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Why Do Things Keep Evolving Into Anteaters?

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If you spend enough time on the internet, you'll hear about carcinization. Nature keeps evolving things into crabs. Well hold onto your pincers, people, because there's another kind of animal that evolution's created even more versions of: anteaters.

Hosted by: Dr. Imogene Cancellare (she/her)
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Sources:
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20 Comments

@SciShow Creator 3 days ago Pinned

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@IndigoEyePhotography 7 days ago

If Star Trek is accurate, there will be a SciShow episode centuries from now explaining why advanced alien races keep on evolving into upright humanoid forms.

@Roroxane 7 days ago

0:29 ok ok the thumbnail is gold but can we talk about Hank-eater for a second 😂

@Vespuchian 7 days ago

"There's already a band named that!"
Now THIS is the kind of fact applicable to everyday life I love this channel for!

@kit_the_inevitable 7 days ago

ants are one of the most fun and easy insects to eat tbh. they're so small that texture isn't an issue, but some people don't like the spicy chemical taste. i think it adds to the experience! and some ants are more or less spicy, but the termites i've had are softer and less spicy than most ants.
-aardwolf posting

@djvidual8288 7 days ago

"The friendship ended..." meme in the thumbnail was really funny! Well done.

@genluk2 7 days ago

Best thumbnail ever good job

@TurtleNerite 7 days ago

Even bears are not safe from this, the sloth bear is a primarily myrmecophagous bear, its teeth are actualy smaller than other bears, meaning that it is on its way to become an anteater bear.

@TigersRforever 7 days ago

Aardwolf is now my new favorite animal. Right after the numbat! That thing is way too adorable

@Saad5141k 7 days ago

That thumbnail is making me cry please never change it

@davidmeehan4486 6 days ago

I really appreciate the effort to reflect the limits of the research in that part about anteater genes being full of instructions for making enzymes and anteaters might make more enzymes than other animals.

Most science reporting would have missed that nuance.

@madsgrams2069 6 days ago (edited)

I'd really hesitate to consider an aardwolf as having the same body plan as ant-eaters. Pangolins, echidnas and aardvarks, sure. But there are other insectivorous mammal groups that are capable of eating ants, that don't really adhere to the ant-eater body plan. Like the armadillos, the hedgehogs, the shrews, the tree-shrews, the moles, mole-rats and naked mole-rats, tenrecs...

@MumboMod 7 days ago (edited)

The anteater niche creates the best species, aka the sniffley whifflies. Echidnas, pangolins, tamaduas etc.

@aerospace10to1 7 days ago

Next do pristification, or sharks/rays evolving "saw" forms (sawfishes, sawsharks, and sawskates). My personal favorite!

@mrmayo5905 7 days ago

Give whoever came up with/made this thumbnail a raise!

@hzaagman8005 7 days ago (edited)

In Dutch, the hermit crab is called heremietkreeft (hermit lobster), which by your chart at 1:19 would be more accurate than calling it a crab.

@mossydog2385 7 days ago

My vote - if I got one, would be for "anteaterization" to describe the phenom of lots of beasties evolving into anteaters. Much like the Thagomizer at the end of some dinosaur's tails, it has a certain verve. It's vervey, and I like vervification...

@truejim 5 days ago

1:10 Spider crabs evolved from crabs bitten by radioactive spiders.

They spin a web, any size, they catch thieves, just like flies. Look out, here come the spider crabs.

@CIRCLEDARK 7 days ago

Based on the current trajectory of humanity, evolving into crabs might be better than where we're actually going at the moment.

@sewscience 5 days ago

Museums are another great way to explore topics like evolution. HOWEVER, the oldest (over 200 years) natural history museum on the CONTINENT is The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia is being closed with only one month's notice. There is, as of yet, no real plan for 19 million + artifacts in its collection. Milo on his channel, MiniMinuteMan, made an excellent video explaining the importance and urgency of the situation better than I can in a comment. We need more attention on this event, otherwise we might lose the museum