Incredible Footage Of An Octopus Walking On Dry Land Will Give You Nightmares

There are only a handful of species of octopuses that have been properly studied, with dozens more remaining elusive to researchers. Their social, hunting and mating behaviours are weird as hell and they're known to be able to open the lid of a glass jar while stuck inside.

If that sort of thing gives you nightmares then you probably don't want to watch the footage below, which shows how an abdopus octopus in Australia can actually get out of the water to hunt.

Credit: BBC

The footage is a part of the BBC program The Hunt, and shows a peculiar species of octopus which can drag itself onto land and breath out of water without dying.

It uses the hundreds of suckers along its tentacles to pull it along the ground.

In this clip, you can see if hop from one rockpool to another to find a crab. It's a pretty creepy looking creature, and one I certainly wouldn't want to encounter in the water, even if it's small.

This BBC reporter found out just how difficult it is to escape from the clutches of a giant octopus, but luckily for him it was in a controlled environment.

The octopus filmed in The Hunt was just one of a range of creatures featured, including killer whales, leopards, bald eagles, army ants and polar bears. It's incredible just how close the crews manage to get to the octopus and other animals.

Alastair Fothergill, executive producer at Silverback Films, the company that made the programme, told the BBC: "What's really interesting is if you look back at the number of shows that have been made on predators and their prey, almost all of them are red in tooth and claw. 'The bloody predator', you know, these are the villains of the piece and the shows sort of play that card.

"And actually, it's biologically inaccurate. Predators usually fail and they are the hardest animals working in nature. That excites me because I thought: 'Nobody's actually made the predators the heroes; nobody's explained why they are the hardest working animals in nature'.

via GIPHY

"But it's very, very, very much not a bloody show. And what I'm really pleased with is that everybody that's seen it now says: 'No, it's great. There's not a moment where I feel it's a bit bloody.'"

As technology continues to evolve, filmmakers are able to get closer and better quality nature footage than ever before.

Still, I think this video has put me off going near rockpools.

Featured Image Credit: BBC

Topics: BBC, Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie