What If The Giant Insects Never Went Extinct? #facts #insectcs
What If The Giant Insects Never Went Extinct? #facts #insectcs
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00:00300 million years ago,
00:02Earth was the kingdom of giant insects.
00:05As time went on, they eventually went extinct,
00:08and then the dinosaurs entered the scene.
00:11But what if that never happened?
00:14What if these giant scorpions,
00:17worms, and dragonflies were still around today?
00:21And how did they go extinct in the first place?
00:25This is WHAT IF,
00:27and here's what would happen
00:28if the giant insects never went extinct.
00:33Okay, before we get to what our insects
00:34would be like today,
00:35well first, we need to go back.
00:38The Carboniferous Period,
00:40also known as the Age of Oxygen,
00:42ran from 400 million years ago
00:44to 290 million years ago.
00:48Super-sized dragonfly wannabes,
00:50also known as griffinflies,
00:52had wingspans up to 70 centimeters.
00:55They darted about, gobbling up smaller insects.
00:59The griffinflies were also 45 centimeters long.
01:03They had huge eyes and vision like a hawk.
01:06Their spiny legs helped them grab their prey.
01:09Then there was the Mazatheros.
01:12It was 55 centimeters long and had six wings.
01:16It had two pairs of regular wings
01:17and an additional pair of winglets.
01:20But its scariest feature?
01:22It had a beak-like mouth
01:24equipped with a sucking pump.
01:26Like a vampire, it would pierce the tissues of plants
01:29and drink their juices.
01:31Maybe in the modern day, it would go after you.
01:34But we'll answer that later on.
01:36There was also the giant millipede,
01:39Arthropleura armata,
01:40entering the room at two and a half meters in length.
01:44Luckily, this guy is strictly vegan.
01:46He dined on fruits, leaves, and seeds.
01:49And watch out for these massive scorpions,
01:52as big as tennis rackets.
01:54You do not want to be on the wrong end of that stinger.
01:57But hold on, what made these insects
02:00grow so big in the first place?
02:02The answer lies in the weather
02:04the Earth was having at the time.
02:07Our Earth doesn't have a lot in common
02:09with the Permian period, except maybe the heat.
02:12Let's be real, the planet is heating up
02:14and we need to do something about it.
02:16And I just might have the solution.
02:19I'm talking about Solar Slice,
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02:24How does it work?
02:25Well, it's pretty simple.
02:26You sponsor a slice of a large-scale solar farm,
02:30adding 50 watts of solar power to the grid
02:32and reducing harmful emissions.
02:34Then you track your impact in real time with their app.
02:38You'll earn eco points as your slices generate clean energy,
02:41which you can use to buy more slices,
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02:47If you want to expand your impact further,
02:49you can share your progress with others,
02:51create group initiatives with friends,
02:53or send Solar Slices as eco-conscious gifts.
02:57Help save the planet by checking out solarslice.com,
03:01where you'll find a link to their Kickstarter campaign.
03:03Your support will fund the construction
03:05of their first solar farm and the development of their app.
03:09Now, what else is happening during the Permian period?
03:13At the beginning of this period,
03:14around 350 million years ago,
03:17it was warm, and as warm weather does,
03:20it encouraged the plants to grow.
03:23Around this time, oxygen levels in the atmosphere
03:25were about 20%, similar to what we have now on Earth.
03:30Fast forward 50 million years later,
03:33massive forests have taken over
03:35and swamps cover low-lying areas.
03:37Oxygen levels, well, they've skyrocketed to 35%.
03:42Now, the high levels of oxygen in the atmosphere
03:45made the insects big, but how exactly?
03:49Well, first, you gotta look at how insects breathe.
03:53Insects don't have lungs like we do.
03:55They have a set of openings on their bodies called spiracles.
04:00These spiracle openings lead to a set of tubes
04:03called trachea, which run through the insects' bodies.
04:07Air enters the spiracles and passes through the trachea
04:10to deliver oxygen to all the cells in the insect's body.
04:14The more oxygen in the air,
04:16the more that can pass into the insect's body.
04:18Now, there was 35% oxygen in the air at that time,
04:21and this allowed insects to take in more oxygen,
04:24which allowed them to grow bigger.
04:27But then, 150 million years ago, something changed.
04:31Oxygen levels went up, but insect size went down.
04:36Why?
04:37Because a ruthless killer of insects arrived on the scene,
04:42birds, which are, as you know, flying dinosaurs.
04:46These birds feasted on insects.
04:48They looked at the giant griffin flies and salivated,
04:51and the bigger the insect,
04:53the more likely it was to get eaten by a bird.
04:56So insect evolutionary survival strategy
05:00was to get small and nimble.
05:02Large insects went extinct, and smaller ones survived.
05:06Okay, so now that we know what happened
05:08to the giant insects, was there a way
05:10they could have avoided extinction?
05:13Well, the easiest way would be for the oxygen levels
05:16to go back up to 35%.
05:18Okay, the insects would get larger,
05:20but large insects would still be hunted by birds,
05:24which are, in most cases, stronger.
05:26So our insects need some better survival strategies.
05:31Let's look at the largest insects we have today,
05:34one of them being the weta.
05:36It's 10 centimeters long and has been around
05:38since even before the dinosaurs.
05:41So how has it survived?
05:44By getting an island of its own.
05:46In the weta's case, New Zealand.
05:48It lived here for millions of years
05:50without having to worry about any predators.
05:53But as a long-term survival strategy,
05:56it hasn't exactly worked out.
05:58Predators eventually came to New Zealand,
06:00and wetas now live in the Auckland Zoo.
06:03Okay, we need a better option for our giant insects.
06:07How about a supercharged stealth reproduction strategy,
06:11like the cicadas?
06:13After mating, the female cicada lays nearly 400 eggs.
06:17These eggs hatch in about six to eight weeks,
06:20and the young nymphs drop down, burrow into the ground,
06:24and don't come out for up to 17 years.
06:28That's definitely one way to do it.
06:30As an insect, if you make yourself scarce,
06:32no one can eat you.
06:34Maybe our giant prehistoric insects could try that.
06:37But where's the fun in spending
06:39most of your life underground?
06:42So there's one more option.
06:43We call it the chemical warfare strategy,
06:45and it's used by the lubber.
06:47Yeah, the lubber.
06:48A large grasshopper about eight centimeters long.
06:51Now, that's much smaller than our carboniferous ancestors,
06:55but it has some great survival strategies that we can use.
06:59Lubbers are great at picking up various poisons from plants,
07:03like onions or garlic,
07:05and they then make a poisonous broth
07:07that they can use against predators.
07:09Think of it as nature's pepper spray.
07:11When they meet a predator, like a bird or a rat,
07:14they eject their poisonous broth, creating a chemical cloud.
07:18Predators then gag and spit out the lubbers.
07:21And if this fails, they've got an internal toxin lined up.
07:25An unsuspecting bird that eats a lubber will vomit,
07:28and then will never try to eat one again.
07:31Okay, so now let's see if giving these insects
07:34some survival tactics will work
07:36to stop them from going extinct.
07:38With the world at 35% oxygen and some internal toxins,
07:43yeah, the giant insects now fight off the birds.
07:45But what happens when the Chicxulub asteroid hits?
07:50That's the one that wiped out the dinosaurs.
07:52Well, it's actually a pretty good thing for our insects,
07:55because the biggest predators are gone,
07:58and there's plenty of swampy, dying material
08:01for our insects to feast on.
08:03But what would happen to mammal and human evolution?
08:07Would we even be around?
08:09Because today, if our air became 35% oxygen overnight,
08:13that would be toxic for us.
08:15It'd cause coughing, difficulty breathing,
08:17and in severe cases, seizures and death.
08:21But then again, if apes and then humans
08:24evolved in 35% oxygen, then our bodies would have evolved
08:28to function in that environment.
08:30Our cells would be supercharged,
08:32producing even more energy with higher oxygen.
08:35We'd be super runners and super swimmers,
08:38breaking all of today's records.
08:39And our brains, which use 20% of the oxygen we breathe,
08:44would have evolved to grow even bigger and faster.
08:48Okay, so now it's time to return to the modern day.
08:51What does the world look like?
08:54Well, if you looked out your window during the summer,
08:56instead of just seeing different birds,
08:59you'd see giant griffin flies
09:01and six winged insects buzzing around.
09:04Would these giant arthropods attack you if you went outside?
09:09Well, during some period of evolution,
09:10there'd likely be a bunch of large winged insects
09:13that attacked humans, especially those pesky griffin flies.
09:17But remember, we humans are no pushovers.
09:20During different time periods,
09:21we'd have likely developed weapons
09:23to fight against these giant insects.
09:25During the Stone Age, maybe it was a sharp rock.
09:28Today, we'd probably have special bug sprays
09:31or zappers to fight them back.
09:33Sooner or later, just like the birds would have evolved
09:36to leave the giant insects alone,
09:37the giant insects would steer clear of us humans.
09:40Now, in addition to giant bugs flying around outside,
09:44we might have giant cockroaches and giant spiders as well.
09:48If these insects developed chemical defenses
09:50against predators, well,
09:52that could enable them to stay giant.
09:54But without these defenses,
09:56they'd be better off being small and nimble.
09:58So maybe mosquitoes would stay small.
10:02With giant cockroaches,
10:03you'd need a whole new level of pest control
10:06to keep your kitchen safe.
10:08Now, if bugs were giant,
10:10would humans have evolved to be a whole lot bigger too?
10:14It's possible we'd be bigger.
10:16There's evidence to show that oxygen levels
10:19were rising from 15% to 19% when the dinosaurs first appeared
10:23so there could be a link,
10:25but only if it gave us an evolutionary advantage.
10:29Now, talking about things getting bigger,
10:31one other danger would get bigger too.
10:33Fires.
10:34Everything would be highly combustible.
10:37The smallest spark would get a blaze going
10:39and some of these fires might even be caused
10:42by giant insects.
10:44Take the bombardier beetle.
10:45When it's threatened,
10:47it mixes two chemicals from inside its abdomen
10:50to create an explosion.
10:52Well, a giant-sized bombardier beetle
10:54might set off a much bigger explosion,
10:56one that could start a forest fire.
10:58And in 35% oxygen, forests would burn frequently.
11:03In fact, plants would probably evolve
11:06to be more resistant to fires
11:08or they would have strategies to grow back quicker
11:11after getting burnt.
11:13And you'd also notice that the world
11:15would be getting a lot louder.
11:17A mass of cicadas today are about as loud as a lawnmower,
11:21around 100 decibels,
11:23but giant cicadas?
11:26They'd probably make you go deaf.
11:28And you know what else is likely to happen?
11:30We'll probably have insects on the menu.
11:34We humans like to eat everything,
11:36so we'll definitely be looking to add these
11:39as a protein source.
11:40Once they're bigger, they're probably perfect for a meal.
11:44You'll have Meatless Monday
11:45and probably have Giant Insect Friday.
11:48Down under, they'll probably be throwing griffin flies
11:50on the barbie.
11:51With our advanced technological know-how,
11:53I think us humans will survive a world with giant insects,
11:57but what if it wasn't just giant insects?
12:01What if the other giants from our ancient history,
12:05the dinosaurs, never went extinct?
12:08Well, that sounds like a story for another What If.