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I actually live within an area deemed to be a bird sanctuary! There are a lot of things we aren't allowed to do, including killing birds at all. We also have protected beach areas for sea turtles, and anyone living along the water must have their lights off (water facing) when dark falls. Even the street lamps are shuttered so that the light isn't facing towards the beach! It's actually quite nice to live here, because all of us are responsible for helping the animals here.
That's great to hear! Here, we have the 'Lights Out Chicago' program, an initiative to encourage downtown businesses to turn off lights at night in order to prevent birdstrike. www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/progs/env/lights_out_chicago.html
+thebrainscoop Do we have any around Chicago? Is there any volunteer work regular people can help out with? I've got time to kill, what better way than for awesome?
+Loki Rawr YES! There are many endangered/threatened species in the Chicago region. Many are plants: bit.ly/1VeeMRw One great way to help is by becoming a habitat restoration volunteer! bit.ly/1XEVWDL
I'd grown up in Chicago, but I didn't really get enthusiastic about the Field Museum until your video series. I really appreciate that you've raised the visibility of their collection and activities, and will definitely be donating to the museum directly.
Would love to see a part 2 of this explaining more on how the ESA and other federal laws, such as CITES, help to protect animals and plants by regulating the trade of living specimens or parts from dead ones. The ESA and Cites are incredibly important in ensuring the trade of an endangered species' parts is either prevented completely or regulated to make sure no illegal activities are being preformed to acquire those parts. Not everyone who collect skulls or other animal parts knows about ESA or CITES and its really quite terrible as the first thing someone should do when getting into the collecting hobby is research laws; yet that's usually not the first thought to pop into a new collector's head. Would love to see you cover this topic more to enlighten those who are unaware of how important these laws are in protecting endangered species from unregulated trade in their parts or of living animals.
Just found your channel, you are so freakin awesome! I love when people are genuinely excited about educating others. I have learned so much from TH-cam channels like Braincraft, Vsauce and Vi Hart; and now yours! Very excited! Keep up the great work, your doing a wonderful job! -A person newly obsessed with science!!
As a female studying environmental science and biology, I look up to you so much! You and your videos make me feel like even my farthest reaching dreams are possible with the right effort.Thank you for all that you do and for being such an inspiration! :)
Wonderful video! Yesterday I taught a room of elementary school kids how to draw an oregon spotted frog, which are listed as vulnerable in my state, and got the class to talk about why they should be protected. I wish I could have shown them this video too! Species that I think are overlooked far too often are the native bees and wasps in all areas with a lot of human development. Everybody always talks about honeybees, but I have not once heard someone mention small native bees when I tell them I am interested in studying bees.
Maybe you could enlighten me about the native bees. Like most people, I know of the honeybees and the bee die-off that's been happening in recent years. But beyond that, not much more.
ShadeSlayer1911 I am most familiar with my local native bees, but I'd be happy to try and answer any questions you might have :) Many native bee species in areas of human habitation are not doing so well. Especially around farmland, but not because of pesticides. Monoculture agriculture leaves no habitat for native bees to nest, and does not provide the variety of flowers for the whole summer that bees need. Counterintuitively, it is suburbs where some kinds of native bees are actually doing well. Mostly bumble bees, because they are a little more flexible when it comes to nesting. If you take some time to sit outside and look around you this summer, I'm sure you will be able to see tons of species of bees and small wasps that you have never noticed before. Many of them are tiny and at first glance look like flies. If you want to know a lot about bumblebees, there's a great book by Dave Goulson titled "A Sting in the Tale". I highly recommend it :)
Gills & Sundry Thanks man, I'm more of a bird enthusiast, so I usually look for birds when I'm outside. But bees are interesting too. Are you planning to do anything bee related career-wise? I'm trying to get a job studying birds for conservation. What do you think of farming bees for honey? I've heard of some problems with industrial farms, but I've also heard that smaller farms that care more about the bees and less about the profit can do great.
The world certainly needs bird enthusiasts too :) I think I would like to someday get into bee research or something, but I'm not 100% sure I can finish enough schooling for that. Farming bees for honey (or for pollinating crops) is a complicated subject. It is true that our modern farming and breeding practices for honeybees has been drastically detrimental to the captive population. The bees having such a limited gene pool is a huge part of what caused the widespread colony collapse issue. On the other hand, we have over 7.5 billion humans on this planet that have to be fed. Honey is not only delicious, but is also a valuable medical substance. It would be far better if we could stop mono-culturing agricultural products, but doing so has maximized yields (which we need for our massive population). If us humans can get our population way down, then we could use less farmland less intensively and so make more room for sedentary bee colonies and habitat for native bees. For now, some small farmers in my state are attempting to cross breed their small scale bee farms with feral honeybee populations. (Honey bees sometimes escape captivity and set up their own populations outside of human control, and these populations create genetic diversity and evolve resistance to local diseases and parasites). Last year I spoke with a farmer who was going to try that, but I don't know if she was successful or not.
Gills & Sundry Interesting, I didn't know that genetic diversity was that lacking in farm bees. Would farmers trading bees with each other be a viable solution? I imagine it'd be more controllable than trying to breed captive bees with feral populations. Zoos trade animals for breeding programs to keep up genetic diversity, so I thought it might work for bees too.
This show is the reason why I will be stopping at the field museum when I go to chicago this summer! Thank you for sharing such interesting knowledge, and for continuing(sp?) to inspire my curiosity. You guys are great. :)
On the other end of the spectrum, will you be talking about invasive species and the measures taken to reduce their effects on environments? I ask this because here in Kansas and neighboring Missouri, we have a big problem with the zebra mussel infesting our waterways and due to the disruption caused to the food supply are choking off the native species in the areas they take over. Same could be said of Kudzu in the southeast U.S.
Yes! This is a huuuge topic. Invasives have had a major impact on native populations in many areas - but a lot of restoring native habitats doesn't really mean returning the land to a pristine state, either. So, what's the balance? It's a good idea.
Invasive species are a major problem in Ireland. The native Red Squirrel population is in drastic decline due to the introduction of North American grey squirrels in the 19th century, which outcompete for resources and pass on diseases.
Totally! It's been speculated that zebra mussels have had a huge role to play in cleaning up the Great Lakes. They filter out lots of nasty, nasty stuff and because of that, the water is getting a lot cleaner. There's no easy answer.
This is one of my favorite videos that @thebrainscoop has made. I'm currently trying to find out the best approach for culling the invasive Cuban Tree Frog in Florida. While I'm not a fan of killing, I'm less a fan of humanity's unintended impact on our local ecosystems. The Cuban Tree Frog has slowly been displacing more than 3 other native frog species and affects native lizard an insect populations as well.
I really liked this one! it was like a nice condensed summary of what we learned in my Conservation Biology class last semester. - > Just one thing (though i guess it doesn't matter too much and it would probably be too difficult to change now) the labels that went up at the beginning of the video switched around the Utah prairie dog and the black-footed ferret. The prairie dog is definitely in the front and the BFF is in the back (though I can only see its little feet) =)
You should start a social media thing asking people to share an endangered species to raise awareness. I am going to do it, but if you do it on your facebook, twitter and tumblr you'll have a bigger impact. Thanks for the video.
Thanks for mentioning the greater sage grouse resolution. Protection doesn't automatically mean exclusion of all humans. Especially if all folks are working together in advance of the crisis stage.
I really can't believe that a channel like this has 300k subs, while new gaming and beauty ones easily reach tens of millions. I was so surprised when I looked at the sub count for the first time in years. Sad.
I would love to donate, I would love to be able to help the great work that you, the whole brain scoop team, and the Field Museum do. Alas, being a college student, I have no disposable income at the time. All I can give is my moral support, and share your videos with those I know.
+stargazer209 According to Emily, it's “unlike any other conservation plan in the world.” (0:54). I really like the Brain Scoop and I'm a fan of hers, but I think this is a common affliction in the USA. They seem wholly incapable of caring about any topic, unless they can somehow claim to be the best, the first, the smartest or some other way on top. Or maybe I misunderstood her, and she meant that the ESA is unlike any other conservation plan, because it's rather ineffective, arrived 50-100 years later than most others and is dependant on heavy bureaucracy and cute, furry animals..?
The IUCN is a non-governmental organization (NGO), the ESA is a governing law. IUCN can make recommendations to policy makers and businesses, but they don't have enforcement power. If a person, business etc. does something to violate the endangered species act, they can be charged for breaking a state or federal law.
***** Yup. I'm not disagreeing. But the ESA came after more protective laws in the rest of (at least) the OECD. Before building or restore anything in Europe, you have to check for the presence of any IUCN-listed species... A common complaint is from people finding bats in their attic, causing the new roof to wait for conservation experts to help relocate them.
I live in Florida and we have the Gopher Tortoise here. The tortoise itself is only threatened, but over 350 different species rely on their burrows to survive; especially in the case of a wildfire. They call it a "Keystone Species"
+bob smith if you are in the Jacksonville area, the Museum of Science and History has a live animal section called the Florida Naturalist Center. There are 3 Gopher Tortoises, and they are very important indeed. In fact it is illegal to handle or disturb a Gopher Tortoise or their burrows in accordance with State regulations.
+eustacia03 The fascinating thing about many Unionids is that their reproduction is often dependent on a relationship with particular species of fishes in order to complete the cycle. Like, for the Purple Lilliput bivalve (a unionid), after its eggs are fertilized, the baby bivalves are re-released into the water and must have a green- or longear sunfish to continue developing. The mother completes this by extending the fleshy part of her mantle into the water and waving it around; often these mantles are mimicking something the host fish would eat (like a small minnow or worm). Once the sunfish comes by and bites at the lure, the female unionid releases her baby bivalves into its mouth, and when the fish swallows the baby clams, they camp onto the host's gills where they hang on, taking in some blood and nutrients from the fish before dropping off weeks or months later. Many species of bivalves have coevolved unique reproductive techniques with particular fishes in this way. To lose the fish you lose the bivalve, too. Here's a video on the Lampsilis Mussel doing the lure thing with a largemouth bass: th-cam.com/video/31qBrRawDK8/w-d-xo.html mnfi.anr.msu.edu/abstracts/zoology/Toxolasma_lividus.pdf
Does our part in whether an animal is becoming endangered or extinct come into play? What I mean is if a certain species is dying out due to factors that humans aren't directly responsible for, are measures still taken to help that species out? It's kind of a cold way of looking at things, but maybe for some species it's just their time to go. The Prime Directive in Star Trek comes to mind where they're not supposed to (but most of the time they usually do anyways *cough* Janeway *cough*) intervene in other being's affairs even if they're in danger. My thoughts on it are that humans have such a huge and profound effect on the environment that it would be very very hard to know for sure, so we may as well save all that we can. But at the same time species have been changing and evolving since the dawn of time and we can't just stop that from happening. Do we have a responsibility to let things play out as nature would intend as if we never existed in the first place?
+Rabid Rabbit Rabbi If there is a case in which a species is going out naturally on its own without it being a result of human impact, then I'd agree with you, it'd be best not to interfere. But, off the top of my head, I'm not sure I could name a population or species that is being predated or moved out of its habitat by another native species (most of them are moved out by invasives), or something not caused by human impact. Some would argue the Giant panda would have been gone extinct by now if it weren't for human interference. Another side of this is that captive breeding aspect: some species are extinct in the wild (or soon to be), and only exist in zoos and aquariums because their original habitat is unsuitable. But, if there is no original habitat in which to reintroduce those species, how long should we continue to keep them in captivity - for how many generations? How long would it take to restore a suitable habitat for reintroduction? We're too far in to let things play out as though we'd never been here... :) The best thing to do at this point is to figure out how to go ahead with responsible land and populations management. Which is something the Endangered Species Act is helping to do.
***** That's a great response, thanks for taking the time to make it. I agree we should be doing everything we can to help. I think the best bet is to try and save as many species as possible until we finally know what the "right" thing is. I hope no one misunderstands me in asking the questions I asked. I want to do what's right for everyone and everything on this planet. I just think it's important to ask ourselves if the actions we're taking, no matter how noble. is the right thing to do.
+Rabid Rabbit Rabbi If you are right, that humans are not responsible for extinctions, we should still protect certain species. And that is because of the benefits protecting such species would confer on us. Every species is unique and we are only on the tip of the iceberg in learning about what makes them so unique, and how we can use that knowledge to benefit us.
That confuses me. I just don't get it. It seems to go against the whole survival of the fittest model. I personally would not wish to see any species to be extincted as it is just not nice. However, putting the nice feelings aside I don't understand this concept of help species from not becoming extinct. It is almost like we are trying to play "God" as who lives and who dies and when and how. Human beings are part of this ecosystem called "Earth" is it not? We are not apart from it or above it. We are a part of this world and our actions like the actions of wolves, pigs, bears, snakes have an impact on other species. If we keep "saving species; especially when they aren't going extinct due to our actions" then we are essentially interfering with the evolution of all the species on this planet (some might even argue this solar system). Never in my life have a seen a group of polar bears gather together to decide if they should implement actions that will prevent the extinction of human beings. Never have I seen vines stop and ponder if they are growing way too fast and too much such that it is over taking some human's territory or infringing on our properties. We humans are the only species that worrie about whether we should interfere in the extinction of another species.
Jimmy Wu With great power comes great responsibility. Humans have great power to affect the ecosystem on earth. However, most of us are ignorant as to how we are affecting the ecosystem, and the benefit the ecosystem provides in terms of life sustaining services. We will ultimately benefit from saving our native species from extinction. Natural extinction and human caused extinction is impossible to measure because humans affect almost everything. Unless there is a cave that has been cut off completely from the outside, you can be sure that humans are affecting it somehow, whether by habitat destruction, introducing invasive species, genetic pollution, global warming, etc. You can discuss the moral implications as much as you want, but aiding their survival will ultimately benefit us the most.
I'd like a Field Museum-vlog sometimes where Emily just wanders around script-less looking at cool things and showing us them and being excited and making funny off-the-cuff comments
I'm not too confident that he would make much of a difference. Hard to imagine any presidential candidate making a big difference though. Maybe if we elected politicians who are more willing to listen to scientists, that would work. I'd say, elect scientists themselves, but scientists are already busy doing science to have to deal with politics.
black bears of florida. and our cougars. we had to start cross breeding them with a northern mountain lion just to try and save them. there's no way you'd find a 'pure' Florida cougar. from what our FWC says.
Soon is apparently very afraid of this topic. Or better at hiding than I'm used to. I guess Soon didn't want to risk the possibility that infrequent viewers might not recognize him and think he was a member of an endangered species?
I wish I could advocate for all of Florida's native species. There are so many non-native or exotics that are proliferating here. There are pythons, caiman, (and possibly Nile crocodiles,) in the Everglades. I've seen quaker parakeets, iguanas, cuban anoles, egyptian geese, curly tailed lizards, fire ants, geckos, muscovy ducks, mallards, and brazillian pepper trees and that's just in my neighborhood. I don't know if it's possible to get a handle on the endangered species and save all of them if we can't even stop illegal and legal exotic and non-natives from being loose in environments that they don't belong. I don't even know what animals are FL natives because I rarely see them. The list I wrote is a partial list. It would take many comments to list all the strange and ordinary critters and plants that aren't originally from here but have made it their home nonetheless.
I want a t-shirt! I missed the Hyena drive because study boooo. Brain Scoop always has the best designed merch... I loved the soon raccoon poster and the hyena t-shirt and stickers are gorgeous. There are a couple of youtube shows whose t-shirts I'd like to buy but they are.. ugly.. and the one who sells pretty things doesn't sell them any more!
In the end, it's all humans' fault. Sometimes I wonder why mother nature created life where one of them (us) could eventually evolve so significantly intelligent over the next closest organism (chimps?). Imagine chimps were the most intelligent life on Earth, how peaceful and undisturbed Earth would be?
Hi Emily ..... try taking a breath occasionally! Slow down! We native English speakers have trouble keeping up with you which is a shame because you have got so much to say that is really worth hearing.
+Graham Taylor do you really? (honest question). I'm not a native English speaker and I was never in an English speaking country and have zero problems following her, her speed is normal to my ears.
We spend so much attention on charismatic species like pandas, Tigers, rhinos and so on. Meanwhile less charismatic species like bugs and plants and especially fungi go extinct while their waiting for recognition.
We humans should be careful yeah sure but we should not help endangered species. This disrupts nature's course. Survival of the fittest if they can't survive without our help then let them perish.
Holy crap, donating was really easy! Screw this "anonymous" thing....I LOVE THE BRAIN SCOOP ENOUGH TO GIVE THE DOLLARS. (Not many dollars, but some dollars, because I need to be protective of my dollars, but you can have some of my dollars, because you will use my dollars wisely.)
+xingcat how about giving me some dollars too. I could buy some food with it and increase my biomass, thus allowing my microbiome to thrive and develop further (which can potentially host millions of new species)
I disagree. You forget, some societies are actually suffering from lack of birth rate, like Japan. It honestly just depends. But maybe we should advocate for responsible parenting, and make contraceptives available to more people
+theGloriousDipshit Growth is only a universal benefit when seen from the perspective of hegemony in global economics. Countries need larger populations to have more consumers and workers to drive their economies larger to have more power over their neighbours in trade deals and for defense in wars. Even thinking about stress on available resources, creating consumption machines instead of people in a populace, and never-ending cycles of wars and production of unnecessary "goods" is not even allowed because it goes against the hegemony assumption implicit within the structure of the system. I argue that the real problem isn't declining growth or birth rates, but people thinking that they are necessary to have a safe and good life. Growth isn't necessary for all systems, only for systems that seek to create benefit for a nation's population at the expense of other people in other nations and being in destructive competition with them. What I am advocating for is a conscious decision by all people everywhere to say "we don't need all this shit, my country isn't better than yours and I don't deserve more than you, and my ability to have as many children as I like isn't synonymous with the responsibility of that action to everyone else in the world, too." Having a declining birth rate doesn't have to be bad, only if all people or in oppositional competition with each other instead of cooperation or mutually beneficial competition.
It's not so much the volume of children being born that is the problem, but the quality of them. If every child birthed by humans from now on were going to end becoming outstanding citizens that contribute to their society and are environmentally conscious, some of them even active conservationists, then each couple could have 5 children at a time and it wouldn't be as big of a problem as we have now. Hell, we could make the world a paradise with better, larger future generations. On the other hand, if every child born from now on are going to become criminals and entitled freeloaders, not caring about the consequences of their actions or anyone else besides themselves for that matter, then even a .01 child policy wouldn't be good enough. In fact, not having enough children sometimes just means a reduced future work force struggling to support the older non-working population. It's not the quantity, it's the quality. I don't have a solution, unfortunately, at least nothing that is short of becoming a dictator.
+ShadeSlayer1911 I've struggled with that side of the perspective as well. You are certainly right that quality is a major factor and that has to do with cultural norms. The pervasive cultural norm of entitlement and privilege (thinking we deserve to have whatever we want and that the wanting is good for economies regardless of the resources available to fulfill all the simultaneous wants of the entire population) isn't going to change fast enough. Ironically, I also strongly believe that the only real solution is a conscious decision by each member of humanity to reduce the amount of their consumption and production to levels in line with the carrying capacity of the Earth. Obviously, knowing what the carrying capacity of the Earth is is a very complicated task that no one knows, but we are surely far out stretching it with the waste of western misuse. I think about this a lot, and any enforcement of trying to curb appetites or entitlements that people have been privileged to enjoy is going to result either in an oppresive dictatorship with brutal crackdowns or on an underground economy catering in the shadows. Neither of those are acceptable to me so the only answer that actually works which addresses resource depletion, waste, extinction, exploitation and oppression, privilege and entitlement, is for every member or society to recognize the damage they are doing and consciously say "No more, I will change for the betterment of this and future generations". I hope it does happen, and sooner rather than later.
Ryan Lacroix I feel you, man. I struggle with this too. I've settled for doing my best in solving this global problem. I'm trying to get involved in the science aspect of it so we know better of what to do, what works and what doesn't, what areas need more focus, etc.
the more I watch brainscoop videos, the more I'm interested to volunteer to a local museum
If the cards aren't working for you, you can donate at Network for Good, and designate the donation to The Brain Scoop: www.networkforgood.org/donation/MakeDonation.aspx?ORGID2=362167011
I actually live within an area deemed to be a bird sanctuary! There are a lot of things we aren't allowed to do, including killing birds at all. We also have protected beach areas for sea turtles, and anyone living along the water must have their lights off (water facing) when dark falls. Even the street lamps are shuttered so that the light isn't facing towards the beach! It's actually quite nice to live here, because all of us are responsible for helping the animals here.
That's great to hear! Here, we have the 'Lights Out Chicago' program, an initiative to encourage downtown businesses to turn off lights at night in order to prevent birdstrike. www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/progs/env/lights_out_chicago.html
Do you have an endangered, threatened, or candidate species you like to advocate for?
Bees?
+thebrainscoop Do we have any around Chicago? Is there any volunteer work regular people can help out with? I've got time to kill, what better way than for awesome?
+Loki Rawr YES! There are many endangered/threatened species in the Chicago region. Many are plants: bit.ly/1VeeMRw One great way to help is by becoming a habitat restoration volunteer! bit.ly/1XEVWDL
+thebrainscoop Protect the Red Panda and Vaquita and Cavendish banana
+thebrainscoop Oh, you moved to Illinois recently. Sorry about the government, lol.
I'd grown up in Chicago, but I didn't really get enthusiastic about the Field Museum until your video series. I really appreciate that you've raised the visibility of their collection and activities, and will definitely be donating to the museum directly.
Would love to see a part 2 of this explaining more on how the ESA and other federal laws, such as CITES, help to protect animals and plants by regulating the trade of living specimens or parts from dead ones. The ESA and Cites are incredibly important in ensuring the trade of an endangered species' parts is either prevented completely or regulated to make sure no illegal activities are being preformed to acquire those parts. Not everyone who collect skulls or other animal parts knows about ESA or CITES and its really quite terrible as the first thing someone should do when getting into the collecting hobby is research laws; yet that's usually not the first thought to pop into a new collector's head. Would love to see you cover this topic more to enlighten those who are unaware of how important these laws are in protecting endangered species from unregulated trade in their parts or of living animals.
Just found your channel, you are so freakin awesome! I love when people are genuinely excited about educating others. I have learned so much from TH-cam channels like Braincraft, Vsauce and Vi Hart; and now yours! Very excited! Keep up the great work, your doing a wonderful job!
-A person newly obsessed with science!!
Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks for a great explainer we can share (sadly an evergreen video topic).
#IStandWithUnionidBivalves
+Waris Amir Mohammad #MakeUnionidBivalvesGreatAgain
I love your explanation and I came to understand more about endangered species ... thank you for making this videos😃
As a female studying environmental science and biology, I look up to you so much! You and your videos make me feel like even my farthest reaching dreams are possible with the right effort.Thank you for all that you do and for being such an inspiration! :)
Wonderful video! Yesterday I taught a room of elementary school kids how to draw an oregon spotted frog, which are listed as vulnerable in my state, and got the class to talk about why they should be protected. I wish I could have shown them this video too!
Species that I think are overlooked far too often are the native bees and wasps in all areas with a lot of human development. Everybody always talks about honeybees, but I have not once heard someone mention small native bees when I tell them I am interested in studying bees.
Maybe you could enlighten me about the native bees. Like most people, I know of the honeybees and the bee die-off that's been happening in recent years. But beyond that, not much more.
ShadeSlayer1911 I am most familiar with my local native bees, but I'd be happy to try and answer any questions you might have :)
Many native bee species in areas of human habitation are not doing so well. Especially around farmland, but not because of pesticides. Monoculture agriculture leaves no habitat for native bees to nest, and does not provide the variety of flowers for the whole summer that bees need. Counterintuitively, it is suburbs where some kinds of native bees are actually doing well. Mostly bumble bees, because they are a little more flexible when it comes to nesting.
If you take some time to sit outside and look around you this summer, I'm sure you will be able to see tons of species of bees and small wasps that you have never noticed before. Many of them are tiny and at first glance look like flies.
If you want to know a lot about bumblebees, there's a great book by Dave Goulson titled "A Sting in the Tale". I highly recommend it :)
Gills & Sundry Thanks man, I'm more of a bird enthusiast, so I usually look for birds when I'm outside. But bees are interesting too.
Are you planning to do anything bee related career-wise? I'm trying to get a job studying birds for conservation.
What do you think of farming bees for honey? I've heard of some problems with industrial farms, but I've also heard that smaller farms that care more about the bees and less about the profit can do great.
The world certainly needs bird enthusiasts too :)
I think I would like to someday get into bee research or something, but I'm not 100% sure I can finish enough schooling for that.
Farming bees for honey (or for pollinating crops) is a complicated subject. It is true that our modern farming and breeding practices for honeybees has been drastically detrimental to the captive population. The bees having such a limited gene pool is a huge part of what caused the widespread colony collapse issue. On the other hand, we have over 7.5 billion humans on this planet that have to be fed. Honey is not only delicious, but is also a valuable medical substance. It would be far better if we could stop mono-culturing agricultural products, but doing so has maximized yields (which we need for our massive population). If us humans can get our population way down, then we could use less farmland less intensively and so make more room for sedentary bee colonies and habitat for native bees.
For now, some small farmers in my state are attempting to cross breed their small scale bee farms with feral honeybee populations. (Honey bees sometimes escape captivity and set up their own populations outside of human control, and these populations create genetic diversity and evolve resistance to local diseases and parasites). Last year I spoke with a farmer who was going to try that, but I don't know if she was successful or not.
Gills & Sundry Interesting, I didn't know that genetic diversity was that lacking in farm bees. Would farmers trading bees with each other be a viable solution? I imagine it'd be more controllable than trying to breed captive bees with feral populations. Zoos trade animals for breeding programs to keep up genetic diversity, so I thought it might work for bees too.
This show is the reason why I will be stopping at the field museum when I go to chicago this summer! Thank you for sharing such interesting knowledge, and for continuing(sp?) to inspire my curiosity. You guys are great. :)
Well there you go, I've watched every video of the brainscoop. Happy now Emily?
yes thank you!
this was excellent and extremely informative. thanks you for putting it together.
On the other end of the spectrum, will you be talking about invasive species and the measures taken to reduce their effects on environments? I ask this because here in Kansas and neighboring Missouri, we have a big problem with the zebra mussel infesting our waterways and due to the disruption caused to the food supply are choking off the native species in the areas they take over. Same could be said of Kudzu in the southeast U.S.
Yes! This is a huuuge topic. Invasives have had a major impact on native populations in many areas - but a lot of restoring native habitats doesn't really mean returning the land to a pristine state, either. So, what's the balance? It's a good idea.
Invasive species are a major problem in Ireland. The native Red Squirrel population is in drastic decline due to the introduction of North American grey squirrels in the 19th century, which outcompete for resources and pass on diseases.
+Stevonicus same in italy with the squirrels... poor little guys.
+thebrainscoop This is a dilemma I face at work all the time. In some areas, the invasive plants are all that's holding the hillside together.
Totally! It's been speculated that zebra mussels have had a huge role to play in cleaning up the Great Lakes. They filter out lots of nasty, nasty stuff and because of that, the water is getting a lot cleaner. There's no easy answer.
In a world with so much change, the outro of Brain Scoop videos remains comfortingly familiar! 😀
Charismatic Megafauna
This is one of my favorite videos that @thebrainscoop has made. I'm currently trying to find out the best approach for culling the invasive Cuban Tree Frog in Florida. While I'm not a fan of killing, I'm less a fan of humanity's unintended impact on our local ecosystems. The Cuban Tree Frog has slowly been displacing more than 3 other native frog species and affects native lizard an insect populations as well.
Could fungi be on the endangered species list
I really liked this one! it was like a nice condensed summary of what we learned in my Conservation Biology class last semester.
- > Just one thing (though i guess it doesn't matter too much and it would probably be too difficult to change now) the labels that went up at the beginning of the video switched around the Utah prairie dog and the black-footed ferret. The prairie dog is definitely in the front and the BFF is in the back (though I can only see its little feet) =)
+djfox31 I was so hung up on double checking species name spellings that I didn't even check the placement. you're right!
You should start a social media thing asking people to share an endangered species to raise awareness. I am going to do it, but if you do it on your facebook, twitter and tumblr you'll have a bigger impact. Thanks for the video.
3:26 "Through a series of unfortunate events..." Did anyone else catch that?
I love having women to look up to!! You're awesome Emily! :D
Very informative. Also, those earrings are fire.
🔥
Thanks for mentioning the greater sage grouse resolution. Protection doesn't automatically mean exclusion of all humans. Especially if all folks are working together in advance of the crisis stage.
I really can't believe that a channel like this has 300k subs, while new gaming and beauty ones easily reach tens of millions. I was so surprised when I looked at the sub count for the first time in years. Sad.
I stand with uniuni bivalves!
I would love to donate, I would love to be able to help the great work that you, the whole brain scoop team, and the Field Museum do. Alas, being a college student, I have no disposable income at the time. All I can give is my moral support, and share your videos with those I know.
Your support and sharing the videos is much appreciated!! That counts as giving back :)
I stand with unionid bivalves!
What makes the ESA different from the IUCN?
+stargazer209 According to Emily, it's “unlike any other conservation plan in the world.” (0:54). I really like the Brain Scoop and I'm a fan of hers, but I think this is a common affliction in the USA. They seem wholly incapable of caring about any topic, unless they can somehow claim to be the best, the first, the smartest or some other way on top.
Or maybe I misunderstood her, and she meant that the ESA is unlike any other conservation plan, because it's rather ineffective, arrived 50-100 years later than most others and is dependant on heavy bureaucracy and cute, furry animals..?
The IUCN is a non-governmental organization (NGO), the ESA is a governing law. IUCN can make recommendations to policy makers and businesses, but they don't have enforcement power. If a person, business etc. does something to violate the endangered species act, they can be charged for breaking a state or federal law.
***** Yup. I'm not disagreeing. But the ESA came after more protective laws in the rest of (at least) the OECD. Before building or restore anything in Europe, you have to check for the presence of any IUCN-listed species... A common complaint is from people finding bats in their attic, causing the new roof to wait for conservation experts to help relocate them.
I just realized that I've never watched an ad before or during a video of the brain scoop . . .
I miss dissection videos :(
you can look at their channel its 100% disgusting but very educational 😀
can wait to learn
Good video!
I live in Florida and we have the Gopher Tortoise here. The tortoise itself is only threatened, but over 350 different species rely on their burrows to survive; especially in the case of a wildfire. They call it a "Keystone Species"
+bob smith if you are in the Jacksonville area, the Museum of Science and History has a live animal section called the Florida Naturalist Center. There are 3 Gopher Tortoises, and they are very important indeed. In fact it is illegal to handle or disturb a Gopher Tortoise or their burrows in accordance with State regulations.
+Shane K I better not get in trouble for helping my little friends cross the road :o
I'm not positive on the specifics of that, but I would always choose to protect them from our highways first and ask questions later. :)
"I stand with unionid bivalves" would make a great T-shirt
Is there like, maybe a cool looking fish that shares habitat with the unionid bivalves that we could push for to help the bivalves?
+eustacia03 The fascinating thing about many Unionids is that their reproduction is often dependent on a relationship with particular species of fishes in order to complete the cycle. Like, for the Purple Lilliput bivalve (a unionid), after its eggs are fertilized, the baby bivalves are re-released into the water and must have a green- or longear sunfish to continue developing. The mother completes this by extending the fleshy part of her mantle into the water and waving it around; often these mantles are mimicking something the host fish would eat (like a small minnow or worm). Once the sunfish comes by and bites at the lure, the female unionid releases her baby bivalves into its mouth, and when the fish swallows the baby clams, they camp onto the host's gills where they hang on, taking in some blood and nutrients from the fish before dropping off weeks or months later. Many species of bivalves have coevolved unique reproductive techniques with particular fishes in this way. To lose the fish you lose the bivalve, too.
Here's a video on the Lampsilis Mussel doing the lure thing with a largemouth bass: th-cam.com/video/31qBrRawDK8/w-d-xo.html
mnfi.anr.msu.edu/abstracts/zoology/Toxolasma_lividus.pdf
+thebrainscoop Man, Nature is WEIRD :)
Does our part in whether an animal is becoming endangered or extinct come into play? What I mean is if a certain species is dying out due to factors that humans aren't directly responsible for, are measures still taken to help that species out? It's kind of a cold way of looking at things, but maybe for some species it's just their time to go. The Prime Directive in Star Trek comes to mind where they're not supposed to (but most of the time they usually do anyways *cough* Janeway *cough*) intervene in other being's affairs even if they're in danger.
My thoughts on it are that humans have such a huge and profound effect on the environment that it would be very very hard to know for sure, so we may as well save all that we can. But at the same time species have been changing and evolving since the dawn of time and we can't just stop that from happening.
Do we have a responsibility to let things play out as nature would intend as if we never existed in the first place?
+Rabid Rabbit Rabbi If there is a case in which a species is going out naturally on its own without it being a result of human impact, then I'd agree with you, it'd be best not to interfere. But, off the top of my head, I'm not sure I could name a population or species that is being predated or moved out of its habitat by another native species (most of them are moved out by invasives), or something not caused by human impact. Some would argue the Giant panda would have been gone extinct by now if it weren't for human interference.
Another side of this is that captive breeding aspect: some species are extinct in the wild (or soon to be), and only exist in zoos and aquariums because their original habitat is unsuitable. But, if there is no original habitat in which to reintroduce those species, how long should we continue to keep them in captivity - for how many generations? How long would it take to restore a suitable habitat for reintroduction?
We're too far in to let things play out as though we'd never been here... :) The best thing to do at this point is to figure out how to go ahead with responsible land and populations management. Which is something the Endangered Species Act is helping to do.
***** That's a great response, thanks for taking the time to make it. I agree we should be doing everything we can to help. I think the best bet is to try and save as many species as possible until we finally know what the "right" thing is.
I hope no one misunderstands me in asking the questions I asked. I want to do what's right for everyone and everything on this planet. I just think it's important to ask ourselves if the actions we're taking, no matter how noble. is the right thing to do.
+Rabid Rabbit Rabbi If you are right, that humans are not responsible for extinctions, we should still protect certain species. And that is because of the benefits protecting such species would confer on us. Every species is unique and we are only on the tip of the iceberg in learning about what makes them so unique, and how we can use that knowledge to benefit us.
That confuses me. I just don't get it. It seems to go against the whole survival of the fittest model. I personally would not wish to see any species to be extincted as it is just not nice. However, putting the nice feelings aside I don't understand this concept of help species from not becoming extinct. It is almost like we are trying to play "God" as who lives and who dies and when and how.
Human beings are part of this ecosystem called "Earth" is it not? We are not apart from it or above it. We are a part of this world and our actions like the actions of wolves, pigs, bears, snakes have an impact on other species. If we keep "saving species; especially when they aren't going extinct due to our actions" then we are essentially interfering with the evolution of all the species on this planet (some might even argue this solar system). Never in my life have a seen a group of polar bears gather together to decide if they should implement actions that will prevent the extinction of human beings. Never have I seen vines stop and ponder if they are growing way too fast and too much such that it is over taking some human's territory or infringing on our properties. We humans are the only species that worrie about whether we should interfere in the extinction of another species.
Jimmy Wu With great power comes great responsibility. Humans have great power to affect the ecosystem on earth. However, most of us are ignorant as to how we are affecting the ecosystem, and the benefit the ecosystem provides in terms of life sustaining services. We will ultimately benefit from saving our native species from extinction. Natural extinction and human caused extinction is impossible to measure because humans affect almost everything. Unless there is a cave that has been cut off completely from the outside, you can be sure that humans are affecting it somehow, whether by habitat destruction, introducing invasive species, genetic pollution, global warming, etc. You can discuss the moral implications as much as you want, but aiding their survival will ultimately benefit us the most.
I an really glad we still have some brains on this planet
Heard that wind turbines also disrupt the sage grouse, damned if you do, damned if you don't.
I'd like a Field Museum-vlog sometimes where Emily just wanders around script-less looking at cool things and showing us them and being excited and making funny off-the-cuff comments
Didn't mention fungi either, assuming that this would fall under the difficult to study effect.
I'm happy to donate a bit to the Brain Scoop. But it would be even cooler if you had Brain Scoop merch that supported the channel. Just sayin' :-)
Soon! We hope to have some ready for presale in the next few weeks!
You need a time machine and vote for Al Gore...
I'm not too confident that he would make much of a difference. Hard to imagine any presidential candidate making a big difference though. Maybe if we elected politicians who are more willing to listen to scientists, that would work. I'd say, elect scientists themselves, but scientists are already busy doing science to have to deal with politics.
Please tell me that we can get I stand with bivalves tee shirts.
Ventura @5:59 whoop whoop
What? Im lost!
black bears of florida. and our cougars. we had to start cross breeding them with a northern mountain lion just to try and save them. there's no way you'd find a 'pure' Florida cougar. from what our FWC says.
Great Video! Thanks for sharing the knowledge Emily! Your the BEST! #ISTANDWITHUNIONIDBIVALVES
Excuse me, but where was the racoon??! I want the racoon!!!!
🦝
I miss Emily.
"...organisers of the 'Million Mollusc March' said attendance was disappointinly low..."
Not sure I would have fracking projects and 'responsible development' in the same sentence.
Humans will eventually be next. We are generally not good at planning for the future and are entirely focused on the here and now.
Your shirt is birds.
+xB-DeathKnell yeah i couldn't find any unionid shirts
+thebrainscoop Haha!
Fine by me. I love birds.
🐦
#iStandWithUnionidBivalves needs merchandise....for profits or running the biz?
i think youre brilliant! ;-)
Emily & Field Museum =
Anyone think millipedes are cute? Probably just me XD
Soon is apparently very afraid of this topic. Or better at hiding than I'm used to. I guess Soon didn't want to risk the possibility that infrequent viewers might not recognize him and think he was a member of an endangered species?
Aha I've been waiting to hear cinquefoil :)
I wish I could advocate for all of Florida's native species. There are so many non-native or exotics that are proliferating here. There are pythons, caiman, (and possibly Nile crocodiles,) in the Everglades. I've seen quaker parakeets, iguanas, cuban anoles, egyptian geese, curly tailed lizards, fire ants, geckos, muscovy ducks, mallards, and brazillian pepper trees and that's just in my neighborhood. I don't know if it's possible to get a handle on the endangered species and save all of them if we can't even stop illegal and legal exotic and non-natives from being loose in environments that they don't belong. I don't even know what animals are FL natives because I rarely see them. The list I wrote is a partial list. It would take many comments to list all the strange and ordinary critters and plants that aren't originally from here but have made it their home nonetheless.
I want a t-shirt! I missed the Hyena drive because study boooo. Brain Scoop always has the best designed merch... I loved the soon raccoon poster and the hyena t-shirt and stickers are gorgeous. There are a couple of youtube shows whose t-shirts I'd like to buy but they are.. ugly.. and the one who sells pretty things doesn't sell them any more!
Beautiful earrings.
This was a great video, but, man, I kept being distracted by how jealous I was of Emily's shirt..
I want red panda video. we are endangered too
+rurutu M same #IStandWithAilurusfulgens
#StandWithUnionidBivalves
let's save them guys!
In the end, it's all humans' fault.
Sometimes I wonder why mother nature created life where one of them (us) could eventually evolve so significantly intelligent over the next closest organism (chimps?).
Imagine chimps were the most intelligent life on Earth, how peaceful and undisturbed Earth would be?
We call the big pretty animals. Charismatic Megafauna HI
...took me ages to find Soon in this one, haha.
Hi Emily ..... try taking a breath occasionally! Slow down! We native English speakers have trouble keeping up with you which is a shame because you have got so much to say that is really worth hearing.
+Graham Taylor do you really? (honest question). I'm not a native English speaker and I was never in an English speaking country and have zero problems following her, her speed is normal to my ears.
We spend so much attention on charismatic species like pandas, Tigers, rhinos and so on. Meanwhile less charismatic species like bugs and plants and especially fungi go extinct while their waiting for recognition.
I want to see a dodo bird again
:(
you know I love the topics but it's a little slow on delivery and feels like an info dump, tho I still love the topics XD
#Savethemillipedes...
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We humans should be careful yeah sure but we should not help endangered species. This disrupts nature's course. Survival of the fittest if they can't survive without our help then let them perish.
She's very pretty
Holy crap, donating was really easy! Screw this "anonymous" thing....I LOVE THE BRAIN SCOOP ENOUGH TO GIVE THE DOLLARS. (Not many dollars, but some dollars, because I need to be protective of my dollars, but you can have some of my dollars, because you will use my dollars wisely.)
+xingcat how about giving me some dollars too. I could buy some food with it and increase my biomass, thus allowing my microbiome to thrive and develop further (which can potentially host millions of new species)
pramitbanerjee Hmm. You make a very good pitch, but I'll have to see your exhibit at the Natural History Museum to be entirely convinced.
super cool
Why not just curtail human populations?
Global human populations should institute a 1 child policy.
I disagree. You forget, some societies are actually suffering from lack of birth rate, like Japan.
It honestly just depends.
But maybe we should advocate for responsible parenting, and make contraceptives available to more people
+theGloriousDipshit Growth is only a universal benefit when seen from the perspective of hegemony in global economics. Countries need larger populations to have more consumers and workers to drive their economies larger to have more power over their neighbours in trade deals and for defense in wars. Even thinking about stress on available resources, creating consumption machines instead of people in a populace, and never-ending cycles of wars and production of unnecessary "goods" is not even allowed because it goes against the hegemony assumption implicit within the structure of the system.
I argue that the real problem isn't declining growth or birth rates, but people thinking that they are necessary to have a safe and good life. Growth isn't necessary for all systems, only for systems that seek to create benefit for a nation's population at the expense of other people in other nations and being in destructive competition with them. What I am advocating for is a conscious decision by all people everywhere to say "we don't need all this shit, my country isn't better than yours and I don't deserve more than you, and my ability to have as many children as I like isn't synonymous with the responsibility of that action to everyone else in the world, too." Having a declining birth rate doesn't have to be bad, only if all people or in oppositional competition with each other instead of cooperation or mutually beneficial competition.
It's not so much the volume of children being born that is the problem, but the quality of them.
If every child birthed by humans from now on were going to end becoming outstanding citizens that contribute to their society and are environmentally conscious, some of them even active conservationists, then each couple could have 5 children at a time and it wouldn't be as big of a problem as we have now. Hell, we could make the world a paradise with better, larger future generations.
On the other hand, if every child born from now on are going to become criminals and entitled freeloaders, not caring about the consequences of their actions or anyone else besides themselves for that matter, then even a .01 child policy wouldn't be good enough.
In fact, not having enough children sometimes just means a reduced future work force struggling to support the older non-working population.
It's not the quantity, it's the quality.
I don't have a solution, unfortunately, at least nothing that is short of becoming a dictator.
+ShadeSlayer1911 I've struggled with that side of the perspective as well. You are certainly right that quality is a major factor and that has to do with cultural norms. The pervasive cultural norm of entitlement and privilege (thinking we deserve to have whatever we want and that the wanting is good for economies regardless of the resources available to fulfill all the simultaneous wants of the entire population) isn't going to change fast enough. Ironically, I also strongly believe that the only real solution is a conscious decision by each member of humanity to reduce the amount of their consumption and production to levels in line with the carrying capacity of the Earth. Obviously, knowing what the carrying capacity of the Earth is is a very complicated task that no one knows, but we are surely far out stretching it with the waste of western misuse.
I think about this a lot, and any enforcement of trying to curb appetites or entitlements that people have been privileged to enjoy is going to result either in an oppresive dictatorship with brutal crackdowns or on an underground economy catering in the shadows. Neither of those are acceptable to me so the only answer that actually works which addresses resource depletion, waste, extinction, exploitation and oppression, privilege and entitlement, is for every member or society to recognize the damage they are doing and consciously say "No more, I will change for the betterment of this and future generations". I hope it does happen, and sooner rather than later.
Ryan Lacroix I feel you, man. I struggle with this too. I've settled for doing my best in solving this global problem. I'm trying to get involved in the science aspect of it so we know better of what to do, what works and what doesn't, what areas need more focus, etc.
If you really meant what you say in this video you would share the vegan message. #hypocrite
#IStandWithUnionidBivalves