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You don't need to go into outer space
to find weird creatures
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00:00:06,799 --> 00:00:08,892
that have a certain intelligence
3
00:00:09,034 --> 00:00:12,629
and are about as different from humans
as it's possible to be.
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00:00:14,706 --> 00:00:17,732
They're already out there, in the sea.
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00:00:20,712 --> 00:00:22,270
They have three hearts,
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00:00:22,414 --> 00:00:23,540
blue blood,
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and eight arms.
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00:00:25,818 --> 00:00:30,619
They use color to communicate,
suction cups to grab things,
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00:00:30,756 --> 00:00:33,520
and jet propulsion to move.
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00:00:37,229 --> 00:00:40,665
Some of them can become almost
any shape they want.
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00:00:40,799 --> 00:00:41,959
To their prey,
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00:00:42,101 --> 00:00:45,264
they're stealthy
and murderously effiicient.
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00:00:48,073 --> 00:00:50,473
They're the oceans' Houdinis,
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00:00:50,609 --> 00:00:55,103
the octopuses, cuttlefish,
and squid.
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00:01:37,689 --> 00:01:40,715
Puget Sound, off Washington State.
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Down in these murky waters,
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people can run into giants
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Giant Pacific octopuses, up to 30 feet
long and weighing 600 pounds.
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These are probably the basis
of the monster octopuses
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00:02:11,056 --> 00:02:13,650
in the old adventure stories.
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Approaching divers,
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clasping them with
their tentacles and their suckers,
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and holding them until they drown.
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00:02:34,980 --> 00:02:38,347
Except that's not what's really
happening here.
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00:02:38,517 --> 00:02:44,717
This octopus is, if anything, curious
about what this strange creature is.
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00:02:44,856 --> 00:02:49,054
It's using its delicate sense of touch
to get some clues.
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00:02:49,394 --> 00:02:53,956
It can pull a mouthpiece off, but it
doesn't try to keep it.
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00:02:55,968 --> 00:02:57,765
When it knows what it needs to know,
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whatever that is, it disappears into
the depths.
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00:03:03,108 --> 00:03:05,167
The question we can answer, though,
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00:03:05,344 --> 00:03:07,778
is what do we know about it,
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00:03:07,913 --> 00:03:10,438
about all octopuses.
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00:03:12,884 --> 00:03:16,445
Well, all other kinds, of course, are
smaller than the giant octopus,
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00:03:16,588 --> 00:03:20,820
and being soft-bodied, too, they're
usually hiding.
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00:03:22,728 --> 00:03:26,596
Out of the way of large fish and sea
mammals.
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00:03:30,669 --> 00:03:35,800
And when they do go out, to hunt,
they do it in camouflage.
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00:03:36,608 --> 00:03:39,668
This helps, but no camouflage is
perfect
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00:03:39,811 --> 00:03:43,941
and an octopus isn't the only creature
in the sea to use it.
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00:03:47,552 --> 00:03:49,349
A scorpion fish,
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00:03:49,421 --> 00:03:53,187
and an octopus that was just too big
for it.
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00:03:59,031 --> 00:04:02,660
Hunting can be almost as dangerous
for the octopus as for the animals
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00:04:02,801 --> 00:04:04,462
it's stalking.
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00:04:05,537 --> 00:04:11,305
One mortal enemy is the moray eel,
which sets up ambushes.
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00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:24,889
It may be hard to tell who's winning
this fight,
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00:04:25,023 --> 00:04:28,049
but in a sense, they both are.
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00:04:29,494 --> 00:04:35,057
The eel gets an arm to eat, but the
octopus will still survive intact.
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00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:39,796
Small blood vessels in the stump
automatically cauterize themselves
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00:04:39,938 --> 00:04:44,534
and in a couple of months, the arm
will just grow back.
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00:04:47,713 --> 00:04:51,342
Scientists who study octopuses
sometimes simulate attacks
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00:04:51,483 --> 00:04:54,145
to observe their range of defenses.
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00:04:54,286 --> 00:04:58,347
A poke with a camera brings an instant
spurt of ink.
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00:05:00,892 --> 00:05:03,486
The cloud acts as a decoy,
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00:05:03,862 --> 00:05:07,457
while the octopus takes off in the
opposite direction.
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00:05:08,467 --> 00:05:11,595
If that doesn't work, it tries shock
tactics,
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00:05:11,737 --> 00:05:16,765
turning deathly white and spewing out
another smoke screen of ink.
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00:05:21,179 --> 00:05:24,148
The ink, by the way, isn't just a
visual weapon.
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00:05:24,349 --> 00:05:26,078
It also tastes bad
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00:05:26,218 --> 00:05:27,150
and is enough in itself
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00:05:27,352 --> 00:05:32,016
to put most predators off
the whole idea of eating octopus.
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00:05:37,362 --> 00:05:41,059
If nothing else, an octopus is
flexible.
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00:05:41,466 --> 00:05:43,832
Not having any bones in its body,
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00:05:43,969 --> 00:05:46,096
it can change into different shapes
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00:05:46,238 --> 00:05:48,968
and fit into
impossible looking places,
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00:05:49,107 --> 00:05:51,473
this beer bottle, for instance.
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00:05:51,610 --> 00:05:55,444
The top hardly looks big enough to get
a couple of arms through.
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00:05:57,382 --> 00:05:59,475
Much less the whole animal.
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00:06:00,218 --> 00:06:04,279
But in fact, the only limit on an
octopus' ability to squeeze
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00:06:04,423 --> 00:06:07,051
is the size of its solid jaw.
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00:06:12,931 --> 00:06:14,159
Easy.
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00:06:17,335 --> 00:06:18,962
And safe.
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00:06:24,910 --> 00:06:26,639
Through no intention of their own,
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00:06:26,778 --> 00:06:31,408
octopuses sometimes end up in
another kind of glass container.
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00:06:31,550 --> 00:06:32,983
But once in a tank,
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00:06:33,118 --> 00:06:35,313
they seem to adjust all right.
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00:06:36,855 --> 00:06:37,947
See how they suck?
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00:06:38,089 --> 00:06:42,651
This giant Pacific octopus is part of
the display at the Seattle Aquarium,
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00:06:42,794 --> 00:06:44,887
where people can come in off the
street
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00:06:45,030 --> 00:06:48,625
and have the mesmerizing
deep sea experience
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00:06:48,767 --> 00:06:51,668
of looking an octopus
in the eye.
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00:06:53,772 --> 00:06:57,173
There is something about octopus eyes.
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00:06:57,375 --> 00:06:59,900
They're roughly the same size as human
eyes
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00:07:00,045 --> 00:07:02,809
and seem to look right at you.
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00:07:05,617 --> 00:07:10,054
They're the only thing that's remotely
human-like about octopuses.
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00:07:11,790 --> 00:07:14,623
Octopuses can see about as well as
humans,
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00:07:14,759 --> 00:07:17,489
but their main sense is touch.
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00:07:18,196 --> 00:07:21,324
This octopus has more than 1,600
suckers,
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00:07:21,466 --> 00:07:24,162
each as sensitive as a tongue.
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00:07:25,170 --> 00:07:28,367
In each sucker's skin are three kinds
of cells.
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00:07:28,507 --> 00:07:31,772
Some feel stretch and some pressure.
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00:07:31,910 --> 00:07:34,208
But most detect chemicals,
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00:07:34,346 --> 00:07:37,406
which is exactly what the taste buds
do.
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00:07:37,549 --> 00:07:41,349
These so-called taste-sensitive cells
have tufts of hair in them
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00:07:41,486 --> 00:07:42,817
that waft in the water
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00:07:42,954 --> 00:07:45,855
and collect tell-tale chemicals.
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00:07:48,393 --> 00:07:51,726
Every sucker has about 10,000 taste
cells,
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00:07:51,863 --> 00:07:55,993
which means that every octopus arm
has more than two million.
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00:07:56,134 --> 00:07:57,123
Altogether,
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there are more sense cells and nerves
in an octopus' body than in its brain.
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00:08:03,308 --> 00:08:04,002
See, now, he's breathing.
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00:08:04,142 --> 00:08:08,374
As nervous systems go, this is
seriously advanced.
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00:08:08,513 --> 00:08:12,005
But octopuses are close relatives of
some of the most nerveless-looking
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00:08:12,150 --> 00:08:14,084
creatures in nature,
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00:08:14,219 --> 00:08:19,657
the mollusks, clams,
slugs, and snails.
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00:08:20,325 --> 00:08:24,989
The mollusks and the octopuses, squid,
and cuttlefish share an ancestor,
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00:08:25,130 --> 00:08:29,897
a plain, pin-brained, not very
spectacular limpet.
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00:08:31,069 --> 00:08:36,371
500 million years ago, the ancestral
limpets made a living on the sea bed,
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00:08:36,508 --> 00:08:39,671
taking whatever scraps came their way.
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00:08:39,811 --> 00:08:41,403
They were very slow-moving,
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00:08:41,546 --> 00:08:45,448
with only their shells between them
and their predators.
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00:08:47,586 --> 00:08:51,886
But in time, their shells developed
gas-filled chambers
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00:08:52,023 --> 00:08:54,685
and their lives gained a third
dimension.
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00:08:54,826 --> 00:08:57,351
They could float away from danger.
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00:08:59,364 --> 00:09:01,127
200 million years later
114
00:09:01,299 --> 00:09:04,462
and the shells had been refined into
lots of new shapes,
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00:09:04,603 --> 00:09:09,802
spirals of all sizes, from a few
inches across to several feet.
116
00:09:09,941 --> 00:09:15,004
These were the ammonites and the seas
thronged with them.
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00:09:15,647 --> 00:09:19,447
Their shells are among the most common
fossils found today.
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00:09:19,584 --> 00:09:23,987
But what their soft parts were like,
nobody's quite sure.
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00:09:24,122 --> 00:09:28,422
They probably swam like this modern
creature, a nautilus.
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00:09:28,560 --> 00:09:33,190
Modern, but it's been around for 450
million years,
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00:09:33,331 --> 00:09:37,995
which is 100 million years longer than
its ammonite cousins lasted.
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00:09:40,138 --> 00:09:43,005
Powerful predators chipped away at
their numbers
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00:09:43,141 --> 00:09:46,770
until climate change, probably,
wiped them out.
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00:09:48,913 --> 00:09:51,711
They left the oceans to this animal,
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00:09:51,850 --> 00:09:54,512
one with tentacles for grabbing prey
126
00:09:54,653 --> 00:09:59,488
and a long, muscular body with a
shell inside,
127
00:09:59,624 --> 00:10:02,286
the faster and more agile belemnite,
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00:10:02,427 --> 00:10:05,521
a great uncle of all the squid.
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00:10:13,805 --> 00:10:16,239
All 400 species of them,
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00:10:16,374 --> 00:10:19,070
from the tiny Eastern Pacific
opalescent squid,
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00:10:19,210 --> 00:10:22,270
just a few inches long,
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00:10:22,414 --> 00:10:26,851
to bruisers such as the six foot
Humboldt squid.
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00:10:34,959 --> 00:10:39,191
Humboldts are voracious eaters that
will attack almost anything they sea,
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00:10:39,330 --> 00:10:43,790
their skin flashing like neon signs as
they feed.
135
00:10:59,150 --> 00:11:01,311
Squid, in general,
are much more like fish
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00:11:01,386 --> 00:11:03,820
than any of their mollusk relations
137
00:11:03,955 --> 00:11:07,789
and they're more athletic than
octopuses and cuttlefish.
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00:11:07,926 --> 00:11:11,020
Their streamlined torpedo-shaped
bodies
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00:11:11,162 --> 00:11:13,494
are almost pure muscle
140
00:11:13,631 --> 00:11:17,328
and they can swim as fast as some
birds fly.
141
00:11:26,978 --> 00:11:30,038
Like an octopus, a squid has eight
arms.
142
00:11:30,181 --> 00:11:35,619
But for extra grip, it also has two
long prey-grabbing tentacles.
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00:11:40,592 --> 00:11:45,427
Squid also have triangular fins for
balance and steering
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00:11:45,563 --> 00:11:49,363
and a remnant of the belemnite's
internal shell.
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00:11:49,467 --> 00:11:51,367
It's so much of a remnant, though,
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00:11:51,503 --> 00:11:54,529
that there's nothing shell-like
about it.
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00:11:55,807 --> 00:11:58,833
A flimsy, transparent, plasticky blade
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00:11:58,977 --> 00:12:03,676
that just helps to stiffen the squid's
long, floppy body.
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00:12:03,815 --> 00:12:05,715
The body itself is a cylinder of
muscle
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00:12:05,850 --> 00:12:09,547
with a hollow core, because it's a
jet engine.
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00:12:09,687 --> 00:12:12,656
The squid sucks water in through a
hole near its head
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00:12:12,791 --> 00:12:14,918
and then, by clenching its muscles,
153
00:12:15,059 --> 00:12:17,994
pushes it out through a siphon tube.
154
00:12:23,668 --> 00:12:25,533
And the siphon is directional.
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00:12:25,670 --> 00:12:29,834
Depending on where it's pointed, the
squid can move up, down, sideways,
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00:12:29,974 --> 00:12:33,000
forward or backwards.
157
00:12:34,813 --> 00:12:37,976
Not all squid are jazzy swimmers,
though.
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00:12:45,056 --> 00:12:48,219
There's a stubby little one,
for instance, named Rossia,
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00:12:48,393 --> 00:12:51,988
whose fins are more like shovels than
sails.
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00:13:03,808 --> 00:13:07,471
And are, in fact, used for digging in
the sandy bottom,
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where it waits to surprise passing
prey.
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00:13:19,891 --> 00:13:21,552
The squid's cousin, the cuttlefish,
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00:13:21,693 --> 00:13:26,562
has a single long fin rippling from
the back of its head to its tail.
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00:13:26,698 --> 00:13:30,930
This is an excellent stabilizer and
allows for underwater acrobatics.
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00:13:31,069 --> 00:13:35,631
A cuttlefish can even hover
motionless, like a helicopter.
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00:13:37,742 --> 00:13:42,475
This animal also has a structure on
the inside which evolved from a shell.
167
00:13:44,048 --> 00:13:46,881
The porous cuttlebone keeps the
animal afloat
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00:13:47,018 --> 00:13:50,784
while the fin and the jet put it
through its maneuvers.
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00:13:54,192 --> 00:13:57,923
Octopuses don't have a shell in any
shape or form
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and they're not good floaters.
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00:14:01,065 --> 00:14:04,091
What they are, mainly, is walkers.
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00:14:10,008 --> 00:14:14,741
They use their arms as legs, to bump
along the sea bed.
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00:14:17,548 --> 00:14:19,539
They've still got the family jet,
though,
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00:14:19,684 --> 00:14:21,879
and from time to time they do use it.
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00:14:22,020 --> 00:14:25,456
From a walk, an octopus can take off
like Superman.
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The arms become rudders and the head
becomes a kind of prow.
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00:14:33,598 --> 00:14:35,793
This is mainly an escape technique,
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00:14:35,934 --> 00:14:39,597
usually used when the octopus needs to
zip fast as a fish
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00:14:39,737 --> 00:14:42,365
back to the safety of its den.
180
00:14:46,978 --> 00:14:50,470
Some dens, though, don't feel very
safe.
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00:14:50,682 --> 00:14:53,207
Lf, for instance, the opening is too
big,
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00:14:53,384 --> 00:14:57,013
the octopus does something that looks
intelligent.
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00:14:57,388 --> 00:14:59,356
It blocks it up.
184
00:15:00,491 --> 00:15:02,959
But is this intelligence?
185
00:15:03,094 --> 00:15:07,861
Doctor Jean Boal studies the way
octopuses learn and behave.
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00:15:08,833 --> 00:15:09,822
When they go in their dens,
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00:15:09,968 --> 00:15:13,096
they pull rocks and objects
in front of the opening
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00:15:13,237 --> 00:15:16,365
to block off
and make themselves feel safer.
189
00:15:16,507 --> 00:15:19,533
And some people have argued that this
is a sort of tool use,
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00:15:19,677 --> 00:15:21,508
using objects
to protect themselves
191
00:15:21,646 --> 00:15:25,377
and therefore, it's a sign that
octopuses are intelligent.
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00:15:25,516 --> 00:15:28,542
I'm not so sure that it is.
193
00:15:28,686 --> 00:15:33,350
Complex behavior and intelligent
behavior are not quite the same thing.
194
00:15:33,491 --> 00:15:36,756
You can have a complex behavior
that's fixed,
195
00:15:36,894 --> 00:15:38,862
it's the same every single time,
196
00:15:38,997 --> 00:15:41,966
and most people would not consider
that particularly intelligent.
197
00:15:42,100 --> 00:15:44,159
Octopuses certainly have complex
behavior
198
00:15:44,369 --> 00:15:45,859
and they have lots of
different behaviors,
199
00:15:46,004 --> 00:15:50,031
but whether it's intelligent or not I
think remains to be seen.
200
00:15:52,276 --> 00:15:54,506
Most people who keep them as pets
201
00:15:54,645 --> 00:15:57,341
tend to think of them as very, very
intelligent.
202
00:15:57,482 --> 00:15:59,507
They appear to look you straight in
the eye,
203
00:15:59,650 --> 00:16:01,811
which is very endearing to human
beings.
204
00:16:01,953 --> 00:16:05,548
They are responsive to you, as the
pet owner.
205
00:16:05,690 --> 00:16:07,555
You feed them and they come to you.
206
00:16:07,692 --> 00:16:09,717
And some of them, when they're
accustomed to you,
207
00:16:09,861 --> 00:16:11,988
would even meet your finger
on the glass.
208
00:16:12,130 --> 00:16:14,621
And they do things that we would
interpret as intelligent
209
00:16:14,766 --> 00:16:18,293
because we would use intelligence
to do them.
210
00:16:18,669 --> 00:16:24,301
Intelligent or not, octopuses can do
some things that seem pretty smart.
211
00:16:24,442 --> 00:16:27,206
Escaping from their tanks,
for instance.
212
00:16:28,346 --> 00:16:31,315
Keeping them in isn't always easy.
213
00:16:34,852 --> 00:16:39,152
Because whatever their brain power,
they're certainly strong.
214
00:16:39,357 --> 00:16:43,760
A one pound octopus can lift a 40
pound aquarium lid.
215
00:16:43,895 --> 00:16:47,353
That's like a man lifting a boxcar.
216
00:16:48,232 --> 00:16:51,224
And that's only the beginning of the
adventure.
217
00:16:51,969 --> 00:16:55,405
There are some remarkable stories
about how octopuses can unscrew
218
00:16:55,540 --> 00:16:56,973
jars to get crabs
219
00:16:57,108 --> 00:17:00,134
or there's even the story that an
octopus climbs out of an aquarium,
220
00:17:00,278 --> 00:17:02,109
walks down the block into another
aquarium
221
00:17:02,313 --> 00:17:04,474
to get a fish and then comes home
again.
222
00:17:04,615 --> 00:17:07,607
I don't think there's any actual
substantiation for these stories.
223
00:17:07,752 --> 00:17:10,721
It's true that some octopuses can
pull a rubber plug
224
00:17:10,855 --> 00:17:14,291
or bung out of a jar to get a crab
inside,
225
00:17:14,425 --> 00:17:16,518
but some octopuses do it and some
don't
226
00:17:16,661 --> 00:17:20,495
and we don't have good evidence that
they actually learn to do it.
227
00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:28,061
It does take a certain skill to unplug
a jar and pick out the crab inside,
228
00:17:28,206 --> 00:17:32,302
but catching a crab in the wild takes
a lot of skill, too.
229
00:17:35,813 --> 00:17:39,510
This, after all, is the softest of
soft-bodied animals
230
00:17:39,650 --> 00:17:44,349
attacking one of the hardest,
with lethal claws attached.
231
00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:50,657
First, the octopus stalks the crab,
232
00:17:50,795 --> 00:17:55,323
waiting until it can pounce from
behind, away from the claws.
233
00:17:55,633 --> 00:17:58,193
A quick leap and a grab with the
suckers
234
00:17:58,369 --> 00:18:02,772
and the octopus pulls the crab to
its mouth, at the hub of the arms.
235
00:18:03,875 --> 00:18:06,673
Then the octopus uses its only hard
part,
236
00:18:06,811 --> 00:18:08,676
its parrot-like beak,
237
00:18:08,813 --> 00:18:11,475
to bite the crab
at its only soft part,
238
00:18:11,616 --> 00:18:14,642
the membrane where the hard parts
meet.
239
00:18:14,785 --> 00:18:17,583
Next, it paralyzes the crab with nerve
venom,
240
00:18:17,722 --> 00:18:19,986
dissolves its muscle with saliva,
241
00:18:20,124 --> 00:18:21,614
pulls the shell open
242
00:18:21,759 --> 00:18:24,956
and sucks out the liquefied flesh,
243
00:18:25,096 --> 00:18:28,691
leaving behind
a perfectly clean plate.
244
00:18:30,868 --> 00:18:34,861
Octopuses will eat almost anything,
and they eat a lot.
245
00:18:35,006 --> 00:18:38,703
Every day, an octopus gains up to two
percent of its body weight,
246
00:18:38,843 --> 00:18:42,904
the equivalent of a human gaining four
pounds a day.
247
00:18:47,385 --> 00:18:50,718
Sometimes an octopus fishes with its
net,
248
00:18:50,855 --> 00:18:53,915
the webbing between its arms.
249
00:18:56,260 --> 00:18:58,228
It pounces on a piece of coral,
250
00:18:58,362 --> 00:19:01,263
traps all the small creatures there in
the web,
251
00:19:01,365 --> 00:19:05,301
and then scratches around in the net
to see what it's got.
252
00:19:15,513 --> 00:19:19,916
In their pursuit of prey, octopuses
sometimes even leave the water.
253
00:19:20,051 --> 00:19:22,178
That doesn't mean they can breathe
air, though.
254
00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:25,585
This Australian species, which hunts
in the shallows of reefs,
255
00:19:25,723 --> 00:19:30,558
has to slip into pools from time to
time so it can use its gills.
256
00:19:30,828 --> 00:19:32,523
And in or out of the water,
257
00:19:32,663 --> 00:19:35,291
having eight arms means that an
octopus can kill things
258
00:19:35,433 --> 00:19:37,560
that are larger than itself.
259
00:19:37,702 --> 00:19:41,160
Usually, only animals that hunt in
packs can do that.
260
00:19:41,339 --> 00:19:44,900
So an octopus amounts to a one
animal pack.
261
00:19:49,513 --> 00:19:53,540
When the octopus has eaten its fill,
it goes home to its den,
262
00:19:53,684 --> 00:19:57,313
not as straightforward a proposition
as it sounds,
263
00:19:57,388 --> 00:20:01,984
because how does the octopus know
where it is in relation to the den?
264
00:20:04,895 --> 00:20:09,457
Octopus researchers have shown that
the animal recognizes landmarks.
265
00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:14,503
And no matter how far, wide, and
meandering its foray has been,
266
00:20:14,639 --> 00:20:17,733
it goes home in a straight line.
267
00:20:18,709 --> 00:20:23,112
Which means it must have some kind
of a sea bed map in its head.
268
00:20:28,653 --> 00:20:33,556
Jean Boal tests this idea by putting
octopuses in mazes
269
00:20:33,691 --> 00:20:37,286
and finding out if they can tell right
from left.
270
00:20:37,895 --> 00:20:39,226
Well, this is the maze.
271
00:20:39,363 --> 00:20:40,694
There are two choices.
272
00:20:40,831 --> 00:20:43,391
The octopus can either go to
the right or to the left.
273
00:20:43,534 --> 00:20:47,129
The left hole is actually blocked off,
although you can't tell right now,
274
00:20:47,271 --> 00:20:48,636
while this hole is open.
275
00:20:48,773 --> 00:20:51,765
And it's up to the octopus
to figure out which way to go.
276
00:20:51,909 --> 00:20:54,173
I'll be watching the whole thing from
a camera overhead,
277
00:20:54,312 --> 00:20:55,643
because if I stay in sight,
278
00:20:55,780 --> 00:20:59,773
the octopus will watch me rather than
pay attention to which way to go.
279
00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:05,518
So here it goes.
The octopus is in the house
280
00:21:05,656 --> 00:21:08,887
and it will drop out now,
because it's out of the water.
281
00:21:16,901 --> 00:21:19,335
This octopus hates shallow water and
it hates bright light,
282
00:21:19,403 --> 00:21:22,497
so it's going to try to
find the open burrow.
283
00:21:23,074 --> 00:21:25,406
He can't see very far, because he's
low to the ground.
284
00:21:25,543 --> 00:21:28,944
So he can't tell ahead of time that
that hole is blocked off.
285
00:21:29,080 --> 00:21:33,676
So he's exploring slowly and carefully
around the outside edge.
286
00:21:38,789 --> 00:21:41,257
For the first time,
it takes an octopus anywhere
287
00:21:41,392 --> 00:21:44,759
up to ten minutes
to find the open hole.
288
00:21:45,830 --> 00:21:48,924
But it looks like this octopus is
moving quite quickly,
289
00:21:49,066 --> 00:21:52,900
because there he goes now.
He's just found it.
290
00:21:54,805 --> 00:21:57,399
That was that octopus' first trial.
291
00:21:57,541 --> 00:22:02,410
Each animal runs through the maze
20, 30 or 40 times.
292
00:22:02,913 --> 00:22:06,713
And with experience, the octopuses
do get quicker.
293
00:22:06,851 --> 00:22:09,411
And that, at least, suggests learning.
294
00:22:09,553 --> 00:22:14,013
We do know that they're capable of
quite complex behaviors of all kinds,
295
00:22:14,158 --> 00:22:17,150
including spatial orientation
behavior.
296
00:22:17,361 --> 00:22:20,660
But we don't know yet and it's going
to take a lot more experimentation
297
00:22:20,798 --> 00:22:22,766
to determine whether they're
intelligent
298
00:22:22,900 --> 00:22:26,734
in the sense that we mean
intelligence for ourselves.
299
00:22:28,739 --> 00:22:32,072
There are several ways ofjudging
an animal's intelligence.
300
00:22:32,209 --> 00:22:35,872
One is by the intricacy of its
communication skills
301
00:22:36,013 --> 00:22:41,417
and this animal, the cuttlefish,
is a veritable Shakespeare.
302
00:22:41,552 --> 00:22:46,216
Except that it doesn't speak with
words, but with patterns.
303
00:22:49,026 --> 00:22:52,826
Those stripes rippling across the
back of a male cuttlefish
304
00:22:52,963 --> 00:22:57,991
are telling another male where to go,
away.
305
00:22:58,135 --> 00:22:59,966
The rippler has found a female
306
00:23:00,104 --> 00:23:02,902
and is staking his claim.
307
00:23:07,378 --> 00:23:10,211
It's the cuttlefish's brain that's
making it happen.
308
00:23:10,347 --> 00:23:13,407
It thinks the pattern onto its body.
309
00:23:13,551 --> 00:23:15,781
Squid and octopuses can do this, too,
310
00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:20,357
by sending signals through nerves to
what's known as chromatophores,
311
00:23:20,491 --> 00:23:24,689
tens of thousands of tiny color cells
in the skin.
312
00:23:24,829 --> 00:23:27,195
Each chromatophore is like a bag of
pigment
313
00:23:27,364 --> 00:23:30,060
at the center of spokes of muscles.
314
00:23:30,201 --> 00:23:34,331
When the nerves relax the muscles,
the bag contracts and wrinkles
315
00:23:34,405 --> 00:23:36,999
into ridges and grooves.
316
00:23:38,509 --> 00:23:42,138
But when the muscles pull, the bag
stretches out,
317
00:23:42,279 --> 00:23:46,147
revealing the pigments in all their
glory.
318
00:23:48,819 --> 00:23:52,152
Basically, there are only four colors
in the chromatophores,
319
00:23:52,289 --> 00:23:55,816
black brown, red, and yellow.
320
00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:57,860
But the timing of their opening and
closing
321
00:23:57,995 --> 00:24:00,987
gives the illusion of a lot more than
that,
322
00:24:01,131 --> 00:24:05,591
of tones that may not be seen anywhere
else in nature.
323
00:24:07,371 --> 00:24:10,101
It really is the timing that does the
trick.
324
00:24:10,241 --> 00:24:14,974
Fractions of seconds are involved and
the effect is like neon lights
325
00:24:15,112 --> 00:24:17,706
traveling across the skin.
326
00:24:19,016 --> 00:24:22,315
The human brain can signal a change
in skin color, too.
327
00:24:22,386 --> 00:24:23,876
It's called blushing.
328
00:24:24,021 --> 00:24:28,481
But compared to what a cuttlefish can
do, that's pretty rudimentary,
329
00:24:28,626 --> 00:24:32,790
the difference between a grunt and a
song.
330
00:24:35,699 --> 00:24:39,396
Cuttlefish use this neon to send
signals to each other,
331
00:24:39,537 --> 00:24:42,438
but they also flash at their prey.
332
00:24:47,678 --> 00:24:49,339
Why, though?
333
00:24:50,414 --> 00:24:54,714
Surely, only cuttlefish know what
the signals mean.
334
00:24:59,056 --> 00:25:00,489
There is a theory.
335
00:25:00,624 --> 00:25:03,184
They're hypnotizing the intended
meal,
336
00:25:03,327 --> 00:25:07,024
spellbinding it while the cuttlefish
takes aim.
337
00:25:14,371 --> 00:25:16,862
Probably the most important use of
the patterns,
338
00:25:17,007 --> 00:25:20,465
for cuttlefish and octopuses,
is disguise.
339
00:25:20,611 --> 00:25:24,103
The best defense these soft-bodied
animals have is hiding.
340
00:25:24,248 --> 00:25:25,977
Camouflage is a way of doing that
341
00:25:26,116 --> 00:25:29,483
and being in the open
at the same time.
342
00:25:30,354 --> 00:25:35,053
Cuttlefish camouflage is the specialty
of Doctor John Messenger.
343
00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:39,828
Well, what we've got here is an animal
over a gravelly bottom.
344
00:25:39,964 --> 00:25:41,659
He is almost uniform.
345
00:25:41,799 --> 00:25:44,700
Half closing your eyes, you can see
something which has quite a good
346
00:25:44,835 --> 00:25:47,429
intensity match to the background.
347
00:25:49,506 --> 00:25:51,906
Now he's coming over the gravel and
you're getting the white spots
348
00:25:52,042 --> 00:25:53,373
up very nicely.
349
00:25:53,510 --> 00:25:56,877
The pattern he's showing is somewhere
between mottled and stipple.
350
00:25:57,014 --> 00:26:00,177
He's also erecting muscle in the skin,
351
00:26:00,317 --> 00:26:03,980
so you, it gives the skin a spiky
appearance.
352
00:26:04,421 --> 00:26:08,755
So the cuttlefish is changing its
skin's color and texture.
353
00:26:08,892 --> 00:26:12,293
It gets that mottled effect by way
of another kind of skin cell,
354
00:26:12,429 --> 00:26:13,453
the leucophore,
355
00:26:13,597 --> 00:26:16,157
which is covered in tiny white lumps.
356
00:26:16,333 --> 00:26:20,167
When light hits these, it's scattered
and reflected back much whiter,
357
00:26:20,337 --> 00:26:23,500
making pale patches on the
cuttlefish's skin.
358
00:26:23,641 --> 00:26:26,769
Sometimes, the effect is geometric.
359
00:26:28,178 --> 00:26:29,668
Well, here we've got an animal
360
00:26:29,813 --> 00:26:33,579
which is on a much more
variegated background.
361
00:26:33,717 --> 00:26:37,346
What he's doing is now generating very
bold and big patterns,
362
00:26:37,488 --> 00:26:38,580
squares and stripes,
363
00:26:38,722 --> 00:26:43,091
which completely break up the overall
outline of the animal.
364
00:26:43,427 --> 00:26:47,329
In really murky water, you'd have no
idea what this animal was,
365
00:26:47,464 --> 00:26:50,228
or even that it was an animal.
366
00:26:50,367 --> 00:26:53,495
But how does it know what patterns to
create?
367
00:26:53,637 --> 00:26:56,731
How does a cuttlefish see its world?
368
00:26:57,041 --> 00:27:00,704
John Messenger has been experimenting
with colored gravel
369
00:27:00,844 --> 00:27:04,803
Well, here we've got a cuttlefish
sitting on an artificial sea bed.
370
00:27:04,948 --> 00:27:07,576
And if you'll look at him, you'll see
that he is very pale
371
00:27:07,718 --> 00:27:10,551
and it's not a bad brightness match.
372
00:27:10,688 --> 00:27:13,020
The eye is evidently looking down
at the white stones
373
00:27:13,157 --> 00:27:14,647
at the bottom of the tank,
374
00:27:14,792 --> 00:27:15,952
not at the green wall of the sides.
375
00:27:16,093 --> 00:27:17,754
They're always looking at the bottom.
376
00:27:17,895 --> 00:27:21,296
Well, we're now going to lift up this
barrier
377
00:27:21,432 --> 00:27:24,595
and hope we can persuade this animal
378
00:27:24,735 --> 00:27:27,863
to move across onto
a much darker background.
379
00:27:28,005 --> 00:27:34,433
I shall tickle him rather gently,
like this.
380
00:27:35,079 --> 00:27:37,604
And he's beginning to move across.
381
00:27:38,582 --> 00:27:42,518
And I think, at once, you can see he's
turned very dark.
382
00:27:43,954 --> 00:27:48,789
One important point about this
cuttlefish, it can't even see red.
383
00:27:48,926 --> 00:27:50,791
It's color blind.
384
00:27:50,928 --> 00:27:54,420
It sees white, black, and shades of
gray.
385
00:27:54,565 --> 00:27:58,899
But it sees them very precisely and
can tell from the subtle contrasts
386
00:27:59,036 --> 00:28:03,097
between the grays
exactly how to blend in.
387
00:28:03,307 --> 00:28:07,107
Sometimes, though, the contrast is a
little too subtle.
388
00:28:07,411 --> 00:28:12,144
Here we've got the cuttlefish on a
white background with red stones.
389
00:28:12,316 --> 00:28:13,578
That's as you and I see it.
390
00:28:13,717 --> 00:28:17,653
As he sees it, he's on a white
background with some very dark stones.
391
00:28:17,788 --> 00:28:20,882
So it isn't a uniform background,
it's a patterned background.
392
00:28:21,024 --> 00:28:24,425
And look at the animal himself,
you can see he's patterned.
393
00:28:24,561 --> 00:28:28,361
He's got some spots on the mantle bar
across the head and other things.
394
00:28:28,499 --> 00:28:32,401
It's a definite pattern. He's decided
that background isn't uniform.
395
00:28:32,536 --> 00:28:35,903
This one, now, very obvious difference
to us,
396
00:28:36,039 --> 00:28:37,506
with color vision, blue and yellow.
397
00:28:37,641 --> 00:28:41,202
But, in fact, these stones were chosen
because of their intensity match.
398
00:28:41,345 --> 00:28:42,710
They are the same brightness.
399
00:28:42,846 --> 00:28:44,871
To this color blind animal, they are
no different.
400
00:28:45,015 --> 00:28:46,642
They're equal sorts of gray
401
00:28:46,784 --> 00:28:49,446
and so what does he do? He puts on
no pattern at all.
402
00:28:49,586 --> 00:28:51,520
He's a rather uniform stipple,
403
00:28:51,655 --> 00:28:53,020
which he hopes is the best way
404
00:28:53,157 --> 00:28:56,456
to match what he sees
as a uniform background.
405
00:28:58,162 --> 00:29:02,895
But how can a color blind animal,
and octopuses are color blind, too,
406
00:29:03,033 --> 00:29:08,494
possibly camouflage itself against all
sort of colors in the wild?
407
00:29:09,506 --> 00:29:10,996
This looks like magic.
408
00:29:11,141 --> 00:29:15,976
An octopus disappears into the pinks
and purples of a coral reef.
409
00:29:16,113 --> 00:29:19,139
And this looks like something from
nothing.
410
00:29:19,316 --> 00:29:23,480
One rises out of the blues and greens
of eel grass.
411
00:29:23,887 --> 00:29:28,824
It's done with yet another kind of
skin cell, the iridophore.
412
00:29:28,959 --> 00:29:30,517
Instead of generating color,
413
00:29:30,661 --> 00:29:32,629
iridophores contain stacks
of reflective
414
00:29:32,763 --> 00:29:35,027
disks that act as prisms.
415
00:29:35,165 --> 00:29:40,501
They split the surrounding light and
cover the octopus in blues and greens.
416
00:29:41,638 --> 00:29:43,629
The blue rings of the blue-ringed
octopus
417
00:29:43,774 --> 00:29:45,708
are also done with iridophores,
418
00:29:45,843 --> 00:29:50,507
only not for camouflage.
They're meant to be seen.
419
00:29:50,948 --> 00:29:54,850
They're a skull and crossbones,
a venom warning.
420
00:29:54,985 --> 00:29:58,011
A one ounce blue-ringed octopus
carries enough poison
421
00:29:58,155 --> 00:30:00,646
to paralyze ten people.
422
00:30:01,959 --> 00:30:04,018
Squid have iridophores, too,
423
00:30:04,161 --> 00:30:06,755
but shaped more like ribbons than
disks.
424
00:30:06,897 --> 00:30:08,831
They also reflect and split light
425
00:30:08,966 --> 00:30:12,834
and give squid the silvery bluey rings
around their eyes,
426
00:30:12,970 --> 00:30:17,339
making them less conspicuous,
the opposite of eyeliner.
427
00:30:21,812 --> 00:30:25,145
And the eyes are big because vision
is vital to the animal,
428
00:30:25,282 --> 00:30:27,750
never mind the color blindness.
429
00:30:27,885 --> 00:30:33,346
Squids' eyes are well developed and
far apart for a wide field of view.
430
00:30:33,490 --> 00:30:37,119
So wide, in fact, that a squid can
almost see in front and behind
431
00:30:37,261 --> 00:30:39,229
at the same time.
432
00:30:41,932 --> 00:30:44,924
And it's seldom taken in by tricks
of light.
433
00:30:45,068 --> 00:30:50,028
That's because its eyes are fixed with
something like polarizing filters.
434
00:30:51,375 --> 00:30:54,208
This enemy barracuda, for instance,
counts on its prey
435
00:30:54,344 --> 00:30:57,472
losing it
in the glare of the sky.
436
00:31:00,651 --> 00:31:02,642
The squid isn't fooled, though.
437
00:31:02,786 --> 00:31:06,813
The eyes adjust and sift out the rays
that could cause confusion
438
00:31:06,957 --> 00:31:11,917
and see what they need to see in
unambiguous black and white.
439
00:31:14,698 --> 00:31:19,328
The squids see the threat and then
do something about it.
440
00:31:21,738 --> 00:31:26,641
They change their skin pattern and
disappear against the foliage.
441
00:31:39,156 --> 00:31:44,150
The way squid defend themselves has
been studied by Doctor Roger Hanlon.
442
00:31:45,062 --> 00:31:47,462
The primary defense of squids is
camouflage
443
00:31:47,597 --> 00:31:49,588
and they do a masterful job of this.
444
00:31:49,733 --> 00:31:52,361
If they go down low, near to the soft
corals,
445
00:31:52,469 --> 00:31:55,370
they can match the shape and the
general color
446
00:31:55,505 --> 00:31:58,372
and texture of these corals
very well, indeed.
447
00:31:58,442 --> 00:31:59,238
If they're aimed up,
448
00:31:59,409 --> 00:32:01,468
they can put a banding pattern across
the bottom
449
00:32:01,611 --> 00:32:03,806
that matches the bands of the
gorgonian.
450
00:32:03,947 --> 00:32:07,906
So they can look exactly like
whatever shape the gorgonian is.
451
00:32:08,051 --> 00:32:10,315
Predators just don't see them.
452
00:32:12,222 --> 00:32:13,314
When camouflage fails,
453
00:32:13,423 --> 00:32:16,449
that is, when the predator actually
sees the squid and they move close
454
00:32:16,593 --> 00:32:17,958
in to begin the attack sequence,
455
00:32:18,095 --> 00:32:21,690
squids do something totally different
They go into their secondary defense.
456
00:32:21,832 --> 00:32:24,130
And in this case, they may look unlike
a squid
457
00:32:24,267 --> 00:32:26,895
by putting two false eye spots on the
other side of the body
458
00:32:27,037 --> 00:32:29,130
so that the predator doesn't know
which way they're going to jet,
459
00:32:29,272 --> 00:32:30,466
forward or backward.
460
00:32:30,607 --> 00:32:33,838
The squid may then raise its arms in
a startle display
461
00:32:33,977 --> 00:32:37,344
that will stop the forward movement
of the predator
462
00:32:37,481 --> 00:32:40,678
and in that critical moment, it will
then go into the next phase
463
00:32:40,817 --> 00:32:41,909
of secondary defense,
464
00:32:42,052 --> 00:32:45,647
which is to blanch, ink, and jet away
at very rapid speed, leaving only
465
00:32:45,789 --> 00:32:47,689
this ink pseudomorph of a squid.
466
00:32:47,824 --> 00:32:50,816
And, of course, the predator then
bites into that ink
467
00:32:50,961 --> 00:32:54,897
and gets no squid whatsoever and
rather a bad flavor, as well.
468
00:32:55,032 --> 00:32:57,933
It's interesting that octopuses have
a similar system.
469
00:32:58,068 --> 00:33:01,162
That is, they have
the primary defense of camouflage,
470
00:33:01,338 --> 00:33:02,305
which they do very well,
471
00:33:02,439 --> 00:33:05,567
and they have the same sequence of
secondary defenses, too.
472
00:33:05,709 --> 00:33:09,702
Here in the Caymans, we were able to
study this octopus defensive behavior
473
00:33:09,846 --> 00:33:11,074
for the first time ever
474
00:33:11,214 --> 00:33:12,476
and it was very nice, indeed,
475
00:33:12,616 --> 00:33:14,777
because we were able to act as the
predator
476
00:33:14,918 --> 00:33:16,715
so that no harm
came to the octopus,
477
00:33:16,853 --> 00:33:21,051
but we were still able to see the full
repertoire of secondary defenses.
478
00:33:21,191 --> 00:33:23,659
And it came out very well, indeed.
479
00:33:31,168 --> 00:33:34,160
Doctor Hanlon and his team have been
seeing some of these defenses
480
00:33:34,371 --> 00:33:36,430
for the first time ever.
481
00:33:43,780 --> 00:33:46,772
They video the octopuses and at the
end of each day,
482
00:33:46,917 --> 00:33:48,350
they play back
what they've seen
483
00:33:48,452 --> 00:33:50,852
and go over it in detail.
484
00:33:51,888 --> 00:33:52,980
Is that up on your lens?
485
00:33:53,123 --> 00:33:54,681
Is that offensive?
It's right on the lens.
486
00:33:54,825 --> 00:33:59,353
So what happens is the animal has
tried all its defensive maneuvers
487
00:33:59,429 --> 00:34:01,488
and the last thing it does is go on
the offense
488
00:34:01,631 --> 00:34:03,531
leap on the predator, or the camera.
489
00:34:03,667 --> 00:34:04,929
Now you can see the suckers moving
490
00:34:05,068 --> 00:34:07,832
right across
the dome port on the lens.
491
00:34:07,971 --> 00:34:10,769
You never know what they're going to
do next.
492
00:34:10,907 --> 00:34:14,172
Now this, I think, is a brilliant
example of stealth.
493
00:34:14,344 --> 00:34:17,040
We call it he moving rock, or the
moving algae.
494
00:34:17,180 --> 00:34:21,116
The octopus takes up the posture
and looks like a rock
495
00:34:21,251 --> 00:34:25,210
and moves just slowly enough not
to be detected for movement,
496
00:34:25,355 --> 00:34:28,756
but it looks like one of the other
rocks right in the picture.
497
00:34:28,892 --> 00:34:31,019
Meanwhile, they move away from the
predator.
498
00:34:31,161 --> 00:34:33,789
Soon they get enough distance
and they're gone.
499
00:34:33,930 --> 00:34:35,898
So now we're into defensive...
500
00:34:36,032 --> 00:34:37,693
This is the secondary defense.
Secondary defense. Okay.
501
00:34:37,834 --> 00:34:38,459
Exactly.
502
00:34:38,602 --> 00:34:40,467
Roger, how big is he across?
503
00:34:40,604 --> 00:34:43,164
He's only about, maybe, one foot.
504
00:34:43,373 --> 00:34:44,806
Not a very big animal.
That's all? He looks bigger.
505
00:34:44,941 --> 00:34:48,172
So they've changed from camouflage
to big and bright,
506
00:34:48,378 --> 00:34:49,970
so they look bigger than they really
are.
507
00:34:50,113 --> 00:34:52,104
That's part of the idea,
is to stop the predator.
508
00:34:52,249 --> 00:34:55,446
Is that the ink that they shoot out?
Yeah, so the ink comes flying out
509
00:34:55,585 --> 00:34:57,815
and the predator usually takes a bite
of the ink.
510
00:34:57,954 --> 00:34:59,512
Here's the other trick they do.
511
00:34:59,656 --> 00:35:02,022
There he is, right there.
512
00:35:02,759 --> 00:35:04,659
That's quite a difference.
Such a contrast.
513
00:35:04,794 --> 00:35:08,059
So that's the startle threat and then
jet away and ink in your face.
514
00:35:08,198 --> 00:35:08,960
That's amazing.
515
00:35:09,099 --> 00:35:10,760
We want to go back to see what
happened.
516
00:35:10,901 --> 00:35:11,833
Sure, that'll be great.
517
00:35:11,968 --> 00:35:13,492
Okay.
518
00:35:13,837 --> 00:35:16,829
Okay, now, here is ultimate crypsis.
519
00:35:16,973 --> 00:35:19,203
The animal is just a part of the rock
at the bottom,
520
00:35:19,342 --> 00:35:20,309
it's absolutely invisible.
521
00:35:20,410 --> 00:35:24,141
Then, look at this change.
Magnificent startle threat behavior
522
00:35:24,347 --> 00:35:26,645
and ink and jet.
523
00:35:27,250 --> 00:35:29,650
And he's still inking.
Lots of ink, eh?
524
00:35:29,786 --> 00:35:32,414
Now this, we have never seen before.
525
00:35:32,556 --> 00:35:35,957
This is the ultimate startle display
when the animal is cornered
526
00:35:36,092 --> 00:35:38,060
and it gets this face that we've never
seen before.
527
00:35:38,195 --> 00:35:40,220
It looks like an owl
or a ghost or whatever
528
00:35:40,363 --> 00:35:43,332
and we think it's sort of the ultimate
threat display,
529
00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:45,595
once the predator
is really in close.
530
00:35:45,735 --> 00:35:49,000
Looks totally unlike an octopus
whatsoever, and that's the whole idea.
531
00:35:49,139 --> 00:35:51,801
"I'm not an octopus, don't mess with
me."
532
00:35:53,443 --> 00:35:55,468
The signal is simple and clear
533
00:35:55,612 --> 00:35:58,979
and could be understood by almost any
other animal.
534
00:35:59,382 --> 00:36:01,509
But when octopus, cuttlefish, and
squid
535
00:36:01,651 --> 00:36:03,949
are communicating among themselves,
536
00:36:04,087 --> 00:36:06,453
things get complicated.
537
00:36:07,657 --> 00:36:13,289
Caribbean reef squid, for instance,
have a very sophisticated courtship.
538
00:36:13,597 --> 00:36:16,794
Here, a male in the center, has picked
out a female
539
00:36:16,933 --> 00:36:20,334
and is trying to isolate her
from the rest of the shoal.
540
00:36:20,470 --> 00:36:23,098
But by turning white, the female makes
it clear
541
00:36:23,240 --> 00:36:25,731
that she's not ready for mating.
542
00:36:25,875 --> 00:36:30,209
Not yet and not necessarily with him
in particular.
543
00:36:30,580 --> 00:36:32,775
The whiteness is also a signal
to the other males
544
00:36:32,916 --> 00:36:35,476
that she's still available.
545
00:36:38,355 --> 00:36:41,813
The male, in turn, blanches at them.
546
00:36:41,958 --> 00:36:43,323
But only on the side of his body
547
00:36:43,426 --> 00:36:46,623
that they can see and she can't.
548
00:36:56,906 --> 00:36:58,999
A rival male comes too close
549
00:36:59,142 --> 00:37:01,076
and a fight starts.
550
00:37:13,957 --> 00:37:18,587
While they, in their squid way,
slug it out,
551
00:37:20,130 --> 00:37:24,931
the female goes back to the shoal to
see if she can find a better male.
552
00:37:26,169 --> 00:37:30,572
Now the original male, having won his
fight, goes after her again.
553
00:37:30,707 --> 00:37:35,542
At first, she seems reluctant.
But after all, he has won a fight
554
00:37:35,679 --> 00:37:39,308
and will probably have fight-winning
offspring.
555
00:37:41,851 --> 00:37:48,188
So she accepts him and they court,
swimming fast, side by side.
556
00:37:52,962 --> 00:37:55,590
The actual mating is done in a blink.
557
00:37:55,732 --> 00:38:00,499
The male reaches out and sticks a
packet of sperm on her head or arms.
558
00:38:00,637 --> 00:38:05,267
She then picks it up and tucks it into
a storage organ near her mouth.
559
00:38:05,375 --> 00:38:09,812
Sperm can remain there, inactive,
for many months.
560
00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:27,087
Reef squid courtship can be pretty
hectic sometimes,
561
00:38:27,230 --> 00:38:33,328
but it's almost calm compared to
another species, the opalescent squid.
562
00:38:35,805 --> 00:38:38,638
There's a full moon off the California
coast.
563
00:38:38,775 --> 00:38:41,972
The opalescents gather in shoals of
thousands,
564
00:38:42,112 --> 00:38:46,310
their translucent bodies glowing in
the moonlight.
565
00:38:53,990 --> 00:38:58,359
All through the shoal, females are
being grabbed by males,
566
00:38:58,495 --> 00:39:01,896
whose arms flush red as they mate
with them.
567
00:39:16,212 --> 00:39:20,546
Once a male has a female in his
clutches, he holds on tight.
568
00:39:20,683 --> 00:39:23,811
All around, there are unattached
males who, in their frustration,
569
00:39:23,953 --> 00:39:28,117
will sometimes even resort to ramming
a mating pair.
570
00:39:35,498 --> 00:39:38,126
And sometimes, ramming works.
571
00:39:38,568 --> 00:39:41,867
Even if a female is being held for all
she's worth,
572
00:39:42,005 --> 00:39:45,133
a ram raider can
still fertilize her.
573
00:39:48,077 --> 00:39:51,672
In studying another species with this
kind of mating system,
574
00:39:51,815 --> 00:39:54,181
scientists have found females laying
eggs
575
00:39:54,350 --> 00:39:58,309
fertilized by a whole
lot of different males.
576
00:40:01,891 --> 00:40:06,885
And there are a whole lot of eggs,
up to 55 thousand per mother.
577
00:40:08,598 --> 00:40:11,123
They're left in large communal
nurseries,
578
00:40:11,267 --> 00:40:14,259
in capsules anchored in the sand.
579
00:40:15,271 --> 00:40:20,732
When the young squid hatch, there will
only be other young squid around them.
580
00:40:22,779 --> 00:40:25,646
Having reproduced and finished their
mission in life,
581
00:40:25,782 --> 00:40:28,774
the older generation will have died.
582
00:40:30,186 --> 00:40:35,749
By and large, squid, cuttlefish, and
octopuses are not long-lived animals.
583
00:40:35,892 --> 00:40:39,157
A year is a lifetime for most of them.
584
00:40:40,530 --> 00:40:44,398
There's one octopus, though, that
breaks the records.
585
00:40:46,769 --> 00:40:52,435
It's found 600 feet down in the cold,
dark waters around the North Pole.
586
00:40:55,245 --> 00:41:00,308
It's the Arctic octopus and it lives
for six years.
587
00:41:00,517 --> 00:41:04,544
It's tiny, too, about the size of a
golf ball.
588
00:41:04,687 --> 00:41:08,316
But in one way, it's the biggest
octopus in the sea.
589
00:41:08,458 --> 00:41:10,426
In proportion to its body,
590
00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:15,361
the male has the largest sexual organ
of any octopus.
591
00:41:15,632 --> 00:41:18,624
It's at the tip
of the third right arm.
592
00:41:23,573 --> 00:41:26,736
No one knows for sure why it needs
to be so big
593
00:41:26,876 --> 00:41:28,935
and until scientists
can spend more time
594
00:41:29,078 --> 00:41:31,876
600 feet deep in the Arctic Ocean,
595
00:41:32,015 --> 00:41:34,347
they can only speculate.
596
00:41:35,552 --> 00:41:38,783
So far, they've only been able to
study them closely in tanks.
597
00:41:38,922 --> 00:41:42,050
And one thing they can see is that
the male doesn't waste much time
598
00:41:42,191 --> 00:41:43,590
with courtship.
599
00:41:43,726 --> 00:41:48,629
When he finds a female, he literally
seizes the opportunity.
600
00:41:55,038 --> 00:42:01,034
What he's trying to do is put his arm
inside her sac-like body cavity.
601
00:42:04,781 --> 00:42:07,375
This is something that's never been
seen in the wild
602
00:42:07,517 --> 00:42:13,080
and so any ideas about the reason for
the long arm are just ideas.
603
00:42:17,961 --> 00:42:21,328
Maybe it anchors the male during the
mating.
604
00:42:24,667 --> 00:42:29,627
Maybe it's a spoon for removing sperm
from a previous male.
605
00:42:30,707 --> 00:42:34,074
Maybe it's a way of making absolutely
certain that the rare encounters
606
00:42:34,210 --> 00:42:37,907
between these octopuses are
successful.
607
00:42:40,550 --> 00:42:44,247
Whatever, this male finally does
succeed.
608
00:42:44,387 --> 00:42:49,051
He deposits a small sac of sperm
and withdraws.
609
00:42:56,633 --> 00:43:00,865
For her part, the female, having
gotten the precious sperm,
610
00:43:01,004 --> 00:43:05,634
will now store it for about five
months while her eggs develop.
611
00:43:07,510 --> 00:43:13,972
The story of every mother octopus is
the ultimate in maternal devotion.
612
00:43:14,550 --> 00:43:16,677
Off the North American west coast,
613
00:43:16,819 --> 00:43:22,621
a giant Pacific octopus is cloistered
in her den, tending her eggs.
614
00:43:22,959 --> 00:43:26,918
Several months ago, she laid between
ten and 20 thousand of them
615
00:43:27,063 --> 00:43:31,523
and she hasn't left the den since,
not even to eat.
616
00:43:34,837 --> 00:43:38,364
The eggs hang overhead like great
bunches of grapes
617
00:43:38,508 --> 00:43:43,810
and she tends them, aerating them
with bursts from herjet
618
00:43:49,752 --> 00:43:53,654
and stroking them with her arms to
remove algae.
619
00:43:54,724 --> 00:43:58,524
Inside the eggs are yolk sacs, which
are food for the larvae
620
00:43:58,661 --> 00:44:01,687
during the six months
before they hatch.
621
00:44:01,831 --> 00:44:05,699
What the mother lives on are her own
internal tissues.
622
00:44:05,835 --> 00:44:09,464
As she broods the eggs, she digests
herself
623
00:44:09,605 --> 00:44:13,837
and by the time they hatch, she has
wasted away.
624
00:44:13,976 --> 00:44:18,675
The babies go into the world with no
further assistance.
625
00:44:22,385 --> 00:44:24,444
Giant octopuses are big,
626
00:44:24,587 --> 00:44:26,680
but nothing like the legendary
monsters
627
00:44:26,823 --> 00:44:29,314
that could drag whole ships under.
628
00:44:29,459 --> 00:44:31,359
This probably never happened.
629
00:44:31,494 --> 00:44:34,930
But that doesn't mean there aren't
giant squids in the sea.
630
00:44:35,064 --> 00:44:38,158
Doctor Clyde Roper has studied the
evidence.
631
00:44:38,367 --> 00:44:42,929
While many aspects of the giant squid
still are very mysterious,
632
00:44:43,072 --> 00:44:45,870
they are no longer animals of
mythology
633
00:44:46,008 --> 00:44:49,808
and the reason is because we now
have a number of specimens.
634
00:44:49,946 --> 00:44:54,144
The point is, we have never seen a
live giant squid.
635
00:44:54,283 --> 00:44:57,548
What we know is from specimens that
have been washed ashore,
636
00:44:57,687 --> 00:44:58,949
stranded on beaches,
637
00:44:59,088 --> 00:45:02,387
from the stomachs of their major
predator, sperm whales,
638
00:45:02,525 --> 00:45:04,993
and also, from fishermen's nets.
639
00:45:05,128 --> 00:45:06,595
It's like detective work,
640
00:45:06,729 --> 00:45:09,425
trying to put together
little bits of information
641
00:45:09,565 --> 00:45:12,090
to learn about the giant squid.
642
00:45:12,235 --> 00:45:14,294
When we have these bits of
information,
643
00:45:14,437 --> 00:45:15,768
we can put them together
644
00:45:15,905 --> 00:45:18,135
and make a model of a giant squid,
645
00:45:18,341 --> 00:45:22,300
such as this one in the Houston Museum
of Natural Science.
646
00:45:22,445 --> 00:45:25,972
Giant squids truly are gigantic,
huge animals.
647
00:45:26,115 --> 00:45:27,912
For example,
the largest ever measured,
648
00:45:28,050 --> 00:45:30,644
from tip of tail to tip of the
tentacles,
649
00:45:30,787 --> 00:45:34,018
is about 18 meters
in total length.
650
00:45:34,157 --> 00:45:37,058
That's the length between the
pitcher's mound and home plate
651
00:45:37,193 --> 00:45:38,820
on a baseball field.
652
00:45:38,961 --> 00:45:44,024
And the largest ones would weigh
1,000, perhaps even 2,000 pounds.
653
00:45:44,167 --> 00:45:46,533
We know enough, now, about their
anatomy
654
00:45:46,669 --> 00:45:50,696
to understand that they're not such
powerful creatures that they could
655
00:45:50,840 --> 00:45:51,932
destroy a submarine,
656
00:45:52,074 --> 00:45:57,068
as the one in Jules Verne 20,000
Leagues Under the Sea almost did.
657
00:45:57,213 --> 00:45:58,840
Their eyes are really fascinating.
658
00:45:58,981 --> 00:46:01,449
They are the largest eyes
in the animal kingdom,
659
00:46:01,584 --> 00:46:04,018
about the size of a volleyball.
660
00:46:04,153 --> 00:46:07,281
The reason is that these animals are
deep sea animals.
661
00:46:07,390 --> 00:46:12,293
They live very deep, from 200 meters
down to perhaps 1,000 or even more.
662
00:46:12,428 --> 00:46:15,488
The only light down at those depths
comes from other animals
663
00:46:15,631 --> 00:46:18,532
that produce light,
flashes and glows.
664
00:46:18,668 --> 00:46:23,605
These large eyes gather in the light
and the animal uses that to gather
665
00:46:23,739 --> 00:46:25,707
and capture their prey.
666
00:46:27,777 --> 00:46:31,474
Since no one has ever seen a live
giant squid,
667
00:46:31,614 --> 00:46:35,141
we can only imagine what they look
like as they cruise the depths
668
00:46:35,351 --> 00:46:37,319
in search of food.
669
00:46:40,990 --> 00:46:44,482
People used to think giant squid
attacked sperm whales
670
00:46:44,627 --> 00:46:48,324
because these deep divers were often
found with big sucker marks
671
00:46:48,464 --> 00:46:50,864
on their mouths and heads.
672
00:46:51,000 --> 00:46:53,332
But analysis of the whales' stomach
contents
673
00:46:53,436 --> 00:46:55,666
eventually revealed the reverse.
674
00:46:55,805 --> 00:46:58,103
They were eating the squid.
675
00:47:06,449 --> 00:47:08,917
But what actually does happen?
676
00:47:09,051 --> 00:47:12,851
The only way to find out is to go down
and look.
677
00:47:12,989 --> 00:47:15,150
Scientists would have done this
before,
678
00:47:15,324 --> 00:47:17,485
but only lately has there been the
technology
679
00:47:17,627 --> 00:47:20,755
to explore the deepest parts
of the ocean.
680
00:47:23,065 --> 00:47:25,590
A descent into a parallel planet
Earth,
681
00:47:25,735 --> 00:47:30,536
unknown, unexplored, and absolutely
dark.
682
00:47:30,673 --> 00:47:33,437
But there are more species of octopus
and squid down here than there
683
00:47:33,576 --> 00:47:35,976
are in shallow waters.
684
00:47:38,114 --> 00:47:41,777
A cockatoo squid, whose way of holding
its arms above its head
685
00:47:41,918 --> 00:47:44,944
makes it look like a parrot with a
crest.
686
00:47:49,458 --> 00:47:51,756
A squid with long, ropy tentacles,
687
00:47:51,894 --> 00:47:54,624
which it uses as fishing lines.
688
00:47:55,264 --> 00:47:57,323
Turn right, side view.
689
00:47:58,734 --> 00:48:01,134
7,500 feet down,
690
00:48:01,304 --> 00:48:04,273
and two ghostly white octopuses,
691
00:48:04,340 --> 00:48:07,366
a little one sitting on the head of a
big one.
692
00:48:08,811 --> 00:48:10,779
Two different species?
693
00:48:10,913 --> 00:48:15,714
Or maybe a tiny male and an enormous
female mating.
694
00:48:15,851 --> 00:48:17,409
No one knows yet.
695
00:48:17,553 --> 00:48:19,851
They've only just been seen.
696
00:48:21,123 --> 00:48:24,183
Piggy backing octopuses.
Mom and baby? Is that...
697
00:48:24,327 --> 00:48:26,056
Could be.
698
00:48:26,195 --> 00:48:32,623
Deeper still, 9,000 feet, the cirrate
octopus.
699
00:48:34,003 --> 00:48:36,301
It has paddle-like fins and arms
700
00:48:36,405 --> 00:48:39,966
that have turned into
the ribs of an umbrella.
701
00:48:41,644 --> 00:48:46,081
It parachutes across the sea bed on
some mystery mission.
702
00:48:46,215 --> 00:48:51,312
Posturing, perhaps, or maybe
collecting food in its net.
703
00:48:56,525 --> 00:48:59,050
Since there's no way for people to
get out of these submarines
704
00:48:59,195 --> 00:49:02,323
and investigate the deep sea animals
firsthand,
705
00:49:02,465 --> 00:49:05,457
contact with them is a little blunt.
706
00:49:06,135 --> 00:49:08,968
But sometimes, good enough.
707
00:49:09,405 --> 00:49:13,364
What does a cirrate octopus do when
it's attacked?
708
00:49:14,043 --> 00:49:16,341
It sucks water into its net,
709
00:49:16,479 --> 00:49:18,344
touches the tips of its arms together,
710
00:49:18,481 --> 00:49:22,008
and turns into something
like a pumpkin.
711
00:49:22,151 --> 00:49:26,747
A predator, at the very least,
would be confused.
712
00:49:58,954 --> 00:50:02,913
No light from the sun ever reaches
these ocean depths
713
00:50:03,059 --> 00:50:07,928
and yet many of the creatures here do
have eyes and use sight.
714
00:50:08,297 --> 00:50:10,322
That's because
many of these creatures,
715
00:50:10,466 --> 00:50:14,869
including a lot of the squid, generate
light of their own.
716
00:50:15,571 --> 00:50:20,338
Firefly squid, they live at a
relatively shallow 1,200 feet,
717
00:50:20,476 --> 00:50:23,377
where there's still a slight glow
from above.
718
00:50:23,512 --> 00:50:25,503
To disguise their silhouettes against
this,
719
00:50:25,648 --> 00:50:28,116
they produce sparkling blue light.
720
00:50:28,250 --> 00:50:30,810
And when they spawn, they go near
the surface,
721
00:50:30,953 --> 00:50:33,820
where they're commonly
caught by fishermen.
722
00:50:34,657 --> 00:50:37,558
The blue flashes come from the tips
of each squids arms
723
00:50:37,693 --> 00:50:42,630
and could conceivably blind an
attacker while the squid got away.
724
00:50:44,700 --> 00:50:48,830
Firefly squid are one of 700 species
of squid, cuttlefish, and octopus
725
00:50:48,971 --> 00:50:51,166
that are known to exist.
726
00:50:51,307 --> 00:50:54,572
How many do exist is, of course,
unknown.
727
00:50:54,710 --> 00:51:00,273
And only a hundred of the known
species have ever been seen alive.
728
00:51:01,917 --> 00:51:06,945
There's a lot left to discover about
both the ones we don't know
729
00:51:07,089 --> 00:51:09,421
and the ones we do.
730
00:51:09,992 --> 00:51:13,189
These creatures are so unlike humans
731
00:51:13,362 --> 00:51:14,590
that sometimes you have to wonder
732
00:51:14,730 --> 00:51:18,496
how we could both inhabit
the same planet.
733
00:51:19,902 --> 00:51:22,666
There's a fascinating journey ahead
734
00:51:22,805 --> 00:51:29,677
for those who follow these alien
animals into their undersea world.
63199
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