I guess I just wish that documentaries like this could excite the public with the truth or atleast a more honest approach to science. (Dale, don't take this as a indictment on you and Scott, I understand you had little to do with the direction of the show.) Maybe I have an idealistic view of the public and they really need to be fed BS and shoddy, sensationalized science to tune in after a long day of work. Atleast for me the truth is far more fantastic than what they showed.
The blazing example of this the whole line on bite pressure, and the engineer guy that smashed the clam in the vise like thing. Ok, they totally disregard that GPOs very rarely crush a whole clam to get into it (and then only very small ones), but pursuing this fallacious side route they completely miss the more fantastic truth: If the ability to change shape, change color, having hundreds of suckers on eight powerful arms, their insane invert intelligence and the ability to get into any hole big enough for beak doesn't make them a formidable enough predator as it is THEY HAVE A FREAKING DRILLBIT IN THEIR MOUTH AND THEY ARE VENOMOUS. DEAR GOD WHAT MANNER OF BEAST HAVE YOU UNLEASHED ON THIS EARTH!?!?! They simply drill through nearly any animal armor with their radula and inject venom, killing crabs and bivalves with amazing efficiency. Here is an animal that will out-hide you, out muscle you, out smart you, pursue you wherever you may hide, and drill through your armor and put you down quickly with their poison.
There are so many other things in this show I wish...I wish the fantastic truth would have been borne out more. I know... it was MonsterQuest (looking in one of the very last places in the sea one would expect to find Octopus giganteus) and all the details they laid out to the viewing audience probably kept them from flipping more than accurate info. I guess thats why no GPO experts in the region were on the boat or diving. That would be a bore...
The blazing example of this the whole line on bite pressure, and the engineer guy that smashed the clam in the vise like thing. Ok, they totally disregard that GPOs very rarely crush a whole clam to get into it (and then only very small ones), but pursuing this fallacious side route they completely miss the more fantastic truth: If the ability to change shape, change color, having hundreds of suckers on eight powerful arms, their insane invert intelligence and the ability to get into any hole big enough for beak doesn't make them a formidable enough predator as it is THEY HAVE A FREAKING DRILLBIT IN THEIR MOUTH AND THEY ARE VENOMOUS. DEAR GOD WHAT MANNER OF BEAST HAVE YOU UNLEASHED ON THIS EARTH!?!?! They simply drill through nearly any animal armor with their radula and inject venom, killing crabs and bivalves with amazing efficiency. Here is an animal that will out-hide you, out muscle you, out smart you, pursue you wherever you may hide, and drill through your armor and put you down quickly with their poison.
There are so many other things in this show I wish...I wish the fantastic truth would have been borne out more. I know... it was MonsterQuest (looking in one of the very last places in the sea one would expect to find Octopus giganteus) and all the details they laid out to the viewing audience probably kept them from flipping more than accurate info. I guess thats why no GPO experts in the region were on the boat or diving. That would be a bore...