What Was Earth Like in the Age of Giant Insects?

over 300 million years ago before the age of giant dinosaurs Earth was covered with giant insects imagine a world where dragonflies are the size of crows and millipedes are as long as cars welcome to the Carboniferous period why were insects so enormous during this time what did oxygen have to do with it and why did these insects this is and here's what looked like in the age of giant insects the Carboniferous period was one of the most transformational periods in the history of Earth the planet's land masses were beginning to form the supercontinent of Pangea

extensive swamps and warm humid forests dominated the landscape and giant insects weren't the only huge creatures roaming the planet there was also a vast array of marine life like early forms of sharks and a giant amphibian that would reach up to six feet long now enough talking let's travel back in time 300 million years ago and dive into the Carboniferous age now the first thing you'd probably notice would be the giant insect-like creatures one of the most iconic was the Mega neura this insect resembled a modern day dragonfly except with a major twist it had

a wingspan of up to 75 centimeters yeah scarier than that though it was carnivorous hunting down other insects and small amphibians hopefully it doesn't come for you so that thing is in the sky but on land you'll have the arthroplura this millipede-like creature could grow up to two and a half meters long luckily it wouldn't go after you it preferred munching on decomposing vegetation hey before we talk more about these giant insects there's another giant issue we need to worry about and that's our planet's ecosystems and how important it is to help them stick around

till the end of this video to check out an inspiring project from the folks over at Planet wild another creepy looking insect was the pulmon of Scorpius this was a giant scorpion that mostly roamed the swampier areas of Earth they could grow 70 centimeters long there were also giant cockroaches that grew to 10 centimeters and mayflies with 45 centimeter wingspans so it's safe to say that you'd have a lot to watch out for when you're wandering around in this period but the question is how did these insects get so big anyway well you may have

noticed as you've been hanging around in the Carboniferous age you feel a lot more energetic and alert maybe you've had an easier time running around this has to do with the oxygen levels in your current world research has estimated that the atmospheric oxygen levels were as high as 35 percent during this period compare that to the 21 we breathed today oxygen was one of the key factors in the gigantism found in insects at the time but why would this make them so giant insects breathe differently from other creatures insects don't have a circulatory system to

transport oxygen instead it gets delivered directly to their tissues through a network of tiny tubes called the trachea and the more oxygen in the atmosphere the bigger these insects are but there might be more reasons why the insects grew to this size another theory suggests that the insects were forced to grow so large due to oxygen toxicity yeah as amazing as oxygen is you can have too much of a good thing too much oxygen in your body can create what's known as free radicals these are unstable molecules that can damage your cells and even damage

your DNA in the case of our insects they were forced to grow this big otherwise they'd suffer oxygen toxicity growing larger would slow down the rate of oxygen absorption making it harder to suffer from too much oxygen and the same could happen to you the longer you hang out in this period the higher oxygen levels will cause you to experience nausea respiratory issues and even some effects on your nervous system now insects were arguably the stars of this age but they weren't the only things to experience massive change during the Carboniferous period this time was

known as the coal age that's because of the extensive coal beds that formed after ancient forests decayed these coal beds are one of our main sources of energy we're still using them today and a lot of the fruits and veggies you find in the grocery store may be descendants of plants from over 300 million years ago the Carboniferous period saw the evolution of the first seed bearing plants creating more diverse ecosystems than we've ever seen before wait what's that over there looks like a dinosaur oh hey little guy turns out this wasn't a dino just

one of the first reptiles to ever appear but if you stick around a couple of million more years we'll enter the Mesozoic Era which was known as the age of dinosaurs thinking of change the atmosphere was another part of Earth that evolved during this period Earth had a lush greenhouse-like climate when you first arrived warm and humid temperatures to support the swampy forests we've been mucking about but as the period progressed over millions of years the climate transitioned to what's known as an ice house Earth state the temperature would get significantly lower and ice sheets

would begin to form mainly in the southern hemisphere but why did this happen well as we've been exploring this crazy period Earth's land masses have been slowly coming together to form a supercontinent known as Pangea and when land masses this big start to move it can seriously affect ocean currents wind patterns and Global Climate now the rainforests have collapsed which has led to a decline in the fauna and vegetation that were previously booming and with the rainforests in Decline well that means oxygen levels are being reduced know it our massive insect insects are dying and

going extinct without the higher levels of oxygen available to support their size well these giant insects can't survive the lower oxygen levels and a drier climate have created a habitat better suited for smaller insects also happening at this point early reptiles are starting to take over making the landscape way more difficult for the insects okay now with Pangea fully formed we've entered the Permian period what happens at this point in history well that sounds like a story for another what if hey don't click off just yet I've got two more awesome videos from planet wild

an organization restoring Global ecosystems their videos don't just highlight issues they show you actionable ways to help the planet while transparently documenting how Planet Wild's missions work and the impact they have their work is made possible through monthly subscriptions and that gives members a direct impact on what planet wild projects they're helping Finance I've been a member for a while now and I love it because I can see exactly where my money goes and what kind of difference I'm making and if you want to make the same kind of impactful consider subscribing as well and

to see what kind of work Planet wild is doing we'll check out these two videos in this one they're bringing back Europe's Wildcat and saving a baby lynx that was separated from her mother and got caught in a trap in this other one they're equipping and teaching Italian civilians to fight wildfires check them out