If It Were Not Filmed No One Would Believe It

00:08:53
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3DB7mbF-14

Summary

TLDRThe video starts by recounting how Officer Jeremiah Denton sent a secret message during a televised interview while captured in the Vietnam War, showcasing human intelligence. Similarly, animals use their body parts in unexpected ways for survival. For example, frogs aid their swallowing by retracting their eyes to push food down the esophagus; turtles can survive winter by breathing through their butts via cutaneous respiration. This is contrasted with the human lung system which filters air at multiple stages. In addition, thorny devils, a type of lizard, drink through their skin via capillary action instead of using their mouths. In arid Australian environments, humans have historically followed animals such as birds and ants to locate water sources. Chimps and baboons also exhibit cunning survival tactics, like deception and saline-induced guidance to water. The narrative emphasizes the creativity of animal and human survival strategies.

Takeaways

  • 👁️ Officer Jeremiah Denton sent a secret message with his eyes during captivity.
  • 🐸 Frogs push food down their throats by retracting their eyes.
  • 🐢 Turtles breathe through their butts to survive in cold conditions.
  • 🐍 Some snakes and beetles can survive digestion by frogs.
  • 🦎 Thorny devils drink water through their feet using skin grooves.
  • 🐒 Chimps and baboons can be deceptive and outsmart their peers.
  • 👤 Humans use nasal hairs and lung parts to filter air efficiently.
  • 📜 Evolution led fish scales to develop into teeth—an unusual transformation.
  • 🦡 Aboriginal Australians followed animal markers to locate water.
  • 🙈 Primates have a natural tendency for deception as a survival skill.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:08:53

    During the Vietnam War, officer Jeremiah Denton was captured and coerced into a televised interview, where he ingeniously blinked the word 'TORTURE' using Morse code, showcasing human intelligence in using body parts to communicate secretly. Similarly, animals sometimes use their bodies in unexpected ways. For example, frogs utilize their eyes to help swallow food, pushing it down the esophagus, compensating for their ineffective teeth. Evolution has unique explanations for such adaptations, humorously speculating on frogs' distraction when teeth were distributed by nature. Fish scales evolved into teeth, while frog's teeth vanished as their diet adapted, leaving some frogs with only upper jaw teeth, which are quite inefficient for prey capture. This peculiar evolution sometimes leads to unchewed food escaping predators alive, like certain resilient animals such as the bombardier beetles and bromine blind snakes, capable of surviving despite being swallowed whole by frogs.

Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • How did Jeremiah Denton send a secret message during his capture?

    Denton sent a secret message using his eyes during a televised interview.

  • Why do frogs close their eyes when swallowing?

    Frogs close their eyes to help push the prey down into the esophagus.

  • What ability do some turtles use to survive cold conditions?

    Some turtles breathe through their butts to survive cold conditions.

  • How do thorny devils drink water?

    Thorny devils absorb water through their skin and feet using microscopic grooves.

  • Why don't frogs have teeth?

    Frogs lost their teeth about 200 million years ago, possibly due to changes in their diet or the effectiveness of using their tongue.

  • What is cutaneous respiration?

    Cutaneous respiration is the process of breathing through the skin.

  • How do humans filter the air they breathe?

    Humans filter air using nasal hairs, mucus membranes, epithelium in the bronchi and trachea, and pulmonary surfactant.

  • How do baboons help humans find water?

    Humans can follow baboons after feeding them something salty to find water sources.

View more video summaries

Get instant access to free YouTube video summaries powered by AI!
Subtitles
en
Auto Scroll:
  • 00:00:00
    during the vietnam war officer jeremiah
  • 00:00:03
    denton was captured a few months later
  • 00:00:05
    he was forced to participate in a
  • 00:00:06
    televised interview while answering
  • 00:00:08
    questions denton managed to send a
  • 00:00:10
    secret message he did it using his eyes
  • 00:00:13
    it seems humans can do something like
  • 00:00:15
    that thanks to our high intelligence
  • 00:00:17
    turns out animals can also use their
  • 00:00:18
    body parts in unexpected ways
  • 00:00:25
    frogs swallow food with their eyes
  • 00:00:31
    i'm serious if you've seen a frog eating
  • 00:00:33
    at least once you may have noticed it
  • 00:00:35
    closes its eyes when swallowing well why
  • 00:00:37
    not maybe the food is very good turned
  • 00:00:40
    out that taste has nothing to do with it
  • 00:00:42
    during swallowing the frog's eyes
  • 00:00:43
    actually retract down toward the
  • 00:00:45
    esophagus imagine this would happen to
  • 00:00:47
    people it'd be like in a horror movie
  • 00:00:49
    but frogs just have to use eyes for this
  • 00:00:51
    unlikely purpose apparently the eyes
  • 00:00:54
    retracted into the head help push the
  • 00:00:56
    prey down into the esophagus and if the
  • 00:00:58
    frog loses this weird ability it'll have
  • 00:01:00
    to take 74 percent more swallows to
  • 00:01:02
    handle a common cricket that certainly
  • 00:01:04
    sounds weird frogs are probably a little
  • 00:01:06
    insecure since they can't swallow food
  • 00:01:08
    like all other animals well you know
  • 00:01:10
    this is not a trick that would make you
  • 00:01:11
    popular at parties also most frogs don't
  • 00:01:13
    have teeth and in some of them who do
  • 00:01:16
    you can only find them on the upper jaw
  • 00:01:18
    and they are totally useless seems like
  • 00:01:20
    when evolution was giving out teeth the
  • 00:01:22
    frogs were distracted and took what was
  • 00:01:24
    left or maybe they got them from someone
  • 00:01:26
    else to get to the bottom of things you
  • 00:01:28
    need to look at the development of teeth
  • 00:01:29
    in different species turns out they all
  • 00:01:32
    evolved from fish scales yes i also
  • 00:01:35
    imagined how scales got into the mouth
  • 00:01:37
    of some ancient fish and it's like hmm
  • 00:01:39
    it's much better this way but the actual
  • 00:01:41
    story was a little different some fish
  • 00:01:43
    have skeletons made entirely of
  • 00:01:45
    cartilage they also have small spiny
  • 00:01:47
    scales embedded in the skin called
  • 00:01:49
    dermal denticles these bear a striking
  • 00:01:51
    resemblance to teeth and not only from
  • 00:01:53
    the outside they have the same cellular
  • 00:01:56
    composition the same cells play a key
  • 00:01:58
    role in the development of teeth and
  • 00:02:00
    mammals do you feel the connection over
  • 00:02:02
    time the scales of ancient fish evolved
  • 00:02:04
    into the teeth we now have evolution
  • 00:02:06
    you're weird now here's a fact for you
  • 00:02:09
    the skin of some sharks is covered with
  • 00:02:11
    dermal tentacles that is with the teeth
  • 00:02:13
    let me give you a second to imagine this
  • 00:02:15
    shot from a horror movie apparently
  • 00:02:17
    frogs also had teeth but they
  • 00:02:19
    disappeared about 200 million years ago
  • 00:02:21
    perhaps frog's diet has changed or maybe
  • 00:02:23
    it's all about the tongue they use to
  • 00:02:25
    catch their prey it turned out to be so
  • 00:02:27
    convenient that evolution decided frogs
  • 00:02:29
    don't need teeth anymore but this is
  • 00:02:31
    objectively not the best option not only
  • 00:02:33
    because an animal without teeth becomes
  • 00:02:35
    more vulnerable to predators and cannot
  • 00:02:37
    defend itself in the traditional way
  • 00:02:39
    there's also an issue with digestion
  • 00:02:41
    food that has not been chewed can emerge
  • 00:02:43
    out of the body of a predator alive on
  • 00:02:46
    the other side in one of my videos i've
  • 00:02:48
    already mentioned the bombardier beetles
  • 00:02:50
    which crawl out alive after passing
  • 00:02:52
    through the frog's gut the bromine blind
  • 00:02:54
    snake a small snake that looks more like
  • 00:02:56
    a large worm can do the same thing
  • 00:02:59
    scientists were very surprised when they
  • 00:03:01
    accidentally discovered this they just
  • 00:03:02
    needed a rock to prop open the lab door
  • 00:03:05
    and beneath the rock there was a toad
  • 00:03:07
    with a snake wriggling out of the toad's
  • 00:03:09
    rear okay technically it doesn't really
  • 00:03:11
    count as using a body part for a
  • 00:03:13
    different purpose after all you need it
  • 00:03:15
    in order to remove various substances
  • 00:03:17
    from the body the fact that these
  • 00:03:18
    substances are alive and move by
  • 00:03:20
    themselves is a minor detail so let's
  • 00:03:22
    better take a look at the turtles many
  • 00:03:24
    animals have special tricks that allow
  • 00:03:26
    them to survive during the frost usually
  • 00:03:28
    the main issue is cold but if you live
  • 00:03:30
    in a pond you also have to deal with
  • 00:03:32
    lack of oxygen painted turtles breathe
  • 00:03:34
    with their lungs however during frost
  • 00:03:36
    they simply cannot get to the surface
  • 00:03:38
    and take a breath because of ice they
  • 00:03:40
    lower their body temperature and slow
  • 00:03:42
    their metabolism by 95 to survive the
  • 00:03:46
    cold it's kind of like hibernation in
  • 00:03:48
    bears but the turtles start breathing
  • 00:03:50
    through their butts this process is
  • 00:03:52
    called clonical respiration and oxygen
  • 00:03:54
    is absorbed through the skin at the same
  • 00:03:56
    spot i'm suffocating i'm suffocating
  • 00:03:59
    steve get off the stone
  • 00:04:02
    that's better in fact skin breathing is
  • 00:04:05
    very rare in reptiles they can usually
  • 00:04:07
    only breathe through the mouth since
  • 00:04:09
    it's impossible to inhale through the
  • 00:04:10
    scales they're too hard and don't let in
  • 00:04:12
    enough oxygen amphibians and fish are
  • 00:04:14
    much luckier actually even people can
  • 00:04:17
    breathe through their skin though for us
  • 00:04:19
    cutaneous respiration accounts for only
  • 00:04:21
    one to two percent of oxygen uptake you
  • 00:04:23
    can't use it as a main source of oxygen
  • 00:04:25
    meanwhile cutaneous respiration in
  • 00:04:27
    hellbenders accounts for more than 90 of
  • 00:04:30
    their breathing that is their skin
  • 00:04:31
    absorbs oxygen and removes carbon
  • 00:04:33
    dioxide imagine how cool it would be if
  • 00:04:36
    humans could do that too especially when
  • 00:04:38
    you have a stuffy nose but let's be
  • 00:04:39
    honest there are many downsides to this
  • 00:04:42
    type of breathing we would not only have
  • 00:04:43
    to constantly keep our skin moist or
  • 00:04:46
    even smear ourselves with special mucus
  • 00:04:48
    the air we absorb would be dirty right
  • 00:04:50
    now there are many microorganisms
  • 00:04:52
    various microbes dust and other
  • 00:04:54
    unpleasant stuff floating around us and
  • 00:04:56
    you definitely not want it to end up in
  • 00:04:58
    your body but as long as we breathe with
  • 00:05:00
    our lungs we can filter the air
  • 00:05:02
    evolution has given us four stages of
  • 00:05:04
    purification small hairs in the nose
  • 00:05:06
    mucous membrane epithelium in the
  • 00:05:08
    bronchi and trachea and finally
  • 00:05:11
    pulmonary surfactant this is the
  • 00:05:13
    substance that covers our lungs from the
  • 00:05:15
    inside each filter the air passes
  • 00:05:17
    through cleans it increasingly well
  • 00:05:19
    large particles are stopped at the very
  • 00:05:21
    beginning small ones at the very end as
  • 00:05:23
    a result we inhale relatively clean and
  • 00:05:26
    safe air you can hardly achieve
  • 00:05:27
    something like this if you breathe with
  • 00:05:29
    your skin however it's possible to not
  • 00:05:31
    only breathe but also drink through the
  • 00:05:33
    skin neat thorny devil a lizard that
  • 00:05:36
    lives in the australian deserts it's
  • 00:05:38
    small charming and terribly thorny and
  • 00:05:40
    it also has some issues with drinking
  • 00:05:42
    not only because it's really hard to get
  • 00:05:44
    water in the desert if you put a bowl of
  • 00:05:46
    water in front of the thorny devil it'll
  • 00:05:48
    probably never use it for an intended
  • 00:05:50
    purpose just because it can't i have no
  • 00:05:53
    idea how this happened but the mouth of
  • 00:05:55
    the thorny devil is good only for eating
  • 00:05:57
    do you know these dogs that attack the
  • 00:05:59
    water well that's what it would look
  • 00:06:01
    like maybe evolution got too carried
  • 00:06:03
    away creating all these thorns and
  • 00:06:05
    forgot to give the animal the ability to
  • 00:06:06
    drink whatever the reason may be the
  • 00:06:09
    thorny devil found a way out and began
  • 00:06:11
    to drink through its feet once on wet
  • 00:06:13
    sand or in a puddle the lizard absorbs
  • 00:06:15
    the liquid like a sponge the same thing
  • 00:06:18
    happens in the morning hours when dew
  • 00:06:20
    forms the skin of the thorny devil is
  • 00:06:22
    covered in microscopic grooves that
  • 00:06:24
    create a network of drinking straws they
  • 00:06:26
    can take up water from any part of the
  • 00:06:28
    body through capillary action whereby
  • 00:06:30
    water is drawn along a channel even
  • 00:06:32
    against the pull of gravity and then it
  • 00:06:34
    travels right into the mouth and then i
  • 00:06:36
    thought if these lizards are so good at
  • 00:06:38
    absorbing water maybe some natives use
  • 00:06:41
    them as flasks well you know like an
  • 00:06:43
    australian water holding frog which
  • 00:06:44
    stores water in itself but it looks like
  • 00:06:46
    this trick won't work with a thorny
  • 00:06:48
    devil it's too thorny however people
  • 00:06:50
    have found alternative ways to get water
  • 00:06:52
    with the help of animals about 70 of the
  • 00:06:55
    australian continent is covered by
  • 00:06:56
    deserts or semi-arid land aboriginal
  • 00:06:59
    people needed to know where to find
  • 00:07:01
    water just to survive but they didn't
  • 00:07:03
    just dig wells they also used terrain
  • 00:07:06
    birds vegetation and animals as markers
  • 00:07:08
    for water for example they followed
  • 00:07:10
    dingoes or birds to lakes while ants led
  • 00:07:13
    them to groundwater what a nice idea the
  • 00:07:15
    important thing is that animals do not
  • 00:07:17
    realize what's going on and don't lead
  • 00:07:19
    us to a wrong place this is not an
  • 00:07:22
    unlikely scenario for example baboons
  • 00:07:24
    know exactly where the water sources are
  • 00:07:26
    but they're not going to share this
  • 00:07:28
    information so people in africa came up
  • 00:07:30
    with a trick they feed the baboons with
  • 00:07:32
    something salty then wait until they get
  • 00:07:34
    thirsty and then all you have to do is
  • 00:07:36
    follow the animal to the reservoir here
  • 00:07:38
    you go you've done great and you're no
  • 00:07:40
    longer thirsty although i would not be
  • 00:07:42
    surprised if even in this situation
  • 00:07:44
    baboons learn to deceive people they are
  • 00:07:46
    natural born liars scientists even
  • 00:07:49
    believe humans inherited the ability to
  • 00:07:51
    lie from primates you know a kind of
  • 00:07:52
    hereditary skill like with harry potter
  • 00:07:55
    and flying on a broomstick chimps who
  • 00:07:57
    find something tasty sometimes pretend
  • 00:07:59
    that they didn't notice the food not to
  • 00:08:01
    alert their relatives and not to lose
  • 00:08:03
    their share is that smart of course
  • 00:08:05
    especially for the animal but chimps
  • 00:08:07
    don't stop there sometimes a rival chimp
  • 00:08:10
    walks past a pretender then hides behind
  • 00:08:12
    a tree and looks out to check if the
  • 00:08:14
    pretender has food go on i'll catch up
  • 00:08:16
    with you i just need to tie my shoe sure
  • 00:08:20
    wait a minute you don't wear shoes
  • 00:08:22
    primates need lying to survive yes in
  • 00:08:25
    terms of human morality this doesn't
  • 00:08:27
    exactly look nice but when you have to
  • 00:08:29
    choose between starvation and deception
  • 00:08:31
    well every animal strives to survive
  • 00:08:34
    however don't think chimps don't care
  • 00:08:35
    about liars if one of them is caught
  • 00:08:37
    cheating he won't avoid punishment in
  • 00:08:40
    general it's just like in a human world
  • 00:08:42
    see you later
Tags
  • Jeremiah Denton
  • secret message
  • frog eyes
  • turtle respiration
  • thorny devil
  • cutaneous respiration
  • unusual adaptations
  • animal intelligence