After yesterday’s Kavanaugh hearing, a number of Senators may know how Taiyo Masuda, 23, felt this week when a seal surfaced only to slap him in the face with a live octopus. Not one of the things one prepares for on a kayaking trip in New Zealand.
A filmmaker captured the moment below. It turns out that it was not personal, just business. The seal was just trying to rip off a tentacle with the throw.
Ah, poor octopus. I quite like them. They are capable of great intelligence and emotion, for a creature that typically only lives a couple of years. My favorite species is the Indonesian Mimic Octopus. This amazing octopus can mimic not merely the color, but the behavior of other animals. It can swim through the water like a lion fish, holding its arms like spines, pretend to be an eel, or even walk across the bottom like…I don’t know what that is…a Yeti maybe? Crossing a barren expanse of sand or swimming in open water is usually suicide for the tender invertebrate, but pretend to be a venomous sea snake, and you can brazen it out in front of a horde of hungry fish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3krN7vi5tlc
I hope the above video shows the mimic jauntily walking across the bottom of the sea like a teddy bear or Yeti. Researchers are still trying to decode all the behaviors, trying to figure out what exactly it is mimicking for some of them.
My next thought is…don’t go swimming or kayaking or paddle boarding anywhere near seals or sea lions. Where there are pinnipeds, there are sharks that eat pinnipeds.
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Seals and other sea animals do not like humans on paddle boards or surf boards. Period.
Ahh that’s easy. One is a Kiwi and one is an Ozzie. They both use the same saying about each other. “Not true we don’t like (Kiwi or Ozzie) only two things wrong with them. It’s above water and their breathing. Having one whole branch of the family living in Australia and another In New Zealand we who chose Canada or the USA have our own references for the Down Unders. “We’re on top because we are here.”
That will teach him not to play with someone else’s food. 😉
If Mr. Masuda doesn’t answer this seal’s challenge to a duel, he will be labeled a coward in the Pacific.
Seals demand satisfaction.
Hahaha. He’ll never be able to show his face at a gathering of seals!
That was awesome.
You sir! I challenge you to a duel! En garde!