Shapeshifters: Octopus Superpowers (Full Episode) | Secrets of the Octopus

beneath the waves lives a mysterious creature older than the dinosaurs [Music] octopus so incredibly alien [Music] changing color in an instant shapeshifting into almost anything they are the planet's true Masters of Disguise now we're discovering they are one of the most intelligent beings on the [Music] planet two years immersed in their world reveals they use tools I felt completely shocked at the level of sophistication that I was witnessing think creatively communicate with other species and maybe even dream I wonder sometimes if the octopuses are dreaming about me wondering what I am who I am we're just being beginning to understand what they have to tell us I have just had a conversation with an octopus [Applause] [Music] the Great Barrier [Music] Reef the biggest Coral structure on the planet over 12200 M long and home to more than 9,000 different species [Music] including [Music] her the day octopus octopus are so alien it's hard to know what you're looking at she and the 300 other species share some similar [Music] quirks a siphon that propels her through water a soft boneless body conceals a razor sharp beak for crushing fish and [Music] crabs two bulbous eyes sit above a big powerful brain that's capable of something extraordinary she can transform the color shape and texture of her body in a fraction of a [Music] second National Geographic Explorer Dr Alex Schnell has spent 15 years immersed in the world of the [Music] octopus octopuses are the ultimate shape shifters they can choose when to hide and when to reveal themselves and studying this Behavior has offered a window into how they [Music] think every dive brings her closer to these elusive animals [Music] she has privileged access to their extraordinary shape-shifting skills a superpower it makes them hard to spot your mind starts to play tricks on you and everywhere you look you feel like that's an octopus is that an octopus over there I think that's one over there [Music] the minute you kind of give up and you're like okay I'm not going to look anymore something that you think is a piece of algae or a piece of coral suddenly moves [Music] Alex is face to face with a day [Music] octopus the octopus sizes Alex up she's not really sure about me at the beginning but we're eye to eye and her skin becomes smooth as if to reveal herself she becomes so relaxed that she starts to clean [Music] herself covering her eyes even though I'm right in front of her and maybe that's a sign that she's beginning to trust [Music] me when she raged at her arm and put her suckers on my hand it just felt like a life-changing moment and then she turns to look at me as if to say are you coming she allows Alex to follow her as she cruises along the coral until something Spooks her reef sharks 10 times her size no way she can outswim these dangerous predators but the day octopus reveals that she has something much better than speed invisible [Music] ability every time there's danger the day octopus melts into her surroundings one of the things that makes octopus so amazing is that their brain is connected directly to muscles in their skin and these muscles are connected to about 20 million sacks of different colored pigments by stretching and relaxing each of the tiny sacks the octopus can produce an endless array of patterns and [Music] colors and she can do it all in 1/5 of a second [Music] [Music] the perfect disguise her trick is all the more astounding given that she like all octopuses is color [Music] blind she doesn't need to see the color to be the color we now know that octopus skin is sensitive to light which suggests that they can see with their skin not in the way that they might be able to detect an image but their skin is sensitive to Hues shadows and colors so that they can detect their environment changing around them to keep herself safe the day octopus transforms hundreds of times a day [Music] and over weeks she allows Alex to see every shade Hue and pattern they become close when I started studying octopuses it was difficult to tell differences between individuals but if you study them for long enough you'll see little imperfections on their skin and this day octopus had a little scar below her eye and that's why I named her Scarlet time with Scarlet shows Alex that color changing is only half of her skill set using small muscular structures similar to what we have on our tongue octopuses can change the texture of their [Music] skin so they can go from super smooth to really spiky in less than a [Music] second but what blows my mind is they don't actually need to touch any of the texture that they're matching they can match the texture just by looking at [Music] it it's getting late which means more Predators the crevice in the coral is a safe Den for the [Music] night so unfazed Now by Alex's presence Scarlet's happy to drift off to sleep all octopuses may not have Scarlet's ability for shape shifting but most can change [Music] color and for some survival depends not on blending in but standing out [Music] near the southern tip of Australia this pier is home to the weird and [Music] wonderful as well as one of the deadliest animals on Earth but unlike the day o octopus she comes out when the Sun goes down this is a female blue ringed octopus a mom to be she's small the size of a golf ball she can blend into the background if she wants to but it's not really her style her bright blue Rings send a strong message a warning a single bite from her hidden beak releases enough neurotoxin to kill an adult human in [Music] minutes don't mess with her especially today she's ready to lay her eggs but it's getting darker bringing out the reefs big boys a smooth Stingray hunting on the [Music] seabed she's not scared of him she has enough Venom to easily kill a ray but the growing darkness is more of a problem in the Gloom the octopus's blue Rings lose their vibrancy if the ray attacks death to them both so she does something that only blue ringed octopus can do triggering muscles to reveal thousands of light reflecting cells in her rings she dials up her color [Music] while also upping the contrast by darkening the skin around [Music] them the ray gets the message loud and clear this is one of the brightest warning displays of any animal on earth now she can concentrate on laying her eggs Somewhere Out Of Reach to all but the most [Music] flexible those babies have one killer mom [Music] octopuses combine their smarts and shape-shifting skills to expertly decide when to hide and when to stand out but some use this alien-like superpower in other ways something Dr Alex Schnell wants to witness now that she has gained her trust Alex hopes Scarlet will allow her and colleague Dr Roger hanin a world expert in octopus camouflage to watch her hunt there's not another animal group on the earth that can change as fast with as much diversity he knows the day octopus are extraordinary I call this one the king of camouflage or in this case the queen [Music] does she recognize me my emotions and my heart say yes [Music] then just like before she reaches out to [Music] me it seems Roger has been accepted too they can both follow Scarlet as she heads off to [Music] hunt small fish and crabs are her favorite but they like to hide deep in the core [Music] not a problem when your eight arms can delve into the tiniest openings Octopus arms are incredible they're sensory and smart and they can move even without the brain having to tell them and without bones or joints they're the most flexible lens on the planet they can lengthen shorten and bend in any direction her large Brain acts as a control center for further brain-like structures found in each of her sucker lined arms an octopus have 200 suckers on each arm and each sucker is so sensitive it's like having a fingertip nose and a tongue all in one imagine how sensitive the world would be to an octopus but to hunt she needs to focus Scarlet must concentrate on her prey not become it reef sharks are always on the lookout for an easy meal this time Scarlet uses her talents not to blend in but to confuse she mixes up her colors and patterns breaking up her out it's called disruptive coloration she can change her appearance more than 170 times every [Music] hour the Sharks should swim right by but this one isn't so easily [Music] fooled she's got one last trick and she's left the best to last stretching the skin on her arms taught and wide she flashes white it's purposefully [Music] weird that flash is meant to make a predator hesitate to say is that what I want to eat or [Music] not this is a thinking cogitating animal it's making decisions every moment of the way I really find that [Music] extraordinary finally a tasty crab even if she really had to pull out all the stops to get it [Music] day octopus are masterful shape shifters but they have a cousin who uses its intelligence to take these skills to the next level by creating the ultimate [Music] deception lush tropical [Music] jungle on the shores of the lmbe strait but beneath the water a featuress floor of volcanic sand a problem for this octopus [Music] there's nowhere to hide and lots of hungry predators [Music] this flounder will rip the arm off an unfortunate [Music] octopus he could change color but in this exposed spot it might not be enough time for some Next Level shape shifting [Music] he transforms into such a good likeness of his [Music] enemy he fools even a real flounder [Music] shape color movement an impersonation so good it's earned him his name the mimic [Music] he drops the disguise when he spots [Music] prey food's hard to find here unless you're a mimic but the Quest for his next meal has brought him into someone else's territory damsel fish they hate strangers invading their space and they've got a nasty bite so the mimic transforms into the one thing they won't mess with the venomous sea crate their worst nightmare the damsel fish are certainly [Music] convinced an Oscar worthy performance but he's still hungry patches of coral can be a good place to find food but everyone's had the same idea Mor eels groupers and the Reef's most aggressive Predator the venomous lion fish but the lion fish is fearsome reputation now this he can [Music] use by adopting the fish's distinctive shape and [Music] pattern the mimic warns off other predators [Music] including real lion [Music] fish while he may not look exactly like a lion fish to us it's how he appears to other animals that [Music] counts the patch of coral is now his to hunt [Music] this kind of shape shifting hints at something unique the mimic isn't just copying he appears to know how other creatures see him he's aware of what each one is scared of and can exploit Their Fear this is strategy and manipulation traits we associate with humanlike [Music] intelligence shapeshifting is an art that octopus have perfected [Music] transforming themselves to find food and avoid becoming someone [Music] else's but what happens when two Masters of Disguise meet Scarlet the day octopus is resting on the [Music] reef after months of Dives she's now very used to her [Music] visitors and willing to let them into the most intimate moment of her life Scarlet's distracted another day [Music] octopus could it be a potential [Music] mate Scarlet's now just over a year old she may have already made it with several mails and stored packets of their sperm inside [Music] her she can even choose to mix the packets to fertilize her eggs but she's keeping her options open if a better suited male comes along she'll get rid of these stored packets and use his alone [Music] they touch sucker to sucker to check each other out yes he's male and he's [Music] indor but Scarlet's not one over so easily she wants to see what he's made of and he'll be judged on his shape shifting a slow dance of changing [Music] color Rippling his skin he shows off new [Music] bumps a display that could attract predators but he can't afford to blend in he must risk everything for her [Music] [Music] now Scarlet's interested captured for the very first time Her Arms Reach inside her body and she expels the sper from her previous encounters it's an [Music] invitation as he unfurls his arm she accepts his advances [Music] this is a specialized mating arm found only in male [Music] octopus a white sperm packet moves down a Groove in the arm and into Scarlet [Music] it's the beginning of a new generation I've got to tell you I've seen some of this before with this species but I never see what I saw today we've learned something scientifically I typically see octopuses on their own it's rare to even see them interact so to see two octopuses mating it's such an intimate moment and such a rare sight to see in the wild each one of Scarlet's babies will inherit her smarts and shape-shifting skills [Music] octopuses are the only animals in nature able to transform their bodies so completely in the quest to stay safe feed and [Music] meet the time spent in Scarlet's world has opened Alex's eyes to her potential just what more might these extraordinary animals be capable [Music] of I've been lucky enough to build a relationship with the day octopos and see her mate in the wild and see the way that she uses her skin to communicate and also to hide but there's still so much more to discover there's so many more secrets to reveal [Music] [Music]

Channel: National Geographic

Views: 428,146

Keywords: national geographic, nat geo, natgeo, animals, wildlife, science, explore, discover, survival, nature, culture, documentary, perpetual planet nat geo, photography, Octopus Superpowers, Shapeshifters, Secrets of the Octopus, Octopus, Superpowers, full episode, full episodes, national geographic full episodes, Secrets of the Octopus Full Episode, Secrets of the Octopus Full Episode Shapeshifters, Full Episode Octopus Superpowers, Octopus Superpowers Full Episode, Full Episode Octopus

Id: WepnzaNLLMI

Length: 38min 31sec (2311 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 22 2024