, stood no more than ten ft

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<v Speaker 1>tall that's about three meters. Kong, however, stands at least

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen feet or five and a half meters tall In

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<v Speaker 1>the nineteen thirty three film, and it's even taller in

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<v Speaker 1>some tellings. Sizing up like this can prove something of

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<v Speaker 1>a risky move. Evolutionarily speaking, bigger bodies come with increased

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<v Speaker 1>energy demands and body changes to keep everything from falling apart.

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<v Speaker 1>Noted zoologist R McNeil Alexander once explained that King Kong

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<v Speaker 1>would collapse under his own weight could be a hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and twenty five times the volume of a real ape

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<v Speaker 1>loaded with a hundred and twenty five times the weight,

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<v Speaker 1>but on the physical frame of a typical gorilla, his

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<v Speaker 1>legs simply wouldn't be able to support him. Essentially, you

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<v Speaker 1>can't just scale up a creature's size and expect it

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<v Speaker 1>to function the same way. Plus, an ape like cong

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<v Speaker 1>might be big enough to defeat all its fellow beasts

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<v Speaker 1>in a brawl, but couldn't cope with climate change, habitat loss,

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<v Speaker 1>or the destructive tendencies of human civilization. And if he

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<v Speaker 1>soundhow could support his own weight. Being big isn't enough

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<v Speaker 1>to cope with these other dangers. Prehistoric titans like Gigantipithecus

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<v Speaker 1>and the giant sloths present a valuable lesson in the

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<v Speaker 1>vulnerability of life as giant land mammals. National Geographic once

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<v Speaker 1>pointed out that, based on computer modeling of heights, every

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<v Speaker 1>species has an effective upper limit of size, and the

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<v Speaker 1>closer they evolved towards that size, the greater the risk

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<v Speaker 1>of extinction. Perhaps that's why King Kong is typically described

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<v Speaker 1>as the last of his kind. Even Skull Island seems

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<v Speaker 1>incapable of supporting a robust population of rampaging giant apes.

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<v Speaker 1>Not only would he be considered an endangered species, he's

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<v Speaker 1>also what's often referred to as functionally extinct, because, let's

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<v Speaker 1>face it, Kong's species is at a dead end. Despite

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<v Speaker 1>an alleged son of Kong popping up from time to time,

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<v Speaker 1>the population of his species has clearly dipped well below

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<v Speaker 1>the threshold for genetically stable reproduction. In other words, if

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<v Speaker 1>there are female Hongs out there, the resulting offspring would

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<v Speaker 1>be subject to the sort of lack of genetic diversity

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<v Speaker 1>that leads to genetic disorders and eventually extinction. And Kong's

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<v Speaker 1>not alone. Several real life species exist in this state

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<v Speaker 1>of impending doom, including the bay a g a freshwater

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<v Speaker 1>dolphin once found in the Yanksee River. We've even seen

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<v Speaker 1>A recent example of a last known member of a

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<v Speaker 1>species succumbing to extinction George, the last Hawaiian tree snail,

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<v Speaker 1>who died in captivity on January one. George was no giant,

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<v Speaker 1>but his death highlights one of the lesser known plights

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<v Speaker 1>of extinction, that of snails and slugs. Amphibians face a

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<v Speaker 1>similar crisis, and in both cases there are inevitable ripple

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<v Speaker 1>effects throughout the ecosystem. While King Kong seems to exist

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<v Speaker 1>in order to battle other giant creatures, these smaller victims

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<v Speaker 1>of extinction play subtler but still vital ecological roles, such

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<v Speaker 1>as decomposing waste or keeping mosquito populations in check. When

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<v Speaker 1>we lose them, we risk greater threats. So certainly poor

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<v Speaker 1>one out for lonely King Kong. But on the bright side,

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<v Speaker 1>it doesn't look like he'll vanish from the world of

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<v Speaker 1>cinema anytime soon. Instead, it consider the many critically endangered

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<v Speaker 1>species of the real world and what you can do

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<v Speaker 1>to help them. Today's episode was written by Robert Lamb

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<v Speaker 1>and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is production of

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<v Speaker 1>iHeart Radios. Hastuff works for more in this and lots

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<v Speaker 1>of other gigantic topics, visit our home planet, how stuff

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