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