Skip to main content

Up Next

When Camels Roamed North America

When Camels Roamed North America

Season 2 Episode 3
9:45
When Sharks Swam the Great Plains

When Sharks Swam the Great Plains

Season 2 Episode 5
11:45

When Apes Conquered Europe

Season 2 Episode 6
8:08
When Humans Were Prey

When Humans Were Prey

Season 2 Episode 8
9:21
How Blood Evolved (Many Times)

How Blood Evolved (Many Times)

Season 2 Episode 9
9:56
The Humans That Lived Before Us

The Humans That Lived Before Us

Season 2 Episode 10
11:52
The Island of Shrinking Mammoths

The Island of Shrinking Mammoths

Season 2 Episode 11
11:20
Back to Show
Eons

When Birds Stopped Flying

Season 2 Episode 2

Ratites have spread to Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and South America. And there are fossils of Ratites in Europe, Asia, and North America too. That’s a lot of ground to cover for birds that can’t fly. So how did Ratites end up all over the world?

Support Provided By
Season
A Brief History of Geologic Time
12:08
Geologists have been able to identify crucial episodes in life’s history.
An Illustrated History of Dinosaurs
12:20
Our image of dinosaurs has been constantly changing since naturalists started studying the
When Whales Walked
4:56
We know whales as graceful giants bound to the sea.
Living Fossils' Aren't Really a Thing
5:05
Even the most ancient-looking organisms show us that evolution is always at work.
When The Earth Was Purple
5:37
But imagine a time when the Earth looked a little … purple.
How Did Dinosaurs Get So Huge?
5:42
Creatures as tall as a five-story buildings shook the Earth.
History's Most Powerful Plants
5:20
Fossil fuels are made from the remains of extinct organisms.
The Age of Giant Insects
5:28
Insects and other arthropods weren’t always so small.
The Strange Case of the Buzzsaw Jaws
3:54
A 270-million-year-old sea creature called Helicoprion that once swam the seas.
The Extinction That Never Happened
7:36
Natural history is full of living things that were long thought to have gone extinct only
Dimetrodon: Our Most Unlikely Ancestor
5:21
Take a close look and you might see a little bit of yourself.
The Biggest Thing That Ever Flew
4:27
Today, we’re familiar with two types of flying vertebrates -- birds and bats.
Active loading indicator