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The sciences are a series of disciplines that are constantly changing, what in one decade
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was an absolute truth, in the next it can be questioned and in the next, after series
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of studies and experimentation, it can be turned upside down, that is, despite our
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advances. technological advances and our ability to carry out experiments on a gigantic scale,
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there is always the possibility that a new discovery will force us to rethink
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many things. This is the interesting thing about science: it is a puzzle in constant transformation and all
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previous assumptions must be challenged or put to the test. Of course, I am leaving aside
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completely stupid ideas. In one of my videos about cryptids, I mentioned a theory that may be
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the explanation for some of the mysterious beings of cryptozoology. This theory caught the attention
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of more than one, especially considering that the information about This disconcerting effect
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of evolution is very rare, in part because it is a rather controversial theory
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that makes more than one biologist lose his temper. Since if true, it would energize all our
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concepts about the evolution of species. I am talking about the callisto effect hypothesis
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also known as radial evolution, the concept that this thesis exposes is so controversial
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that the person who proposed it in the first place 40 years ago was practically crucified by
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the scientific community of the moment at the same time as all the studies related to the effect
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Calisto were eliminated and buried due to a series of events that overwhelmed the
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North American scientific community in the 80s and that, as if from a bad dream, they forgot
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or rather decided to forget after dawn. So in today's video we will explore both
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what this theory consists of and the consequences it has for our understanding of
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the evolution of species. In the same way, we will also investigate the series of
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strange events that haunt this theory like a sinister shadow [Music] this theory was
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originally formulated in late 70s by Dr Whitney Frock, head of the department of
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evolutionary biology at the Museum of Natural History in New York. According to Frock, despite the fact that the
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evolutionary theory of species as we know it states that changes between organisms
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occur through small random genetic mutations that are transmitted from one
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generation to another if they are beneficial for the species every few tens of thousands
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of times some of these random mutations are not small traits that are transmitted to the
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next generation if the creature carrying these traits manages to reproduce, but
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sometimes these mutations in the animal's genetic code would radically modify its appearance.
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In most cases, these exaggerated mutations are for the worse since they are harmful
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to the organism. We have all seen images of both animals and humans that have been born. with
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horrible deformations resulting from a genetic mutation, almost all of these cases end in the
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same way, the organism dies since it cannot survive with such deformations, but
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from time to time these peaks in the mutations of a living being do not end the organism, but rather
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out of sheer chance allows him to survive, in fact, they allow him to triumph and stand out from the rest
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of his species, giving more opportunities to transmit his genes to the next generation and
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therefore for this genetic mutation to manifest itself again in the next generation. This
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tremendous coincidence of The genetic lottery is the Callisto effect and to a certain extent it is related
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to the infinite monkey theorem. According to this theorem, if we put some monkeys in a room
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pressing random keys on a typewriter, let's say 10 hours a day for
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a few years, we will not achieve anything. a lot of letters and lines without meaning But now let's imagine
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if we could leave these monkeys pressing random buttons on the typewriters for a
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very long time, millions, tens of millions or hundreds of millions of years, because sooner or later these
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monkeys with infinite life would end up writing for pure chance something consensual The most classic example
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is that they would end up writing Don Quixote Well with random mutations in DNA it would happen
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Something similar, if we give an organism enough time, generation after generation, with the
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possibility of suffering random mutations, sooner or later we will achieve
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genetic Don Quixote, the needle in the haystack, the result of the callisto effect theory, a being radically
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different from its parents, a spawn. of nature, Dr Frock began to forge
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this theory after a series of discoveries in various formations throughout the globe.
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These fossils extracted from rock sheets belonging to the Cambrian period showed a
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series of perfectly preserved organisms, impressions of their soft bodies. solidified shells
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and appendages turned into rock a series of alien-looking creatures that
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would have little to do with the animals we are used to, this series of creatures are
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the result of the so-called Cambrian explosion of about 500 million years ago, an event
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that A blink of an eye on the geological scale resulted in a sudden appearance
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of great biodiversity. It is in this explosion of biodiversity that the
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first vertebrates also appeared. Our ancestors, the Picaya, still do not fully understand
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this sudden expansion of the complexity of living beings. in the Cambrian, in fact, it is a topic that
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always creates discussion in the scientific community. Even the father of evolutionary theory,
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Charles Darwin, confessed that the Cambrian explosion is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, holes in
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his theory of natural selection, but it is In the 70s, when some in the scientific community
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began to consider that evolution may not be a constant process and may actually be
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a process with stops or stagnations and sudden accelerations, Frock went further,
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referencing the discovery of the fossil found in the Transvaal. belonging to an organism that
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seemed completely out of place in that extract from the Cambrian period surrounded by fossils
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of trilobites and soft-bodied invertebrates that did not exceed 15 cm. In 1945, paleontologist
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Alister van frohoek found a complex being about 1 meter in length which
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he described to us in the following way, it had powerful fins, long suction organs and an
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armored mouth that could crush the hardest shells without problems, a monster out of its time,
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the result of the callisto effect, Frock added. Another disturbing aspect to this theory may be that
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certain catastrophic events in the history of the biology of the earth were not the result
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of climate changes or terrible natural catastrophes but of the almost sudden appearance of
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an organism against which the rest of the ecosystem has no defense or control mechanisms, an
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invasive species Only not In the sense to which we are accustomed today the introduction
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by the same hand of nature of a species that radically transforms its ecosystem, creating
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a turning point in the history of life. Frock himself referred to the creature from the
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transbaal stratum of the following way There is no doubt that it was a
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very powerful animal that dominated the other species excessively, I would say, pointing out that the fossils of this
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strange creature coincide with The small mass extinction event at the end of the Cambrian according to
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Frock every so often In the history of life on Earth, a biodiversity boom and
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a demographic boom occur, particularly in the case of successful species, then
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suddenly, according to Frock's algorithms, every around 50 million years a
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new species emerges almost out of nowhere. Frock hypothesizes that most likely a Predator that he describes
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and I quote as a killing machine, this intruding organism carries out what we could consider a
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harvest of biodiversity, then this new species would disappear due to the destruction
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of its own ecosystem, as usually happens with specialized superpredators. Frock
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received very harsh criticism when he mentioned that the KPG extinction, that is, the extinction at the end
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of the Mesozoic that wiped out the dinosaurs, was not entirely the fault of the meteorite. All
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paleontologists agree that the diversity of species at the end of the Cretaceous
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was already very low. If we compare it with the rest of the stages of the Mesozoic, a kind of decline that
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lasted for 2 million years at the end of the reign of the dinosaurs before the
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stellar impact that would completely eliminate them. We still do not know the reason for this decline but the
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mold of a strange footprint found in strata from the late Cretaceous in China that adorned the
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office de Frock at the Museum of Natural History in New York unearthed the theory of the
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callist effect this strange footprint does not fit with any other Cretaceous animal at the site three
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exaggeratedly elongated toes that supported their weight on the toes the only proof
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we have of a being strange that it does not fit with any footprint of any known animal from the
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Cretaceous, yet no one takes this approach seriously. Even if it were the
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tremendous chance that an organism with these physical qualities were generated in just
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a few generations, this would not ensure the survival of this being, death awaits around every
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corner, even in those beings with adaptive capacities superior to those of their environment, with the
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premature death of the creature as a result of the callisto effect, the genetic number would be cut
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and its effect on both the ecosystem and the genetic level would be eliminated, accelerated evolution
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could not be sustained through this elusive and risky system, which is why many
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proposed that to fix this hole in the callisto effect theory there must be a second
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factor, the presence of something that can alter organisms at its most basic cellular level
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and it was on an anthropological expedition to the upper Xingu, one of the tributaries of the Amazon, in
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1987 when Frock's colleague Dr. Julian Whitesley by chance discovered something
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terrible that could be the answer to the Callisto effect. The expedition had as main objective
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both to contact isolated tribes of the Amazon and to catalog new animal
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and plant species, something logical if we take into account that even today the estimates of
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undocumented species in the Amazon could reach one million species not cataloged by the notes
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in the diaries of Whitlesley who were sent to the New York museum as they went
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deeper into the jungle mention that the expedition was a disaster apart from the testimonies of
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the tribes in the first phase of the expedition the Upper Xingu Basin seemed to be completely
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uninhabited without any indication any of tribal activity, an area that for some reason seemed to have
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been ignored by the natives, almost a quarantine zone, was also not helped by the fact that most
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of the members of the expedition had decided to turn around, leaving Whitesley and
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four other subjects alone among the that there were two native guides, an interpreter named Carlos
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and the biologist Crocker, by chance, while Crocker was trying to get closer to take a photo of
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a jacamar, they found a path that descended into a valley. The notes comment that the path
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was obviously artificial. The first sign of activity human in weeks, advancing along the path
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they arrived at what looked like a large, semi-ruined cabin. The two guides belonging to the
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Botocudo tribe began to murmur something between themselves. The interpreter managed to get a translation from them.
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The guides mentioned the Kotoga people, how little is known about them. We owe this tribe to the
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testimonies of the rest of the tribes, all of them agree that the Kotoga were a
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particularly brutal tribe and that they worshiped Mwun, a deity to whom they used to make sacrifices.
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In fact, the word Kotoga can be translated into several Amazonian languages as shadow town
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or hidden town the two natives commented that they should not approach the cabin due to the
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curse the explorers ignored the guides' plea and entered the cabin
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whitesley's notes describe various artifacts including an exquisitely carved idol representing
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a being quadruped in addition to a large number of skulls with the upper part of the skull
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shattered, perhaps the result of human sacrifices in the name of this deity, but despite
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being an anthropologist, what really caught the scientist's attention was a garden located
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behind the Although the cabin had been overrun by jungle weeds, the vegetation of
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This puddled garden was something special, simple decorative plants. Or maybe the Kotoga
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used them for medicinal purposes. After leaving the cabin, the two guides had disappeared. But Whitlesley
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and Carlos ran into an old woman who emerged from the undergrowth. It was probably not a Kotoga.
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The old woman began to speak a Yanomami language that Carlos was able to translate. The
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old woman pointed to the cabin with a trembling hand and apparently implored the men to
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take what Carlos was able to translate as a demon according to Whitesley. The old woman screamed
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and hit herself. the chest pointing to the explorers' box and asked them if they would take the
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demon when they asked about the demon the two men received an answer that did not need
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translation Mwun when the two men asked about the whereabouts of the kotoga the old woman answered
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te pui and pointed a plateau that rose above the jungle in front of them the old woman commented
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that they were up there the woman calmed down a little they asked the old woman more questions whitlesley
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wrote down information about what seemed to be a Kotoga legend the following translations
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by Carlos seemed to indicate that Mwun would not be a deity in itself, but rather a gift
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for the Kotoga to destroy their enemies, granted to this tribe by something that lived on the
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plateau that the old woman had pointed out called silaskee. As soon as the conversation ended, the
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old woman turned away. She entered the jungle with an unusual speed for someone of her age and they lost
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sight of her. Whitlesley wanted to continue searching for the Kotoga tracks, following in the footsteps of
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Coker, who had disappeared at night, which is why it seems that he advised Carlos. that he
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turned around and returned to civilization with all the discoveries from this
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isolated region of the Amazon. Nothing more was ever heard from Whitlesley or Crocket. The boxes and packaging
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that carried the anthropological discoveries took almost a decade to travel from Brazil
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to the museum. of natural history of New York the reason for this delay is still a mystery
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but what is not a mystery is the disappearance of whitlesley in the Amazon and the death of
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the entire expedition due to a plane crash in Brazil that is why this expedition financed
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by the Museum of Natural History in New York was long considered a failure and
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publications about this expedition were prohibited under risk of lawsuits, but
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once the boxes full of artifacts and samples from the expedition arrived at the museum, people
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began to talk again about Whitlesley's expedition and the ghosts of the museum among
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which Frock was found had the privilege of investigating about the artifacts among all
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the most impressive was none other than the statuette of Moon that Whitlesley found in that cabin
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an idol of a morphous beast carved in great detail but among everything that the
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boxes contained, the experts most focused on biology ignored the artifacts and focused both
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on the samples of the flowers and plants of that supposed kotoga garden and on an object that was
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described in the annotations as a primitive plant presser, when analyzing the remains of
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fibers that were still kept in the press using the DNA sequencer owned by the
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Museum of Natural History, the results were so inconclusive that they were directly discarded
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due to the implausible results. They considered that the sample had
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been contaminated or that the machine was not working correctly since at first the machine
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was not even able to say with certainty whether it was a plant or animal sample, but
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after a few more tests the machine showed results that They left Frock incredulous. The
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results showed a chain of genes in the form of a kind of smoothie that at first glance could
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seem like the genetic information of a plant. Genes linked to cellulose, chlorophyll and sugars,
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but upon closer inspection, the anomalies in the chain were more than evident. genes
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belonging to other organisms, most notably animals, genes for hormones and enzymes
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related to mammals, nocturnal lizards, that is, arthropod geckos, the most striking thing was
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the large presence of a very common protein in ambiloid retroviruses. Retroviruses
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are part of the genetic history of all living beings. In the case of humans, our DNA
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is made up of 8% of retrovirus genetic material. These remains are the result of remains
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of very ancient viral infections that affected the germ cells of our ancestors,
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inserting themselves into the genetic material that was later passed from generation to generation for
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millions of years, a kind of genetic mark that has accompanied us since before we differentiated ourselves
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as a group, that is, the retroviruses alter the DNA chains of living beings after the
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result of the analysis of the remains of the plant Frock postulated that pathogens such as the
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retrovirus are those that can accelerate the evolutionary process according to the callisto effect in the case of
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these DNA remains found In the plant thinker Frock made the connection between these
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fibers and the story written by Whitlesley in his journals. Moon may not have been so much a
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mythical creature as the result of the Callisto effect today. And it may be that these shattered skulls and
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that terrified old woman in the upper xingu are proof of something that the kotoga kept secret,
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a species of animal that after generations feeding on this plant resulted in
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a horrifying creature, but the geneticist at the kawakita museum who had permission to take
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several samples of the plant to his laboratories theorized something even more sinister after several
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tests the geneticist was able to grow one of these plants from the expedition specimens
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It seems that this species of plant similar in appearance to a water lily was
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naturally infected by a very special retrovirus unlike of other retroviruses that inject
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their DNA into cells with the goal of reproducing by creating copies destroying the infected cell in
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the process the kotoga plant virus inoculates a complete collection of genes into its
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victims without destroying the cell genes stolen from previous hosts incorporated to their
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victim, those genes, instead of making more viruses, remodel the victim, to use a
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word, they reorganize the machine of their body, the endocrine system, the organs, the bone structure,
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resulting in a offspring that had little or nothing to do with its parents but of If
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this is the case, what does this plant get out of it? Why has nature endowed this water lily with
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this ability? Kawakita theorized that the retrovirus may be a long-term defense. Plants
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equipped with this biological weapon can cause a decline in the population of the animals that
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feed on them by creating, in the long term, spawns that would attack their fellow humans, a
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kind of declaration of war between species and kingdoms. In the case of the Kotoga, the plants
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were even luckier since when this tribe realized the capabilities This plant
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began to be cultivated in something similar to what happened with some plants such as chili peppers, which have
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a defense in the form of an itch, but because of this, certain societies in the new world began to
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cultivate them. That is, in the end, what plants seek to multiply. and cover more ground
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but after analyzing Whitlesley's diaries and what the old woman supposedly said in That Place in
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the Upper Xingu, Moon may not have animal origins but rather human ones, several of the
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Kotoga artifacts show simplistic drawings of what appear to be members of the tribe collecting the
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water lilies in baskets and then giving them to other individuals with deformed faces the thinker
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is another unequivocal proof the kotoga knew the properties of the plant as proposed by
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kawakita the kotoga would think and dry the plant carrying the retrovirus and then force some
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unfortunate member of the tribe to feed exclusively on this plant waiting for
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the desired Kawakita effect to emerge, he came to push the idea that the ideal way to achieve the
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Callisto effect would be to carry out this ritual with a recently pregnant woman, thus the fetus still
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in formation. It would probably undergo changes due to the retrovirus resulting in a
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mwun. The statuette found in the cabin can give us an idea of what the being looks like. It does not exist.
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no recognizable human features a quadruped being knife-like claws tail hair scales and a
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deformed mouth that seems more designed to suck than to bite something that is also related to
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the skulls arranged in the cabin intact with the exception of a hole in the back
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[Music ] superior if you have come this far I have to tell you that surprise surprise everything
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you have heard before is fiction The callisto effect is a fictional theory And
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of course whitlesley's expedition to the Amazon never happened happy Halloween and if
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I want to maintain some seriousness in this channel I am forced to give you some context the
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majority of this story is based on the book The Lost Idol which also has a
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film version the relic to say that although the film is very good the book is
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much better I recommend you read it In addition, the book has not given you too many spoilers
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about the main plot. In the same way, my story has real points such as the theory that postulates
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that evolution is not a continuous process but rather has stops and accelerations called
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punctual theory. Research it because it is very interesting. In the same way, the Cambrian explosion remains a
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mystery for paleontology and although there are several theories that try to explain it,
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the only thing we can assure is that it was a rapid chain reaction. Life went
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from being made up of very simple animals to a large and varied biodiversity where the
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balance of life that we know today was created on the other hand, the genetic information
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of retroviruses in 8% of our genome is real. As I mentioned before, this
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genetic garbage in quotes is the result of very ancient infections that infected
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to our ancestors millions of years ago before we could even consider them
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hominids Well, that's all, try not to ruin the experience for the rest in the
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comments, in fact, post comments talking about the sinister nature of this theory, we want a
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creepy pasta Just that of course It would be more effective if I had not added this final part to the video
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and here we have reached the end you know what to do now if you liked it so much
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Like share and subscribe to the Channel and see you in the next video my people bye bye
