…I swear it’s so darn easy to make me teary eyed. Kick on the music, show me something beautiful from nature, and click there go the water works.
This lovely video shot by Laurynn Evans documents a mother giant Pacific octopus off the coast of Seattle gently taking care of her 50,000+ egg babies. The motion that you see is apparently her softly blowing on the eggs to keep them clean and aerated.
Around 1:52 you see the first tiny little hatchling appear (and the waterworks really started for me).They are so incredibly tiny and delicate and yet one day…if they are lucky enough to make it to adulthood…they will be big beautiful octopuses as large as a person and weighing in at around 120 pounds.
Sadly, after the two-week-hatching event momma octopus, having done what all good momma octopuses do, quietly slips away to wherever it is that octopus go for their afterlife reward. You see, to become a momma octopus is to make the ultimate sacrifice…female octopus always die shortly after their eggs hatch.
Nature…beautiful and bittersweet.
[via NPR]
