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Fringey Minis - whales and dolphins aren't coming back · Journey to the Fringe

• 0:00
  Craig, stop me if I've done this mini before.
• 0:03
  I think we haven't. So this one is from IndiaDefenseReview
• 0:09
  .com. Highly reliable source. We use them all
• 0:12
  the time. They've never steered us wrong. Almost
• 0:14
  exclusively, yes. And it's from April 17, 2025
• 0:20
  by Oreski Amiri. And it's titled, It's Official.
• 0:25
  Orcas and dolphins have crossed the point of
• 0:28
  no return in their evolution to live on land.
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  Something that is blowing my mind constantly
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  that... Yeah, I have so many questions about
• 0:37
  it. It's now official? We'll get to it. Yeah.
• 0:40
  Okay, okay. The read time's three minutes, just
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  so you know. Which makes me feel happy. But also
• 0:46
  pressured, right? Because you only got three
• 0:47
  minutes now. It's true, it's true. Those people
• 0:51
  looking down at the time left in this podcast
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  and seeing over the 10 minute point. You know
• 0:57
  how I do under pressure and it is not good. It
• 1:01
  is never good if I am under pressure. Dolphins
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  and Orcas have undergone such extensive evolutionary
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  changes to adapt to life in the ocean that returning
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  to land is now impossible according to a study
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  published in Proceedings of the Royal Society
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  B. These iconic marine mammals once descended
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  from land dwelling ancestors have now passed
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  a critical evolutionary threshold. locking them
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  into their aquatic environment forever, which
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  makes me feel really claustrophobic just reading
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  that. I feel like they have no choice now, which
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  makes me really sad for them. Do you think every
• 1:40
  orca generation before this one had the choice?
• 1:43
  They're just like, no, let's not go there. Let's
• 1:45
  not go back yet. We still have time. That's sad.
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  Scientists gave us 10 ,000 more generations.
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  Roughly 250 million years ago, some mammals made
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  a remarkable shift back into the water, a reversal
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  of the earlier transition that saw the first
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  tetrapods move from aquatic to terrestrial life
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  approximately 375 million years ago. This return
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  to the sea happened more than once and eventually
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  led to the evolution of today's whales, dolphins
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  and orcas. I don't know what I'm reading. You
• 2:21
  want to know something too, Chelsea? Yeah, I
• 2:23
  do. The scientists were probably saying they
• 2:25
  were locked into land dwelling too at the time.
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  I bet you they were. Those bastards. Over time,
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  dolphins and orcas acquired a suit of specialized
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  adaptations that made them highly efficient marine
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  predators. They evolved larger bodies that helped
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  them conserve heat in cold water, shifted to
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  a coniferous diet. Yeah, carnivorous. Carnivorous!
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  Okay, I thought it sounded wrong. I did think
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  that was wrong. Okay, quick. It's very slight
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  in the English there between the two. I've never
• 3:07
  thought of that before. It's very slight though.
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  Like it sounded right to me looking at the word.
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  I wouldn't have thought it before, but here we
• 3:16
  are. You're welcome. Thank you for listening
• 3:20
  to Journey to the French. The mini is now over.
• 3:25
  You are educated. Yes. carnivorous diet that
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  matched their high metabolic demands and developed
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  physical traits that enhanced their swimming
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  and diving ability. Damn it, it's the three minutes.
• 3:39
  So much pressure. These anatomical transformations
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  didn't just support life and water, they fully
• 3:45
  committed these animals to it. Jesus. According
• 3:48
  to Bruna Farina, a PhD student in the University
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  of Freiburg and lead author of the study, this
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  evolutionary journey reached a point of no return.
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  Her research examined more than 5 ,600 species
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  of mammals, classifying them into four categories
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  ranging from fully terrestrial to fully aquatic.
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  Her analysis revealed that once species cross
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  from semi -aquatic to fully aquatic, their evolutionary
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  path becomes irreversible. Sorry, I just need
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  to get this straight in my mind. So, it's not
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  that they just have crossed this threshold, it's
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  just that she has determined, this scientist,
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  that they can't come back. Yes, that overwhelmed
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  me. seemingly seems like what it is. That is
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  different than this generation. They don't have
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  the choice anymore. Yeah, that's true. That's
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  true, which makes me feel better. And it also
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  makes a lot more sense that you can make this
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  declaration on all whales and dolphins and not
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  the subspecies within there. That's true. Farina's
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  research highlights a crucial tipping point,
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  beyond which marine adaptations are no longer
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  reversible. This concept aligns with Dolo's Law,
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  a theory proposed by Belgian paleontologist Louise
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  Dolo in 19th century, which posits that evolution
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  generally does not reverse once a complex trait.
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  has been lost. In the case of dolphins and orcas,
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  this means that their extensive adaptations for
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  ocean life has closed the door on any return
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  to land. Their entire anatomy, from their breathing
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  and locomotion to their reproductive systems,
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  is now dependent on a fully aquatic environment.
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  The study suggests that these animals are trapped
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  in their watery waves, unable to evolve back
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  toward a terrestrial lifestyle. While these changes
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  have allowed them to thrive in the ocean, they
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  also leave them highly vulnerable in the face
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  of environmental disruption. But they adapted
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  to go into the water. You don't think that they
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  can adapt back? Yeah, that's something I wanted
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  to talk about. Also, is it just me or are they
• 5:44
  kind of making it seem shitty to be stuck in
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  the ocean compared to land? They really are.
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  It's really giving me a lot of anxiety as an
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  orca. Yeah, you don't want to be stuck in that
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  shit hole where all the fish and the whales are
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  pooping. I know, and I feel like I'm an orca
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  and I feel like I still want to have... the choice
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  to go back and I feel like who is this person
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  to say that I can't? That's all I have to say
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  as an orca. That and fuck the odds. As climate
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  change and ocean pollution continue to threaten
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  marine ecosystems, the irreversible adaptations
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  of dolphins and orcas raise serious concerns
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  because these species can no longer return to
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  land. Their survival is tightly linked to the
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  health of marine environments. Any degradation
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  in ocean can conditions could have severe consequences.
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  This is such a weird article. This vulnerability
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  is compounded by their extreme specialization.
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  Traits that were once evolutionary advantages,
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  like deep diving abilities or streamlined bodies,
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  now limit their adaptability. But they were wolves
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  before! And they were fish before that! If their
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  habitat changes in ways they can't handle, these
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  animals have few options left. This is just doom
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  and gloom. This study adds a new dimension to
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  conservation discussions, emphasizing how evolutionary
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  history can limit a species' future resilience.
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  The more specialized an organism becomes, the
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  less flexible it is when the environment changes.
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  That's the end of the article. Wow. What did
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  I just read? I really want to go read this science
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  paper. just to see if it starts out with a sentence
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  isn't it shitty to be stuck in the ocean anyways
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  sucks to be you, marine animals. They're talking
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  about it like the dolphins and whales are just,
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  I'm struggling to find words here for what I
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  just read. I understand now why this is your
• 7:47
  source for this article. Yes. What an interesting
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  way to come at that. Yeah, I guess I understand
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  where they're coming from. Everything that stays
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  in the water permanently is going to have a very
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  tough time to evolutionarily change back. But
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  at the At the same time, there are subspecies
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  within that group. We've talked about the orcas
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  that literally go on the land to hunt for a very
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  short period of time. I like those guys. And
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  I can't wait until the worlds collide between
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  those guys and the rich people and the oceans.
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  The beach just gets a little shallower or a little
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  closer to the water so that they can try it out.
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  on those land yachts they've been seeing from
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  afar yes they're gonna be real close real soon
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  but they better be blasting their heavy metal
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  music in those rich people's houses oh they better
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  they better what i'm hearing here is that once
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  we're mermaid we can't go back pretty much because
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  we've adapted too much into the sea But is there
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  a way that you can adapt too much into the land?
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  I would have thought that too with both of those.
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  But like, we can't really become mermaids because
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  mermaids are half fish. So we'd have to become
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  like... At that point, we'd be gene splicing.
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  So I don't see why we couldn't gene splice back
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  the other way. Wolves didn't. Wolves didn't just
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  convert their bottom half to a fish -like species.
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  They converted their whole body into a streamlined
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  yet still mammalian body. Well, we could convert
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  to what I would call a mermaid, and it wouldn't
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  quite be a mermaid. It's probably like a ningen
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  or something. It's much uglier than a mermaid.
• 9:27
  Yeah, it's ningen. Oh, actually, it's probably
• 9:29
  like a beluga whale, to be fair. For humanity,
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  with how our society's been going these years.
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  Oh, the poor manatees. I love those majestic
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  little guys, big guys. It seems arbitrary where
• 9:41
  she can make that determination. And like you
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  would probably say most land based species are
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  stuck on land, but they've found a way to go
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  back. Yeah, it really didn't show any of her
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  research. It was just like, well, they're done
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  for. They're never coming back. Yeah. And it
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  sounds like this is a woman who had to rush her.
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  I assume I can't remember the name, but who had
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  to rush her. sciency paper out to press so she
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  had to come up with the topic because she spent
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  too much time with fuming hatred just sclaring
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  at the ocean yeah when she should have been writing
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  and that deadline was looming and she came up
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  with this and like it took a weird turn at the
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  end where it was like and plus Since they can't
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  come back, they're basically fucked because we're
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  polluting the ocean to all hell. At least we're
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  polluting. Yeah, too bad they can't come back
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  because anything else in the ocean. It was just
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  a beautiful, untouched land. As if there's no
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  other animals or marine life in the ocean at
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  risk. Just the ones that can't come back onto
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  land. Yeah, no otters are fine. Seal's fine.
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  Absolutely, actually doing better somehow. Totally
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  fine. Yeah, they're thriving because they can
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  come out of the ocean. Yep, for those sweet,
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  sweet land breaths. Anyhow, you guys got 48 hours.
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  You suck in that beautiful, beautiful land air
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  as much as you can. Cherishes. Don't think about
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  how we're stuck here. Bye.