Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - 264: Our Wild Animal Best Friends | Ear Biscuits Ep.264

Episode Date: November 16, 2020

It all started with a tweet about an octopus. From a 16' crocodile to a wild lion in Africa, listen to R&L discuss astounding real-life human-animal friendships and what animal they would pick to be t...heir wild animal best friend on this episode of Ear Biscuits! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This, this, this, this is Mythical. Make your nights unforgettable with American Express. Unmissable show coming up? Good news. We've got access to pre-sale tickets so you don't miss it. Meeting with friends before the show? We can book your reservation. And when you get to the main event, skip to the good bit using the card member entrance.
Starting point is 00:00:24 Let's go seize the night. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamx. Benefits vary by card, other conditions apply. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, the podcast where two lifelong friends talk about life for a long time. I'm Rhett. And I'm Link.
Starting point is 00:00:46 This week at the Round Table of Dim Lighting, we're tackling the question, what would be our ideal wild animal companion? Yeah, and you may think to yourself, how would you be worried about that? It's not that we're worried, we're obsessed all we're obsessed. All of a sudden.
Starting point is 00:01:07 We both experienced something via a screen that is now peaked a certain interest that I didn't know I had. This all goes back to, well, how you may have experienced it through the lens of my social media, shout out to Red MC on Twitter. Okay.
Starting point is 00:01:27 I tweeted a while back, Netflix got me crying over a damn octopus. And I used the octopus emoji, which don't think I've ever used it in any context. Oh, you used the emoji? Why not? Did you type octopus and then it popped up? You're like, oh, there's an emoji.
Starting point is 00:01:46 Well, of course. Yeah, because you didn't know. I wouldn't have known that. Yeah, yeah, and I was like. I don't know how to find an emoji if it doesn't pop up. There's certain times when I'm like thinking, I feel like this conversation calls for an emoji, but I'm so inadequate.
Starting point is 00:02:01 You do the visual search through all the options because that's happened to me a couple of times. Yeah, and then that's just soul crushing. And then you're like, you know what? Is this a food or a traffic sign? I don't know. This is not me. This is not who I am. And then I just- You leave it off.
Starting point is 00:02:18 I leave it off. Well- But if it pops up, I'm like, oh, an octopus. And Twitter will do that for you. So we're of course talking about the Netflix documentary, My Octopus Teacher, which I watched and then- Came to work the next day. Told Link about.
Starting point is 00:02:34 And you were just gushing about this Netflix documentary. Right, so we're gonna talk about that. So, and we're also gonna talk about some other animal friendships. And then we're gonna talk about, like we said at the beginning, the wild animal friendships that we might want to personally instigate.
Starting point is 00:02:50 Now, let me say, spoiler alerts forthcoming, because actually spoilers forthcoming is a spoiler alert. Yeah, and I was- You might wanna go and watch Octopus Teacher. It's called My Octopus Teacher on Netflix. Now we're gonna discuss it in great detail. I do not think that anything that we're gonna say is going to make it where you don't want
Starting point is 00:03:14 to then also watch it. But. But if you're a spoiler-reverse person, you wanna go watch it right now. Not even that. I would even, you know, it's, I think, yeah, there's a couple of things in the documentary that I just wanna speak about plainly
Starting point is 00:03:29 that I do think it's better to experience cold, which is why I did not tell my family, you were talking to Christy about it. It wasn't at work. Or maybe it was at work and then- No, no, I was talking about it when we had our, I actually invited you and your wife over to take a dip in the hot tub.
Starting point is 00:03:53 Oh yeah, that's when you were talking about the octopus. The first sort of like hot tub dip of COVID. And then I went back home and I think it was that night or maybe the next night and Christy, poor girl, she has gotten herself into a binge watching spree of one tree hill. I didn't get a permission to talk about it. There's only one way to get somebody out of that. Is with an octopus. Octopus.
Starting point is 00:04:23 Eight lambs to pull you out of one tree hill. She goes to bed a lot earlier than me on a weekend. And so I'll burn the midnight oil and I'll watch something and I was, you know, she was upstairs. She went upstairs earlier and I was like, what you doing? She's like, I think I'm just gonna watch one tree hill. I'm like, okay, okay.
Starting point is 00:04:40 I'm not going to watch that. That's your, that's the thing that, and you know what? There's a lot of nostalgia. I'm not gonna make fun of her for watching your, that's the thing that, and you know what? There's a lot of nostalgia. I'm not gonna make fun of her for watching this thing. She's seen it all before. Well, she said, you know what? Turns out I haven't seen it all. She didn't finish it?
Starting point is 00:04:52 I would just catch it when I caught it, but it wasn't a binge thing. It was before the days of binging. And now she's like putting all the pieces together and reliving her, I think we were newlyweds when she watched that stuff. How many pieces are there to put together? Oh, well there's-
Starting point is 00:05:07 I mean, there's just one tree and one hill. Turns out there's a surrounding community and lots of, I don't know, there's basketballs involved. And there's a kid. There's a couple with- Multiple basketballs? I don't know how many. But I went downstairs and I watched the My Octopus Teacher.
Starting point is 00:05:26 And then the next morning she was like, what'd you end up doing? And I told her and she was like, I wanted to watch that. Rhett wouldn't shut up about it. And I kind of wanted to watch it. My wife was upset that I watched it without her, but I got into it not knowing how impactful it was gonna be on me personally.
Starting point is 00:05:41 I did not tell her anything about it that you hadn't already told her. And I didn't tell the kids anything, but we got the kids to watch it. And I watched it again. Twice. I watched it twice, homie. Was it good the second time?
Starting point is 00:05:53 It was good the second time. Well, so if you- I rarely watch anything the second time and it was still good, so I think- I just wanna give people permission. Yeah, there's permission to not listen. I'm not a spoiler averse person. I know you are.
Starting point is 00:06:07 But so if you're like me. And I'm even saying you can still listen to us and then watch it. Right, what I'm saying is. But it's not ideal. Cause I don't like telling people who've just tuned in to use an antiquated term to this podcast to then go enjoy some other media.
Starting point is 00:06:22 That's just not good business. That's not good business. So I'm just saying that you can go and watch it if you really want to. But if you're listening. But watching it and seeing it from the perspective of the filmmaker is going to be much better than us talking about it.
Starting point is 00:06:35 And then you should come back and listen to us. So if you, again, what I was trying to say was, it's not just about spoilers, is if you know you're looking for things to watch and you're committed to listening to this and you promise that you're gonna come back and listen to this, if you promise, then I'm gonna say, you know what?
Starting point is 00:06:52 Don't, stop this right now. Yeah, if you come back. And do it in that order. Right. But we're also gonna talk about other things. If we set you free, if it's true love, you will come back. We both have other stories that are in a similar vein of the octopus teacher.
Starting point is 00:07:09 Unlikely animal, human, like legitimate friendships. Yeah. Like friendships that are kind of mind blowing that I did not know were possible. And now that we do, it might change the trajectory of our lives. Entire lives. But we're gonna talk about that stuff too.
Starting point is 00:07:26 I got some, I've read up on some, you've read up on some. So we're gonna get to that. But I'm mostly gonna dig deep into my soul because that seems to be what happens in these situations. Something happens on the soul level when people spark friendships with wild animals. Did you weep during My Octopus Teacher? I felt the pressure to weep
Starting point is 00:07:50 because you not only tweeted about it, but then you talked about it at length. I think we've established that it doesn't- And I didn't. It doesn't take much for me to weep while watching something. I weep during commercials occasionally. I wept.
Starting point is 00:08:04 But you've learned why. I've learned why? I thought from therapy you learned why. Well, it's a combination. I don't wanna bait you here. No, it's a combination of two things. Number one, I am actually in the, I don't know the name of it,
Starting point is 00:08:17 but I'm in like what would be called, believe it or not, the sensitivity triad of the Enneagram. I don't know if that's the correct term, but there's basically a few numbers that are actually significantly, I'm actually on the sensitive side of the spectrum of people, but I also have a personality based in all kinds of things, you know, that has kind of shielded me from my emotions.
Starting point is 00:08:44 So there's this weird thing that happens where there's actually a very high level of sensitivity that is happening in me compared to an average person, but I have sort of a shell of a personality that will make you think that I'm not experiencing the things. And actually I'm so good at constructing the personality that I can actually keep the sensitivity
Starting point is 00:09:06 and the emotions and the feelings from my own brain, like hidden from myself. And so I would have told you before therapy, I am not a sensitive person. Yeah, I cry at commercials sometimes. My dad's the same way, he's always done that. But that's actually a sign of that. Yeah, it means there is a deep level of sensitivity
Starting point is 00:09:25 that exists in my person that has to find a way to come out in order for me to be in equilibrium. And so what ends up happening is often instead of Comes out on an octopus. Dealing with like sitting there and like crying about something that's happening to me personally, I will see something happening between a man and an octopus on Netflix and begin to weep
Starting point is 00:09:47 because there's a lot of potential for sensitivity there. Now that's not to say, it seems that I'm implying that I cry in like things that pertain to my real life. And it's like, that doesn't happen either. So I might have a couple of layers, but anyway. But you've only been going to therapy for less than a year.
Starting point is 00:10:05 Right, we're gonna, I'm gonna divert this stream back to the streaming of the documentary. So I, and you'll tell me when you cried. I have a good guess, but I actually- Multiple times. Oh, okay. Well then I have three guesses.
Starting point is 00:10:27 But yeah, it's gonna be my wreck at the end of this thing. Spoilers. Spoiler alert, there it is. No, no, no, they're not gonna hang on for the wreck. So this thing, just to give a little overview via Wikipedia, just for the sake of time, my octopus teacher came out on the 4th of September of this year, 2020.
Starting point is 00:10:50 It's 85 minutes long. It's out of South Africa and it is in English. The film shows how in 2010, Foster, who is Craig Foster, he's a filmmaker that then became the subject of this film that uses footage he shot and some footage that was shot by another cinematographer and then directed by two other people. So Foster began free diving in a cold underwater kelp forest
Starting point is 00:11:19 at a remote location in Faults Bay near Cape Town, South Africa. So we're talking about the Horn of Africa, like the southernmost point in Africa, which, you know, it's down there. It's getting, it's cold, it's getting cold down there, and this dude would swim in the water in just a pair of shorts.
Starting point is 00:11:37 And we're talking about like, like not scuba diving, we're talking about snorkeling. He had like a snorkel and a mask, fins, a weight belt in order to kind of get down into the kelp forest and a pair of shorts. It's called free diving. He was holding his breath to go down. And it was, he said the water would get as cold
Starting point is 00:11:58 as I had to Google the conversion, but like 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Yeah, it's actually- That sounds crazy to me. It's unnaturally cold. If you get in 60 degree water, that's frigid feeling. Just last night, I jumped into my pool. As you can see, we're the jacket boys today.
Starting point is 00:12:17 We've got on jackets. Jacket weather is finally here in California. And I got into my pool last night and it said on the thermometer that it was 70 degrees, but I felt like I was getting into a refrigerator. So to think about, and when we did the ice bath, it was in the 50s. 55, 58.
Starting point is 00:12:38 So 45 degrees, we're talking, and it's phenomenal. He said, at one point early on in documentary, when he said, after a year, because he dove every day. Every day, without exception. After a year, he says, you start to crave the cold. I'm like, after a year? I don't, anything that catastrophically numbing and painful. But don't you want that?
Starting point is 00:13:04 And death defying. When he said that. But yeah, but I want it if it would, like maybe after a week, you start to crave the cult. After a year, you start to crave the cult. Well, and a little, just a little bit of background that what got him to this point. So he was a documentary filmmaker.
Starting point is 00:13:20 He is a documentary filmmaker and he essentially had a midlife crisis, right? He had been working on some documentaries and one in particular that was like following a tribe somewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa. And he had a kid and he began to just kind of feel disconnected and felt like he needed to drop everything, didn't know if he would ever film anything again,
Starting point is 00:13:42 didn't know if he was gonna pick up a camera again. Went back to the Horn of Africa to get into the water because his family had had a house, which did you see the house that they showed? That was literally- Below the tidal line, so like the waves crashed. How do you build that house? Waves would go into the house.
Starting point is 00:13:59 Waves would go into the house. So, and we're talking about like on a cliff, not like sandy beach. Yeah, and that's what he grew up doing. So he went back to his roots. He wanted to go back to the roots. And he would like, cause he went skin diving as a kid.
Starting point is 00:14:10 And so he just went back there, not filming. And then he came upon an octopus, not a special octopus, just a normal octopus. In fact, what is it called? Octopus commonus or something. I don't know what, it's a normal octopus. In fact, what is it called? Octopus commonus or something? Yeah, yeah. I don't know what, it's a common octopus. That is not what it is, but it is just a common octopus.
Starting point is 00:14:32 And so the things that he learned, observed, and started to film and share with the viewer were just amazing. Shop Best Buy's ultimate smartphone sale today. Get a Best Buy gift card of up to $200 on select phone activations with major carriers. Visit your nearest Best Buy store today. Terms and conditions apply.
Starting point is 00:15:00 Now, one of the things about octopuses, is it octopi? Is that correct? Octopi? Through the power of the things about octopuses, is it octopi? Is that correct, octopi? Through the power of the internet, I think that most people who have an internet connection have learned- That they're smart. That they're smart.
Starting point is 00:15:16 This is something that like five years ago, maybe most people didn't know, but now most people are like, yeah, I've seen that crazy video where the octopus like changes color. I didn't know that octopuses could, octopi could change color and could do weird things like walk on two legs and-
Starting point is 00:15:32 Sprout horns over their eyes. And then I also didn't know that if you're doing the IQ thing, the animal IQ thing, that these things would actually rank just a little bit above a dog in intelligence, which seems nuts to me. And on top of that, two thirds of their cognitive power is in their limbs.
Starting point is 00:15:53 Wild. I mean, they evolved on a completely different- Branch. Branch. And when we were hanging out and you were gushing and gushing and gushing about it- Like an octopus shooting outin' out ink. Mike, our friend, ended up saying, he was like, you know, the way that they're so intelligent,
Starting point is 00:16:13 if they, the way that they evolved, if they didn't live, if they only, why can I not put this thought together? They only live a year. If they lived as long as we do, evolutionarily speaking, they would be running the earth. They would have developed technology and they would have vehicles to come on land
Starting point is 00:16:34 and farm everywhere and create the internet. That's why it's so remarkable. We'd be nothing. That in the movie Arrival, the alien beings are octopus-like and I thought that was super appropriate. The balancing factor for me is that they're- Beautiful. Gross.
Starting point is 00:16:51 Oh. Not beautiful to me. I'm like, oh gosh. Like the first thing I told you was like, yeah, but when I think about an octopus, I think about them being able to squeeze through tight places because they're just so gelatinous. And I just get this, when I went to the aquarium and I saw one put all of its arms
Starting point is 00:17:09 through this little hole and I was like, what are you doing? And then all of a sudden, like the bulbous head of the octopus, it just kind of started shoving its own head through this hole. And that was very disturbing to me. I was like, you're gonna get stuck. No one's gonna be able to yank you out of there. And it was very disturbing to me. I was like, you're gonna get stuck.
Starting point is 00:17:25 No one's gonna be able to yank you out of there. And it was just, but then it effortlessly went through, but it was just like gross. I think the thing that's scary to me about them, first of all, they're scarier on land than they are in the water because they're not moving very gracefully, but there's also, and I don't know if I-
Starting point is 00:17:40 They're not typically on land. So no, like you see- There was a scene where this one was on land. You see the videos where like, they get like caught in a net and then they try to get back into the ocean and it's kind of crazy. There's some good YouTube videos about that.
Starting point is 00:17:53 But I think there's a movie, an old movie, where there's like an octopus that's killing a bunch of people. It might be a squid, but there's a beak. It's called Octopussy. It's a James Bond film. There's a beak in there up in the, like if you were to take the legs and like expose it,
Starting point is 00:18:11 which doesn't happen in this particular documentary, there's a mouth in there that is powerful and can do things and I'm scared of things like that, like beaks. He talks about how there's a, he calls it a drill, where he can drill a hole into a shell at a very particular spot that will make the mollusk or whatever that's inside just like let go of the shell and then-
Starting point is 00:18:37 Well, it injects it with some kind of venom that paralyzes it. At a certain spot. But it's gotta be a very particular part of the snail inside the shell. Okay, so to continue the story, he dives every single day for a year and then at some point, he just runs into this octopus.
Starting point is 00:18:55 And he realizes that, okay, so octopuses, this is another thing I didn't know. Octopuses, I'm gonna say octopuses, I know it's wrong, but I just, octopi sounds stupid. Octopuses have dens. So there's like a place at a particular rock, under a little rock where this thing lives and returns. An octopus garden. An octopus garden.
Starting point is 00:19:14 And he's like, okay. In the shade. This is where I live. And this is where I'm gonna be every time you come and see me. So he's like, okay, this is cool. And he decided to go there every single day. And in the opening of the documentary, there's a soundbite of him saying something like,
Starting point is 00:19:33 but there was a boundary that I discover that you just don't cross. And I'm like, is he gonna expose himself to this octopus? I thought that he was gonna potentially make love to the octopus, but then I was like, I don't think this would be on Netflix. Because you hear about the scientist who had the relationship with the dolphin,
Starting point is 00:19:52 and then there was a sexual component, or at least there was a masturbation component in order to get the dolphin to be more compliant. Today, we're not talking about that. So we're not saying anything, but it did conjure those fears among my brain cells, but that's not what they meant. But we can get back to that.
Starting point is 00:20:20 What that, you know, what that, the boundary was a relational one. And there's also a documentarian part of this thing because- It's a feat of filmmaking. The fact that like the things that he observed, like he observed the octopus using it, like wanting to inspect the human and then using a shell as a shield
Starting point is 00:20:40 and then slowly approaching behind, like holding it up like a shield and then finally- Sticking another tentacle out. Finally making contact with him and then realizing that there's a curiosity on the part of this octopus that he never named. I mean, he never gave the octopus a name. I think that's a good point.
Starting point is 00:20:59 I think- It's a good observation. And that's the boundary, I think. Part of the boundary was he didn't name the octopus. He wasn't trying to make it a pet. And he was also, as you will see in a second, not trying to insert himself into the natural flow of nature that was going to happen with this octopus. We can gush all day about all the things
Starting point is 00:21:19 we learned about octopi, but you can get that from the documentary. But the thing that was interesting was, I mean, he could see the octopus predator swimming around like pajama shark, and then he was scared and he would go back every day like what's gonna happen? And then freaking he films a shark attack his friend,
Starting point is 00:21:47 the octopus. I mean, they had a bond at this point. The octopus knew him, would come out, they would swim together. You know, he would like swim on his, the octopus would, she would hold onto his hand and- And it was- It would like, the octopus would like come up and settle on his chest.
Starting point is 00:22:04 And give him a hug. Because he's not wearing a wetsuit. That's part of the deal. The octopus would like come up and settle on his chest. And give him a hug. Because he's not wearing a wetsuit, that's part of the deal. He wanted to be as close to nature as possible. So this almost naked man has this octopus just nestling on his chest. He didn't reach out, grab the octopus
Starting point is 00:22:17 and put him on his chest. No, the octopus did it. He let the octopus instigate. Take the initiative. But you left out an important point, which was, he was filming it. Once he was like, oh, I'm gonna start filming this thing. I'm gonna take my camera down there. He had developed this trust, this bond,
Starting point is 00:22:35 and then it was following him and he dropped a lens off of the camera. And it spooked the octopus and it did not go back to its den so the next day he goes back, the thing is not in its den. It goes back the next day, it's not in its den. He's like, oh crap, I've ruined this relationship.
Starting point is 00:22:54 We had built this trust. And you've broken up. That was the first time I cried. I was already crying when he had the bond and then he broke the bond. Oh, so you didn't cry when he successfully tracked her down and reconnected? Oh no, I cried again then.
Starting point is 00:23:09 That's number two? Yeah. Well then was number three? I mean- It was at least three times. I mean, the big point of horror was him filming the shark- Getting attacked. Attack her and rip off one of her arms and just eat it.
Starting point is 00:23:28 And then it gets to that boundary because he didn't stop it from happening. But then he says, I couldn't resist. Basically he couldn't resist helping. So, you know, she's in, she's holding up in her- She makes it back to the den. Yep, on her own. With seven limbs.
Starting point is 00:23:45 He's tempted to help, but he doesn't help. He just films her going back to her den, limping with one less arm, which has her brain in it. Yeah, lost a part of her brain. And then she's like, she's too weak to even change color. Yeah, she just turns white. And so, but he did crack open shells. Like some muscles or something.
Starting point is 00:24:06 Muscles or something and serve it to her to have some nourishment. And she took it. She took it, but he said it didn't, I don't think it did much good, but I think he might've been saying that because he crossed his own boundary, which I'm like, dude, wait, you know,
Starting point is 00:24:24 when you're in a relationship with an animal, all bets are off, like it's not a pet, but it's a, there was a bond there and he freaking, yeah, I totally understand that he had to like do what he could to help, but it was, it seemed like a little, little, too little too late until she freaking grew her arm back. Did you, I didn't, I forgot that that was possible.
Starting point is 00:24:51 I didn't know it was possible. My jaw dropped. She grew the arm back. And so she had eight limbs again and she kind of came back to life. And again, so he lost contact with her, tracked her down, learned how to track her movements by looking at the sand on the bottom of the ocean.
Starting point is 00:25:08 But he's got- Reunites with her, watches her get attacked by the shark. She loses the limb and then she gets back in business and the sort of the, it goes on and on and on. The relationship continues. What was the last thing that filled you with wonder that took you away from your desk or your car in traffic?
Starting point is 00:25:28 Well, for us, and I'm going to guess for some of you, that thing is... Anime! Hi, I'm Nick Friedman. I'm Lee Alec Murray. And I'm Leah President. And welcome to Crunchyroll Presents The Anime Effect. It's a weekly news show. With the best celebrity guests.
Starting point is 00:25:42 And hot takes galore. So join us every Friday wherever you get your podcasts and watch full video episodes on Crunchyroll or on the Crunchyroll YouTube channel. And then, lo and behold, the same dang gone shark comes back, or one of the sharks that hunts at this reef comes back. And this point, this is when my mind started,
Starting point is 00:26:04 I was like, am I experiencing reality correctly at this point? Yeah. Because the octopus has the ability to pick up all these shells and ball itself up and shield itself. It looks like a soccer ball that's made out of all these shells that it's holding.
Starting point is 00:26:26 And there's a name for that as well. I can't remember what it was. And the octopus, the shark comes up. I do not think that this behavior was ever documented before he observed it. Because he says he remembers seeing that, the first time he ever came in contact with the octopus, it was in that state of this soccer ball with the shells.
Starting point is 00:26:46 And he was like, what the hell is this thing? Right. And then he realized it's a octopus protecting itself. And then there's like epic battle with a shark that still is trying to eat the soccer ball of shells. And then, okay, two things, two remarkable things happened during the shark attack. The first thing that happens is,
Starting point is 00:27:02 is that the, once the octopus, the shark picks up the octopus and is shaking it around. Cause it realizes, okay, this isn't a soccer ball. This is an octopus, but the octopus gets away and swims out of the water, gets on the shore on a rock and eventually has to get back in the water because it can't stay out too long. And at that point it gets on the sharks back and rides the shark because it gets on the shark's back and rides the shark
Starting point is 00:27:26 because it knows that the shark can't eat it as long as it's riding on it like it's a fricking horse. But it rode it as a soccer ball of shells. Yeah, right, it kept itself in the shells while it did this. So that the shark was totally confused and then when it brushed up against some coral, it just ever so normally,
Starting point is 00:27:50 it just brushed itself off and floated away. This thing is so freaking smart. And that's why you observe this thing every day for a year and you're making this bond with it. And you're saying, okay, I'm now going to film my best ocean friend getting eaten alive. How much do you think was the footage that we were seeing in the documentary
Starting point is 00:28:14 was the footage that was captured in the moment when it happened? And how much was like filler, like filling it, like going back and filming later to make it make sense? Like pickups, like movie pickups. Like I do think the octopus is smart enough to comply to pickups. Like, hey, can you get on the back of that pajama shark
Starting point is 00:28:32 again and you know, it's like, we're gonna look at the continuity photos, you're gonna get the same shells in the same place. Because every single thing that would happen. I think he captured all of it. He had incredible shots of it. And I think that was a level of obsession that I totally understand.
Starting point is 00:28:49 It's like, again, you're making this bond and then you don't know what's going to happen every day. And it's like, is this the day that I come back and the octopus is just not there? Has been attacked and is just gone? Am I gonna have to track it again? But that's why it's so amazing to me that he didn't intervene,
Starting point is 00:29:10 except in that one breach with feeding. And then it comes back and it's like, there's another octopus, they're mating, they've mated and then it's like, he knows that she's gonna die at that point. So he's just, he's coming back every day to see. That's the end of the life cycle. Yeah, only a year.
Starting point is 00:29:31 At what point in the process do you think that the inner filmmaker, there's a spark sometimes, especially when you're doing documentary film, there's a spark. We don't have a whole lot of experience with this, but I do remember when we were making "'Looking for Ms. Locklear," which is really the only documentary we've ever made,
Starting point is 00:29:50 full length documentary. And once the search for our teacher became much larger and became about the struggle of the Lumbee people, and we found ourselves in Washington, DC at a hearing filming John McCain talk about, you know, the Indian Affairs Committee. There was this moment that somewhere along the lines where I was like, we got something here, right?
Starting point is 00:30:18 He was, at what point do you think he understood the potential for what he was creating? I mean, he was a nature documentarian. I think he had to be pretty early. And I do think that was the factor because I'm not that familiar with him, but I have to believe that there's these rules of you don't intervene, you know?
Starting point is 00:30:43 Well, there's a famous photo that won a prize of some sort, whatever the photo prize is, of the starving child. Right. But I don't even remember when it was from. So there's a journalistic principle that applies to nature as well. Well, just to complete the thought though, there's a picture of a starving child
Starting point is 00:31:03 that was walking to get food. And this journalist, photojournalist, took a picture of the child, but did not assist the child. And I think the story goes that the child died. And when people found out about that, they were like, well, okay, what's more important, your journalistic principles or the life of this child? This isn't a child, this is an octopus we're talking about,
Starting point is 00:31:25 but there is this sort of commitment to these journalistic principles that he went into the process knowing that like, if I'm gonna make this into something, I understand the type of criticism that I'm gonna receive, especially when it's an animal, for intervening, right? And he really, he held strong. I couldn't have done that.
Starting point is 00:31:48 And I found myself being angry with him when the octopus was in that epic battle as a boulder. Cause he could have just reached out and like slapped a shark. But maybe that's a good point to analyze because an extraordinary thing was documented that happened. You know, it's like- You don't wanna see a human hand come in there
Starting point is 00:32:08 and like thump the shark away. Yeah, this is not the story. You know, he was presenting her story, not their story. But really, I mean, when the directors took the footage, they presented his story, but it was more about how he had a son and there was a connection to, it was what did the octopus teach him?
Starting point is 00:32:32 And there was, his takeaway was more of a, that we're all connected. Right. Well, it raises a larger question, which I think we'll get into as we begin to talk about some of these other scenarios, which is what part of this incredible connection between this animal that's more intelligent
Starting point is 00:32:53 than I ever understood. You know, and I think about, you know, my relationship with Barbara, your relationship with Jade, who's currently in your lap. And definitely I attribute human emotions and human instincts to Barbara. Like when Barbara looks at me with a, she gives me a facial expression that may be like,
Starting point is 00:33:15 well, she's confused right now, or she is annoyed right now, or she's happy right now. And again, a lot of that is me projecting a human understanding onto a dog's face, even though we do know that dogs, since being domesticated have developed these things that only exist with them and don't exist with wolves, like the ability to make eye, sustained eye contact
Starting point is 00:33:38 with a human to get to communicate via eye contact. That's not something that would happen with a wolf. But even so, it makes sense that there is some sort of emotional connection. Like I feel like when I'm doing my stretching in the morning and Barbara comes and gets on my chest and like puts her head on my face or licks me or whatever, I don't think that she's just like,
Starting point is 00:33:59 I'm doing this because you're gonna feed me later. That might be a part of it. But I do think that there is an emotional component to it. But how much of this was an understanding that this octopus had, which is like, and again, they wouldn't put it in human terms, but like how much of it do you think was in so far as an octopus can consider a human a friend, that was what was going on.
Starting point is 00:34:27 It seemed that way, it really did. I mean, like the, he wasn't, she, the octopus was not getting anything from him. He was, except for that one little time, he was not feeding her, he was not doing anything except like being interesting. You know, she was interested. And there was a connection, there was a form of relationship,
Starting point is 00:34:56 like curling up on his chest and stuff like that, or just like swimming together. I mean, he witnessed her being playful with fish, once you really understand how something works. And it's extremely, I'm so glad that we got a dog because until you experience a connection with an animal, it's just not something that, it's just not something you can judge from the outside.
Starting point is 00:35:23 That's what I was doing, right? So it does something within a human soul, I think, to have a connection with an animal. Let's get to some of these, because I think these are an exploration of that point. Yeah. Well, I'm gonna talk about Dindim. Tell me about Dindim.
Starting point is 00:35:43 The penguin. So in May of 2011, a guy named Joao Piera de Souza, which I would just call Mr. de Souza from this point on. Okay. And I'm reading points from a CNN article in 2016 about this. A humble retired bricklayer rescued an injured penguin. Where?
Starting point is 00:36:07 In the state of Rio de Janeiro. Okay. Or Rio de Janeiro. And the flightless bird was covered in oil and unable to move. So oil spill, it was one of those situations where you got a bird covered in oil. So D'Souza took him.
Starting point is 00:36:20 We're not talking sexy oil, we're talking crude oil. Not a lubricant, well it is I guess, but you know, yeah're talking crude oil. Not a lubricant, well it is I guess, but you know, yeah. Not KY jelly. D'Souza took him under his wing, pun, and nurtured him back to health, thoroughly cleaning oil residue on the penguin's body and feeding him for days until he was fit enough
Starting point is 00:36:36 to return to the water. So this guy basically lives on like an island nation, lives on the beach essentially. Not an island nation, an island area near Rio. So he took him to another nearby island to set him free, to set Dindim free. And later, of course he hadn't named him at this point, later that day, he hears some squawking in his backyard.
Starting point is 00:36:59 And he's like, holy crap, the penguin is back. He came back to the backyard. And he, the penguin, now he wasn't like, he didn't put him in an enclosure, he didn't treat him as a pet. He did feed him and he did touch him. Well, this penguin stayed with D'Souza for 11 months. And then he shed his annual coat of feathers,
Starting point is 00:37:22 molted or whatever the term is, and suddenly was gone. Like he was nothing but feathers? He disappeared, no. That penguin was just a ball of feathers. All of a sudden. I've been duped. All of a sudden, he was not in his backyard. Okay. So at this point D'Souza is thinking,
Starting point is 00:37:40 okay, that was a weird but awesome thing, this short-lived relationship with this penguin that I nursed back to health. But then the next year, he came back. He came back. To the backyard. And that's when you cry in the movie. And then he left again. He's marching.
Starting point is 00:37:59 Haven't you seen March of the Penguins? And it turned- They do something, right? For years, every year since 2011, he has come back to his backyard at the same time. It's like an extended period of time. He like comes back in the middle of the summer and stays until like February and then goes away and then comes back at the same exact time.
Starting point is 00:38:20 Now- It makes you cry a little. You know? You can make yourself cry? Makes you well up because just imagine his feeling. He did this selfless act of rescuing- Well, you wanna cry? A flightless bird. Look at this video. Oh no.
Starting point is 00:38:37 You have to describe what you're seeing. Here he is. This is him. He's waddling. He's waddling up. And he just puts his, he nuzzles him. What is he? He puts his beak on his face and he doesn't do this.
Starting point is 00:38:50 He's kissing him. He kisses him and he doesn't do this with any other humans. He doesn't allow any, if any other human tries to touch him, he bites them. Oh wow. But he lets him give him baths. He's giving him a shower. Slow mo shower.
Starting point is 00:39:04 And then he just let, he told him, this is a humble bricklayer, Link. That's a humble bricklayer. I mean, and just, you know, it's such a rewarding connection. It's like you do a selfless act and then it's recognized. It's like, I owe you my life. I'm gonna come back and I'm gonna nuzzle you.
Starting point is 00:39:21 Only you, I am not tame. Well, okay. I am allegiant. I don't wanna take any of the magic out of it, but I'm gonna nuzzle you, only you, I am not tame. Well, I am allegiant. I don't wanna take any of the magic out of it, but I'm gonna tell you something that has been theorized about this particular situation. Now, the first thing is, for those of you who are like, how did you know it's the same penguin? Well, there were some scientists who asked
Starting point is 00:39:38 the same question and so in 2016, they tagged this, they drew graffiti on him. Oh. They tagged the penguin so they could keep up with his location and sure enough, it's the same penguin and he travels like 5,000 miles. Wow.
Starting point is 00:39:55 But what? But, okay, while the, and this is from the article, while the idea of a penguin returning to visit every year seems surreal, Krajewski, who is a scientist, said that most magellanic, it's like Magellan with an I-C, magellanic penguins are very loyal to their partner and nesting site. They nest in the same place every year and with the same partner.
Starting point is 00:40:21 So in the circuitry of this penguin's brain is a commitment to monogamy. And so one theory is that he sees D'Souza as his mate. He sees it as another penguin. And so he has this tendency to bond and connect and almost imprint on this other being. And it just happens that, hey, yeah, you guys go and you spend time with other things
Starting point is 00:40:44 that look like birds and you do interesting sexual things with them and it makes baby penguins. I just go hang out with a humble bricklayer. Well, you should see the brick he can lay. But still it's beautiful and it's sweet. I'd like to see your mate Tammy lay brick. Right, exactly. You know?
Starting point is 00:41:02 That's dindim. I mean, I read an article about Yuriko the fish in Japan. There's this underwater shrine sacred to the Shinto religion and there is a caretaker of the shrine. So he scuba dives down there, Hiroyuki Arakawa. And there's this, I'll call it a ugly fish. I'm just gonna say it. It's a ugly, it's a bottle nose, bulbous headed,
Starting point is 00:41:40 sheep's head, Ross fish. It's not pretty. There's no octopus. And this thing comes up and for 25 years, he greets her with a kiss on the forehead. But I watched the footage of it. I think you watched the footage too. Little less impressive.
Starting point is 00:41:58 It's just a big old fish getting petted on the forehead. And then- It looks like it wants something. Yeah, it looks like it wants something. I mean, it snapped at him and it- Looks like it wants something. Yeah, it looks like it wants something. I mean, it snapped at him and it seemed like it was eating something later but he kisses it on the head. That doesn't count for me.
Starting point is 00:42:12 I mean, it's like, that's not special. It's just like, hey, a fish knows you are gonna show up every day and maybe feed it or at least kiss it on the head. And- I bet a little something comes out of your mouth that it tastes. A fish has got to be, and this fish looks really stupid.
Starting point is 00:42:30 I mean, like I think all fish are probably pretty dumb. This fish looks like especially stupid. But I mean, the fact that it's lived 25 years, I think is just a testament to it. You don't have to be that smart to make it 25 years in the ocean. But let me tell you about this crocodile. Okay. Okay.
Starting point is 00:42:47 I got another one too. I wanna go ahead and skip to the crocodile. Okay, all right. Because I think it's, this is crazy. All right. A dude named Cheeto is in Central America. He's a fisherman. He finds a crocodile, like a small crocodile
Starting point is 00:43:07 that's been shot by a farmer because it was coming out, he has cattle. And shot this crocodile in the head, like in the eye to kill it. But then he finds it and he nurses it back to health over three years. And he's like chewing stuff for this little crocodile and like, and then giving it to the,
Starting point is 00:43:27 like showing the crocodile, oh, you need to eat this. And then like feeding it stuff and like being- He's like demonstrating chewing? Yeah, to a crocodile. And it worked. A crocodile, yeah, and this thing- How big is this thing? Well, it was small,
Starting point is 00:43:42 but then over the three years of it regaining its vigor, this thing grew to 16 feet long. That's a big animal. It's a huge crocodile. And then he named it Pocho. And he puts it back and once it recovers, he like, he sends it away. And then he gets up the next morning and that thing has come back and is in his yard.
Starting point is 00:44:08 And then he does it again, does it three times. And the crocodile, Pocho, just keeps coming back and hanging out in his yard. He doesn't want to leave Cheeto. And so then Cheeto is compelled to spend more and more time with this crocodile to the point that his wife starts to think he's sneaking around on him and like, and then it realizes it's a crocodile but gets jealous.
Starting point is 00:44:33 The wife gets jealous? And they get a divorce. He wasn't making love with it, was he? No, he wasn't. He was just spending more time with the crocodile than he was spending with her and he's quoted as saying, "'Another wife I could get. "'Pocho was one in a million.'"
Starting point is 00:44:46 Well, you could say that again. He did get another wife and they had a daughter and the daughter's not allowed to like be around Pocho, but Pocho will not leave. So like, he's like spending all this quality time and learning all the intricacies of like how the crocodile looks and all this stuff. And you start swimming with the crocodile
Starting point is 00:45:03 and there's like a Nat Geo documentary, which incidentally is shot by the same person who was a cinematographer on My Octopus Teacher. Really? Yeah. And in the opening shot, you see this huge crocodile like in the water with his eyes at the water level. And then his mouth opens. And you know how you see a crocodile's mouth just gape open.
Starting point is 00:45:28 And then you realize, no, this is not the crocodile's mouth gaping open. There's like a huge bald head in its mouth. No, the crocodile's mouth is shut. And a bald headed man named Cheeto is underneath the crocodile pushing his head up and revealing himself. This is like the opening shot of this Nat Geo documentary.
Starting point is 00:45:53 And he rides on its back and he's, I mean, this is a reptile. You would think that this couldn't happen because again, the way that the reptilian brain develops. They're not that smart. I mean, it's like, yeah, it's- We have a number of layers of brain on top of the core of our brain.
Starting point is 00:46:14 Basically the reptilian brain is just instinctual. That's what's so crazy about the octopus is that it's evolutionarily so much more separated. But yeah, a crocodile, I mean, but- Why doesn't he eat Cheeto? I mean, his name is Cheeto after all. It's spelled differently. But it's not as compelling as the octopus thing
Starting point is 00:46:36 because you can't attribute as much intelligence to the crocodile, but I mean, there's enough there- There's a lot more risk though. There is a bond, and there are many documented cases of people like after years and years of having a pet reptile. And he was a pet, but he was still free to go. He's free to go now.
Starting point is 00:46:58 They'll turn on you and just kill you at any point. Didn't he die? He died at age of 50 in 2011. But the interesting thing is how- The crocodile. The crocodile, yeah. Cheeto described it as, whenever he would play with the crocodile,
Starting point is 00:47:13 he said it was like being with God. Like the dude was obsessed with this connection because it can become so, I'll say magical. You're able to cross this impossible boundary. And it's, I mean, you could tell in his interviews just how meaningful it was to him to have that connection. And it is interesting to explore like how much of that is, you know, projection.
Starting point is 00:47:41 But it's real for him and it's important for him. Well, we have a tendency, you know, post enlightenment, especially in the Western world, we have a tendency to do what we're doing, which we kind of just naturally do, which is to try to break it down to just its naturalistic elements. But there is- An emotional component.
Starting point is 00:48:00 Well, I would say they're even a spiritual component, right, potentially. So what I'm getting at is in so far as- a spiritual component, right, potentially. So what I'm getting at is in so far as- That's what he did, yeah. When you talk about the idea of oneness, right? And the idea that consciousness is a thing that exists. I'm not saying I subscribe to this idea, but it is a very intriguing way to look at the universe.
Starting point is 00:48:23 And the idea that there may not necessarily be, there could be a God who is somehow separate from this creation and was the one who set everything in motion. But to me, there's a slightly more interesting idea that in many ways seems more compelling that God is in everything, right? And is sort of the universe is essentially
Starting point is 00:48:48 a physical expression of a consciousness that exists that you and I and this wooden desk are all a part of. This is something that I used to, when I- And I'll just break in and say, I don't know if it's, it may be more interesting and compelling. It is interesting and compelling to me as well, but it may be because it's a little more, it's a newer idea to us, but-
Starting point is 00:49:10 Well, I'm gonna talk about that because I actually feel like, I remember when I used to hear about different Eastern religions and I heard about it in the context of growing up in a conservative Christian home and a church where the way that we would interpret say Hinduism, Buddhism, whatever, like when I learned
Starting point is 00:49:30 that there were all these specific gods associated with different objects in Hinduism, to me, I was like, that's ridiculous, right? I remember thinking that as a kid, I was like, that's really, that seems kinda remember thinking that as a kid, I was like, that's really, that seems kinda, that seems sort of archaic and it seems like like an old kind of idea that you would attribute, you would find a God in a rock.
Starting point is 00:49:55 Mystic, it was mystical. Or what I'm saying is I belittled the idea. I'm saying, I'm not saying that it was mystical. What I'm saying is I looked down on the idea. I thought that it was a bad way to look at the universe. I thought that it was a simple way to look at the universe. And I was like, when you can- Or ignorant.
Starting point is 00:50:13 Yeah, yeah, that kind of makes sense. Like maybe those people haven't evolved to a place where they can appreciate the idea of a personal creator God. But one of the things that I'm kind of reevaluating again, I don't know where I fall in this perspective, but when I think about that, I'm like, oh, it isn't necessarily just as simple,
Starting point is 00:50:36 the super simple sort of dismissive view that I had, which was attributing a God or magic to every single thing. But to me, it's a way of kind of expressing that idea that there is life, there is God, whatever the word you want to use, there is consciousness in all things and sort of more of a sense of fabric of the universe. And so I do think there's been times in my life
Starting point is 00:51:01 where I have felt connected to things that it would be like, it's weird to feel connected to a plant, right? But if you go back from a scientific standpoint to the point where, well, we come from the same place, we're all stardust. At one point, the same atoms that make up that plant, you know, the same atoms that make up me
Starting point is 00:51:21 are gonna become the same atoms that make up a plant, that make up an animal, that make up the next Jade. And what I'm getting at is, are you using Jade as a visual example right now? I am, yeah. And so your connection with Jade is, again, the Western enlightened view is that this is a lesser creature
Starting point is 00:51:42 that is here for your benefit. This is here for you. The idea that you're human and therefore, you must exercise dominion over all things on Earth and that everything is here for your exploitation. There's a different way to look at things, which is we're all part of the same system in a much more integrated and thorough way
Starting point is 00:52:04 than we ever appreciated. And when you think about it like that, maybe what's happened between Cheeto and Pocho is a sort of strange, it's not an anomaly, but it's an expression of that type of connection that can happen between beings. I'm not gonna swim with a croc to find God, but he did. Right. He did.
Starting point is 00:52:25 And his second wife was with it. So. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it is interesting. I do want you to get to the lion. You know, I had heard about this, but like this is a, the relationship narrative associated with this is flooring.
Starting point is 00:52:48 Well, and this is a video that you've seen. If you're one of the 100 million people who have watched it. Christian the lion. You may have seen about 10 years ago, there was a video that went viral and it's obviously like old footage. It's from the late 60s. And I think the original version doesn't even have any sound
Starting point is 00:53:08 but there's these two very hippie looking white dudes with long hair and bell bottoms. And they're like out in Africa. Bell bottoms, yeah. And next thing you know, there's a fricking lion that still seems to be juvenile, doesn't have a mane yet, but is a fricking 500 pound creature that could easily kill them,
Starting point is 00:53:28 starts running up to them and you're like, oh no, what's about to happen? And it jumps up and it hugs this dude. And then it's just like licking him and hugging him and frolicking and then it goes up to the other guy and the same thing happens and they're like laughing. And it's one of these things you're like, what? I've seen this before, like on Tiger King.
Starting point is 00:53:45 You know, I've seen people interact with big cats that were raised in captivity, but these guys are in the middle of Africa, the bush. And this thing comes out. So the story behind this is that again, late 60s, there's two Australian dudes who see a lion cub for sale in England, because there was an exotic animals market at that time, they purchased this thing.
Starting point is 00:54:11 In their early 20s, they're not trying to take advantage of the thing, they're just like, who knows where this thing's gonna end up, let's give it a good life, and they do this. They raise this thing in their apartment, in their flat in England. And this lion cub grows over the course of a year
Starting point is 00:54:31 and is their pet and stays in their house, rides in the back of their convertible Mercedes everywhere they go around town, goes to parties with them, becomes friends with their friends. And there's like an account of him jumping up on a woman that was one of the lion's friends and he accidentally like claws her dress
Starting point is 00:54:50 and it falls to the floor. Like all these crazy surreal, this seems like some sort of like Wes Anderson movie where there's this lion friend who is going along with these guys. Now eventually they realize this cannot continue. He's too big. He's never shown any signs that he's gonna hurt anybody,
Starting point is 00:55:07 but he doesn't really understand his own strength and it's probably not moral to keep this thing in England. Probably not. So they take him to Kenya where they just drop him off or whatever. And at this point you're thinking, this thing has never lived in the wild, surely this thing's gonna die.
Starting point is 00:55:25 Well, if you watch that video, you'll see one of the things that happens is after he's, after they're interacting with this male lion, all of a sudden a female lion comes up to them and starts interacting with them. Not in the same way, but it's basically just right there next to them walking around. Curious.
Starting point is 00:55:40 Curious and like coming up next to them and kind of rubbing up on them. They put Christian the lion in the bush. It came back three months later thinking they would never see him again. Three months later? Three months later, he comes up to them, hugs them like that, and then brings them his wife and they meet,
Starting point is 00:56:01 they stay there for nine days and they meet his wife and his kids. He's got, they have a litter, whatever the correct term of cubs. So he- That couldn't happen in three months though. I think it could. You have babies in three months?
Starting point is 00:56:15 Maybe if you're a lion? I don't know what the gestation period is. I don't know if I've got all the facts right, but I do know when he came back, he had, he introduced them to his wife and kids. He made it. He made it. He made it and he made it.
Starting point is 00:56:30 And then they never saw him again. I don't know, the story kind of ends there. But these guys, when the video went viral in 2011, they ended up going on like the Today Show. And of course they were much older at this point. And then they signed a movie deal where Zac Efron was gonna play one of them and I don't think that ever happened
Starting point is 00:56:48 because I looked and I couldn't find it. Yeah, the whole captivity thing is a- Complicates it. Complicates this conversation but I mean, the fact that there's, you know, having a connection with an animal, one of the things this highlights is how extraordinary it was with an octopus, going back to that.
Starting point is 00:57:14 You know, you might have one in an aquarium, but you're not gonna have an actual relationship, this connection. And it was just, it's mind blowing. Does it make you think twice? I like them more. About enjoying octopus at a fancy restaurant? It gives me an easier excuse to not eat it.
Starting point is 00:57:39 I think- You don't like it. I've had it a couple of times. And I really do like it. And I didn't hate it, but I've never seen it on the menu and said I gotta have this. And I'm the exact opposite. So if I see it on the menu, I order it without exception. If Octopus is on the menu, I order it.
Starting point is 00:57:56 What about now? Oh man, this is tough. Seriously? You cried three times? Well, again, I'm not trying to go philosophical here and I'm also not trying to justify my own behavior, but just go with me on another little journey for a second. Okay, okay.
Starting point is 00:58:15 Don't hold your dog up in the middle of it. Just stay with me. I'm not. I've thought about this and I thought about this as it relates to the morality of eating meat, right? It was something, I actually think about it on a pretty regular basis, right? And if you follow that sort of oneness idea
Starting point is 00:58:35 and that we're all connected, I mean, first of all, the distinction that we make between plants and animals, obviously there is a distinction between plants and animals. There are some weird sort of intermediate things. And I do think that for whatever reason, the closer something gets to our level of intelligence, for good reason, it becomes weirder to eat it, right?
Starting point is 00:59:00 But everybody draws a line at some point. Some people say anything with eyes, anything with the face. Some people say anything with the conscience as however you define that. But there's actually a lot of evidence to suggest that there is a level of consciousness amongst plants. When you eat a plant, you are killing it. You're constantly murdering microorganisms
Starting point is 00:59:25 that have some level of consciousness just by being a person, meaning that there is a give and take that happens between beings in the universe. Now, there are some things that you can point to that really seem totally unnecessarily exploitative, like factory farming as an example, right? When you begin to see an animal simply as a source of food
Starting point is 00:59:47 and its existence is just for the benefit of you being able to eat exactly the right kind of beef that you want or whatever. And then of course, what the net effect of that is, is that there is an animal that is being bred in a certain way, in a certain environment that is just to be eaten, which is different than, hey, there's a deer that's out here enjoying its life,
Starting point is 01:00:09 doing its thing, being a part of nature. It's going to be killed by something eventually, right? It's usually, animals in the wild don't usually die of natural causes. They end up getting eaten by predators. And so there are points at which a human enters the food chain and says, I'm the predator and I'm going to, anyway, I believe that you can kill an animal
Starting point is 01:00:28 for the purpose of it being food and do it in a respectful way that is actually respecting its life. I think that that's a possible thing to do. So all that to say, from a moral standpoint, while I understand someone saying from a moral standpoint, I will not eat animals, period. I think that it's a much more complex thing
Starting point is 01:00:51 than a lot of people maybe are willing to admit because there's a lot of gray in that equation. So you will eat the octopus. Well, I guess what I'm saying is, again, not trying to defend myself and justify myself, but I honestly feel my perspective is, I can be absolutely amazed at the octopus, appreciate the octopus in a way that I never did before,
Starting point is 01:01:19 and still eat the octopus. Like I don't have to- I don't even like having- What I'm saying is, if I get to a point where I have to disrespect an animal in order to be able to eat it, I'm not saying, you know what I'm saying? I don't disrespect, I don't think that a cow's life is pointless.
Starting point is 01:01:37 I don't think that I have sympathy for a cow. I eat beef at the same time. And you know, listen, I may get to a point where it's like that contradiction is something that is truly a contradiction that I can't live with. But I actually think there's more compelling reasons to stop eating meat than the moral dilemma around the life of an animal.
Starting point is 01:01:59 But anyway. Well, what about this? What animal would we each choose, wild animal we choose to have a best friendship with that would remain wild? Not domestication, not making a pet, not putting in a pen or in your house or in your convertible.
Starting point is 01:02:17 But like if you could go and go on their terms, be friends with that animal, what would it be? I really like the idea of being, of like scuba diving. I can't do the skin diving. You could though. No one can do it at the beginning, that's what I've heard. I know. No one can do it at the beginning.
Starting point is 01:02:39 I have an anxiety of like holding my breath, like. Everyone has the anxiety. That's what I, were we talking about this before? Oh, it was that book, the book I told you about that I wanted to do a whole episode on that we can talk about it later. But the guy talks about it in the book. Well, I know that.
Starting point is 01:02:57 That everyone has this underwater anxiety. But like, I would love to get my scuba license. I've wanted to do that ever since I've been snorkeling a couple of times and like, man, I wanna go deeper, but I don't wanna have to hold my breath. Oh yeah, there's scuba diving. I'm actually more freaked out by the scuba than I am the free diving.
Starting point is 01:03:14 So I'm, well, I'm actually, so I'm thinking in that realm. It could be an octopus for me now. It could be. Well, I think you gotta pick something original. That's been done. You have to have my sea bass teacher. Yeah, I don't think there's,
Starting point is 01:03:33 I mean, there's some of the mammals in the ocean. Any mammal in the ocean. A dolphin connection. So I don't know, I guess I do wanna stay. Seahorse, you like little horses. They're not smart. Well, what if they are? You don't know that.
Starting point is 01:03:52 What if you could have a little seahorse that just nestles up into your chest region? Yeah, that's cool. I would want one of the bigger ones though. The biggest seahorse is for you. How big do they get? I think they can get as big as your thigh. No.
Starting point is 01:04:04 No way a seahorse gets that big. Maybe as big as your thigh. No. No way a seahorse gets that big. Maybe as big as my foot. I don't think a seahorse gets that big. I think maybe at some point in the distant past. Maybe a size 11 foot. You think there's US size 11 shoe. Well, I gotta ask this question now. How big can a seahorse get?
Starting point is 01:04:22 Can range in size from 0.6 inches to 14 inches long. That's a size 14. Yeah, that's a big seahorse, man. You can find a big size 14. Can seahorses kill humans is also. And they could nuzzle in a way that a horse would. It says, might seem like the most harmless, unassuming creatures under the sea,
Starting point is 01:04:43 but they're actually one of the most deadly. Okay, forget it. Just a normal horse on land. You know, I mean, people have these connections with horses. There's like therapy associated with horses. Like they have this like cosmic connection to people. So I just gotta go back to a regular horse. Final answer, what's your answer?
Starting point is 01:05:05 But it has to be a wild horse. Yep. It can't just be like a horse in a stable somewhere in Burbank. Yeah, it has to, I only- Like a Mustang. I'm gonna ride it only by invitation. Like it's gonna have to kneel down and kind of,
Starting point is 01:05:19 like when the horse picked up Aragorn when he was like totally decimated, he seemed dead, and the horse like basically put him on his back, that's how it would have to happen. But it would after like a year. Well, my animal is horse-like in a sense, and it's also, I think I've been on record saying that this is my favorite animal, giraffe.
Starting point is 01:05:42 I think I've been on record saying that this is my favorite animal, giraffe. I'm a very, I'm tall, I'm a very large man. And the idea, could you imagine what it would be like to be friends with a giraffe? Just think about that for a second. First of all, they're obviously- They're so tall. Gentle and sweet.
Starting point is 01:06:05 Have you seen the eyelashes on those things? And they are also rideable. And that's not, I'm not in this just for the ride, but riding a giraffe would be one of the more badass things that you could do. Again, this would be in the context of a friendship. It wouldn't be in a context of- It would have to be initiated by the draft.
Starting point is 01:06:27 I'm saying that. There's no saddle. I wouldn't have a saddle made. I'd be riding this thing bareback and I would be holding onto its neck. I wouldn't even be grabbing onto its hair because I might hurt it. It's kinda like riding a hobby horse or like a carousel horse.
Starting point is 01:06:45 Yeah, and this is only if, again, if I was invited to ride it. But I think that if you are in a friendship with a giraffe, I think that's part of it. I just think you'd be walking with it and it would just be- I think I might grab onto one of its legs, like one of those little stuffed animal monkeys.
Starting point is 01:07:01 Like a child? That just like stays on a leg and I just hold onto the leg and go around and then occasionally it throws me up and lets me walk up its neck to see what it sees. You're kind of missing the relationship. I was looking for more of like, you would read aloud to it.
Starting point is 01:07:17 Well, this is all part of it. You read aloud to the giraffe. I'm just talking about the more sensational things. Okay, is that your final answer? And there is a place, there is a hotel. Yeah, it's called Disney World. There's a hotel in Africa where, again, I don't know if these things are like
Starting point is 01:07:36 just on the premises, I don't know the situation. I'm not advocating like pet giraffes, like giraffes need to be in the wild. But there is a hotel where you eat, you're in your room and you're like eating breakfast and the giraffes come in and like interact with you. I think it's giraffes. I've seen this, yeah.
Starting point is 01:07:57 I've seen a picture of it. I don't know about if it's ethical. So I'm not saying I'm doing it. If they're wild giraffes that have somehow just become comfortable with people, then I might go. If they're wild giraffes that have somehow just become comfortable with people, then I might go. If they're like giraffes that they're keeping and making interact with people for money, then I'm not part of it.
Starting point is 01:08:12 But I think that's where the hotel comes in. Well, I mean, maybe the giraffes are, what are the giraffes getting at? I don't know, yeah. I'm just saying you're out in the wild, you're reading a book to a giraffe, just keep it pure. You're the one muddying everything. Just keep it pure, man.
Starting point is 01:08:28 Listen, the world is complex. And when it gets attacked, you can't intervene. I don't know what I would do in the case of, anything that can hurt a giraffe. I'm gonna tell you right now. It's probably not something I could do something about, but you as a seahorse man. I would intervene with my friend
Starting point is 01:08:44 because I'm not a nature documentarian and that's why I'm not, because I want the seahorses to be, I'm gonna do everything in my power to protect my seahorses. Well, my seahorse friends, they're not mine, I don't own them. Oh, so you did go back to seahorse. I took you back to seahorse, I thought you went to land horse.
Starting point is 01:09:00 That's right. I could have both. Okay, so tell us what you think. You know what? I know, you don't have to tell me what you think about the controversial things I said. There's already enough of that. Just tell us what you think about,
Starting point is 01:09:15 just tell us about- Octopus Teacher. Octopus Teacher. What did the octopus teach you? Yeah. Hashtag your biscuits. We'll speak at you next week.

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