‘Secrets of the Octopus’ Takes a Deep Dive Into the Mesmerizing Animals’ World

Happy Earth Day! Following Secrets of the Whales and Secrets of the Elephants, James Cameron’s latest natural history series, Secrets of the Octopus uncovers the lives of one of the most alienlike animals on the planet: the octopus.

The three-parter, narrated by Paul Rudd, shows how these eight-armed creatures can shape-shift and reveals how intelligent and social they are through incredible footage, some showing behavior never before captured on film.

National Geographic for Disney/Craig Parry

One such behavior is a mating ritual, seen between “Scarlett,” a small day octopus at the Great Barrier Reef that’s featured across the episodes, and a male suitor. (National Geographic Explorer Dr. Alex Schnell, above, named Scarlett based on a scar beneath her eye.)

Dr. Schnell and other experts meet several amazing octopuses in places such as Canada’s Vancouver Island and Indonesia’s Lembeh Strait. But there’s a particularly touching relationship between Schnell and Scarlett — who seems to remember the scientist each time the human dives into her world — that developed rapidly.

“It varies from individual to individual how quickly [octopuses] want to interact with you,” Schnell says. “Sometimes they never do.” Scarlett got comfortable in just a couple of hours. “We have an animal here that has no way to protect [itself from a human],” Schnell adds
in awe, “and yet she wanted to interact with a species 10 times her size.”

Secrets of the Octopus, Series premiere, Sunday, April 21, 8/7c, 9/8c and 10/9c, National Geographic