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Beans & Bees (Not Bats) Gave Us Butterflies

Season 6 Episode 9 | 7m 09s

For a few years we thought bats were to thank for the existence of butterflies. The idea was that the evolution of bats drove one group of moths to abandon the night entirely, becoming active during the day to escape, giving rise to butterflies. But it turns out the groups we should actually be thanking for the beautiful bugs are bees and beans.

Aired: 12/04/23
Extras
Long-extinct dinosaurs may still haunt us—possibly driving us to age faster than any vertebrate.
Only twice in Earth's history have supermountains risen, and both times reshaped life forever.
Was the T-Rex given the wrong name?
500+ pterosaur fossils found at Solnhofen may be hiding a dark secret distorting our view of them.
Why are our teeth so sensitive? The answer originates in the armored skin of ancient fish.
For flowering plants to take over, they first helped burn the old world—and then put the fires out.
Ancient weeds mimicked crops, tricking farmers into domesticating friends—and enemies—by mistake.
Brains and brawn aren’t opposites—they’ve been linked far longer than we might think.
Understanding the Isthmus of Panama.
How we might borrow genes from that ancient past of Greenland to help us adapt to the future.
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Long-extinct dinosaurs may still haunt us—possibly driving us to age faster than any vertebrate.
Only twice in Earth's history have supermountains risen, and both times reshaped life forever.
Was the T-Rex given the wrong name?
500+ pterosaur fossils found at Solnhofen may be hiding a dark secret distorting our view of them.
Why are our teeth so sensitive? The answer originates in the armored skin of ancient fish.
For flowering plants to take over, they first helped burn the old world—and then put the fires out.
Ancient weeds mimicked crops, tricking farmers into domesticating friends—and enemies—by mistake.
Brains and brawn aren’t opposites—they’ve been linked far longer than we might think.
Understanding the Isthmus of Panama.
How we might borrow genes from that ancient past of Greenland to help us adapt to the future.