Can This Baby Rotifer Escape Before It’s Eaten Alive? 

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While I was pregnant, I was binge watching the play lists to this channel. I often rested my phone on my belly because a baby belly doubles as a table. Because I often fell asleep watching these videos, I'd play them over and over again. ...Now that the baby is here we have discovered that Hank's voice soothes her when she's fussy and she is mesmerized by the footage. She loves Journey to the Microcosomos. Thank you Hank, James, and the team!

What a wild ride, its still to this day amazing to me how there is this entire universe of creatures living, dying and being born just out of our sight. Love your work guys!

this was honestly heartbreaking, I feel so bad for that poor baby who did all that work to escape from the cilliate only to be trapped inside the body of their mother

You've made me feel emotionally invested in a microscopic creature, the sort of creature I would easily kill without a second thought if I'm cleaning the house or disinfecting the kitchen counter.

This was riveting. Thanks for the incredible story, JTTM team!

I've never shed a tear over a rotifer before today.

This was the most intense and emotional journey ever from Microcosmos. Absolutely awesome find and I'm glad I watched the whole thing!

The dramas captured at such microscopic levels are always astounding to me! This video in particular has elements of story and irony that you seldom see in modern cinema. The fact that the carcass of its own mother kept it safe in the food vacuole to the point where it could escape the Loxodes only for that same Mother’s carcass (ps great name for a band) to be the poor infant Rotifer’s inevitable undoing by keeping it trapped after its initial escape is amazing! Keep up the great work @JourneytotheMicrocosmos , these videos make me want to quit my day job and become a microbiologist!

I've never rooted so hard for a microbe in my life

What an incredibly powerful and thought-provoking story... The microcosmos are so surreal to us macroscopic creatures, yet they can still show us life's poetic duality in its immense cruelty and beauty, coexisting as if it were only ever so. Such a breathtaking video, the best one on this channel in as long as I can remember. I'm at a loss for meaningful words and I can only give all of my praise.

the rotifers survival instinct was fascinating, something so small, yet capable of something like that was incredible to watch, it was heartbreaking to watch the failure of the baby rotifers survival, and i must admit , made me sad. Thanks for the great videos as always

*Many beings question the fearlessness of us Rotifers. Why we aren't screaming in terror when being captured by an Amoeba or caught in the jaws of a Stentor. The truth is, all of those tragedies pale in comparison to a Mother's wrath. After all, Mama Rotifer always told me that she brought me into this world and she can take me out of it. Never question Mama Rotifer.*

I've never felt so profoundly sad for a microorganism. Imagine your own mother saving you only to be the very cause of your demise.

I’m 2 minutes in, and i’m cheering on the rotifer 😱 its like an alien movie. Edit: whoa, fascinating and sad

Oh wow.. that was emotional.

I thought this video was being overdramatic. I did NOT expect to have my jaw actually drop when that turn of events came. Absolutely insane that this was all caught on video, it's amazing.

My lord this was one of the most nerve racking suspenseful things I have ever seen in life. Plus that music made it all the more intense lol

I've watched lots of these trips into the Microcosmos, but it only rarely strikes me that these organisms lack nearly all of my senses, knowing only touch & smell/taste (these two senses being perhaps still intertwined at their level of development). A rare few may include a rudimentary awareness of light/dark, but more functional vision eludes them... Their entire existence is in darkness, knowing only what contacts their cilia/skin, other sparks of life only a jostling movement in the dense fluid medium surrounding them. Do they smell/taste the presence of approaching death from a predator, or sense the trail of a potential mate? It's surprisingly difficult not to anthropomorphise these organisms, giving them a complexity of consciousness as we observe the trials of their lives. Do they 'feel' or 'know' at all? They do certainly far more than just react, so I suspect that in their own infinitesimal way they do have some awareness of self - which is both wondrous & fascinating.

Aye, I ordered a microscope from your store and just got it today. I’m excited to use it. Thank you for your work

More gripping than most Hollywood films today

Incredible story's happening all the time in the micro and macro cosmos's

Best one yet! Thank you, James, for the time you put into capturing these incredible moments.

Wow! This footage demonstrates the expertise James brings to Journey to the Microcosmos. To maintain camera tracking while constantly adjusting the focus - amazing. Thank you all so very much for this channel. Epic.

I am amazed that a micro creature has a developed enough nervous system in order to sense danger and enage a fight/flight reaction. I never knew, great video.

Wow, this definitely took a turn I didn't expect, and then took another turn I didn't expect! Though this lady's voice did a good job at the task at hand, it definitely wasn't Hank's soothingly velvet voice. I often plug in several Microcosmos videos in a row, and get soothed to sleep by that velvet voice! Thanks, ItM, for what you do! ❤️ ❤️

Talk about a plot twist at the end!

There are many lessons to be learned in this story, one of them is to never celebrate early, and despite all the effort you make you still may fail.

Who needs sleep when there are unborn rotifers to mourn?

Opening: "Jeez, you two, get a slide!"

This was riveting, many thanks!

It's terrifying that a single celled organism can eat a multicellular animal.

Wow that was intense! All that work to get out! Then being stuck! I was rooting for it! Amazing thing to catch on camera. BRAVO 👍

I'm now petrified that my digesting food would fight back and tear out of me...

Welp, so now I can say that I've cried at the death of a rotifer.

I've given a like because you've put the um measure in the bottom right and the magnification in the top left... This is the only video I've seen caring about it, thank you a lot it gives more understanding about the size of the organisms we are watching

I was not expecting to see a sad story of defeat, fighting back, success, triumph, escape, a plot twist, heartbreak, giving in and true defeat while watching a goddamn video about microscopic creatures

"seems like a small miracle" Microscopic, in fact.

*This one was a bit of a nail-biter* and no Hollywood happy ending, which to be honest I was expecting.

I don't think I've ever been so gripped by something on RU-vid before until I watched this. I was utterly glued to my phone screen. It's so fascinating to watch the drama we're used to seeing on nature channels at the micro level. I feel bad the little guy didn't make it. Once it managed to get free, I was ready to cheer. But it was an amazing effort to stay alive.

Utterly amazing footage!

wow. stunning. and yet so depressingly tragic.

Most intense episode ever.

Here I am, grieving an unborn wee rotifer 🥲 Thank you JTTM, this is a suspenseful and heartbreaking one.

Wow! What a riveting story! That was amazing, thank you for sharing this amazing story with us.

_"Get in mah belleh !_ _I'm higher up tha foood chain than yoo !"_

After watching this chanel I started notice that I no longer perceive a drop of water as an ordinary thing, instead I see it as a whole another universe full of life. There's so much fascinating things going on around us that we don't even acknowledge.

This was incredible. Thank you for my Tuesday evening relaxation

Well that was better than any TV program. Skill and patience for the footage. Bravo. Great story telling blended with awesome visuals. Im have to see what is living in my fish pond..

This is the most intense episode ever

I’ve never been so emotionally invested in a rotifer.

Best video in a while, and on my birthday. Thanks for the present.

And I thought I had problems!!! So amazing, great job James!!!

Unbelievable images. I am so glad you're out there.

Wow.. ..the writing and narration and music...set the mood...FANTASTIC...MUCH LUV FROM N.AUGUSTA S.C

Incredible as are all of your videos, and the book, too!

This was a baby rotifers revenge

What astonishes me about this is when I start to wonder whether the rotifer was aware of what was happening to it or not. It really seemed to be making the decision to dig its way out; Its actions seemed deliberate. So Is the rotifer acting to defend its own life, thereby indicating that it is _aware_ of of its predicament and capable of some degree of self-awareness? Or are all of its actions and movements purely predetermined responses to light, contact and pressure, which cause changes in biochemistry and fluid dynamics, collectively affecting all of the cells that make it up, which we interpret as Rotifer Escape Plan Alpha?

Wow! That story was more traject than anything from Shakespear.

Damn. Made me tear up over microbiology. Well played, James and Lady Hank. Well played.

Always relaxing and endlessly fascinating💚🔬🦠🦠

This is why you were told to always thoroughly chew your food

What a great episode!

Enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up

That was jawdropping.

11:31: rotifer escaping loxodes *Meanwhile:Stentor swims by*

A cruel twist to make the grecians weep

Wow this was a roller coaster ride

Well, that was intense!

What a journey this was...

Wow, what a parable.

meanwhile her momy:jack I always told you, you should chew your Rotifer before swallowing it

Well information. Good show. Well show.

This absolutely emotionally destroyed me

"I'll keep quiet and chime in as the events take place" *talks the entire video* haha how interesting indeed

Good thing we knew what was gonna happen and there was no suspense and she reminded us exactly how it was going to be ok a few times throughout

What a plot twist!

Well that was existentially terrifying

Holy shit what a fuckin twist, god damn. Awesome

This whole thing seemed very poetic somehow.

this one made me cry

Well now I'm depressed. Must be Monday.

Stoned and ready for a nap, perfect finding this 💨

Brutal af.

Wonderful! The microverse has chestbursters just like the movie Alien!

Feeling loopy from a lack of sleep, that was the freakiest thing I've ever seen. I kept seeing a tiny human stretching, even with a face at times, and then deforming back into a nebulous blob.. Poor wee Mister Geppetto, no Pinnochio to save you from the whale.

I thought another was going to eat it right after escaping the first by how it was worded. Poor thing. "But I don't wanna be a sammich!"

Very interesting

Have you done a video up close to lichens? Could we be able to see how they really work?

Hold up, where is Hank's ASMR narration...

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that's amazingly heavy and heavily amazing

What is the long red thread that pops in and out of focus, at the pointy end of the Loxodes?

this is why i always chew my food.

This following up on the poor exploding blob...these are great!

Wow… fascinating!

Ah yes. It's time for the Journet to the Microcosmos guarantee: an existential crisis :D

An insight into what happens to all of the eaten alive animals. Still moving in the bellies of those that ate them.

incredible

7:38/7:39 whats that pink organism?really curious about that thing...why pink? maybe do a video covering these odd things