Air Date: Week of December 10, 2021

The common octopus Craig Foster connected with in the Great African Sea Forest. (Photo: Craig Foster and Ross Frylinck)

Next week on the show, underwater explorer Craig Foster from the Academy Award-winning documentary "My Octopus Teacher" joins Host Steve Curwood to share stories from his remarkable encounters in the Great African Sea Forest. Here’s a taste of what listeners can tune in to hear next week: the moment of first contact with the curious octopus.

Transcript

CURWOOD: Next week on Living on Earth, underwater explorer Craig Foster from the Academy Award-winning documentary "My Octopus Teacher" on the unforgettable moment when an octopus first reached out to him and made contact.

FOSTER: They have a natural curiosity. So, their whole lives are balanced between this fear and curiosity. And they're almost like a cat -- you know how curious cats are, they just can't help themselves. And when she's putting that one arm out like that, she's also, all her other arms are attached very strongly to the den. So, she wants to know, she wants to feel, she wants to taste, because they, you know, they can taste with the suckers as well. But she's being very careful. She's putting one arm out and she just can't help herself: What is this strange creature here? What does this thing smell like, taste like? And it's curiosity -- it's sheer curiosity.

CURWOOD: That and other wonders of nature including cuttlefish with an exquisite ability to mimic crabs and shells, and a rare encounter with a Cape clawless otter. The intelligence of wild things in the Great African Sea Forest, next time on Living on Earth.

 

Links

Find Craig Foster's new book Underwater Wild: My Octopus Teacher's Extraordinary World here (Affiliate link helps donate to LOE and local indie bookstores)