This is one of the most watched vids on Google right now. There is something extremely creepy about this. It’s an octopus changing color. It could be all CG and a fake too. Experts please chime in.
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Squids.. related to Octopus can also do that. Matching the color and patterns that they see blow them. But it seems this Octopuses can also change the texture of it’s skin. It would be interesting if this one can change it’s appearance to blend in with something completely different.
It definitely looks fake to me. If this is real, it looks like the octopus is not only the color of what ever plant that is, but it looks like it has its texture as well. But then once it changes color, it looks smooth-skinned. I don’t know anything about octupi, but it seems fake to me.
I am no expert on the subject, but I have seen similar videos on nature shows. It is for real. Camouflage is apparently one to the octopus’s greatest achievements.
Cool Vid! Thanks!
I saw that on TV, therefore it must be true? surely? they wouldnt lie.. would they?
It was on a docco of some sort last week on foxtel payTV I think (possibly on Discovery or Animal planet) and they said its skin actually becomes physically bumpy/textured as well as coloured to blend into its environment. Cool trick.
On the TV screen at normal SD resolution it looked good and didnt appear to have been created artificially. (im a designer/photographer with an interest in motion graphic effects) Still I could be wrong, and it may have been sped up or just had the colours enhanced to illustrate the point further, (just like most footage we see.)
This video shows the truth. Octupi, members of the cephalopod family, can can change colour and texture almost instantly. They are able to accomplish this because these functions are controled by their nervous systems unlike other animals with similar abilities.
See:
http://www.thecephalopodpage.org/cephschool/ColorChangeInCephalopods.pdf
This isn’t fake at all, this is totally real. Also, you should look up the cuttlefish, as they’re even better at this type of thing than the octopus
I say it is a fake…. why would a creature with such perfect camoflauge skills run from a guy with a camera? Also look at the reaction of the camera… There was no surprise in the sudden appearance of this creature. If I was holding the camera I would be jerking around from the discomfort of the load I left in my wetsuit. it’s a fake.
At first I thought it had to be fake, but then, I don’t know. The slow motion reverse thing made it seem plausable.
If it’s real, go octopus!
It is not fake. I saw this on Nova on PBS. By the way, the plural of octopus is either octopuses or octopodes, not octopi.
Kind of reminds me of preditor.
Lol, this is NOT a fake.
Wow, I’ve known about this for a long time. Didn’t you people ever watch Jacques Cousteau? It’s pretty facinating.
Sorry…I know Octopi (and others) can do amazing things like this…but this is absolutely faked…watch the eye…the animal is faded in…granted in a colour-matched moment..but the animal’s form actually crossfades into the scene…there is the plant (or whatever that is) and then a similar coloured Octopus comes in and colour-changes and swims off…but, watching it, some of the basic forms of the animal just vanish…in form and colour…I’m not buying it.
This tape is for real. Octopi are masters of disguise. Not only can they change color at will but they can also change the texture of their skin. This is a known ability of Octopi, it is nothing new. It is still a very cool thing to see. I think I recall seeing this on TV at some point. If not this clip, another very much like it.
Rick, sheesh, it’s NOT FAKED.
What is with some of you? it’s like OMG, I can’t understand this…so it MUST BE FAKE!
If you don’t buy it, don’t buy it. But you’d be wrong.
And then there’s this story today about scientists working on what they’re calling “chameleon clothing.”
http://tinyurl.com/krolg
Note how the plant moves with the current, while the octopus (yes you can see it’s outline) remains still. Obviously real.
Not only real but it shows just a fraction of what these can do by changing color, patterns and texture of their skin. Seen Nature TV program with almost exact (possibly the same) scene AND many other cases where the same animal quickly blends in a very different backgrounds in no time. Behaviour was also the same, people who took the video expected octopus there and as they approached directly, animals fled in this same manner (not only do they hide well, but are fast, at some point speed becomes better tactics to survive potential attack)…
Rick’s right. It’s fake. Just like the Apollo moon landings. You can’t trust anybody.
This just reminded me of an article I saw a while back. I can’t find the image now but it is described in the following site:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1590/is_n5_v53/ai_18875022
Apparently, they laid a flounder on a black and white checkerboard background and the flounder actually turned black and white in a checkerboard pattern (not perfect but pretty damn close). If anyone finds the image, please post the link.
i’d say it’s fake…
It’s not fake. I’ve witnessed first hand how Octopi can not only change color but their skin textures as well. They can mimic whatever plant, coral or object they attach to. The diver just got a little too close for this creature’s comfort and it decided to scoot. You really can’t appreciate the color changing abilities until you see it with your own eyes. It’s nothing short of astonishing. Not only are they camoflauge experts but they are also great escape artists as well.
I trust the Octopus can do something like that, but I have a question about the diver.
When the octopus accellerates away, the diver seems to react almost instantly and has similar accelleration. Can human divers accellerate like this underwater? I would not htink that the Octopus only goes so far, and as the human approaches it does not speed further and further awar.
I’m glad sharks can’t do this. Or Pit Bulls. Or my wife.
wow, I think its amazing how so many people use the non-standard plural, ‘Octopi’, which has only slipped in as a recognized spelling because of the American public’s use much like hippopotami (My US marine biologist friends still say Octopodes or Octopuses, as does everyone here in ol’ Blighty). ‘Octopi’ has become a joke in those circles – we use it for any value that is near 25 (we need roughly octopi seats…). Not to say that Octopi isn’t useable or is incorrect, I just think it is interesting that everyone here favours the non-standard spelling.
Its a fake – can’t change texture like that!
it seems almost unbelievable but I would say it is real. Someone else mentioned the chequerboard effect seen on a documentroy, I have also seen this documentory and the creatures ability to mimic its environment is almost beyond belief.
It’s fake because it violates Newton’s Law of Motion. When the octopus starts expanding there is no movement in the shrub. It is more perceptible in the reverse/slow motion part. I think the video is real after the octupus swooshes. Before that it is an octupus computer-graphically superimposed. Also the octupus inflates and covers almost the whole screen to create a diversion and a good seque for an edit to realism. If it aired on PBS then probably the producer was under a lot of pressure to get a money shot so he could keep his job. He knew that octupussies camouflage in real life but being unable to get that on film he faked it figuring that he was not really lying–that there was truth but that it took a little lying to demonstrate that truth. This is the world we live in.
Of course this is real! The octopus’s ability to change color and texture to this degree is widely documented. There are many more videos such as this one. People saying it’s fake need to get a life.
“The octopus’s ability to change color and texture to this degree is widely documented.”
True. This is not in dispute. What is in question is THIS particular video.
I say fake, Looks like silicone to me. The evidence? Dvorak likes to show silicone enhanced oddities. Besides, a true expert can always tell by the bounce.