Ben G Thomas

The Scientific Accuracy of Walking With Beasts - Episode 2: Whale Killer

249K views · 15d ago · 55:53

Walking With Beasts inspired a generation. A sequel to the iconic Walking With Dinosaurs, this show explored what happened after the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous Period wiped out all the non-bird dinosaurs. The show does an excellent job of portraying these prehistoric creatures as real, believable animals and was also responsible for popularising numerous otherwise pretty obscure species.

Topics: Setting · Basilosaurus · Dorudon · Andrewsarchus · Embolotherium · Moeritherium

This is the peak human form they don't want you to know about

6K views · 28d ago · 1:39

Many organisms in Earth's illustrious history of life have found themselves slowly evolving to the peak state of CRAB. The big question is, of course, could humans ever achieve this ultimate goal of evolution? Well, we answered that last time, but this time we come bearing gifts of an irresistible nature...

How Could Humans Evolve into Crabs?

22K views · 28d ago · 2:27

The endpoint of all evolution is CRAB. All will become CRAB! But, knowing what we know now aout evolution and how it works - could humans become crabs? Well, I've set out to answer that question in our video, getting the help of artist wiseapecomics to create a mockup of what a human crab would... technically... look like.

The Scientific Accuracy of Walking With Beasts - Episode 1: New Dawn

455K views · 2mo ago · 1:01:45

Walking With Beasts brought life to six different slices of time within the Cenozoic in a way that had never been seen before, utilising both CGI and animatronic puppetry to explore these remarkable lost worlds. A very worthy sequel series to Walking With Dinosaurs, it's now been more than 24 years since the show first aired. In that time, all kinds of new palaeontological discoveries have been made. So, what are the accuracies and inaccuracies of episode 1 - New Dawn?

Topics: Messel Pit age · Leptictidium · Gastornis / Diatryma · Ambulocetus · Propalaeotherium / Eurohippus · Godinotia / Darwinius

Why The Early Jurassic Oceans Were So Deadly

39K views · 3mo ago · 37:10

200 million years ago, the oceans were stalked by a terrifying apex hunter. This predator was a giant marine reptile, a member of the lineage known as the ichthyosaurs. These sea dragons swam the planet’s oceans for much of the same time that the dinosaurs dominated the land. During the earliest Jurassic, in the aftermath of a severe mass extinction, one kind of ichthyosaur rose to fill the niche of top predator - Temnodontosaurus.

The Truth of Elephant Evolution

284K views · 3mo ago · 58:33

Elephants, the largest animals to walk on land today, are fascinating creatures. These great, intelligent beasts, with massive specialised teeth projecting from their faces and noses modified into muscular prehensile appendages, almost seem like made-up creatures when you describe them. How on Earth could such marvellously strange animals ever evolve?

Topics: Origins and Early Evolution · The Deinotheres · The First Elephantiformes · Mastodons (Mammutidae) · Elephantida · Choerolophodontidae

Every Time Things Have Evolved Into Crabs

691K views · 4mo ago · 28:21

CRABS. The final form of life on Earth. It's about time that we explore every instance of things evolving into crabs, a phenomenon called carcinization. Poster artists crab Become a Member Social Media Subreddit Sources

Topics: Convergent Evolution POSTERS! · What is a crab? · The 'true' crabs - Brachyura · Porcelain crabs - Porcellanidae · Hairy stone crabs - Lomisidae · King crabs - Lithodidae

The Speculative Evolution of Project Hail Mary

767K views · 7mo ago · 45:39

Project Hail Mary, a story by Andy Weir (author of The Martian), features some of the most creative speculative evolution scenarios in modern science fiction. With the release of the film adaptation starring Ryan Gosling, now seemed like a great time to explore the speculative biology of the aliens in this story: the Astrophage and the Eridians (Rocky's species).

Topics: Astrophage Biology · Astrophage Evolution · Rocky and Eridian Biology · Eridian Evolution

The Truth of Manatee Evolution

164K views · 8mo ago · 26:18

The manatees and the dugong are among the most beloved creatures on our planet. They have some fascinating anatomy and an even more fascinating evolutionary history, originating more than 50 million years ago. So, let’s dive into the evolution of these wonderful creatures, exploring their rich fossil record and how they went from living on land to becoming rotund, dense-boned underwater lawnmowers.

Topics: What are sea cows? · Anatomy of sirenians · Early sea cow evolution · Hydrodamalinae (Steller's sea cow) · Dugonginae (Dugong lineage) · Trichechidae (Manatee lineage)

▶️ Mentioned videos: Learn about seagrass

📄 Mentioned papers: Paper on sciencedirect.com · Paper on nature.com · Paper on nature.com · Paper on sciencedirect.com

5 Strange Creatures Frozen In Ice For Thousands of Years

230K views · 10mo ago · 19:49

When a prehistoric creature dies, the chances that its remains will be preserved for thousands of years are extremely slim. Nevertheless, there are places on the planet with conditions that allow the ancient carcasses of long-lost beings to stay intact. One such example is the Arctic, a region where permafrost is melting and revealing the wondrous and strange prehistoric creatures trapped within it.

Topics: Blue Babe the Steppe Bison · Mummified Moa · Living Rotifers · Prehistoric Bird · Nun cho ga the Baby Mammoth

▶️ Mentioned videos: Part 1

📄 Mentioned papers: Paper on tandfonline.com · Paper on nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com · Paper on cell.com · Paper on researchgate.net

📰 Mentioned news: Article on bbc.co.uk · Article on bbc.co.uk

The Speculative Evolution of the Loch Ness Monster

394K views · 10mo ago · 33:44

The Loch Ness Monster is one of the most enduring mysteries in the field of cryptozoology. One of the most widely known attempts to explain the aquatic enigma is the suggestion that the Nessie is a living plesiosaur. That's a rather unlikely explanation - but let's speculative about the evolution of such a creature, anyway!

Topics: Real Plesiosaur Evolution · The Plesiosauroids · Freshwater Plesiosaurs · Loch Ness Monster Evolution · Other Ideas For Nessiteras Evolution

📄 Mentioned papers: Paper on sciencedirect.com · Paper on onlinelibrary.wiley.com · Paper on sciencedirect.com · Paper on journals.plos.org

📰 Mentioned news: Article on vox.com

What On Earth Were The Conodonts?

269K views · 11mo ago · 22:19

Some marvellously weird animals have lived on our planet throughout the history of life. One such example of a truly bizarre lineage of animals are the Conodonts, a mysterious group of organisms with an extensive fossil record. Yet, we didn’t even know what they looked like, or indeed what sorts of animals they were, until the 1980s.

Topics: The Mystery Begins · Older Ideas About Conodonts · The Conodont Animal is Discovered · Biology of Conodonts

📄 Mentioned papers: Paper on researchgate.net · Paper on onlinelibrary.wiley.com · Paper on jstor.org · Paper on link.springer.com

The Most Accurate T. rex Reconstruction So Far?

361K views · 11mo ago · 37:36

Tyrannosaurus rex, the most iconic of all dinosaurs, is a fascinating animal to reconstruct. Numerous debates have centred around the life appearance of this marvellous animal, and recent years have seen all sorts of amazing reconstructions of the species. Now, a very welcome addition has been created - the Everything Dinosaur Evolution T. rex figure!

📖 Mentioned book: Secret Lives Dinosaurs Unearthing Prehistoric

📄 Mentioned papers: Paper on science.org · Paper on journals.plos.org · Paper on onlinelibrary.wiley.com · Paper on journals.plos.org

Did Humans Ever Meet The Giant Ape Gigantopithecus?

1M views · 11mo ago · 20:33

One of the most enduring mysteries of our planet’s deep prehistory is the intriguing case of the largest ape species known to have ever existed. An enormous relative of modern-day orangutans, Gigantopithecus blacki must have been a formidable animal to see in the flesh. But did prehistoric humans ever encounter these beasts?

Topics: The discovery of Gigantopithecus · Did Homo erectus ever encounter Gigantopithecus? · What would an encounter have been like? · Gigantopithecus as Bigfoot or the Yeti? · Announcing Boris the Borealopelta!

📄 Mentioned papers: Paper on pnas.org · Paper on nature.com · Paper on nature.com · Paper on onlinelibrary.wiley.com

The Most Brutal Injuries Ever Preserved in Fossils

198K views · 11mo ago · 22:54

Prehistoric animals sometimes had pretty rough lives. From headless marine reptiles to Smilodon skulls pierced by other sabre-toothed cats, let's take a look at five of the most painful-looking injuries found preserved in fossils!

Topics: Headless Tanystropheus fossils · Smilodon skulls with sabre bites · Dinosaur with its tail ripped off · Battered Dilophosaurus · Mosasaur vs Mosasaur · The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs!

📖 Mentioned book: Secret Lives Dinosaurs Unearthing Prehistoric

📄 Mentioned papers: Paper on cell.com · Paper on cell.com · Paper on sciencedirect.com · Paper on sciencedirect.com

The Speculative Evolution of Future Bats

649K views · 1y ago · 25:44

A common theme of various speculative evolution projects is the inclusion of future versions of bats. After Man, The Future is Wild, Primeval, and Demain les Animaux du Futur all feature examples of bats that have evolved on Earth millions of years from now. So, since we recently explored bats' past evolution, let's look to their possible future!

Topics: After Man · The Future is Wild · Primeval · Demain les Animaux du Futur / Tomorrow’s Animals of the Future

📖 Mentioned books: After Man Zoology Dougal Dixon · Future Wild Dougal Dixon · Demain Animaux Futur Steyer Sebastien

▶️ Mentioned videos: Learn about past bat evolution! · Video on youtube.com · Video on youtube.com

📰 Mentioned news: Article on scientificamerican.com · Article on web.archive.org

The Apex Predators of Earth BEFORE The Dinosaurs

471K views · 1y ago · 30:28

Long before the dinosaurs roamed the Earth, our planet was home to a range of impressive apex predators. From Omnidens to Anteosaurus, let's take a trip back through time and look at the various top predators that once existed.

Topics: The Ediacaran · The Cambrian · The Ordovician · The Silurian · The Devonian · The Carboniferous

The Truth of Bat Evolution

316K views · 1y ago · 23:42

Bats are one of the most extraordinary groups of mammals alive today. These fantastic flying animals are the second most diverse order of living mammals, beaten only by rodents. Despite their astonishing modern diversity, the origin of bats is still poorly understood.

Topics: The Mystery of Bat Origins · The Bats of the Messel Pit · How Bats are Classified · The Most Up-to-Date Study of Early Bat Evolution · A Summary of Bat Evolution · Future Bat Evolution?

📄 Mentioned papers: Paper on journals.plos.org · Paper on science.org · Paper on science.org · Paper on nature.com

5 Strange Prehistoric Creatures Found Stuck In Tar Pits

294K views · 1y ago · 22:10

Tar pits are incredible sites for uncovering the remains of prehistoric animals. The sticky substance can become a deathtrap for unwary animals, quickly forming predator traps. While this is bad news for the animals, it is fantastic for palaeontologists, as countless astonishing discoveries of prehistoric creatures have been unearthed tens of thousands of years after their demise.

Topics: American Camels · Teratornis · Dire Wolf · Harlan's Ground Sloth · La Brea Woman

📄 Mentioned papers: Paper on sciencedirect.com · Paper on tandfonline.com · Paper on sciencedirect.com · doi:10.1016%2Fj.palaeo.2021.110360

5 Strange Prehistoric Creatures Found Trapped in Amber - Part 2

436K views · 1y ago · 21:00

Amber is an amazing substance that has given scientists a fascinating glimpse into our planet’s prehistory. From a tiny crab to baby dinosaur wings with minuscule feathers preserved, let’s take a look at five more prehistoric creatures found trapped in amber.

Topics: CRAB · Lizards (and an imposter) in amber · A harvestman in an unfortunate situation · Ammonite shell · Baby dinosaur wings! · BONUS 6TH ENTRY - Battle to the Death

▶️ Mentioned videos: A prehistoric battle trapped in amber

📄 Mentioned papers: Paper on nature.com · Paper on science.org · Paper on science.org · Paper on science.org

Every Time Things Have Evolved Into Sloths

299K views · 1y ago · 34:34

Convergent evolution has resulted in all sorts of creatures evolving to look very similar to one another. One of the most fascinating examples is how many times things have evolved into sloths - sloth lemurs, chalicotheres, therizinosaurs, and various others all have similarities to sloths. Plus, modern tree sloths have convergently evolved with each other, too!

Topics: Sloth Evolution · Sloth Superfamily Megalocnoidea · Sloth Superfamily Mylodontoidea · Sloth Superfamily Megatherioidea · Anatomical differences between two- and three-toed sloths · Sloth Lemurs (Palaeopropithecidae)

The Nanotyrannus debate explained in under 3 minutes

81K views · 1y ago · 2:58

Nanotyrannus lancensis might just be the most controversial dinosaur ever (other than Spinosaurus, of course). Jurassic World Evolution 3 is out on October 21st and available for pre-order here Become a Member Social Media

The Most Controversial Dinosaur Ever? The Truth About Nanotyrannus

1.2M views · 1y ago · 40:13

Jurassic World Evolution 3 is out on October 21st and available for pre-order here Become a Member Social Media Subreddit Sources

Topics: Nanotyrannus is named (1988) · The Nanotyrannus Wars officially begin (1990s) · Jane is discovered - another Nanotyrannus specimen? (2002) · The Gorgosaurus growth study is disputed (2003) · A tyrannosaur conference is held and Jane is used to support Nanotyrannus (2005) · A baby Tarbosaurus is found and is used to support Nanotyrannus (2011)

📄 Mentioned papers: Paper on science.org · Paper on science.org · Paper on tandfonline.com · Paper on nature.com

What Did Megalodon Actually Look Like?

476K views · 1y ago · 20:58

The giant prehistoric shark Megalodon is famous worldwide. But what did it really look like? According to new studies from 2024 and 2025, it wasn't just a giant great white shark. In fact, it may have looked more like a lemon shark and was much longer than previous reconstructions estimated.

▶️ Mentioned videos: One World Shark Week video

📄 Mentioned papers: Paper on nature.com · Paper on science.org · Paper on tandfonline.com