octomom

yesterday i watched Life on the discovery channel. apparently a male octopus dies a few months after mating and the female octopus won't leave her den after laying her eggs. she will sometimes eat her own arms but never leaves to go hunt for food. then as soon as the eggs hatch she is genetically programed to die, that is if she makes it that far because as soon as she leaves her den she will probably be attacked and eaten by something else since she is too weak to fight them off. i guess the parentless baby octopi (pretending to know what the plural is here) just float around for awhile hoping not to be eaten until they are big enough to go down into the depths and do it all again. also, when they hatch they look like aliens. the ocean is a scary place, i'm glad i'm not a mother there.

L.