The Most Successful Lineage to Go Extinct? | Lindsay Nikole
Before the dinosaurs, before trees, before jaws even existed trilobites were already thriving in Earth’s oceans. This video uncovers their bizarre adaptations, ancient conga lines, rock-made eyes, and how they outlived not one but two of history’s worst mass extinctions.
#LindsayNikole #trilobite #paleontology #evolution #prehistoriclife
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ABOUT LINDSAY NIKOLE
Join zoologist Lindsay Nikole for vivid stories about evolution, animal behavior, and the wonderfully weird life around (and before) us. Each video dives into creatures you’ve never met and facts you’ll never forget, blending science with humor, visuals, and memorable explanations. From viral mystery IDs and prehistoric deep dives to myth-busting and conservation context, this channel makes complex biology easy and exciting to understand.
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Chapters
00:00 Before the Dinosaurs “The Trilobites Dynasty”
02:20 What Is A Trilobite? (Arthropods & Exoskeletons)
04:20 “Trilobite” Three-Lobed Body Plan Explained
05:34 Freak Trilobites: Giants, Spines, And Forks
09:01 “Ampyx Priscus” The Ancient Conga Lines
09:55 How Long Did Trilobites Actually Survive?
12:08 Trilobites Vs. Humans Vs. Dinosaurs
13:09 Surviving The Mass Extinctions
16:15 “Schmidtiellus Reetae” The Oldest Eyes Ever Found
19:50 Adaptability As Their Secret Weapon
21:12 What Did Trilobites Eat?
The Most Successful Lineage to Ever Exist? | Lindsay Nikole
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrc2iv2-G1FZ3VscM3zu2jg

@w0707
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
if that shirt is 20 years old, you're a G
@geoffkeeys
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
I don't know why, but this video felt like it was only 5 minutes long….. It was actually about 25. How did it go so fast?
@S_C702
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
10:54 great pun from a previous video; took me a second to get that one
@dennisbarker5986
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
Id love to see a video on opal fossils, ive got a nice collection ive been working on
@MrDan1969
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
I'm betting that a trilobite would be quite tasty with melted butter
@-MaXuS-
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
11:03 holy moly an American that says “ET cetera” correctly instead of the whole cloth made up “eck cetera” whatever the fuck that’s supposed to mean..I mean I know what it’s supposed to mean but..whatever you get my point! The point being that saying “eck cetera” is fucking stupid.
Anyhoo
🙏🫶👋✌️🖖
@TheBullethead
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
As a Cajun, I see trilobites as a missed culinary opportunity. I bet they tasted like shrimp but I'll never know, sadly. If trilobites were alive today, you bet there'd be a whole Cajun seafood industry built around them. Already on the half-shell, not needing to be cracked open like oysters. No more meat on them than crawfish but available in equal quantity, and so we'd have huge, communal trilobite boils right beside huge, communal crawfish, crab, and shrimp boils. Aquatic arthropods (and really, most arthropods) are quite tasty, at least if seasoned properly. Few arthropods taste good raw or unseasoned. But I eat the Hell outta arthorpods and so I see trilobites as food, and am sorry I missed getting to taste them.
@brianv1988
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
Trilobite we're the nymphos of there era
@DefenderFuryTheDevourer
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
One thing I'm a little disappointed wasn't mentioned was the set up for the eyes for a few species, where they could see with 2 or more points of reference…
@rbach2
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
A 25 minute video about TRILOBITES! Sign me UP!!! …. who have i become lol
@VoMFilms
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
As someone who has a phobia of ants, I did not need that info on ant 😭
@Vincent-kx9ze
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
Babies need their soft food mom!!! 🤣🤣🤣. Love those demanding little fluffs
@OpeTheresTheRanchDressing
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
I used to insult people by calling them a Trilobite. I need to stop doing that.
@xWinnie_0g
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
12:45 scared the shit outta me
@JohnnysMapsApps-u5f
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
5:27 Isotelus Rex was 2.5 feet long
That's more than a cubit, an ancient unit of length derived from the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, which is 1.5 feet long.
@jonlavigne3270
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
Trilobites were so successful that horseshoe crabs turned into them instead of other things that turned into crabs.
@tuberman1856
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
We where tired of living and reincarnated into crabs
@GeoCubATL
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
12:37 I AM SCREEEEEEAMING!!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@brianv1988
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
September 12th can't wait it's like an early birthday . definitely putting it on my calendar this will be a great live stream. can't wait and what a more beautiful place to do it then Kenya out in the bush.
hopefully you got Starlink or good connection to internet at the camp
looking forward to it.
Great video
@aspoonbentslightlytothelef6649
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
3:17 so this is the forbidden fruit spoken from eden
@wannab8320
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
I could see the one that you said pops out of the grass more so popping out of like the sand under the seafloor.
@dragons_lily
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
I love how you make your videos! Would be extremely interested if you do a longform on how you set up and edit your videos!
Also :P, plant fox here. Look into the complexity and diversity of lichens and mosses.
@JohnnysMapsApps-u5f
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
2:55 Cicada molting!
A couple of weeks ago I was visiting the grave of a fellow Magic the Gathering player, and there was a cicada's shed decision his headstone.
So I left it there, but went around to all of the nearby trees looking for more castings. Not only did I find dozens of them, I found one cicada in the middle of molting. I initially thought it had died in the process, but no, it was just taking its time. It's wings had fully inflated before I left, but they were still all shriveled when I had first found it.
I've gone back to the cemetery a couple of times and found more molts, and I found another one that had climbed a tree, but hadn't shed yet. I gave it some space while I looked for more, but it vanished. It wasn't on the ground, and it wasn't on the tree. I'm guessing it got eaten by a bird.
Btw, I used a deck box to gather them. 🙂
@ronin.badger
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
arthropods are peak evolution. Squish on the outside makes you pretty vulnerable. having armor is smart.
@jasonfischer9857
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
Why did YouTube keep this hidden from me. I had to search for it!
@felbarashla
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
Trilobites are so cool!
@nyoodmono4681
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
That "fork" is used to immitate a plant. They burrow in the ground verticaly and the fork will look like a plant. They lurk this way for prey.
@YukonCornaglia
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
Speaking of The Great Dying…..any chance of doing another run of that The Great Dying T-shirt? 👀
@RyanMoser
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
15:52 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺
@raybod1775
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
Off to Africa with your new girlfriend?
@gilessmedley619
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
Horseshoe crabs look similar to trilobites 😊
@birdec765
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
So many fossils and survived so long. I still find the idea of no trilobites almost unbelievable. The oceans are so big and deep the idea that they're all gone is just mind boggling🤯
@flightlesslord2688
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
If there is a God. Fuck that guy. Wtf did Trilobites do? I miss them.
Also, great tunes on this video
@crazytooley
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
I think you should invest in an overhead projector, the clear film sheet light projector. You could project onto the wall and have a "whiteboard" too.
We had one in elementary school, and it was really cool and made it easy to do lessons.
@theDorkness69
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
Come for the freaky body plan, stay for the freaky nomenclature, Schmidtiellus reetae! I dont know if there is a name I can now like more than this one for being so funny/terrible (sounding)!
@emogurliscrazy
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
I tried to give my cat his wet food as breakfast. This asshole decided he would power run up the stairs and slam his body on the door at 6am every morning he chose not to be in the room with us. Now he has to wait until 8:30pm, after his auto feeder breakfast and lunch.
@Owlwise13
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
If is weird, then it is for "banging".
@TheBenlueks
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
i would argue undersea hot vent scum has been around for 4 billion years. they are gonna be here no matter what happens.
@ScootrRichards
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
It wasn't until the first time I saw a Lindsay Nikole video on trilobites that I knew the 'tri' parts were side by side and not head – middle – backend.
Thank you Lindsay!
@quantumised64
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
it's in my calendar ^_^
@bjarkiengelsson
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
There were actually many species of trilobites with no eyes. Mostly in the late Devonian.
@onemantis
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
I really had no idea trilobites were so cool!
@FamichikiTime
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
All the Trilobites went into the Falmer caves, and they became ANGERY.
@juliav.mcclelland2415
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
Well, you just alienated your entire pre-cambrian audience! They are VERY offended by your elitist attitude!
@tgdm
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
If we include "minor" mass extinctions, it took 5 to finally kill off the trilobites. Whether by the fury of a pissed off god or by the machinations of Nature, you gotta admit these dudes absolutely did not bend to anyone's will. Stuff got thrown at them, and they kept coming back, flipping off the Universe in defiance as everything else died around them.
Also, notice that the dinosaurs only appeared in the fossil record after the extinction of the trilobites. Obviously, this is because that is what it took to make the conditions for dinosaurs to feel safe enough to evolve.
@WulfgarOpenthroat
August 23, 2026 at 12:51 am
Reminded be of a fun somewhat mind-blowing thought; LUCA is alive today, the individual organism, literially (and if it turns out life only evolved once, then that specific individual living thing is also still alive).
Since any lineage that has only ever reproduced by mitosis* has only forked, not reproduced and died – one living cell becomes two, but both are still the original individual, and that never stops being true.
*things like sexual reproduction are a bit fuzzier in terms of what counts as the uninterrupted continuity of an individual living organism, arguments could be made either way.