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How a Sinkhole Revealed a Lost World

PBS Eons

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How did a relative of the red panda end up in North America? What can this tell us about how long ago – and how many times – North America was connected to Europe and Asia?

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References:
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20 Comments

@jasonGamesMaster 1 year ago

Holy crap. That's not even a mile from my house, lol. The fossil museum is pretty much ignored around these parts, sadly

@christopherjustice6411 1 year ago

Finding out we used to have Red Pandas in America is like when I found out that we used to have affordable healthcare in America.

@RandomisedWaffles 1 year ago

It's so weird to imagine North America with pandas and tapirs. Makes you think how temporary the current dispersion of species is.

@waffles9747 1 year ago

I’ve worked at this fossil site for 3 years now! It’s really a dream come true to see such a small and often overlooked site like Gray get their own feature episode on this channel.

@broken_acoustic 1 year ago

How could you not want to just hug one of those adorable little red balls of fur??

@1One2Three5Eight13 1 year ago

I hope Steve still watches the channel and sees the love.

@ShauntSerelu 1 year ago

I actually got to go to the Gray Fossil Site as part of a school field trip!

@tkillcoin 1 year ago

Trying not to take it personally as an eldest child that the baby of the Eons family is the first to say, “…and S.T.E.V.E.!” Congratulations, Gabe!

@meadowsglidermama94 1 year ago

As a native Tennesseean I’ve never heard of this and our daughter LOVES prehistoric things. We’ll have to check this out ❤

@jamesredmond7001 1 year ago

What's also interesting about this is that this likely wasn't an isolated occurrence - if the geology of the area has remained stable for so long, there could be other, similar ancient sinkhole lakes in the region, each giving different snapshots into different eras of the area's past, just waiting for discovery.
I wonder if there's anyway to differentiate those kinds of deposits from the surrounding limestones, like how lidar can be used in archaeology?

@okankyoto 1 year ago

Considering that even modern Red Pandas will sometimes eat birds and smaller mammals, maybe they haven't totally moved away from that ancient behavior. Sadly we still will have no idea exactly how adorable these ancestors were- perhaps the modern Red Panda is at the peak of adorability?

@boyjurassic 1 year ago

I've been there before! It's a really awesome site and museum. When I went they were talking about whether or not the mastodons represented at the site constituted a new species.

@heavyecho1 1 year ago

Red pandas are quite closely realted to raccoons so the raccoon's nickname of trash panda is more relivent than just convergent evolution.

@RadicalLynx 1 year ago

3:03 I see you, editor who realized they needed a quick, short recap/segue and had the host record something remotely

@MarshyoftheBlobs 1 year ago

STEVE!! RETURN OF THE KIIINGGGG

@nycbearff 1 year ago

I like Gabriel's style as a host - thanks for adding him to your team!

@BirdwithaBrush 1 year ago

Funnily enough, East TN is still an important site for red pandas. Zoo Knoxville is a world leader in the red panda breeding and preservation program. They've got a fun video with more information on their YouTube page if you can't get here to enjoy them in person.

@AFTAF1235 1 year ago

The narration that he provides is calming and informative...thank you writers.

@TragoudistrosMPH 1 year ago

Major Thanks to the writers and visual artists for focusing on a continuous point of reference! I could visualize what was happening so much more clearly through the changing eons!

@Shinrin_koen-en 1 year ago

The museum is a wonderful place! I have seen, at the time, the only Red Panda specimen. Took photos of it back in 2010. I need to get back up there to see all the new, to me, discoveries since then.