SciShow: 6 Lonely Branches on the Tree of Life

Teacher or professor: SciShow
Subject: Science
Content of the Lesson: When there’s only one species on an evolutionary branch, we call it a monospecific taxon. Studying these special species can help us better understand not just those sparse groups, but all life on this planet. Hosted by: Olivia Gordon SciShow has a spinoff podcast! It's called SciShow Tangents. Check it out at http://www.scishowtangents.org ---------- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow ---------- Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever: Bd_Tmprd, Jeffrey Mckishen, James Knight, Christoph Schwanke, Jacob, Matt Curls, Sam Buck, Christopher R Boucher, Eric Jensen, Lehel Kovacs, Adam Brainard, Greg, Sam Lutfi, Piya Shedden, Katie Marie Magnone, Scott Satovsky Jr, Charles Southerland, Charles george, Alex Hackman, Chris Peters, Kevin Bealer ---------- Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet? Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishow Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scishow Tumblr: http://scishow.tumblr.com Instagram: http://instagram.com/thescishow ---------- Sources: Homo sapiens https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13621 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4630 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2012.01660.x https://humanorigins.si.edu/human-characteristics/brains https://theconversation.com/were-other-humans-the-first-victims-of-the-sixth-mass-extinction-126638 Welwitschia mirabilis https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27064484/ https://doi.org/10.1086/374189 https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1537-2197.1977.tb11936.x https://doi.org/10.5642/aliso.20123001.05 https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.2039 https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026512608982 https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.92.8.1294 https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-012088457-5/50026-5 https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcl078 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3040.2006.01625.x https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2009/12/how-angiosperms-took-over-world Amborella trichopoda https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1241089 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26290578/ https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1246275 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1248709 Sphenodon punctatus https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2012.10.049 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-009-9952-7 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15751188/ https://doi.org/10.1080/08927014.1997.9522875 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24132307/ Orycteropus afer https://doi.org/10.1038/npg.els.0001578 https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=29792000 Limnognathia maerski https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199606023.001.0001 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-0031.2004.00004.x https://doi.org/10.1002/1097-4687(200010)246:1%3C1::AID-JMOR1%3E3.0.CO;2-D Ginkgo biloba https://doi.org/10.5558/tfc68612-5 https://doi.org/10.1663/0006-8101(2007)73[267:TPOSRI]2.0.CO;2 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13742-016-0154-1 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37045-8_3 https://e360.yale.edu/features/peter_crane_history_of_ginkgo_earths_oldest_tree Images: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Neanderthal_child.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%9A%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9_%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BA_(1).jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Welwitschia_mirabilis(2).jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Welwitschia_at_Huntington_Library,_Art_Collections_and_Botanical_Gardens.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Welwitschia_mirabilis0425.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Welwitschia_mirabilis_(female).jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Amborella_trichopoda_1.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amborella_trichopoda_6.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amborella_trichopoda_(3173820625).jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SphenodonSkull.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Limnognathia_wikipedia.jpg


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