ExtinctZoo

Yeah...I learned about this so now you have to too

ExtinctZoo examines the evolutionary milestones that allowed plants to conquer the land, from early symbiotic relationships with fungi to the development of vascular systems, roots, and seeds. This exploration highlights the diverse adaptations that enabled flora to survive extinction events and become the dominant life forms on Earth today.

ExtinctZoo explores the Kem Kem Group in Morocco, a geological formation from the late Cretaceous period. This river delta ecosystem supported an intense concentration of giant theropods, massive crocodilians, and colossal fish, creating a uniquely competitive environment where nearly every species was adapted to be a formidable predator.

Maybe Cheetahs will get a kick out of living in Australia...and I mean that literally.

Carcinization is so 2025, say hello to Serpentization, the phenomenon in which non-snake animals keep turning into danger noodles.

RUN.

Meet all the friends you've always had, but never knew you had!

These animals took being extinct a little too far...

Spiderman wasn't so off with eels turning you superhuman after all...

Look out Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres, y'all got some competition

The greatest time capsule ever made, came from mother nature's own hands.

Subnautica, its a pretty cool game with a pretty cool ecosystem, and it can make one wish that space travel was a real thing, allowing you to visit such places. Yet, don't fret, because in the meantime there's actually a few real places on earth that rival it in wonder.

The Sahara might just be the harshest (hot) desert on Earth today. But just a few thousand years ago, it was a lush green paradise filled with lakes, rivers, savannas, and massive herds of wildlife.

Coming to a looksmaxer near you...

Do you ever find yourself wondering what your 70 millionth great-grandfather, Slime Sr. would think of you?

To some this thumbnail may seem familiar, to others it may be brand new. A few weeks ago, we launched our patreon along with this video, sadly less than a week into our patreon journey, our account was temporarily taken down due to some....reasons you will hear about in the video. But we are back now, and that is all that matters! Please consider supporting us!

How can a world go from wonderous giant reptiles, and sprawling forests to a desolate wasteland in just 24 hours? Find out hereeeee

Can they?

Watch out mountain lions, there's a new cat in town

King Kong may be rooted more in reality than you would thunk.

Everyone has that certain time in their life, where they are just trying things out and experimenting, and perhaps those things are not exactly the most logical or flattering. And just like how we have these phases, earth has had them too, with one of its phase being so strange it single handedly created a plethora of the strangest creatures to ever walk, swim, or fly on this earth.

The oceans and seas of earth have long been home to some of the most nightmarish creatures, and when you include every aquatic animal ever, the list of thalassophobia inducing animals is pretty long, which made me wonder, what just was the deadliest sea animal from each of earth’s periods?

Caves kinda freak me out, so I am glad other people are brave enough to explore them leading to some pretty metal discoveries over the years.

We always talk about the big bad predators of old, namely carnivorous dinosaurs, but we don't give enough flowers to the herbivorous dinosaurs that went far and beyond the norm, to turn into killing machines of their own (in a sense).

Crabs, It's always been crabs....

You probably think the age of mammals is all cold and grey right? I mean we are in an ice age and all. Yet, this belief would be FOOLISH, cuz guess what, it was actually during the age of mammals, that earth experienced once of its hottest moments ever.

THEY OOGA BOOGA NOW?

Rabies in animals is always scary, but a rabid wolf is a whole other ball game, so much so that its often been dubbed the deadliest kind of rabid animal...let me explain.

Ever wondered what you'd get if you combined a Gorilla with a Horse? No? Well evolution has and over the years it has created hybrids of sorts, prehistoric animals that seem to have been straight mash ups of various creatures.

Terrifying, blood thirsty, lethal. These are just some ways I am sure many people describe piranhas, who over the years have built a pretty respectable reputation built off fear, yet in reality, these guys are much more chill and crazy in other ways than we've been led to believe.

If you think about Ice Age America, you may picture a bunch of snow, ice, and cavemen. However, that would be wrong, and you would be much closer to reality if you simply pictured, an unlikely place, the great plains of Africa, as that is what America essentially was during the Ice Age, only it was a whole lot crazier.

Once upon a time, the largest animals to ever walk were in the height of their golden age, but then rather suddenly they vanished, just like that. Why?

60,000 years of isolation and one island...

There's a new king in these parts...and it ain't a dinosaur.

Great white, tiger shark, and bull shark. These three are what many consider to be the deadliest shark out there, to humans. However, there is a relatively unknown shark, that might be responsible for far more deaths than the big 3 combined...

If you ask the average person when the dinosaurs rule ended, they would say 66 million years ago when that big ol mean asteroid struck. But in truth, this may not really be all that right...seeing that not so long after their demise a new group of dinosaurs emerged, that caused their own share of terror (pun intended).

Brazil’s Cerrado might be the stranger, wilder, and more overlooked savanna hiding in plain sight.

The great lakes are probably the most famous group of lakes in the entire world, named for their...well great size. And yet these guys are tiny compared to an ancient lake that used to exist, that wasn't just bigger than them each, but also bigger then all of them combined (80 times over).

Earth used to be packed with giants, and somehow, in just the last few centuries, humans still managed to delete a shocking number of them.

The lower you go, the only weirder things become...

Prepare to have your mind blown by the absurdities that were the dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs are well known for being absolute units, so it may not come as too much of a surprise, that the largest animal to fly that was not a pterosaur, happened to be a dinosaur, go figure.

ewwwwwwwwwww

How Crocodiles Survived The Ice Age

If convergent evolution has taught us anything, its that some designs work over and over again, which is why its a bit strange that two places, the Arctic and Antarctic that are both known for being endless cold, have animals that look very different, right?

The T. Rex was the sworn enemy of the Spinosaurus, we all know this of course. The only thing is... it wasn't, and the two never even met, being separated by both time and place. BUT, there was a giant predator that did live alongside the Spinosaurus and definitely gave it a run for its money...

Neanderthals, we just can't get enough of them, and I am sure some of you have wondered what it would be like if these guys suddenly came back to life, but what about if they came back and then participated in the Olympics?

You know that term, Saturdays are for the boys? Well in nature, for some animals, it turns out that no day is for the boys, just 100% suckiness.

The moment when you realize subnautica is basically Earth's prehistoric past :O

If you think scaling the himalayas is crazy now, just wait until you hear how it used to be...

Antarctica now, can seem a bit bleak, I mean its mainly a lotta of ice, on top of ice, on top of ya know. However, it wasn't always like that, and really Antarctica has one of the wildest timelines out there. And at some point that timeline hit peak chaos, and that was this point...

When we think of the prehistoric times, we often imagine the giant ferocious animals that stomped around. And don't get me wrong, the giants are cool and all, but one shouldn't forget that terrors can call in small packages too...

In Soviet Russia, Bear Hunts You. In Permian Russia, Bear Is Screwed.

Whenever you watch a documentary about prehistoric life, you expect to see some giants. However, have you ever noticed that the giants your shown, are more or less always the same ones? Well, today your gonna learn about the giants that they don't show you.

Giant balls, great jars, and prehistoric doodles? Confused by this? You should be, but clickity here and let me explain my child.

Enough of this dinosaur - space rock slander, I'll have you know the dinosaurs survived plentyyy of apocalyptic events.

If Finding Nemo was on hard mode

Don't you just hate it when the Mediterranean Sea dries up, and then proceeds to have a water explosion on a scale never seen before? Yeah me too...

Move over T. rex, mister drippy is coming through

Turns out Looney Tunes was missing a few things...

Most people would take a sunny-blue day after a rainy-gloomy one any day of the week. Yet, after watching this video, you might just change your mind on that.

You ever play one of those games, where you can pit animals you shouldn't in a battle royale to see what happens? Well turns out that mother nature once played that game...with interesting results.

To you and me, these wounds are fatal, but to prehistoric animals that were simply built diff, it wasn't anything but a flesh wound.

A man can dream...

A bit of rain here and there is no biggie, and actually kind of cozy. Now over a million years of rain on the other hand... then things start getting a bit crazy.

Love your neighbor is apparently a saying that didn’t get around in ancient times, as we humans did some pretty messed up things to our own kind back in the day.

Marine mammals are all around us, whales, seals, manatees, the list goes on and these lot have been a staple of the earth for tens of millions of years. However, it turns out that there used to actually be even more of these guys, as there is one (and only one) marine mammal order that no longer lives, and you probably have never even heard of it.

You ever day dream of what it would be like to travel back in time and see exactly what prehistoric animals looked like? Well me too, and unfortunately I doubt that will happen, BUT we do have some pretty darn amazing specimens that have helped bring the past to us.

We all know that the Titanoboa was the king of snakes and largest to ever live...but was it really? Lemme introduce you to the new King...

You’d never want to get lost in the Amazon, BUT you really really would not want to get lost in the Prehistoric Amazon, as it was a giant cesspit of absolute nopeness.

Present day Earth might not always be the easiest place to live in, but let's just say, be glad you don't live during the Induan...

You know the story, cats hate water, but this is really a great lie that has been pushed onto you, as in Asia, there is one cat species that has not only evolved to like water, but essentially live in it...

Hey all, if you want to help out this little catfish, consider checking out some of the following projects/groups:fishingcats.lk (local group in Sri Lanka)fishingcat.org (group that supports projects across South & Southeast Asia)rewild.org/wild-about/fishing-cat (global org; supports multiple different conservation projects across the world; strong credentials so you can be sure donations are used effectively)internationalconservationfund.org/fishingcats (global org, supports a project in Cambodia)😺🐟

Didn't have two headed marine reptiles and dinosaur mummies on your bingo card, did ya?

Step aside Vampires, your teeth are no match for the sabertoothed...cats. But did you know the cats weren't the only ones to evolve saber-teeth? Nor were they even the first...

When it comes to dinosaurs, bigger always means scarier right? No, and not even close, as this one family of theropod has proved, who might just be just about the worst group of dinosaurs you could ever fathom getting snatched by.

If this episode gives you a sense of dejavu, it's because this is a modernized, improved version of an older episode. Enjoy :)

Turns out that skull island really isn't that far fetched...

Turns out the story of Atlantis is more realistic than you once thought

If you want to support the podcast consider checking out my merch :) https://store.extinctzoo.org/

They too like to move it, move it

Du du du du du

Animals are pretty metal today, and of the many kinds that exist, we mammals are pretty cool, but how do we stack up against the 'coolest' group ever, the dinosaurs? Welcome to the Dino/Mammal Olympic.

If you thought the Nile crocodile was scary, wait until you hear about the Cuban crocodile - hunter of megafauna, and galloper of lands.

If you thought great whites were bad, just wait until you hear about these guys...

Amber might not be able to bring back dinosaurs, but what it can do might be even more impressive...

Looks like Simba's got some explaining to do

Dinosaurs may have fallen 66 million years ago, marking the end of an era and ushering in an age which would eventually come to be known as the age of mammals. But the journey to get there wasn't as simple as some might believe...

Think you know camels? Think again. They didn’t come from deserts, their humps don't hold water, and they're certainly not the boring pack animal you've heard about - these are freaks turned mammals.

Wild camel conservation group: https://www.wildcamels.com/

If you thought 1000 ways to die was bad, wait until you hear about these prehistoric guys...

Beneath Germany’s shale, workers uncovered fossils that shouldn’t exist...or at least it would seem so. Instead what was found was proof of evolutions strangest (but perhaps most logical) habit.

Deep in a South African cave, scientists uncovered a human species unlike any other - small, strange, and seemingly out of place in time. Who were they, what were they doing there, and why do their bones tell such a baffling story? Meet Homo naledi, the mystery buried in the dark.

Immortality, wouldn't it be nice? Well, for some animals out there, they don't actually have to wonder, as thanks to some nifty evolution, they have in some ways figured out how to beat death!

All your perfect first date icebreakers in less than 21 minutes, what more could you ask for?

Dun dun… dun dun… dun dun dun dun

Warm breeze, palm trees, and good ol crocodiles, just some of the things you might imagine when picturing a tropical paradise, and yet I am talking about Antartica, confused? Well, I am not talking about it now but as it was millions of years ago, when earth was completely iceless, and let me tell you this is just the tip of the iceberg, pun intended

Say cheeseeee