Big claws and suckers a nightmare do spawn
One thing about watching nature TV is that it really makes life in the ‘burbs seem safe and comfortable. I might cross the path of the neighbour’s cat from time to time, and the dogs across the street that squeak might be irksome, but the “stuff of nightmares” that we’re watching on the Discovery channel will remain just a vision.
Right now the program is comparing the “giant squid” and the “colossal squid”. One has suckerlike tentacles; the other has hooks up to 8 cm long that can swivel through a full 360 degrees of motion to hold a prey within range of a hooklike beak. And those horrible, fishlike eyes! Some of the creatures that are brought up from the deep give good reason for man to have evolved into a land-based mammal. Dinosaurs may have been dangerous – these are.
To be fair, a dead, frozen marine creature isn’t scary. More like something from the fish counter from across the way at the supermarket. I’m still not going to give up my warm house for a round of cold and humid with anything that has eight legs and a brain. What did that Lovecraft fellow go on and on about? The Cthulhu Mythos. After watching a few minutes of science in motion, I can see where his nightmares might have come from.
But let’s be fair; nature gets along fine without our help. When we do assist, we often mess up. In a lake just south of here, they’ve found thousands of goldfish. Hardly native to the area. The biologists figure that somebody’s aquarium may have gone native.
