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Previously Unknown Branch of Life Dominated Earth 400 Million Years Ago

2026-03-07 Science & Technology
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Anton Petrov
Anton Petrov
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Support this channel on Patreon to help me make this a full time job: https://www.patreon.com/whatdamath (Unreleased videos, extra footage, DMs, no ads) Alternatively, PayPal donations can be sent here: http://paypal.me/whatdamath Get a Wonderful Person Tee: https://teespring.com/stores/whatdamath More cool designs are on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3QFIrFX Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about prototaxites - the first complex life on Earth that went extinct Links: https://www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.1126/sciadv.aec6277 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02851-z Previous video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPGIVwWjjEw Age of Fishes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY2tGU-IDLI #prototaxite #biology #earth 0:00 Prototaxites - strange ancient organisms 1:30 Why this is important, Age of Fishes explained 2:50 Original discovery and assumptions: trees or mushrooms? 5:25 2025 discovery challenged previous theories 8:15 New kingdom of life? 9:40 Then they went extinct 10:20 Conclusions Enjoy and please subscribe Bitcoin/Ethereum to spare? Donate them here to help this channel grow! bc1qnkl3nk0zt7w0xzrgur9pnkcduj7a3xxllcn7d4 or ETH: 0x60f088B10b03115405d313f964BeA93eF0Bd3DbF The hardware used to record these videos: New Camera: https://amzn.to/4pCVINS CPU: https://amzn.to/4qXIaxC Video Card: https://amzn.to/2M1W26C Motherboard: https://amzn.to/2JYGiQQ RAM: https://amzn.to/2Mwy2t4 PSU: https://amzn.to/2LZcrIH Case: https://amzn.to/2MwJZz4 Microphone: https://amzn.to/2t5jTv0 Mixer: https://amzn.to/2JOL0oF Recording and Editing: https://amzn.to/2LX6uvU Some of the above are affiliate links, meaning I would get a (very small) percentage of the price paid. Thank you to all Patreon supporters of this channel Special thanks also goes to all the wonderful supporters of the channel through YouTube Memberships Credit: Mark Garlick www.markgarlick.com Kennethgass CC BY SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototaxites#/media/File:Prototaxites_milwaukeensis.jpg Matt Humpage Mary Parrish, National Museum of Natural History Smith609 CC BY 3.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooksonia#/media/File:Cooksonia_pertoni.png G.J. Retallack CC BY sa 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototaxites#/media/File:Prototaxites_apex.jpg Y_tambe CC BY SA 3.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypha#/media/File:Penicillium.jpg Licenses used: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ and relevant Creative Commons licenses

Top Comments (10)

@One-Two-T 2026-03-07

The prototaxites evolved quickly, entered interdimensional space and now watch over us.

1.2k 70 replies
@CordovaMage 2026-03-07

The dildozoic era.

1.2k 52 replies
@radastir 2026-03-07

Imagine the possibility that this branch of life still could exist undiscovered in some soil somewhere, mistaken for a fungus or completely disregarded so far...

648 43 replies
@doltsbane 2026-03-08

Obviously the aetheric wings, tentacles, and starfish shaped head don't fossilize well.

295 11 replies
@ogmakefirefiregood 2026-03-08

Is that a Prototaxite in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? 👀

228 8 replies
@RCSVirginia 2026-03-07

It must have been quite impressive to roam around the ancient world and see Prototaxites magnaphallus lingami's standing tall and erect in the landscape.

186 12 replies
@mattwarbuckle 2026-03-09

Whatever it was, it was posing for the cover of a Yes album

182 5 replies
@keithharrows683 2026-03-07

Giant fungus? Sounds like the Telvanni was at work.

141 11 replies
@Superwelder0 2026-03-08

Anton calling the paper on fungus being the first land eukaryotes "groundbreaking"... He knew what he was doing!

68 2 replies
@theoffensiveidiot5996 2026-03-08

Stromatolites are still around so theres might be a few of these in a dank cave somewhere, life finds a way, and thats a hill i'll stand on

61 1 replies

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