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That gives you the sense that this octopus that Craig made friends with-one which fights off sharks and manages to reproduce-is the Einstein of octopuses. Maybe one of those octopuses will make it to the end of their life.
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Then she explained that an octopus's survival strategy is to have hundreds of thousands of eggs. What kind of animal does that evolutionary process create?' And the first thing she said was, 'An octopus's life is defined by the tension between fear and curiosity.' She said, 'Imagine if you are a creature that many millions of years ago had a shell and has now traded that shell for a very big brain. You've got to be so careful not to anthropomorphize, but she looks at it from a very pragmatic point of view. She went through the film with us literally scene by scene and just gave us different insights into what she thinks it might be like to be an octopus. When you're making a film about the intersection between human beings and an octopus, you couldn't have had a more perfect scientific adviser. She is an expert in both human psychology and cephalopods. Once we had a cut that we were reasonably happy with, we contacted a professor called Jennifer Mather who is based in Canada and flew her to South Africa. Any new octopus paper that comes out he reads and discusses with scientists. And our lives were made easier by the fact that Craig was already completely obsessed.
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N: Did you immerse yourself in octopus science during the making of the film? As soon as I saw those shots of that octopus wrapping herself up with shells to defend herself from sharks and climbing on a shark's back, and when she first starts getting to know him and she's pushing shells up against the camera, and seeing the way that they interacted with one another, there was just no way I was going to say no. I sat down with piles and piles of hard drives. But I had this incredible experience and I captured it all. He said to me one day, 'I thought I was never gonna make another film. I started working with Craig in late 2016 and diving with him. So he had this incredible experience long before either of us were involved. getting back into the water and eventually starting to film, and then meeting this octopus. Pippa Ehrlich: It started when Craig decided to change his life. Newsweek: Can you tell me a little bit about how this project started? The conversation below has been edited for length and clarity. Newsweekspoke to the directors of the award-winning documentary, Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed. Over the course of the film, Foster's relationship with the octopus becomes increasingly intimate, with the bond having a profound effect on him. And Foster even filmed the octopus jumping on the back of a shark in order to evade an attack. In another instance, the animal wraps itself up in shells to defend itself from predators. For example, the film documents how the octopus regenerates a limb after being attacked by a pyjama shark. He followed the octopus for nearly a year, revealing fascinating insights into the incredible abilities and intelligence of the animal. Eventually, he encountered a curious young common octopus, forming a bond with the animal that enabled him to gain unprecedented access to her mysterious world. Manatees Starving to Death Amid Fears They Could Be Wiped Out From Lagoonįoster vowed to dive in the kelp forest every day for a year and started to document his experiences.Video Shows Rarely Seen Pacific Sleeper Shark Feeding 2,000ft Under the Sea.Dismembered Great White Shark Found on Beach May Have Been Killed for Meat.