- 13.7.2025
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00:00:00Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020
00:00:30A lot of people say an octopus is like an alien.
00:00:41But the strange thing is, as you get closer to them, you realise that we're very similar in a lot of ways.
00:00:53You're stepping into this completely different world.
00:01:00Such an incredible feeling.
00:01:10And you feel you're on the brink of something extraordinary.
00:01:13But you realise that there's a line that can't be crossed.
00:01:24It's quite a long time ago now, that day, when it all started.
00:01:36It's quite a long time ago now, that day, when it all started.
00:01:50It's quite a long time ago.
00:02:00Norddeutscher Rundfunk
00:02:30Norddeutscher Rundfunk
00:02:34My childhood memories were completely dominated by the rocky shore, the intertidal, and the kelp forest.
00:02:46We had this little wooden bungalow, literally below the high water mark.
00:02:52So when those huge storms used to come in, the ocean used to smash the doors down and fill up the bottom of the house.
00:03:00So it was incredibly exciting as a child to literally live in the force of that giant Atlantic ocean.
00:03:20Most of my childhood was spent in the rock pools, diving in the shallow kelp forest.
00:03:25That's what I most loved to do.
00:03:35As an adult, I'd been separated from that.
00:03:40And that was fine at first.
00:03:44Until I went to the central Kalahari about 20 years ago.
00:03:48I was making a film called The Great Dance with my brother.
00:04:04And then I met these men who were probably some of the best trackers in the world.
00:04:09To watch these men go into these incredible subtle signs in nature, things that my eye couldn't even see,
00:04:22and then follow them, sometimes for hours, and find hidden animals in the landscape was just extraordinary to witness.
00:04:30I mean, they just were inside of the natural world.
00:04:39And I could feel I was outside.
00:04:44And I had this deep longing to be inside that world.
00:04:48I went through two years of absolute hell.
00:05:05I'd been working hard for a long time.
00:05:09I'd just worn myself out.
00:05:11I hadn't slept properly for months.
00:05:16My family was suffering.
00:05:21And I was getting sick from all the pressure.
00:05:28My mind couldn't deal with all that stuff.
00:05:33And I didn't want to see a camera or an edit suite ever again.
00:05:37I couldn't even face that.
00:05:41Your great purpose in life is now just in pieces.
00:05:52And you've got this young child that's growing up, Tom.
00:06:01I just couldn't, in that state, be a good father to my son.
00:06:04I had to have a radical change.
00:06:15And I took inspiration from my childhood,
00:06:17and I took inspiration from these master trackers
00:06:21that I'd worked with in the Kalahari.
00:06:25And the only way I knew to do it was to be in this ocean.
00:06:29In the beginning, it's a hard thing to get in the water.
00:06:41It's one of the wildest, most scary places to swim on the planet.
00:06:45The water drops to as low as eight, nine degrees Celsius.
00:07:02The cold takes your breath away.
00:07:04And you just have to relax.
00:07:15And then you'll get this beautiful window of time,
00:07:18or 10, 15 minutes.
00:07:21Suddenly,
00:07:23everything feels okay.
00:07:25The cold upgrades the brain,
00:07:37because you're getting this flood of chemicals
00:07:39every time you immerse in that cold water.
00:07:45Your whole body comes alive.
00:07:47And then, as your body adapts,
00:07:52it just becomes easier and easier.
00:08:02And eventually,
00:08:04after about a year,
00:08:08you start to crave the cold.
00:08:10What's so amazing about this environment
00:08:28is you're in a three-dimensional forest,
00:08:31and you can jump off the top
00:08:32and go wherever you want.
00:08:35You're flying, basically.
00:08:40You might as well be on another planet.
00:08:49You naturally just get
00:08:51more relaxed in the water.
00:08:56You get to be able
00:08:57to hold your breath for longer.
00:09:03Having a scuba tank
00:09:04in a thick kelp forest
00:09:07is not optimal for me.
00:09:10I want to be more like
00:09:16an amphibious animal.
00:09:26Instinctively,
00:09:28I knew not to wear a wetsuit.
00:09:33If you really want to get close
00:09:36to an environment like this,
00:09:38it helps tremendously
00:09:40to have no barrier
00:09:41to that environment.
00:09:51And I suddenly realized
00:09:52I've got energy
00:09:53to take images
00:09:54and film again.
00:09:57And then picked up my camera again
00:09:59and started doing
00:10:00the thing I love
00:10:01and what I know.
00:10:08Animals are extremely exotic
00:10:10and strange.
00:10:11It's like much more extreme
00:10:29than our maddest science fiction.
00:10:31I remember that day
00:10:43when it all started.
00:10:44I found this very, very special area
00:11:04that is protected
00:11:06with a big piece of kelp forest
00:11:08because the forest itself
00:11:10actually dampens the swell.
00:11:21And the whole forest
00:11:22around there
00:11:23is absolutely murky
00:11:25and you can't see a thing.
00:11:26And in this little
00:11:27200-meter patch
00:11:28you can dive
00:11:29and observe.
00:11:31And it's an incredible place.
00:11:32I remember
00:11:42there was this strange shape
00:11:44to my left
00:11:45and just going down
00:11:47and seeing this
00:11:49really strange thing.
00:11:52The fish even seemed
00:12:12to be confused.
00:12:14And then suddenly
00:12:25at the time
00:12:35I didn't know
00:12:36I'd witnessed
00:12:37something extraordinary.
00:12:38I come in at the end
00:12:43of a whole drama.
00:12:49You think
00:12:50what on earth
00:12:51is this animal doing?
00:12:55And I think
00:12:56she was a little bit
00:12:56afraid of me
00:12:57so she lifted
00:12:58this incredibly slippery
00:13:00piece of algae
00:13:02that you can hardly
00:13:03hold with your hands
00:13:04and just wrap it
00:13:05in this extraordinary
00:13:06cloak around her
00:13:07and then stare at me
00:13:08out of the little gap.
00:13:19And then
00:13:19boom
00:13:20you know
00:13:21she was gone.
00:13:38it's a hard thing
00:13:45to explain
00:13:46but sometimes
00:13:47you just get
00:13:48a feeling
00:13:49and you know
00:13:50there's something
00:13:52to this creature
00:13:53that's very unusual.
00:13:58There's something
00:13:59to learn here.
00:14:00there's something special
00:14:05special about her.
00:14:06And then I had this
00:14:18crazy idea
00:14:19what happens
00:14:20if I just
00:14:20went every day?
00:14:22What happens
00:14:23if I
00:14:23never missed a day?
00:14:25initially she was
00:14:36clearly being affected
00:14:37by my presence
00:14:39so I thought
00:14:40oh I'll just leave
00:14:40the camera there
00:14:41and then
00:14:42that will record
00:14:43her going
00:14:44about her business.
00:14:45she sees this shiny
00:14:50new thing
00:14:51in the forest
00:14:52coming at it
00:14:59with a shield
00:15:00just in case
00:15:02it attacked
00:15:02and put up
00:15:03the shield
00:15:03this is now
00:15:09something different
00:15:10this is interesting
00:15:11touching it
00:15:14feeling it
00:15:15tasting it
00:15:16sometimes
00:15:22if you're in
00:15:22a playful mood
00:15:23you couldn't
00:15:24leave it there
00:15:24for too long
00:15:25if you just
00:15:26pull the thing
00:15:27over
00:15:27it took
00:15:43going in
00:15:44every day
00:15:44to really
00:15:45get to know
00:15:46her environment
00:15:48better
00:15:48initially
00:15:52it all
00:15:53just seems
00:15:54like
00:15:54much of
00:15:54the same
00:15:55thing
00:15:55but then
00:15:58after a while
00:15:58you see
00:15:59all the
00:15:59different types
00:16:00of the forest
00:16:01you get the
00:16:04old growth
00:16:04forest
00:16:05you get the
00:16:09forest with
00:16:09a lot of
00:16:10different algae
00:16:10growing in the
00:16:11bottom
00:16:11you get the
00:16:14misty forest
00:16:15as I started
00:16:24to map
00:16:25the environment
00:16:26around her den
00:16:27it was shocking
00:16:30to see
00:16:30small caves
00:16:31really close
00:16:32to her
00:16:33packed
00:16:33with pajama
00:16:34sharks
00:16:35and they
00:16:37really are
00:16:38her most
00:16:39serious predator
00:16:40their skin
00:16:42is striped
00:16:43that's what
00:16:43they call
00:16:44a pajama
00:16:44shark
00:16:44they're not
00:16:49visual predators
00:16:50but they
00:16:52have an
00:16:53incredible
00:16:53sense of
00:16:54smell
00:16:55and they
00:16:59are particularly
00:17:00aggressive
00:17:01they can
00:17:11shove their
00:17:12noses
00:17:12into a
00:17:13small crack
00:17:14so they
00:17:17are deadly
00:17:18little octopus
00:17:19predators
00:17:19and I was
00:17:22thinking
00:17:23well
00:17:23how long
00:17:24before something
00:17:24happens with
00:17:25these animals
00:17:25after visiting
00:17:44her
00:17:44more and
00:17:45more and
00:17:45more
00:17:45there was a
00:17:46definite
00:17:46moment
00:17:47where
00:17:49that
00:17:51fear
00:17:52subsided
00:17:53tremendously
00:17:54she'd see
00:17:59a big
00:18:00movement
00:18:00and she'd
00:18:00be
00:18:01slightly
00:18:01afraid
00:18:01and then
00:18:01look
00:18:02oh it's
00:18:02him
00:18:02and she'd
00:18:04come out
00:18:05and be
00:18:06very curious
00:18:07very interested
00:18:13very curious
00:18:14but not
00:18:15taking stupid
00:18:15chances
00:18:16keeping
00:18:18all the
00:18:20other arms
00:18:20attached to
00:18:21the den
00:18:22and the
00:18:22suckers in
00:18:22place
00:18:23and then it
00:18:36just happens
00:18:37I'd put
00:18:38my hand
00:18:38out a
00:18:39tiny bit
00:18:40and
00:18:42I'd
00:18:47have
00:18:48to
00:18:48move
00:18:48and
00:18:49take
00:18:50it
00:18:50and
00:18:51we
00:18:55can't
00:18:56leave
00:18:56and
00:18:57let
00:18:58go
00:19:00and
00:19:00go
00:19:01and
00:19:01and
00:19:02go
00:19:02and
00:19:03look
00:19:03happy
00:19:04and
00:19:05go
00:19:05and
00:19:05go
00:19:05and
00:19:06go
00:19:07and
00:19:07go
00:19:08and
00:19:08go
00:19:09and
00:19:09go
00:19:09Something happens when that animal mags content.
00:19:28But at some point you're going to have to breathe.
00:19:32So you've got to very gently prise off those suckers without disturbing her so that you
00:19:44can actually go up and take a breath.
00:20:02By far the most powerful is when it comes out the den, because that's when you know there's
00:20:10full trust.
00:20:11There's no holding the arms back just in case I have to pull back.
00:20:15It's like I totally trust this human and I'm coming out of the den and I'm going to
00:20:21go about my business.
00:20:32I've started to see pretty extraordinary things.
00:20:40They can look spiky, they can look smooth, grow horns on their heads.
00:20:53They can match color, texture, pattern, skin.
00:20:57It's beautiful.
00:21:02Most of the time she's jetting or crawling or swimming, but occasionally two legs come
00:21:22out.
00:21:27She walks and off she goes, striding away, walking bipedally.
00:21:39She puts her body into this strange posture that kind of looks like a rock.
00:21:47And then two of those arms underneath slowly moving, so the rock is just slowly moving away.
00:22:00And then she changes into this extraordinary wobbly flowy old lady in her dress.
00:22:09Perhaps she's trying to mimic kelp or algae moving in the swell, and at the same time slowly moving
00:22:17away.
00:22:21And this is how she works, this incredible creativity to deceive.
00:22:29An octopus is essentially a snail that's lost its shell in evolution.
00:22:35Very fragile, liquid, soft animal that relies on tremendous intelligence.
00:22:42She's got no mother or father to teach her anything.
00:22:45She's alone.
00:22:46She's got all these different type of predators all hunting her.
00:22:52So over millions of years, she's had to come up with the most incredible methods to deceive
00:23:01them.
00:23:07And she's got to learn fast because she's only got just over a year to live.
00:23:17When you're diving alone, everything about my kit has to be perfect.
00:23:33And I've got to be prepared for all eventualities.
00:23:36I can't be fiddling around, it's got to be totally instinctive.
00:23:45But at that point, I was making a lot of mistakes.
00:23:53One day, she was following me, and that's the most incredible thing, is to be followed
00:23:57by an octopus.
00:23:58You know, you're just backing away, moving backwards, and this incredible animal is coming
00:24:03towards you.
00:24:04And you know, there's not a lot of fear in it at all.
00:24:07It's curious, and there's this trust, and it's like this fantastic feeling.
00:24:11And then, bam, it dropped one of my lenses.
00:24:25And that thing falling quickly just startles that animal.
00:24:29And then it turns and rushes, and it's got a huge fright.
00:24:36And you just want to kick yourself, because it's, you know, that could have ended in the
00:24:45most incredible interaction and deep trust, and you've ruined it.
00:24:50Now, you know, have you ruined it forever?
00:24:53Is that animal ever going to trust you?
00:24:56Has that experience freaked it out too much?
00:24:58And then I approached her too fast.
00:25:05And that's when she left the den, and got a real fright.
00:25:11And didn't come back to that den.
00:25:16And I thought, this was over.
00:25:19She was gone.
00:25:21I'd had this experience with these incredible song master trackers.
00:25:39I just thought, I wonder if anybody could ever track anything underwater.
00:25:51This animal has spent millions of years learning to be impossible to find.
00:26:06I had to learn what octopus tracks looked like.
00:26:11And it was very frustrating at first.
00:26:13So difficult to discern what's the difference between octopus tracks, and heart urchin tracks,
00:26:19and fish tracks, and worm tracks, and the predation marks, the egg casings.
00:26:33And then you have to start thinking like an octopus.
00:26:40It's like being a detective, and you just slowly get all your clues together.
00:26:47It's like being a detective, and you just slowly get all your clues together.
00:27:06Whoa!
00:27:07Whoa!
00:27:08Whoa!
00:27:09Whoa!
00:27:10I look at that.
00:27:12You're coming back to Alabama!
00:27:13It's like a detective, and you're looking for a differentanga.
00:27:17And it's like a detective.
00:27:18Oh, boy.
00:27:19It's like this is the one of the characters.
00:27:20And you're looking for a detective.
00:27:22It's like a detective.
00:27:24This is where I was so sorry.
00:27:25So close to the airport, and you're looking for an octopus.
00:27:26And you were looking for a detective.
00:27:27And I think, I'm along.
00:27:29And you're looking for a detective when I was old.
00:27:30Und dann habe ich angefangen, zu machen, zu machen.
00:27:46Okay, das sind die Tiere, die sie töten.
00:27:48So, ich schaue mich an, kleine Marken, die in der Sande,
00:28:01kleine Veränderungen in die Algel-Pattern, wo sie sich bewegt.
00:28:05Und dann weiß ich, okay, das Tier ist sehr nah,
00:28:09nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.
00:28:18Und dann, bang, sie ist da.
00:28:29Finally, nachdem ich nach ihr, für eine Woche,
00:28:33Tag nach Tag nach Tag,
00:28:35da sie war.
00:28:42Es ist wie ein, wie ein Freund,
00:28:45ein Freund, wie, wäving und sagen,
00:28:47Hi, und excited zu sehen Sie.
00:28:53Und ich konnte es,
00:28:54von einem Minute zu der nächsten,
00:28:56okay, ich glaube, ich glaube,
00:28:58ich glaube, ich glaube,
00:28:59ich glaube, du, Mensch,
00:29:00und jetzt kann ich in meine Oktobus-Welt.
00:29:04Und sie ist auf mich,
00:29:15und mein naturales Instinkt ist
00:29:19zu gently back weg.
00:29:25Und dann, ich wollte einfach so,
00:29:27auf ein Stück,
00:29:29so ich hielte auf eine Rock.
00:29:34Und sie kam einfach,
00:29:35und dann, ich habe meine ganz Hand.
00:29:38Und ich habe schon im Unterwarten
00:29:40für lange Zeit,
00:29:41so ich, so, ich,
00:29:42so, ich,
00:29:43so, ich geräte,
00:29:44so, ich habe einfach bemerkt,
00:29:45zu für die Surface,
00:29:46zu für die Seite,
00:29:47sie würde,
00:29:48auf meine Hand machen.
00:29:49Aber sie war,
00:29:50sie hat mir auf meinen Hand,
00:29:51zu der Surface.
00:29:52...we're right to the surface.
00:30:10There I was, just staring into the eyes of this incredible creature.
00:30:22.
00:30:40Es war sehr schwierig zu denken,
00:30:42zuerst, dass sie nichts aus der Rehabilitation war.
00:30:45Warum würde ein wilder Geheimnis,
00:30:47und das Ding zu tun,
00:30:49zu können,
00:30:51diese Menschen-Kreature zu besuchen.
00:30:57Und das ist das, was es interessant ist.
00:31:04Ich denke, es ist ziemlich stimulant
00:31:06für diese große Intelligenz.
00:31:08.
00:31:15Somehow he realises this thing is not dangerous.
00:31:19So you go and you interact with this human.
00:31:25And perhaps it does give you some strange octopus level of joy.
00:31:30.
00:31:34.
00:31:36Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020
00:32:06und die ZDF, 2020
00:32:36und die ZDF, 2020
00:33:06und die ZDF, 2020
00:33:36und die ZDF, 2020
00:34:06und die ZDF, 2020
00:34:36und die ZDF, 2020
00:35:05So many times I'd go and search through the scientific papers
00:35:12looking for the strange thing I've seen
00:35:14and then you just come up absolutely blank, there's nothing
00:35:18You're going into a place that's understudied and almost on a weekly basis you can find out something new to science
00:35:29According to the literature, octopus are supposed to be a nocturnal species
00:35:50Now was she more active at night?
00:36:02It's a little bit scary in the dark
00:36:15These incredible sounds of the humpback whales coming through the water
00:36:23You're on hyper alert
00:36:31You're on hyper alert
00:36:31I couldn't find her, she wasn't in her den
00:36:51I'd kind of given up and I'd kind of given up and was going back to the shore
00:36:56Something just made me veer slightly to the left
00:37:05And there she is
00:37:11Right in extremely shallow water
00:37:14Can't see what she's doing
00:37:19These lightning fast strikes
00:37:30Using her arm like the strange weapon
00:37:37Just rolling it up in this fraction of a second
00:37:43And I saw a catch three fish like this
00:37:53I've never seen a catching a fish during the day
00:37:56Super dangerous out in the deeper forest at night
00:38:03This incredibly clever animal retreats to the shallows
00:38:07where it's difficult for these sharks to get to
00:38:09and takes advantage of all the wonderful food available there
00:38:13And I saw a catch three fish like this
00:38:43The first instinct is to try and scare the sharks away
00:38:49But then you realise that you'll be interfering with the whole process of the forest
00:39:04She was out of the den, moving around near the edge of the forest
00:39:08I noticed the shark
00:39:19The body was slightly hunched forward and was following the scent trail
00:39:30I think thank God she's safe, she's right under the rock
00:39:44I think thank God she's safe, she's right under the rock
00:39:58These things are coming right into that crack
00:40:05And the next minute the shark is actually clamped down on one of her arms
00:40:16Doing this terrifying death roll
00:40:18And I can clearly see her severed arm in its mouth
00:40:35Hear that terrible feeling in your stomach
00:40:41You know, thank God she managed to get really deep in that crack
00:40:43You know, thank God she managed to get really deep in that crack
00:40:48You know, thank God she managed to get really deep in that crack
00:41:03You know, thank God she managed to get really deep in that crack
00:41:07She was moving very badly, slowly, very weak
00:41:32She's bleeding, that smells in the water
00:41:43It's quite a distance to the den
00:41:52Are these sharks going to pitch up again?
00:42:02I thought about helping her back physically to the den
00:42:19But luckily I didn't need to
00:42:30I didn't know what was going to happen to her
00:42:53Or if this would make her weak and vulnerable
00:42:55And they'd finish her off that night
00:42:58And I couldn't help feeling
00:43:07Had I been responsible for this
00:43:10Was she out because I was there
00:43:13I felt very vulnerable
00:43:16As if somehow what happened to her
00:43:20Happened to me in some strange way
00:43:22And then this almost felt psychologically like
00:43:33I was going through a type of dismembering
00:43:37You start thinking about your own death
00:43:40And your own vulnerability
00:43:41Worried about your family or child
00:43:44I hadn't been a person that was overly sentimental towards animals before
00:43:52I realised I was changing
00:43:54She was teaching me to become sensitised to the other
00:44:00Especially wild creatures
00:44:04Scary feeling going into the water early the next day
00:44:32I was very relieved that she was alive
00:44:49Breathing
00:44:50She's so weak
00:44:55That she can't make those vibrant colours of a healthy octopus
00:44:58And she's just dull and white
00:45:00And now I'm worried
00:45:11How is she getting food
00:45:13You are crossing a line
00:45:21When you interfere in the lives of animals
00:45:24But I was just too overcome
00:45:27With my feelings for her
00:45:30I don't think it really helped
00:45:39And she's right at the back
00:45:43Of the den
00:45:45You know
00:45:46Just not moving much
00:45:47I was just checking every day
00:45:52To see if she was okay
00:45:54Wondering is this the last day
00:45:56And we're not going to see it
00:45:57The big relief came
00:46:15A week or so later
00:46:17And I could see
00:46:19It sort of healed over pretty fast
00:46:22And then the most amazing thing
00:46:29To see this tiny little miniature
00:46:34Perfect miniature arm
00:46:35Starting to grow back
00:46:38And it gave me a strange sort of confidence
00:46:49That she can get past this incredible difficulty
00:46:53And I felt in my life
00:46:56I was getting past the difficulties I had
00:46:59In a strange way our lives were mirroring each other
00:47:05My relationship with people
00:47:15With humans was changing
00:47:16My son at this stage
00:47:22Is very interested
00:47:23In everything underwater
00:47:25And every day I'd tell him the stories
00:47:47It's seen her
00:47:55It met her
00:47:56I'd taken him so many times
00:47:58The arm becomes pretty functional
00:48:05Even when it's half grown
00:48:07And then slowly as the arm grew
00:48:26She grew her confidence back
00:48:28Eventually about a hundred days later
00:48:35And that arm fully regrown
00:48:37Amazing feeling to think
00:48:47That this animal is capable of that
00:48:49And can withstand such an attack
00:48:51And fully recover
00:49:05After a while she was just carrying on
00:49:20With her normal activity
00:49:22So I then started a whole new development
00:49:26Of seeing even deeper into her world
00:49:30It was a nice, calm, clear day
00:49:39She comes around a corner
00:49:43And spots a crab
00:49:44The problem when you're a crab
00:49:50You being now hunted by a liquid animal
00:49:53She can pour herself through a tiny little crack
00:49:59And the crab seems to sense her
00:50:10And goes and hides underneath
00:50:13A big, poisonous an enemy
00:50:16And then she waits and hides
00:50:22And then the crab thinks
00:50:48And thinks, okay, everything's all right
00:50:50And makes the mistake of leaving that an enemy
00:50:53Okay
00:50:55Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020
00:51:25Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020
00:51:55Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020
00:52:25Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020
00:52:55Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020
00:53:27Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020
00:53:29Now she's completely the boss
00:53:34She initially adopted the same method to crab hunting with lobster
00:53:48You just suddenly see lobster just shooting out of the reef
00:53:56I'm thinking now, oh she's definitely gonna catch this one
00:54:03I'm thinking now, oh she's definitely gonna catch this one
00:54:19Time and time again they just evade her
00:54:32And then a couple of weeks later
00:54:42Watching her come around the side
00:54:46Corralling me
00:54:48So that she can then get between the lobster and myself
00:54:53Using me as part of her hunting strategy
00:54:56Instead of that messy lunge
00:55:02Throwing her web over the top
00:55:07And then there's nowhere for it to go
00:55:12And then there's nowhere for it to go
00:55:12This is an animal that is strategizing
00:55:22And working out very quickly
00:55:25How best to hunt a very tricky prey
00:55:29A lot of her intelligence is built
00:55:39From the sheer number of prey that she has to catch
00:55:43All sorts of animals
00:55:44All the mollusks she's capturing
00:55:48They're quite easy to catch
00:55:50But they've got these incredibly hard shells
00:55:53Now how the hell does she kill and eat them?
00:56:05At the base of all those arms
00:56:08There's a drill that can drill through hard shell
00:56:10And then drop venom in there like a snake
00:56:16And see how that mollusk reacts
00:56:19But some of these mollusks will only relax
00:56:26If that drill is precisely in the apex of the shell
00:56:30And the abductor muscle
00:56:32He basically has to do geometry
00:56:37To work out exactly the precise spot
00:56:41Where she needs to drill that shell
00:56:43In order to get her food
00:56:44This is high level invertebrate intelligence
00:56:51Her ability to learn and remember
00:56:56Details
00:56:57And it hit me how she was teaching me so much
00:57:05You just can't wait to get up in the morning
00:57:12Because there's so much to do
00:57:15To understand every little tiny mark
00:57:19Every little behaviour
00:57:21Every species
00:57:22What they're doing
00:57:23How they're interacting
00:57:24People ask
00:57:34Why are you going to the same place every day
00:57:36But that's when you see the subtle differences
00:57:39And that's when you get to know the wild
00:57:43So we know these thousands of threads
00:57:48Going off from the octopus
00:57:49To all the other animals
00:57:51Predator and prey
00:57:52And then this incredible forest
00:57:54Just nurturing all of this
00:57:57And now I know
00:58:02How the helmet shell is connected to the urchin
00:58:05And how the octopus
00:58:06Is connected to the helmet shell
00:58:08And as I draw all these lines
00:58:10All these stories
00:58:12Are just being thrown up
00:58:13It's almost like the forest mind
00:58:30Really could feel it
00:58:33That big creature
00:58:35And it was thousands of times
00:58:38More awake and intelligent than I am
00:58:40It's like a giant underwater brain
00:58:45Operating over millions of years
00:58:47And it just keeps everything in balance
00:58:53Everything seemed at this point
00:59:07Sort of perfect in the forest
00:59:10And of course
00:59:17You know
00:59:18You've forgotten
00:59:20Those predators are ever present
00:59:23Those predators are ever present
00:59:50Just have this
01:00:07Burnt in my memory
01:00:09This huge shock
01:00:11Just suddenly
01:00:11Approaching her
01:00:13She kept still
01:00:22And tried to hide
01:00:24And you just saw the shock
01:00:31Swimming on the periphery
01:00:33Picking up a scent
01:00:34And I thought
01:00:42Oh no
01:00:43It's all
01:00:44Nightmare happening again
01:01:12Guys
01:01:14Hey
01:01:18,
01:01:22I would say
01:01:24If it's just because
01:01:25I said
01:01:26Oh no
01:01:27I want that
01:01:28I would say
01:01:28How can you try
01:01:30I hope you could
01:01:31You can check
01:01:33See
01:01:34The colonel
01:01:35I'm not doing
01:01:36No
01:01:37I need
01:01:37My
01:01:38That
01:01:38I są
01:01:39I
01:01:39I
01:01:40I
01:01:40I
01:01:41I
01:01:42I
01:01:42She jets up in the canopy and she's wrapping many leaves of kelp tightly around her body and then just peering out.
01:02:12All the smells on the kelp, so the sharks are now biting and snapping at the kelp.
01:02:42She's shot out the back.
01:03:00She just climbs out of a rock, leaves the water and I'm just, you know, almost can't believe
01:03:12my eyes.
01:03:13But the problem is, of course, she's got to come back.
01:03:29On the other side, the shark picks up her scent again and this crazy chase is on.
01:03:39Here's the shark again.
01:03:40There was a snake.
01:03:41Bluey fire.
01:03:42Sometimes I'm the snake.
01:03:43You're the snakes.
01:03:44Yes, you're the snake.
01:03:45I'm the snake.
01:03:47Next slide.
01:03:48Easy.
01:03:49Always.
01:03:50And then the sea fell apart.
01:03:54Exactly.
01:03:55It's cool.
01:03:56It's cool.
01:03:57It's cool.
01:03:58It's cool.
01:03:59It's cool.
01:04:00It's cool.
01:04:01It's cool.
01:04:02It's cool.
01:04:03It's cool.
01:04:04And then I see her in a very quick movement, picking up, maybe close to a hundred shells in stone.
01:04:20And then folding her arms over her vulnerable head.
01:04:26And in that moment, I realise this is this crazy thing I saw so long ago.
01:04:34Next minute, the shark grabs her.
01:05:04But I had to breathe, rush to the surface as fast as you can, straight back down again.
01:05:33And it's like, OK, now, this is too crazy.
01:05:42Somehow she's managed to manoeuvre herself into the least dangerous place, and that's on the shark's back.
01:05:49When the shark tries to take her off and is swimming away, it takes a few seconds to figure out what the hell's going on here.
01:06:10But you can immediately tell she's now got the upper hand.
01:06:14As the shark goes near some of the thick kelp, she just pushes off the back.
01:06:34Drops the remaining shells and jets away.
01:06:50And the shark has just been completely outwitted.
01:06:59And the shark is doing all that.
01:07:08So many and brothers, there it is.
01:07:12We can only do it.
01:07:14We can only do it.
01:07:16What's happening?
01:07:18Musik
01:07:32Der Shark kommt und lässt sie einen Weg,
01:07:36aber sie ist völlig zufrieden,
01:07:37sie ist nichts die es tun können,
01:07:39und sie verleicht.
01:07:40Wie kann sie so schnell denken und machen die Leben- und Death-Decisionen machen, ist einfach unglaublich.
01:08:10I was around for a good 80% of her life.
01:08:24Each moment is so precious because it's so short.
01:08:31There was this one incredible day, big shoal of dream fish, fairly shallow water.
01:08:40Suddenly, she's reaching up for the surface like that.
01:08:52Initially I thought, she's hunting the fish.
01:08:58Then I was like, hold on.
01:09:04When she hunts, she's strategic and she's like, focused.
01:09:15This behavior doesn't feel predatory to me.
01:09:19It took a long time to actually process it, but I couldn't help thinking, she's playing
01:09:29with the fish.
01:09:34You see play often in social animals.
01:09:47Here's a highly antisocial animal playing with fish.
01:09:56It takes an animal to a different level.
01:10:10Then she completely lost interest in the fish, rushed over and grabbed hold of me.
01:10:18And that was the last time we had physical contact.
01:10:37And if I think back...
01:11:05And I remember it was a very rough day, very turbulent.
01:11:17Sediment everywhere.
01:11:22Go down and whoa, there's another big octopus right next to her.
01:11:32It's very, very rare to see two octopus close together.
01:11:39Oh my God, what's going on?
01:11:47And then seeing that both animals are pretty relaxed and realizing, okay, now the mating is
01:11:54beginning.
01:11:58By this stage I knew quite well the stages of an octopus's life.
01:12:11So while I was very excited that this mating was beginning, there was a sort of this dread
01:12:19in the bottom of my stomach.
01:12:26She wasn't coming out of that then.
01:12:32There was no more feeding, no more hunting.
01:12:38A huge part of her body is actually given to those eggs.
01:12:43So she drops in weight and she loses an enormous amount of strength.
01:12:51The eggs are laid right in the back in the dark, impossible to see them.
01:13:04I just keep going every day and just check.
01:13:08She's oxygenating the eggs with her siphon, looking after them.
01:13:13She's just slowly dying and timing her death exactly for the hatching of those eggs.
01:13:26I mean, it's struck home so hard for me.
01:13:31Here's an invertebrate, essentially a mollusk, sacrificing her own life for her young.
01:13:52All those eggs hatched, they're tiny and they go into the water column.
01:13:59Hundreds of thousands of them.
01:14:07And the next thing I saw, she's washed out the den, barely alive.
01:14:18And the fish, you know, feeding on her and a lot of the scavengers coming to feed on her.
01:14:26It was just heartbreaking.
01:14:29The part of me just wanted to hold her and chase them away.
01:14:36But I didn't do that.
01:14:40I didn't do that.
01:14:41The next day, big shock came.
01:14:57Big shock came.
01:14:58And just took her away, you know, into the misty forest.
01:15:16Often I go to the place of her main den.
01:15:31And I just float above it and feel her there.
01:15:44Of course I miss her.
01:15:46But, I mean, in some crazy way it was a relief.
01:16:01It was a relief because the intensity of going every day and tracking her and trying to capture it was tough in a way.
01:16:18I mean, I sort of slept, dreamt this animal.
01:16:28It was, you know, I was, in my mind, thinking like an octopus.
01:16:35It was also taxing in a way.
01:16:37But underneath that, this incredible pride for this animal that's been through impossible odds to get to this place.
01:16:59An unimaginable life.
01:17:09One of the most exciting things ever in my life, taking my son, walking along the shore,
01:17:38and just showing him the wonders of nature and the details and the intricacies.
01:17:50I was getting so much from the wild when I could actually now give.
01:17:56I had so much energy to give back.
01:17:58He's like a little marine biologist now. He knows so much.
01:18:15A very powerful swimmer.
01:18:17And as he gets older, he seems to want to do it more and more.
01:18:24To see that develop a strong sense of himself.
01:18:45An incredible confidence.
01:18:48But the most important thing, a gentleness.
01:18:53And I think that's the thing that thousands of hours in nature can teach a child.
01:18:58A few months later, after she died, he actually found this tiny little octopus.
01:19:20It's very rare to see an animal that small.
01:19:22They have up to half a million young. A handful survive.
01:19:31So it's a pretty tough road to have to walk.
01:19:36But that's their strategy. Live fast and die young.
01:19:38We kind of imagined that it might be one of her young.
01:19:49It's kind of the right size, the right time.
01:19:56And it was joyous. It was like, well, there she is.
01:19:58She made me realise just how beautiful she was.
01:20:22Sie hat mich herausgefunden, wie sehr precious wilde Pläste sind.
01:20:39Wenn du in die Wasser in das Wasser wirst,
01:20:43dann ist es extrem liberativer.
01:20:46All deine Probleme und Probleme und Leben,
01:20:50die sich zu lösen.
01:21:01Du schlussst zu kämpfen über alle Tiere,
01:21:05sogar die kleinen Tiere.
01:21:08Ich verstehe, dass jeder sehr wichtig ist.
01:21:20Es ist zu sehen, wie vulnerable diese wilden Tiere sind.
01:21:26Und dann, wie vulnerable unsere Leben auf diesem Planeten sind.
01:21:31Meine Beziehung mit der Seaforst und ihren Kreaturen tiefen.
01:21:41Woche nach Woche nach Woche nach Woche nach Woche nach Woche.
01:21:51Du bist in Kontakt mit diesem wilden Ort, und es spricht zu dir.
01:21:56Its Sprache ist visible.
01:22:01I fell in love with her,
01:22:16but also with that amazing wildness that she represented
01:22:20and how that changed me.
01:22:23What she taught me was to feel that you're part of this place, not a visitor.
01:22:44That's a huge difference.
01:22:46Bye.
01:22:47Bye.
01:22:48Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020
01:23:18ZDF, 2020
01:23:48ZDF, 2020
01:24:18ZDF, 2020
01:24:19ZDF, 2020
01:24:22ZDF, 2020
01:24:24ZDF, 2020
01:24:27ZDF, 2020
01:24:30Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020
01:25:00Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020
01:25:30Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020
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