The Rafting Hypothesis Is Ridiculous (But It Might Be Right)

From MinuteEarth.

Many of the greatest biological dispersal events in history likely happened because animals inadvertently traveled across the oceans on floating debris.

LEARN MORE
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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
– Oceanic dispersal: A type of biological dispersal where terrestrial animals transfer from one land mass to another via a sea crossing.
– Rafting event: Oceanic dispersal that happens via floating vegetation.
– Platyrrhini: The so-called “New World Monkeys” that descended from African simians that arrived in South America roughly 30-40 million years ago.
– South Equatorial Current: A current maintained by the trade winds that flows westward along the equator.

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David Goldenberg | Script Writer, Narrator and Director
Arcadi Garcia i Rius | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation
Nathaniel Schroeder | Music

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REFERENCES
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Carlos G. Schrago , Claudia A. M. Russo, Timing the Origin of New World Monkeys, Molecular Biology and Evolution, Volume 20, Issue 10, October 2003, Pages 1620–1625. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msg172

Defler, T.R. (2018). Platyrrhine Monkeys: The Fossil Evidence. Topics in Geobiology. Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-98449-0_8

Drury, S. (2020). How did monkeys get to South America? Earth Logs. Retrieved from:
https://earthlogs.org/2020/04/14/how-did-monkeys-get-to-south-america/

Queiroz, A. (2004). The REsurrection of Oceanic Dispersal in Historical Biogeography. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 20:2 (68-73). Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0169534704003362

Ali, J., Huber, M. Mammalian biodiversity on Madagascar controlled by ocean currents. Nature 463, 653–656 (2010). Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08706

Black, R. (2020). More Than 30 Million Years Ago, Monkeys Rafted Across the Atlantic to South America. Smithsonian. Retrieved from: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/monkeys-raft-across-atlantic-twice-180974637/

Lawton, G. (2021). On a Raft and a Prayer. NewScientist. 252:3365-3366 (50-52). Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0262407921022727

Ali, Jason. (2023). Direct Communication. DEpartment of Earth Science, University of Hong Kong. https://www.earthsciences.hku.hk/people/academic-staff/dr-ali-jason