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<ul class="summary-list"><li>A proposed commercial octopus farm is sparking outrage among experts and animal rights campaigners.</li><li>The farm would slaughter roughly one million octopuses each year by submerging them in icy water.</li></ul>A proposed commercial octopus farm in Spain has sparked outrage after a leaked plan suggested that the operator intends to kill up to one million of the animals a year by submerging them, alive, in freezing water.Companies have for years strived to produce octopuses at a commercial scale in captivity, citing growing demand and pressure to find more sustainable alternatives to fishing. But critics argue the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/octopus-weirdest-animals-rna-editing-super-powers-2018-5">creatures are far too smart</a> — and capable of feeling pain — to be raised for food in confined quarters.The proposed farm at issue would be based in Spain's Canary Islands and run by Nueva Pescanova, a seafood company that boasted in 2019 of having succeeded at not only raising octopuses in captivity but, for the first time, getting them to reproduce."We will continue to research how to continue improving the well-being of the octopuses, studying and replicating their natural habitat, with the expectation to be able to sell aquaculture octopus starting in the year 2023," CEO Ignacio González said at the time.But campaigners with Eurogroup for Animals, an activist group, say that documents they obtained — and shared <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-64814781">with the BBC</a> — show that the proposed factory would subject octopuses to torturous conditions and a long, painful death.In <a href="https://www.eurogroupforanimals.org/files/eurogroupforanimals/2023-03/2023_03_efa_octopus_case_study_en_0.pdf">a report</a> released Thursday, the activist group said that Nueva Pescanova intends to slaughter around one million octopuses each year by submerging them in a freezing "ice slurry." In addition, it criticizes the conditions they will be kept in prior to their slaughter, saying the company intends to cage a solitary creature in dense housing — up to 15 octopuses per cubic meter of water — and subject them to 24-hour periods of light in an effort to speed reproduction."It will inflict unnecessary suffering on these intelligent, sentient and fascinating creatures, which need to explore and engage with the environment as part of their natural behaviour," Elena Lara, research manager at the group Compassion in World Farming, said in a statement.Nueva Pescanova did not respond to Insider's request for comment. But in a statement to the BBC, the company said it had high standards that ensure "the correct handling of the animals." In particular, it said, the slaughter of the octopuses "involves proper handling that avoids any pain or suffering to the animal."Experts disagree, however, that submerging live animals in freezing water is a pleasant way to go."To kill them with ice would be a slow death," Dr. Peter Tse, who studies octopus cognition at Dartmouth, told the BBC. "It would be very cruel and should not be allowed."In an <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w4KNUY4BWM2GT6_EVmwIxX6VvvSwfpQB/view">open letter</a> last year, before specific details of the proposed factory were released, a group of environmental scientists at New York University who specialize in animal sentience argued that is not possible to humanely raise octopuses in captivity at a commercial scale — and could indeed cause not just pollution, from the release of contaminated waters, but cannibalism in animals that have effectively been driven mad."Beyond environmental and health concerns, octopuses are capable of observational learning, have individual personalities, play, and are capable of problem-solving, deception, and interspecies hunting," the scientists wrote.Have a news tip? Email this reporter: <a href="mailto:cdavis@insider.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cdavis@insider.com</a>

A Spanish firm wants to kill one million octopuses a year using 'ice slurry' baths at first-ever factory farm

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Lancetfish live in the deep sea, have fanged jaws and long scaleless bodies, and eat their own.</li><li>The cannibalistic fish has been washing up on the West Coast, but scientists can't explain why.</li></ul>An unusual deep-sea fish with fangs and cannibalistic tendencies occasionally washes up on the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/southern-california-coast-hotspot-great-white-sharks-beaches-shore-2023-2">West Coast</a>, a phenomenon that has left scientists stumped.The lancetfish is one of the stranger creatures of the deep, with a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rare-fossil-shows-squid-ancestor-attacking-prehistoric-fish-2020-5">prehistoric</a> appearance that includes large eyes, a fanged jaw, a sail-like fin, and a long, slimy, scaleless body. Their genus name, Alepisaurus, translate sto "scaleless lizard." They can grow to be more than 7 feet long, making them one of the largest deep-sea creatures, according to the <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/11-strange-true-facts-about-lancetfish" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</a>.Lancetfish are found in oceans around the world and can swim more than a mile below the ocean's surface, typically hunting in a depth commonly referred to as the <a href="https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/edu/curriculum/section5.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"twilight zone."</a> They eat small fish, crustaceans, and octopus, as well as each other. NOAA describes lancetfish as "notorious cannibals."Very little is known about lancetfish reproduction, but they are hermaphrodites, meaning they have both male and female sex organs. They also have adapted an unusual digestive process where the food scientists recover from their stomachs is often fully in-tact. Scientists think they might eat as much food as they can when they find it, and save it for later to digest when they need it.Although <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-orcas-kill-great-white-shark-eat-liver-south-africa-2022-7">sharks</a> and tuna prey on lancetfish, their gelatinous flesh makes them unappealing to humans. <a href="https://www.insider.com/how-fisherman-avoid-getting-pulled-overboard-by-large-fish-2023-1">Deep-sea fishermen</a>, particularly in Hawaii, often catch lancetfish unintentionally, however on rare but consistent occasions they'll wash up on the coast.<a href="https://www.facebook.com/OregonStateParks/posts/pfbid02KzJs6otjd6wAgrYrz7vRJFbjmML2hZSdoMTffZ6U4nKWnXXrG3Y8ZhDBV5UeF6BRl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oregon's Parks and Recreation Department</a> said Monday several lancetfish had washed ashore in the state over the past few weeks, and at least one was found alive. They added the lancetfish swam away after being helped back into the ocean."No one is sure why they are washing ashore," the department said, adding that if the public comes across a lancetfish they should share a photo and tag them and NOAA.<a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=external&amp;v=449228673478683" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Davey's Locker Sportfishing</a> in Orange County, California, shared a video in 2021 of a live lancet that had washed ashore in Laguna Beach. The video shows the lancet flapping its fanged jaw and writhing wildly on the sand.Elan Portner, a scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/04/us/lancetfish-oregon-beaches.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a> the deep-sea <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-discover-300-million-year-old-fossil-brain-vertebrate-animal-2023-2">fish</a> has been washing shore "for at least 300 years and likely longer," but that "no one knows why."Another scientist and fish expert at Scripps, Benjamin Frable, told the Times one theory is that the fish are accidentally getting too close to the shoreline while chasing their <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tooth-enamel-suggests-great-white-sharks-megalodons-competed-for-food-2022-5">prey</a>.

Strange, 7-foot-long cannibalistic fish with fangs that live in the deep sea are washing up on the West Coast and scientists don't know why

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Octopuses use their eight <keyword id="3359025" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="tentacles">tentacles</keyword> to envelop and shovel prey into their mouths.</li><li>Special receptors on their tentacles help octopuses <keyword id="84707" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Taste">taste</keyword> objects just by touching them, <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(20)31149-1?utm_source=EA">a new study</a> found.</li><li>This touch-taste sense helps an <keyword id="6546574" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Octopus">octopus</keyword> detect hidden prey and retreat from objects that taste toxic.</li></ul>Octopuses are famous for being intelligent escape artists: Their camouflage skills are second to none. Each of an octopus's eight arms is also governed by <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/octopuses-keep-surprising-us-here-are-eight-examples-how.html">a mini brain</a>, which helps the animal probe the ocean floor in search of food.Scientists know that this tactile probing is critical to helping octopuses distinguish between something inanimate and a tasty meal of shrimp, fish, or crab. But how, precisely, these cephalopods glean the flavor of an object was a mystery until now. The secret is two types of sensory cells — one for touch, one for taste — in the suckers that line their tentacles, according to <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(20)31149-1?utm_source=EA">a Harvard University study</a> published Thursday in the journal Cell.Both taste- and touch-oriented cells are critical to helping octopuses decide when to hunt and when to retreat, the study found."Our results demonstrate that the peripherally distributed octopus nervous system exhibits exceptional signal filtering properties that are mediated by highly specialized, sensory receptors," the study authors <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.09.008">wrote</a>.When an octopus's sensory receptors determine that an object is prey, the animal will use its tentacles to envelop and shovel the creature into its mouth, as seen in the video below.<h2>Using touch to detect hidden prey</h2>The Harvard research team first looked at two female <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_two-spot_octopus">California two-spot octopuses</a> in laboratory tanks.They offered each octopus either her favorite food, a fiddler crab, or an inanimate object through a hole in the tank. Upon touching the latter, the octopuses would let go. But tentacles that encountered a crab would draw the prey in closer.From there, the researchers peered more closely at the suckers on each tentacle. They found sensory cells — cells that detect light, sound, touch, or taste, then signal their presence to the brain — on the surface of each sucker.<div type="image" title="octopus" height="1258" width="2000" msid="78971039" hostid="261"></div>The skin on the suckers had two types of detectors: mechanosensory cells (cells found in other animals that help them sense pressure or vibrations) and chemosensory cells, which contain receptors that help octopuses detect chemicals emitted by their underwater prey.Mechanosensory cells, which send signals only at the first moment the octopus makes contact with an object, help the animal discern a rock from a fiddler crab. Since the inanimate object isn't moving, the signal stops right away. But a squirming crab prompts the signal to be sent again and again, each time a sucker makes new contact. "This is highly useful for the octopus to detect prey hidden within seafloor crevices or areas inaccessible from its traditional sense organs," Nicholas Bellono, senior author of the new study, <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/octopus-can-taste-things-with-their-eight-arms-here-s-how">told ScienceAlert</a>.<h2>Octopuses avoid things that taste dangerous</h2>To see what types of molecules the chemical-detecting receptors reacted to, Bellono's team extracted cells from the octopuses' suckers and exposed them to compounds emitted by other aquatic creatures.The receptors didn't respond to common chemicals that produce a smell and taste sensation in most animals. Instead, the receptors were only sensitive to chloroquine, a compound that humans find bitter, and molecules called terpenoids — <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11101-005-5464-3">sometimes-toxic chemicals</a> emitted as a defense or warning signal by marine animals like jellyfish, sponges, mollusks, and crabs.Octopuses might avoid toxic prey by detecting these signals, according to the researchers.When a California two-spot octopus in the tank touched a surface infused with terpenoids, it withdrew its arms and avoided that area of the tank, the team found. <div type="image" title="octopus" height="2478" width="2000" msid="78971040" hostid="261"></div>While genes underpinning these taste-by-touch receptors were found in three different octopus species examined by the researchers, octopus relatives like squid <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.10.012">do not appear to use their suckers to taste their environment</a> in the same way."We're really interested in how this unique sensorimotor system evolved in other cephalopods," Bellono <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/octopus-can-taste-things-with-their-eight-arms-here-s-how">told Science Alert</a>.

Octopuses can taste with their arms — here's how their tentacles distinguish food from toxic prey

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The <keyword id="10500112" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="blobfish">blobfish</keyword> was crowned the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/blobfish-ugly-animal/index.html">world's ugliest animal in 2013</a> — a title it still defends today.</li><li>But drop this fellow 9,200 feet below sea level, and the water holds up all that flab like a push-up bra, making the <keyword id="6355507" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Fish">fish</keyword> a little more handsome.</li><li>Between the skin and the muscles is a lot of fluid. And that's the secret to the fish's distinct appearance — and its survival.</li></ul>Following is a transcript of the <keyword id="21654" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="video">video</keyword>.Narrator: This creature was crowned the world's ugliest animal in 2013, a title it still defends today. On land, he's got a body like Jell-O and a big old frown. But drop this fellow 9,200 feet below sea level, and the water holds up all that flab like a push-up bra, making the fish a little more handsome. Same old fish, but with a little more support. So, what is all that water pressure holding together?David Stein: Between the skin, that flabby skin, and the muscles is a lot of fluid.Narrator: This is David Stein, a deep-sea-fish biologist who was lucky enough to dissect 19 blobfishes in the 1970s. Blobfish look blobby because they are full of water. Under their skin, blobfish have a thick layer of gelatinous flesh that floats outside their muscles.Stein: If you pick up a blobfish by the tail, then it kind of flows to the head.Narrator: This water-filled, Jell-O-like layer allows the blobfish to stay somewhat buoyant, which is important because blobfishes don't have a swim bladder.Stein: And fishes that have swim bladders are able to adjust their buoyancy. They can secrete gas into the swim bladder or remove it. A fish that lives on the bottom doesn't need to be able to maintain its buoyancy.Narrator: So, the Jell-O layer isn't a perfect substitute, but the blobfish doesn't need to be a strong swimmer. The predator has a highly specialized hunting strategy that's perfect for the rocky barrens of the deep sea.Stein: It just sits there and waits for dinner to come by.Narrator: If all you do is sit, you don't need much under your skin. Just watery tissue, some yellow pockets of fat, and a smidgen of muscle. In case you hadn't guessed, blobfishes aren't exactly yoked. They have very little red muscle, the kind that allows you, a human, to run a mile or a tuna fish to migrate across oceans. Instead, blobfish have a lot of white muscle, which allows them to swim in short bursts and lunge at prey that on occasion ramble by.This is a baby blobfish. It's a cleared and stained specimen, meaning all its tissue has been dissolved to show only the bones and cartilage. Those thin red lines you see, they're the blobfish's bones dyed red. If you're having trouble seeing the bones, you're not the only one. Blobfish have poorly ossified skeletons, meaning they're thinner and more fragile than the bones of most shallow-water fish. This is another handy deep-sea adaptation, as it takes a lot of precious energy to build strong bones.But the blobfish saves its energy to develop what might be the most important bone in its body: its jaws, which also happened to be the reason it looks so gloomy. The fish needs enormous jaws so it can snap up any prey that passes by and swallow it whole, maybe even smacking its blubbery lips as it eats. And that brings us to its stomach. If you're the kind of creature that eats anything that swims by, some surprising things can wind up in your stomach. Stein found a wide range of foods and not-foods in the blobfish he dissected. Fish, sea pens, brittle stars, hermit crabs, an anemone, a plastic bag, and also lots of rocks.Stein: Their stomach contents kind of bear out the fact that they're probably not too bright.Narrator: He also found octopus beaks, the cephalopods' hard, indigestible jaws. This means that one of the world's flabbiest fishes has been able to eat one of the sea's most cunning predators. If you're surprised, just think about the blobfish's thick skin. What would it be harder to grab in a fight: a sack of bones or a sack of Jell-O? Stein suspects it might be the latter.Stein: If the skin is loose, perhaps the suckers can't really get a good grip on it.Narrator: Stein found sucker marks across the blobfish's body, a hint that the fish might've been in some deep-sea fights. So while all of this Jell-O might look a little unconventional, well, it seems to have served its purpose. The blobfish is perfectly suited to life in the deep sea, where beauty standards are probably quite different. After all...Stein: Ugly is kind of in the eye of the beholder.

What's inside a blobfish, the 'world's ugliest animal'

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div><ul><li>Curled Octopuses are washing up on the beaches in Wales.</li><li>A&#xa0;local tour group spotted them out late Friday night, and guides said&#xa0;they'd never seen anything like this before.</li><li>Octopuses can survive outside the water for about 20-30 minutes,&#xa0;and some aren't making it back into the water in time.</li></ul> Octopuses in Wales are slithering&#xa0;out of&#xa0;the water for some&#xa0;evening shenanigans.The gooey, bulbous&#xa0;creatures, which are about the size of a human hand,&#xa0;were spotted crawling ashore over the weekend. Estimates suggest <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-41790482" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">between 20 and 25</a>&#xa0;of them&#xa0;were seen out of the water on Friday night.&#xa0;In a video posted on Facebook Saturday, the team at SeaMor Wildlife Tours in the town of New Quay, Wales announced their late-night sighting:&#xa0;"Never seen anything like it before," Brett Stones, owner of the SeaMor tour company, told Business Insider.&#xa0;This 'Curled Octopus,' also called a Horned Octopus, is native&#xa0;to oceans from Norway down to the Mediterranean, and is fairly common in&#xa0;the British Isles.&#xa0;Adults weigh between 1 and 2.5 pounds and can live up to five years.&#xa0;&#xa0;Like fish, octopuses need water to survive, and take in oxygen through their gills. But marine biologist Ken Halanych&#xa0;told&#xa0;<a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/06/finding-dory-octopus-fact-check">Vanity Fair</a> that octopuses can survive for&#xa0;around 20-30 minutes outside the water.It's not unheard of for octopuses to come&#xa0;out of the&#xa0;sea - cephalopods experts say the nocturnal, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/10-reason-octopus-incredible-2017-2">eight-legged creatures</a> have been known to&#xa0;roam the shores at night in search of food.&#xa0;"Many octopus species emerge to hunt in the pools of water left behind by the receding tide" octopus expert Julian Finn told <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/octopus-chronicles/land-walking-octopus-explained-video/">Scientific American</a>&#xa0;in 2011, when another octopus was spotted coming ashore in California.&#xa0;However, nobody knows why these octopuses have emerged in Wales.Sadly, it seems not all the octopuses&#xa0;leaving the waters of St George's Channel are making it back. On their <a href="https://www.facebook.com/seamordolphins/photos/p.10155202931654492/10155202931654492/?type=3&amp;theater">Facebook page,</a>&#xa0;SeaMor Wildlife Tours&#xa0;wrote on Saturday that they spotted "quite a few dead ones on the beach this morning."&#xa0;<div></div><div></div> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/amazing-facts-about-octopus-2016-7">Humans are finally starting to understand the octopus, and it's mind-boggling </a></h3> <div> </div> </div></hr>

Little octopuses are slithering out of the water onto beaches in Wales

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Australian sea lions <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/seals-with-trackers-discover-hidden-antarctic-canyon-2023-11">wearing video cameras</a> showed scientists a whole new world on the ocean floor.</li><li>The footage revealed surprisingly diverse habitats like sponge gardens, coral reefs, and kelp reefs.</li></ul>Sea lions are letting scientists in on some of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-crack-mystery-of-huge-gravity-hole-in-the-indian-ocean-2023-6">the ocean's secrets</a>.Humans have only explored about 5% of the world's oceans, and we have limited ability to study sea life in the wild, but large <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dolphin-eats-venomous-sea-snakes-on-gopro-video-puzzling-scientists-2022-8">predators like dolphins</a> and seals can help.That's why a team of researchers in Australia outfitted eight female sea lions with small video-camera packs.All eight of the sea lions had pups, which meant they had to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dolphin-gopro-videos-show-hunting-sea-snakes-feeding-victory-squeals-2022-8">hunt fish</a>, octopuses, and small sharks along the shallows of the continental shelf and then come back to nurse their babies.That gave scientists 89 hours of sea-lion POV video from the uncharted <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/earth-core-encased-by-ancient-ocean-mountains-taller-everest-2023-9">ocean floor</a> off the coast of southern Australia, revealing areas researchers had never previously laid eyes on.The sea lions' never-before-seen video footage is helping scientists understand ocean life in the area, and it could lead to new discoveries. <h2 id="5afddeab-3c85-4a5b-9b0d-53288f7d5639">See the ocean from a sea lion's viewpoint</h2><div type="image" title="underwater blue ocean scene of muted corals on the sea floor swarming with fish viewed from a sea lion's back" height="359" width="660" msid="112335667" hostid="261" sizebytes="15292"></div>When Nathan Angelakis watched the footage, he was amazed to see the sea floor teeming with life."I was really surprised by the diversity of habitats that we saw the sea lions use," Angelakis, a PhD student at the South Australian Research and Development Institute and the University of Adelaide, told Business Insider.The sea lions were "zigzagging" through <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ancient-arctic-sea-sponges-survive-by-eating-worm-fossils-2022-2">sea sponges</a>, kelp reefs, and corals, traveling long distances, Angelakis said. The video below shows just a sample of their adventures.He co-authored a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=u001.MdVeKMXe-2Bu-2BITFqnYKpwpYrG9aSJSXpvhXXGDX3Obslynh6O8MiWtx5A5k6q2-2FrWY4KrIp62NBh1bdldmHRTu2m-2BbrzSW1i-2FZ7VGz95NfSBR0Le34i7aEivChoHKg5oljyP0YIX4yn0KQmPe3Eulew-3D-3DShse_6hFIHAcasz6NIPwFENb3m8zfirVj-2Fs1caSVu6bbfQt-2FcigdLCULOHRf-2F9S3nmRrya56RzBc4EFTZWuZANRXuDmisncWkwc9tI-2FQ-2Fq9xljrRFLRiBV1Rq2nGmvyJNcHwRKvbIbS1NkKXjdQBQaOxTdDR6XOfS2JpLrJM4SO1u-2Bjejku6HGYJjUc-2BQJegSuyjdPtLKRWY4lCHSQlTTn94Sumez-2B9-2BN8S4adLHrlsoEvatECI2jdg-2BvqxElry-2FgaDgO76nTVSU4Q1s2rok3MyxQLoe7K26dZ29B-2BYfmIGbWWozla2cKLOEgU0m7f2vjQlVXsbI5xg02a8wF64i5gFyvPb-2BZygHfmxZpRJOF6PW9q-2BWP2PH6z6Dl8rS1ZN6q7zuNVjoZuJUK0uLKu7fz7AIjNA-3D-3D">paper</a> on the ocean-floor findings, which was published in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Marine Science on Wednesday."We really didn't know what was down there. We didn't know if it was just bare plains of sand or if it was mostly reef," Angelakis said.And that was just a snapshot of the seafloor. There may be much larger, yet-to-be-discovered sponge gardens and reefs in the area.<h2 id="44628bf2-ee5e-493b-bd39-8eed4220797a">Discovering new habitats and species could help protect them</h2><div type="image" title="underwater blue ocean scene of muted sea sponges and corals on the sandy sea floor viewed over a sea lion's back" height="394" width="631" msid="112335671" hostid="261" sizebytes="10526"></div>Research like this is a crucial first step for protecting those sea-floor habitats. Human activities and rising global temperatures are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coral-reefs-vanish-by-2100-before-and-after-photos-2020-2">destroying the coral reefs</a> we know about, and scientists across the planet are trying to figure out how to save them.To safeguard other ocean habitats, researchers first have to know what's down there. There's even a good chance that some of the sponges and other invertebrates in the video footage are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-discover-new-species-of-feather-stars-with-20-arms-2023-8">species unknown to science</a>, since seafloor habitats often have endemic species that only exist in one small area.Using sea lions to map the ocean floors is particularly valuable because it shows which habitats are most important to the predators.Angelakis watched all 89 hours of the sea lions' footage. He estimates that each hour of video took him about three hours to analyze. He had to match the footage to GPS data from the same sea lion, identify the prey animals it hunted, categorize the type of habitat, and describe the sea lion's specific behaviors.But he said it didn't feel like work."You just get a vision into a completely different world, and you're on the back of an animal," Angelakis said. "You're seeing the ocean how they see it, essentially."

Sea lions with cameras got stunning video of never-before-seen habitats on the ocean floor, surprising scientists

<ul class="summary-list"><li>In 1971, the US set off its largest underground nuclear weapon test at a remote Alaskan island.</li><li>Before, scientists managed to relocate hundreds of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/otters-are-one-of-the-smartest-species-on-the-planet-2015-10">sea otters</a> that may have died in the explosion.</li></ul>When a large earthquake shook <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/years-after-fight-for-attu-aleutians-regain-us-military-focus-2022-6">Alaska's Aleutian Islands</a> in 2014, scientists with the US government hurried to assess the damage on <a target="_blank" href="https://amp.businessinsider.com/study-no-leaking-radiation-from-alaska-island-nuclear-site-2019-2">Amchitka Island</a>. They were looking for <a target="_blank" href="https://apnews.com/article/d6405fa91e04423f91d21ad282a99129">leaking radiation</a> from underground nuclear tests performed decades before.During the first half of the 20th century, the remote island had been a wildlife preserve, until the US government converted it into a nuclear test site. Three atomic weapons went off at Amchitka in the late 1960s and early 1970s, including the largest underground detonation the US has ever set off.No humans lived on the island, but the biggest blast, in 1971, killed at least 900 sea otters. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/atoms-for-peace-us-peaceful-nuclear-weapons-use-2021-10">Atomic Energy Commission</a>, the government agency in charge of nuclear research, had predicted at most <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/1971/12/12/archives/900-otter-deaths-tied-to-atom-test-2-aec-scientists-report-definite.html">240</a> otters would die.If ecologists and others hadn't pushed to relocate some otters before the detonation, it probably would have been much worse."There was pressure from the state of Alaska as well as environmental groups," conservation biologist and author, Joe Roman told Business Insider. "They ended up moving hundreds of otters." Roman wrote about the otter relocation in his new book "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/joe-roman-phd/eat-poop-die/9780316372923/">Eat, Poop, Die: How Animals Make Our World</a>."<h2>Why were otters recolated?</h2>By the time the AEC was looking at Amchitka in the 1960s, the island's sea otter population was one of only a handful that had survived the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-effects-environment-marine-mammals-fish-plants-2023-9">sea mammals</a>' near extinction a century earlier.Their luscious pelts were prized as "soft gold." In the 1700s and 1800s, hunters killed about one million sea otters to sell their fur.<div type="image" title="Two otters cling to each other in the ocean." height="3337" width="5260" msid="106331367" hostid="261" sizebytes="449352"></div>The drop in population was alarming, from between 150,000 to 300,000 in the early 1700s to around 2,000 just 200 years later. Russia, Japan, Britain, and the US signed a fur treaty to help protect the animals in 1911. Over the next several decades, sea otter numbers rose to around 30,000.By 1959, the charismatic animals were starring in a nature film, "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bcS2HgetEE">The Sea Otters of Amchitka</a>." No one wanted to see those adorable otters decimated by an underground explosion, John Vania, an otter specialist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, told the AEC.A confluence of occurrences made many Americans more environmentally conscious in the 1960s, from Ohio's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vintage-photos-of-cuyahoga-river-on-fire-before-epa-2019-6">Cuyahoga River continually catching fire</a> to Rachel Carson's exploration of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/animals-saved-endangered-species-act-passed-eagle-grizzly-wolf-alligator-2023-11#bald-eagle-1">dangers of pesticides</a> in her book "Silent Spring" to the largest <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-oil-spill-2015-5">oil spill</a> in US waters at the time, near Santa Barbara, California.Protestors didn't want a third <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-us-government-told-kodak-about-nuclear-bomb-testing-2023-7">nuclear test</a> at Amchitka at all. In fact, the conservation group Greenpeace formed out of an organization trying to stop the test.A US Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, Karl Kenyon, had already worked on relocating some otters to areas they'd lived before the 18th century hunting. The detonations at Amchitka were a good reason to move even more, ecologists and biologists thought.If the AEC would pay for it, Vania said, the scientists could relocate the otters.<h2>The return of the kelp forests</h2>In addition to funding the relocation, the AEC supplied the scientists with a plane that could hold over 50 otters. Over the next few years, the scientists captured more than 700 otters in nets and carted them to southeast Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia.Over the next 50 years, the sea otter populations in many of these locations, like Sitka, Alaska, would go from several dozen to hundreds or thousands. "All the sea otters — of which there are thousands — in Sitka now are the descendants of these airlifted sea otters," Roman said.Eighty-nine otters went to British Columbia. Now there are over 7,000. An estimated <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128014028000032">125,000 sea otters</a> live in the Pacific Ocean as of 2015.The otters' presence soon changed the landscapes where they live today. Their relocation allowed biologist Jim Estes to study islands with and without otters. As a result, he realized there was a link between otters, sea urchins, and kelp forests.<div type="image" title="beautiful kelp forests" height="667" width="1000" msid="106331368" hostid="261" sizebytes="52854"></div>"In the absence of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sea-otters-steal-surfboards-claims-joining-orca-uprising-2023-7">sea otters</a>, you have a lot of sea urchins," Roman said. "When you have a lot of urchins, they create what's called urchin barrens." The sea urchins eat the kelp holdfasts, which anchor the algae. Roman compares it to sawing down a forest. The kelp eventually disappear.One of the otters' favorite foods is sea urchin. And they can eat a lot of them. "They have very high metabolisms," Roman said. "They're eating machines." When the sea urchin numbers drop, the kelp return.In Sitka Sound, the sea otters reduced the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/japans-priciest-foods-harvested-expensive-2022-9">sea urchin population</a> by 99%. Kelp forests exploded in return. "The forests provide food and shelter for more than 800 species, including sea lions, harbor seals, lingcod, gobies, moray eels, octopuses, crabs, sea anemones, and brittle stars," Roman wrote.<div type="image" title="Many sea urchins on a wooden plate on a blue-and-white patterned surface" height="1500" width="2250" msid="106331371" hostid="261" sizebytes="502938"></div>The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sunflower-sea-stars-save-ocean-kelp-forests-west-coast-study-2023-3">kelp forests</a> are also amazing at capturing carbon, a concern for the warming planet.The otters can also affect land animals, Roman wrote, either directly, as food for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ice-age-wolf-dna-suggests-dogs-were-domesticated-in-asia-2022-6">wolves</a> on Alaska's Pleasant Island, or indirectly, with the kelp forests that attracted birds that prey on fish.<h2>Competing with otters</h2><div type="image" title="Three sea otters float in the water" height="1500" width="2444" msid="106331374" hostid="261" sizebytes="129226"></div>Roman called the sea otter relocation one of the "most successful cases" of its kind. However, he said, "you don't really <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-reintroduced-cheetahs-some-scientists-call-it-a-pr-stunt-2022-10">release animals</a> in that way these days."For one thing, the US didn't consult indigenous and First Nations people before unleashing the otters. The mammals brought back the kelp forests, but they destroyed a reliable source of food for many people."Sea otters don't just eat urchins," Roman said. "They also eat geoducks and other valuable benthic invertebrates in the area." That includes crabs and clams. "And of course that brings them into conflict with fishers in that area," he said.Suddenly, otters appeared where they hadn't been for generations. "So no one remembers having sea otters in that area," Roman said. "They're used to harvesting these invertebrates, and they're quite abundant in the absence of a predator."Their voracious appetite is one reason some people call otters the "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/todd-mcleish/return-of-the-sea-otter/">rats of the sea</a>." For some Alaskans and Canadians, they're seen as a nuisance.When otters arrived in new regions of Alaska, Washington, and Oregon in the '60s and '70s, it was still legal to hunt them. The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1973, changed that, though Alaska Natives can still hunt otters, whales, and seals."I spoke to Mike Miller, who's a native Sitkan," Roman said. "He promotes this idea of some balance" between the human population and the otters.It's an idea echoed by researchers, too. "We are wondering if there is a sweet spot where you can have it all," ecologist Kristy Kroeker <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230228-how-alaskas-sea-otters-came-back#">told the BBC</a>.While sea otter numbers are far greater than they were 100 years ago, the animals are still <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fws.gov/press-release/2023-09/us-fish-and-wildlife-service-announces-southern-sea-otters-will-retain">endangered</a>. They also face challenges due to the climate crisis. And not all the relocated populations survived. They disappeared from Oregon after about a decade.But sea otters' success elsewhere — especially their impact on kelp forests — has made Oregon want to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.opb.org/article/2022/08/04/report-bringing-sea-otters-back-to-oregon-coast-feasible-though-complicated/">try reintroducing</a> them again, just with more caution and the input of coastal tribes this time.

How US nuclear tests in the '70s led to today's thriving otter population on the Pacific west coast

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Bobbit <keyword id="6395657" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="worms">worms</keyword> explode out of tunnels on the ocean floor to ambush prey.</li><li>According to a new study, these worms had 6-foot-long carnivorous ancestors that burrowed under the Pacific Ocean.</li><li>Researchers found 20-million-year-old tunnels made by these prehistoric worms in Taiwan.</li></ul>Scientists in Taiwan noticed odd, L-shaped burrows in a set of rocks eight years ago. Since the rocks once sat on the Pacific Ocean floor, they thought the tunnels had been made by shrimp, or perhaps octopuses. But the shape and structure of the burrows didn't match those made by such creatures, and the mystery lingered.Now, it's been solved: The architects behind the tunnels were 6-foot-long worms that lived about 20 million years ago, according to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-79311-0#:~:text=Bobbit%20worms%20can%20grow%20up,and%20other%20annelids6%2C7.">a study published this week</a>. Fossil evidence helped the study authors figure out how these predators hunted and built their undersea lairs.According to their research, the ancient marine worms would lay waiting under the sand for unsuspecting prey; then when fish passed by, the worms would lunge out of their burrows, snag the swimmers in their gaping maws, and drag the victims under the seafloor. Collapsed sand around the tunnel mouths indicated the prey thrashed fiercely in the worms' grip.The researchers also concluded that the ancient worms are the ancestors of the modern-day bobbit worm, which catches prey in the same way.<div type="image" title="bobbit marine worm Eunice aphroditois" height="2905" width="2457" msid="80424715" hostid="261"></div>"We knew that predatory worms have been around for hundreds of millions of years, but this is the first time we can actually see evidence of a behavior similar to the modern bobbit worms'," Ludvig Löwemark, a geoscientist from National Taiwan University in Taipei and one of the study's coauthors, told Insider.<h2>Ancient rocks reveal how these huge worms lived</h2><div type="image" title="Bobbit worm final marine worms" height="3456" width="4608" msid="80424721" hostid="261"></div>Löwemark's group found the burrows in sandstone rock layers in northeastern Taiwan. The rock formed between 5.3 and 23 million years ago, during an era called the Miocene.They collected hundreds of burrow samples from Taiwan's Yehliu Geopark and Badouzi coast, then used those to identify the characteristics of trace fossils of the prehistoric worms' tunnels. A trace fossil is a geologic formation left by an animal that doesn't include remains of the animal itself.<div type="image" title="marine bobbit worms" height="526" width="701" msid="80424726" hostid="261"></div>Löwemark and his colleagues think the particular worms that built the burrows they found either abandoned them or died. The chance of finding a fossilized worm is very small anyway, Löwemark said, because its soft tissues would decompose quickly after death.But the trace fossils can still show how the ancient worm hunted. The scientists named the fossil Pennichnus formosae, and determined that the worms built L-shaped burrows about an inch wide and up to 6.5 feet long.The scientists also found evidence that the sand surrounding mouths of the burrows had been disturbed, suggesting that the predator that lived inside moved quickly to ambush prey, and also that the prey struggled in response.This is the first time that scientists have found fossil evidence of an ambush predator living under the ocean floor."So far, similar trace fossils have not been reported from anywhere else on Earth," Löwemark said. Though he added that "this is likely explained by the fact that scientists didn't know what to look for until now."<div type="image" title="marine bobbit worms" height="2847" width="3797" msid="80424727" hostid="261"></div>Given that modern-day bobbit worms hunt the same way as these prehistoric creatures, the study authors hypothesized that they are related.Further evidence for that idea came in the form of iron found in the rock, toward the top section of the ancient burrows. When bobbit worms build their burrows, they line them with mucus, and bacteria feeds on that mucus, leaving traces of iron behind. So the presence of iron in the trace fossils suggests that, much like bobbit worms, these ancient creatures sometimes had to re-build sections of their burrows with mucus.<h2>An ambush predator</h2><div type="image" title="marine worms" height="2256" width="3000" msid="80424728" hostid="261"></div>Löwemark thinks the worms that built the ancient burrows probably looked fairly similar to bobbit worms in appearance. Bobbit worms, however, can grow to lengths of 10 feet - much longer than the 6.5-foot-long burrows.Bobbit worms live in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific <keyword id="6373773" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="oceans">Oceans</keyword>. Only a tiny portion of their bodies protrude out of the sand. They snake their antennae into the water, wiggling them like tiny worms to attract nearby fish. When prey comes within striking distance, bobbit worms then explode out of their tunnels, grab the fish with sharp teeth, and sink back under. A bobbit worm's jaw, or pharynx, can snap a fish in half.<div type="image" title="Bobbit marine worm" height="3456" width="4608" msid="80424732" hostid="261"></div>According to Löwemark, the bobbit worms' prehistoric ancestors probably had a similar diet. But it's not known for certain what happens after bobbit worms catch their prey and tug it under the sand (so the ancient worms' digestive process is a mystery too).Luis Carrera-Parra and Sergio Salazar-Vallejo, ecologists at El Colegio de la Frontera Sur in Mexico, told <a href="https://www.wired.com/2013/09/absurd-creature-of-the-week-bobbit-worm/">Wired</a> that they think bobbit worms sting <keyword id="6371668" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="animals">animals</keyword> with a narcotizing or killing toxin, so the prey "can be safely ingested - especially if they are larger than the worm - and then digested through the gut."Bobbit worms don't pose a threat to humans, however.

Mysterious, 20-million-year-old tunnels in the ancient ocean floor came from 6-foot-long carnivorous worms, a study found

I've stayed in Cabo San Lucas' most beautiful hotels. Here are my 11 favorite places whether you want an all-inclusive party or a remote beach villa.

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty ImagesOlive oil from European Union member countries could get hit with a tariff, based on the Trump administration's newest tariff list.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>The Trump administration announced a plan to place tariffs on $11 billion worth of European goods as punishment for the European Union's allegedly improper support of aircraft manufacturer Airbus.</li><li>While the final list of goods will have to be agreed on with a World Trade Organization arbitrator, the initial list includes a slew of agricultural goods, clothing, and industrial metals.</li><li>Here's the full list of European goods that could get whacked.</li></ul>US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announced that the Trump administration <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-threatens-eu-sanctions-airbus-subsidies-boeing-falters-2019-4">plans to slap tariffs on $11.2 billion</a> worth of imports from the European Union in retaliation for the EU's subsidies for aircraft manufacturer Airbus.The US alleged in a World Trade Organization (WTO) case that the EU's subsidies for aircraft manufacturer Airbus are a violation of international trade rules and harm the US economy. After years of litigation, Lighthizer said the Trump administration decided to make a move to punish the EU."This case has been in litigation for 14 years, and the time has come for action," Lighthizer said in a statement. "The Administration is preparing to respond immediately when the WTO issues its finding on the value of US countermeasures."Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-threatens-eu-sanctions-airbus-subsidies-boeing-falters-2019-4">The US is threatening tariffs on $11 billion worth of European goods over subsidies to Airbus, whose rival Boeing is enduring its most difficult period in decades»</a>While the tariffs are not finalized and are subject to the decision by a WTO arbitrator, the proposed list includes a wide variety of items ranging from Airbus aircraft to olives, sweaters, and industrial microwaves.The exact tariff rate has also not been determined and is likely subject to the arbitrator's decision.Here's the major categories of goods that will be hit:<ul><li>Aircraft and aircraft parts (only for imports from France, Germany, Spain or the United Kingdom): Non-military helicopters; passenger planes; cargo planes; fuselages</li><li>Fresh seafood: Swordfish steaks and fillets; salmon fillets, trout fillets; crab meat; crab in shell</li><li>Dairy products: Yogurt; certain types of butter; cheeses including fresh cheddar cheese, fresh Swiss cheese, other types of fresh cheese, Roquefort cheese, Colby cheese, Stilton cheese, Blue-veined cheese, gouda cheese, and Gruyere-processed cheese</li><li>Fruit: oranges; mandarins; clementines; grapefruit, lemons; certain types of limes</li><li>Olive oils </li><li>Prepared seafood: salmon; lobster; herrings; oysters; scallops; mussels; cuttle fish; octopus; clams; Abalone; snails</li><li>Produce: green olives; jams including apricot, cherry, guava, peach, pineapple, others; fruit pastes including apple, mango, papaya, strawberry</li><li>Drinks: juices - including pear and prune; non-mineral water; non-alcoholic beer; chocolate milk; non-orange juice from a single fruit or vegetable; sparkling wine from grapes; certain types of wine; liqueurs and cordials</li><li>Essential oils: oils - including orange, lemon, grapefruit, citrus fruit, peppermint, and eucalyptus</li><li>Leather handbags</li><li>Wooden tools or wooden tool handles</li><li>Paper products: brochures; lithographs on paper or paperboard; pictures on paper</li><li>Fibers and cloth products: yarn - including various types made of cotton, polyester, man-made fibers; carpets made of wool and man-made fibers; blankets; bed linens made of cotton</li><li>Clothing: sweaters made of cotton, man-made fibers, wool, cashmere; ski-suits; women's windbreakers; men's suits made of certain types of wool and artificial fibers; women's pajamas made of cotton; women's swimsuits </li><li>Mineral products: certain types of monumental or building stone; non-roofing slate; articles of cement; certain types of ceramics including tiles, houseware, and mugs</li><li>Glass products: glassware for kitchens, bathrooms, and indoor decorations; certain types of glass fiber yarns</li><li>Metal products: palladium; silver and some silver products; certain products of ferromanganese; products of iron/steel including chains, thumb tacks, nails, and knitting needles; copper alloys; zinc for houseware use or tubes</li><li>Tools: metal tweezers; axes; slip joint pliers; pipe or bolt cutters; screwdrivers; knives including table knives, hunting knives, kitchen knives, and butcher knives; electric tools; industrial microwaves</li><li>Bikes and bike parts: motorcycles; motorcycle parts and accessories; bicycle parts</li><li>Cameras and lenses: projection lenses for cameras or projectors; mounted lenses for closed-circuit cameras; binoculars; telescopic sights for rifles</li><li>Scales: jewelers' scales; electrical balances of a sensitivity of 5 cg or better</li><li>Clocks: non-electric wall clocks; time recorders; non-electric clock movements</li><li>Artists' brushes for cosmetics</li></ul> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/everyday-phrases-smart-people-say-incorrectly-statute-2015-10">12 everyday phrases that you're probably saying incorrectly</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

The Trump administration wants to slap tariffs on $11 billion worth of goods from the European Union - here's the full list of products that could get hit

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A lot of unseen work happens to make every <a href="https://www.insider.com/category/movies">movie</a> come to life.Tailoring and simulation artists at <keyword id="161299" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Pixar">Pixar</keyword> animate clothing, which is key to making characters in <keyword id="406" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Movies">movies</keyword> like "Coco" and "Onward" feel real. </li><li>Tailoring and simulation artists at <a href="https://www.insider.com/category/pixar">Pixar</a> animate clothing, which is key to making characters in movies like "Coco" and "Onward" feel real.</li><li><keyword id="6181" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Food">Food</keyword> stylists keep <a href="https://www.insider.com/category/food">food</a> on set fresh while artists make fake food for other scenes, and baby wranglers help babies cry on screen.</li></ul>Following is a transcript of the <keyword id="21654" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="video">video</keyword>.[crying]Narrator: This crying woman isn't crying at all.Elaine Hall: And a baby'll start to cry.Narrator: She's what's known as a baby wrangler, someone whose job it is to get the best performances out of the youngest actors. This is just one of the many surprising positions you will find on a movie or TV set.Cameraman: Whoa!Narrator: There are people who train insects, style food, and even design clothes for animated films. These jobs are essential to making movies work. Let's take a look <keyword id="37533" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Behind-the-scenes">behind the scenes</keyword> at eight jobs in movies you may not have known existed.It's not only real actors who need costume designers, but animated characters as well. At Pixar, there are people who are specifically hired to animate clothing, like tailoring and simulation artist Kris Campbell. They have to design and model clothes and then make sure they fit on the animated characters. This process involves computer simulations to make sure the fabric moves correctly.In "Coco," for example, these simulations helped them prevent clothes from getting stuck in the skeleton characters' bones. Campbell's work throughout the years prepared him for "Onward." However, he wasn't just animating clothes this time. In this film, the item of clothing was a character. Acting out how the animated characters move in real life can provide reference. When the animators in "Onward" needed to figure out how a floating pair of pants would behave, they put someone in a green suit and a pair of khaki pants and observed what it would look like to see somebody walking around who was missing the top half of their body.While a clothing animator focuses on clothing, they still have a great understanding of how every aspect of <keyword id="21778" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="60" keywordseo="animation">animation</keyword> works. Dad's upper half in "Onward" had no muscle underneath, making simulations much more challenging. So Campbell relied on a simulation created for characters with volume, which was originally used for the squishy movements of Hank the octopus in "Finding Dory." And they need to add small details to clothes that you would normally expect to see, like little threads hanging off a sweater.A vital but unexpected part of the job: shading. Lighting can help textures look more realistic, which can sell the whole look. This is the reason why Dad's vest looks naturally puffy instead of plastic.Productions try to use real food whenever they can, and when they do, a food stylist comes in to handle it all. It's a lot more than just altering dishes to fit an actor's dietary restrictions, though that is certainly part of the job. Food stylist Zoe Hegedus had to solve a number of different problems on the set of "<keyword id="9107143" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="midsommar">Midsommar</keyword>."The film was mostly shot outdoors in the heat, so she had to make sure the food both looked and stayed fresh. Sometimes, this was as easy as spraying a potato with cooking spray to make it look like it just came out of the oven.Other dishes needed to be altered entirely to beat the heat. For example, those meat pies you see on screen aren't filled with real meat, which would spoil quickly. Instead, Hegedus cooked oatmeal and colored it brown, giving it the look and texture of chopped meat.She also had to plate a lot of eggs for the Sun's Eye dish that was prominently featured during one of the film's many feasts. First, she tried making some real eggs, but the yolks kept exploding, meaning she and her team had to swap the dishes out every 15 minutes. Plus, workdays could last 10 to 12 hours, so there was a risk of them drying out. Instead, she decided to make this mixture out of orange and mango juice and shaped it to look exactly like real yolks.And what does a food stylist do when they have to find an item that's not even available where they're filming? For one pivotal moment, they needed to have a fresh herring, which is abundant in Sweden but not so much in Hungary, where the movie was shot. The fish had to be real in order to get this horrified reaction from Florence Pugh. Eventually, she had to get 20 pieces of herring shipped in from France, meaning they had only 20 tries to get it right. Luckily, they nailed it after seven or eight tries.Some foods are just too difficult to use the real thing on set. For example, real ice cream would melt too quickly. Or maybe you need a lot of food to sit in the background of a shot. In these instances, a fake-food artist is essential. This scene in "Glee" was set in a diner and called for lots of ice cream sundaes, milkshakes, and banana splits on the tables and counters. Fake versions were needed so they would appear fresh and new the entire time. Fake-food artist Brenda Chapman made a variety of these desserts, which were set at various stages of being eaten.When someone like Lisa Friedman needs to make fake food, she'll first get a real version of the food she needs to recreate. Then she makes a mold of that item. She pours a mixture of rubber and foam into that same mold to create the shape, but it isn't until the item is hand-painted that it starts to look like the real thing.Aside from being a great painter, being a fake-food artist means getting creative with the materials. To make granola and ground beef, Friedman took corkboard and crushed it, giving her just the right texture.Sometimes, a character will need different-looking eyes than the performer portraying them, such as Hugh Jackman's bloodshot eyes in "Les Misérables." In these cases, they'll go somewhere like Eyeworks for Film in London.Putting contacts on can completely change the color of an actor's eyes. It can also make them look older or even like another species. First, the designer will get a brief description of the character, then they'll research what the look should look like, develop concept art, and then finally check the actor's eyes to fit the contacts for them.In order for the contacts to feel normal and natural to wear, director of Eyeworks for Film Sinead Sweeney says the contacts they design have to sit directly on top of the cornea. They have to make lenses of all shapes and sizes. Sometimes, the lenses they make are much bigger than the average pupil.The trick to getting them on? As Eyeworks told Insider, put your chin up and turn your eyes to the left.Working with bugs on camera is no easy feat, but, yes, you can train an insect to act. Getting bugs to move in the right direction involves playing with light, air, and room temperature. Entomologist Steven Kutcher can get all kinds of bugs to perform on camera. For "Spider-Man" and "Arachnophobia," he was hired to wrangle the film's spiders.For one shot in "Arachnophobia," a spider needed to crawl across the floor and into a slipper. So Kutcher devised a clever trick using invisible vibrating wires. By playing around with these, Kutcher could get the spiders directly where they needed to go.When working on "Spider Man," Kutcher had to get a spider to descend from a web and then onto Tobey Maguire's hand, where it could deliver the fateful bite. Kutcher decided to stand above Maguire while holding a paintbrush. The spider crawled along the paintbrush until it reached the end. At that point, Kutcher tapped the brush, and the spider dropped down.He faced an even bigger challenge in "Exorcist II: The Heretic." He had to train 3,000 locusts, which needed to cling onto the screened wall of a cage. However, most of these locusts stood on the floor. In order to drive them onto the walls, he took a heat-emitting light and shined it against the cage, and the locusts subsequently flocked towards it.When a sex scene is filmed for a movie or TV show, it is crucial that the actors feel protected and not violated on set. For this reason, the role of intimacy coordinator, which is relatively new to Hollywood, has proven to be essential. An intimacy coordinator, like Ita O'Brien, is tasked with coaching actors on sex and love scenes. The most crucial part of her job is making sure these moments are done safely and with clear consent during this time.The motivations behind these scenes are clearly established. O'Brien worked with the cast of the Netflix series "Sex Education." She had to make sure the cast was safe and prepared for the show's intimate moments. For these scenes, she created cushions and flesh-colored articles of clothing. These items gave the cast the ability to cover themselves as well as extra barrier of protection during the simulated sex scenes.Babies don't always cry on command, so when you need one to wail on camera, that's when you bring in a professional. Elaine Hall is a baby wrangler, but she also describes herself as an interpreter.Unlike with adult actors, babies can only be on set for a limited amount of time, as they can only legally work for four hours a day. This means that Hall needs to get babies to master their scenes in as few takes as possible. She has many tricks for how to do this. If she needs to make a young actor look happy in a scene, she might attach a funny-looking face to the camera lens.But what about making a baby cry, like she did for a scene in "Akeelah and the Bee"?[baby crying]Well, she got really, really involved and even started sobbing herself.[crying]According to Hall,[crying]when the baby heard her crying, the baby immediately started crying herself. Then, to get the baby to stop, Hall stopped crying and reassured the baby that everything was OK.Oh, and objects like a rattle or a bell also help.While actors are sometimes given rubber swords, especially for really dangerous stunts, there are times when they need real weapons for utmost authenticity on camera. Enter blacksmith Tony Swatton, who's worked on over 200 movies. Yes, he is a real blacksmith who makes actual, functioning swords for Hollywood.Cameraman: Whoa!Narrator: Swatton's weapons look great in close-ups and give the actors the feeling of holding a real weapon, which in turn makes their performances even better. His job isn't as easy as just creating any old weapon out of metal. He needs to be really accurate to match the setting.For instance, when he worked on "The Mask of Zorro," he created a curved hunting blade that would have been used in the 1500s for Antonio Banderas. Besides being hyper-specific, he also needs to make multiple versions of a weapon for different purposes.For example, while he will make a steel sword for close-ups, swords made out of aluminum are better for sequences involving action and actual sword fights. You can see here with the steel blade Swatton made for Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean."Swatton has worked on some movies that involved large battle sequences, like "The Last Samurai." For that, he wasn't just making weapons for Tom Cruise; he also had to make about 600 aluminum blades for all of the extras in the biggest battle scenes.Ian Phillips: Thanks for watching. It takes a whole lot of talented people to make your favorite movies. What other movies would you like to learn more about? Let us know in the comments.

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