Chalicotherium - The Hoofed Gorilla-Mimic

the evolution of mammals has produced some very weird groups over the course of his history but perhaps none were quite as bizarre as the Calico fears this completes the extinct lineage is actually part of the same order as modern rhinos tapirs and horses but they evolved in a very distinct way resulting in some of the most unique animals that ever inhabited our world in this video we'll be exploring one member of this group in particular the genus calico theorem to see just what makes this fascinating mammal so intriguing obviously this animal looked very strange when it was alive with a general Anatomy that appears as though has been spliced together from a few different creatures indeed this is exactly what the naturalist who first discovered the fossils of the species in 1833 and Germany thought noting the resemblance of the skeleton to that of a very large especially muscular horse which possessed particularly elongated fore limbs it was thought that the claws that were also found in the same locality must have belonged to some sort of big bodies Pangolin or anteater however much later in the 1880s a French paleontologist realized that the claws actually belonged to the same creature as the main body skeleton which had already been named as calico theorem Gould fussy so despite this organism being a member of the hoofed mammal radiation this discovery shows that the calico fears had in fact secondarily modified their hooves into claws calico thorium also displays some similarities to primates such as gorillas in the way it presumably walked as well as the giant ground sloths this is due to the proportions of its limbs with arms that were far longer than its legs meaning that it would have moved about on all fours with a very sloped back but likely bore most of its weight on its legs or sat down while feeding additionally there are indications that calico thorium knuckle walked - since there are apparently growths of bone present on the upper surfaces of the finger bones suggesting pads were present here in life and the long claws would have been able to curve backwards avoiding contact with the ground and making sure they didn't become worn down while walking all sorts of ideas have been proposed for how these beasts use their claws as well as what exactly they would have been feeding on previously it had been thought that the claws were used as defensive weapons specifically for fending off predators or that perhaps they were employed in the unearthing of plant roots which were then eaten however analyses of the musculature that would have been present in their arms in addition to the wear patterns found on the claws and teeth of the mammals resulted in these ideas being discarded and instead it seems the evidence favors a lifestyle and diet whereby calico fares would use their claws to pull tree branches towards them and then strip the leaves twigs and bark off for consumption there are also adaptations in the hips and back legs that are suited to holding up a lot of weight suggesting that calico theorem would have sat down for a lot of the time while it was eating more support for this behavior was identified in the overall anatomy of the teeth to which possessed low crowns and resemble the shape of other known leaf eating mammals it's also worth noting that the name of this organism actually comes from the shape of his teeth which were thought to look like pebbles hence the name calico theorem meaning pebble Beast another fascinating adaptation of the dentition that occurred in these animals was the loss of the front teeth in the upper jaw when they approached sexual maturity this means that calico fears possibly may have had prehensile tongues similar to that of a giraffe perhaps which were then mostly used in a stripping of leaves instead of the teeth in addition to what must have been strongly muscled lips and tough gums as far as the predation of calico theorem goes it doesn't seem as though such a big bodied animal would have had much to worry about during the time it lived though it would have coexisted with carnivores such as the bear dogs and Phi Sian leading some to suggest they potentially may have posed a threat to the beasts the evolutionary history that calico theorem is a part of is a truly fascinating record of paleo biogeography and adaptation stretching back almost 50 million years and only ending a relatively very short time ago the earliest members of this lineage are known from rocks dating back to the early and middle eocene epoch of both Asia and North America however by the end of the middle eocene these animals had actually all disappeared from America only continuing to exist in Asia over time various species then spread further across the prehistoric lands entering into Europe with the lineage eventually giving rise to calico theorem itself which was incredibly widespread throughout Asia Europe and Africa by about 23 million years ago it was actually around the same time that the Calico Fez managed to move back into North America with unique species such as the Maya scene age marabous and Talos FL Onix being found in this region tylose FL onyx is an especially weird callek affair which I bet you didn't think was even possible as it possessed a dome-like skull similar to those seen in pachycephalosaur dinosaurs another video dedicated to this taxon alone would be needed to do justice to the strange mammal so I won't say too much about her hair anyway the calico fears disappeared from North America once again by the end of the middle miocene but in Africa and Asia the lineage managed to hold out for a bit longer with the last known member of the group dying out in Asia about 780,000 years ago the fact that calico Fez had survived in Africa until within the last few million years has also led to the suggestion that these animals may be the inspiration for the Nandi bear a vicious large carnivorous cryptid claimed to inhabit East Africa that supposedly has a sloping back and high shoulders with world-famous paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey himself proposing that this might be the case however since calico Fez were clearly herbivorous I'm not sure this would be the best explanation the evolutionary placement of the whole calico Thea grouping is actually a debated topic since despite its agreed that they should be placed within the Paris attack tolls the auto dunk alerts which includes rhinos tapirs and horses the exact relationships to the other Parisa dactyls have been contested some studies have found evidence to support a close relationship between calico fares and a horse group plus the group containing Tay pairs and rhinos although most analyses of the animals have resulted in a placement where calico the--is evolved as a subgroup in the main tapir radiation so these bizarre gorillas horse tapir hybrids would doubtlessly have been an extraordinary thing to witness and is honestly pretty sad that they died out they would have made an incredible addition to the surviving African megafauna anyway thank you for watching this video and I hope you enjoyed learning about these amazing beasts just as much as I did if you would like to find out more about our world its history and the wonderful life that surrounds us all please feel free to subscribe to the channel if you think we deserve it and if you would like to see more from us [Music] you

Channel: Ben G Thomas

Views: 355,811

Rating: 4.9498072 out of 5

Keywords: Biology, Science, Paleontology, Palaeontology, Dinosaurs, Animals, Nature, Wildlife, Ben, Thomas, Prehistory, Anatomy, Fossil, Bones, News, 7Daysofscience, Days, of, ark, chalicothere, moropus, tylocephalonyx, nandi bear, louis leakey, perissodactyla, rhino, tapir, horse, perissodactyl

Id: 3Fex_YmRGVI

Length: 6min 54sec (414 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 15 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/zippercooter]

They are featured prominently in Julian May’s fantasy/scifi Saga of the Pleistocene Epoch, beginning with thd book, The Many-Colored Land. Fascinating for a certain type of reader. You know who you are.

[u/creca777]

It's manbearpig, I told you I wasn't lying

[u/Juju61046]

Ark Survival Evolved Evolved anyone?

[u/missladylay]

My brain can’t comprehend the immense amount of time it has taken for all of the species that have existed on earth to evolve. And to think that we lose around two species every few months or so. THOUSANDS, MILLIONS of years of evolution just lost.

[u/badams777]

It looks like the offspring of the forest spirit from Princess Mononoke 🌳🦍🦌