Eons S03E34 · Were These Monsters Inspired by Fossils?

Overview

People have been discovering the traces and remains of prehistoric creatures for thousands of years. And they’ve also probably been telling stories about fantastic beasts since language became a thing. So, is it possible that the monsters that populate our myths and legends were influenced by the fossil record?

Torrents

Subtitles

Episodes

1. 1 1. When Humans Were Prey2019-01-08 · 10mNot too long ago, our early human ancestors were under constant threat of attack from predators. And it turns out that this difficult chapter in our history may be responsible for
2. 2 2. How Blood Evolved (Many Times)2019-01-15 · 10mBlood is one of the most revolutionary features in our evolutionary history. Over hundreds of millions of years, the way in which blood does its job has changed over and over again
3. 3 3. The Humans That Lived Before Us2019-01-29 · 10mAs more and more fossil ancestors have been found, our genus has become more and more inclusive, incorporating more members that look less like us, Homo sapiens. By getting to know
4. 4 4. The Island of Shrinking Mammoths2019-02-05 · 10mThe mammoths fossils found on the Channel Islands off the coast of southern California are much smaller than their relatives found on the mainland. They were so small that they cam
5. 5 5. The Evolution of the Heart (A Love Story)2019-02-13 · 10mIn order to understand where hearts came from, we have to go back to the earliest common ancestor of everything that has a heart. It took hundreds of millions of years, and countle
6. 6 6. How 7,000 Years of Epic Floods Changed the World2019-02-27 · 10mStrange geologic landmarks in the Pacific Northwest are the lingering remains of a mystery that took nearly half a century to solve. These features turned out to be a result one of
7. 7 7. The Island of Huge Hamsters and Giant Owls2019-03-05 · 10mBack in the late Miocene epoch, there was an island--or maybe a group of islands-- in the Mediterranean Sea that was populated with fantastic giant beasts. It’s a lesson in the ver
8. 8 8. The Giant Bird That Got Lost in Time2019-03-12 · 10mThe California condor is the biggest flying bird in North America, a title that it has held since the Late Pleistocene Epoch. It's just one example of an organism that we share the
9. 9 9. When We First Made Tools2019-03-26 · 10mThe tools made by our human ancestors may not seem like much when you compare them to the screen you’re looking at right now but their creation represents a pivotal moment in the o
10. 10 10. When Giant Scorpions Swarmed the Seas2019-04-02 · 10mSea scorpions thrived for 200 million years, coming in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Over time, they developed a number of adaptations--from crushing claws to flattened tails
11. 11 11. When We Tamed Fire2019-04-09 · 10mThe ability to make and use fire has fundamentally changed the arc of our evolution. The bodies we have today were, in many ways, shaped by that time when we first tamed fire.
12. 12 12. The Mystery Behind the Biggest Bears of All Time2019-04-23 · 10mThe short-faced bears turned out to be remarkably adaptable, undergoing radical changes to meet the demands of two changing continents. And yet, for reasons we don’t quite understa
13. 13 13. The Croc That Ran on Hooves2019-05-01 · 10mIn the Eocene Epoch, there was a reptile that had teeth equipped for biting through flesh, its hind legs were a lot longer than its front legs and instead of claws, its toes were e
14. 14 14. When We Took Over the World2019-05-07 · 10mFrom our deepest origins in Africa all the way to the Americas, by looking at the fossils and archaeological materials we have been able to trace the path our ancestors took during
15. 15 15. The Ghostly Origins of the Big Cats2019-05-16 · 10mAll of today’s big cat species evolved less than 11 million years ago and yet their evolutionary history remains an almost total mystery. But scientists have recently discovered a
16. 16 16. The History of Climate Cycles (and the Woolly Rhino) Explained2019-05-30 · 10mThroughout the Pleistocene Epoch, the range of the woolly rhino grew and shrank in sync with global climate. So what caused the climate -- and the range of the woolly rhino -- to c
17. 17 17. The Hellacious Lives of the "Hell Pigs"2019-06-05 · 10mDespite the name, we don’t know where the so-called “hell pigs” belong in the mammalian family tree. They walked on hooves, like pigs do, but had longer legs, almost like deer. The
18. 18 18. How Evolution Works (And How We Figured It Out)2019-06-11 · 10mAs a scientific concept, evolution was revolutionary when it was first introduced. With the help of all three of our hosts and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s
19. 19 19. When the Synapsids Struck Back2019-06-19 · 10mSynapsids were the world’s first-ever terrestrial megafauna but the vast majority of these giants were doomed to extinction. However some lived on, keeping a low profile among the
20. 20 20. When Ichthyosaurs Led a Revolution in the Seas2019-06-25 · 10mThe marine reptiles Ichthyosaurs arose after The Great Dying, which wiped out at least 90 percent of life in the oceans, changing the seas forever and triggering a new evolutionary
21. 21 21. When We Met Other Human Species2019-07-09 · 10mWe all belong to the only group of hominins on the planet today. But we weren’t always alone. 100,000 years ago, Eurasia was home to other hominin species, some of which we know ou
22. 22 22. How Volcanoes Froze the Earth (Twice)2019-07-17 · 10mOver 600 million years ago, sheets of ice coated our planet on both land and sea. How did this happen? And most importantly for us, why did the planet eventually thaw again? The ev
23. 23 23. How Earth's First, Unkillable Animals Saved the World2019-07-30 · 10mThey have survived every catastrophe and every mass extinction event that nature has thrown at them. And by being the little, filter-feeding, water-cleaning creatures that they are
24. 24 24. When Giant Deer Roamed Eurasia2019-08-07 · 10mMegaloceros was one of the largest members of the deer family ever to walk the Earth. The archaeological record is full of evidence that our ancestors lived alongside and interacte
25. 25 25. Was This Dinosaur a Cannibal?2019-08-14 · 10mPaleontologists have spent the better part of two decades debating whether Coelophysis ate its own kind. It turns out, the evidence that scientists have had to study in order to an
26. 26 26. The Missing Link That Wasn’t2019-08-21 · 10mThe myth of the Missing Link--the idea that there must be a specimen that partly resembles an ape but also partly resembles a modern human--is persistent. But the reality is that t
27. 27 27. The Raptor That Made Us Rethink Dinosaurs2019-08-28 · 10mIn 1964, a paleontologist named John Ostrom unearthed some fascinating fossils from the mudstone of Montana. Its discovery set the stage for what’s known today as the Dinosaur Rena
28. 28 28. When Bats Took Flight2019-09-11 · 10mBats pretty much appear in the fossil record as recognizable, full-on, flying bats. And they show up on all of the continents, except Antarctica, around the same time. So where did
29. 29 29. How Pterosaurs Got Their Wings2019-09-18 · 10mWhen pterosaurs first took flight, you could say that it marked the beginning of the end for the winged reptiles. Because, strangely enough, the power of flight -- and the changes
30. 30 30. When Giant Lemurs Ruled Madagascar2019-09-25 · 10mJust a few thousand years ago, the island of Madagascar was inhabited by giant lemurs. How did such a diverse group of primates evolve in the first place, and how did they help sha
31. 31 31. When Antarctica Was Green2019-10-03 · 10mBefore the start of the Eocene Epoch about 56 million years ago--Antarctica was still joined to both Australia and South America. And it turns out that a lot of what we recognize a
32. 32 32. The Case of the Dinosaur Egg Thief2019-10-16 · 10mPaleontologists found a small theropod dinosaur skull right on top of a nest of eggs that were believed to belong to a plant-eating dinosaur. Instead of being the nest robbers that
33. 33 33. When Hobbits Were Real2019-10-22 · 10mIts discoverers named it Homo floresiensis, but it’s often called “the hobbit” for its short stature and oddly proportioned feet. And it’s been at the center of a major controversy
34. 34 34. Were These Monsters Inspired by Fossils?2019-10-29 · 10mPeople have been discovering the traces and remains of prehistoric creatures for thousands of years. And they’ve also probably been telling stories about fantastic beasts since lan
35. 35 35. How We Domesticated Cats (Twice)2019-11-06 · 10mA 9,500 year old burial in Cyprus represents some of the oldest known evidence of human/cat companionships anywhere in the world. But when did this close relationship between human
36. 36 36. When Giant Hypercarnivores Prowled Africa2019-11-19 · 10mThese hyaenodonts gave the world some of its largest terrestrial, carnivorous mammals ever known. And while these behemoths were the apex predators of their time, they were no matc
37. 37 37. Why Male Mammoths Lost the Game2019-11-26 · 10mWoolly mammoths, our favorite ice age proboscidean, disappeared from Europe and North America at the end of the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago. Today, we’ve teamed up with Ti
38. 38 38. The Forgotten Story of the Beardogs2019-12-12 · 10mBecause of their strange combination of bear-like and dog-like traits, they’re sometimes confusingly called the beardogs. And even though you’ve never met one of these animals, the
39. 39 39. The Fuzzy Origins of the Giant Panda2019-12-17 · 10mHow does a bear -- which is a member of the order Carnivora -- evolve into an herbivore? Despite how it looks, nothing about the history of the giant panda is black and white.