Recommend more top stories you: Animals are just better than humans


Octopus Mimics Robotic Octopus

Not many sea creatures have mastered the art of disguise better than the mimic octopus. Spy Octopus sets out to observe mimic octopus behaviour, but first it has to find one! In a truly mesmerising display of skill, the mimic octopus shows off its shape-shifting repertoire.

From poisonous flatfish, to dangerous lion fish and even a venomous sea snake, no impersonation is too great a challenge. It even manages a credible impression of our very own Spy!

In this episode, our Spy Creatures dive into the world of animal emotions by befriending the most complex minds in the ocean and gaining insights into their innermost feelings.

Bottlenose dolphins are famed for their intelligence, but Spy Dolphin is on a mission to find out what they really feel. Spy Dolphin is prepped and ready to join a pod of thrill-seeking dolphins surfing the waves, kitted-out with extra thrust, it gets a lesson in having fun from the experts. Riding the surf, fin-to-fin, Spy Dolphin’s camera eyes see the dolphin’s moods soar with an endorphin hit; jumping, leaping and playing tricks in the waves with their friends, until…wipe out! Spy Cuttlefish takes the title of the most sophisticated Spy ever made; its integrated screen can replicate the changing patterns of real cuttlefish. Giant cuttlefish wear their emotions on their sleeve, or skin to be more accurate.

and so does our Spy. When Spy Cuttlefish shows the patterns of a male it is treated with hostility and rivalry, yet when it switches to the patterns of a female it becomes an object of desire among the males.

Spy Cuttlefish must rely on its in-built communication skills to disentangle itself from the complexities of cuttlefish courtship. In the process, Spy Cuttlefish gains an insight into what both male and female cuttlefish really feel.