Unit 3 Nature Connections
My Octopus Teacher
I returned to the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, where I had spent ____ childhood, after over 20 years of movie-making.
I went diving in the cold sea off ____ coast of the Cape, and it was among the dense seaweed 5 forests where I met an octopus.
____ Encounter
I saw a fish peacefully swimming near a heap of ____
____ an octopus sprang from the heap and grabbed the fish.
Amazed at the cleverness of the octopus, I swam a little closer, but ____ disappeared.
In fact, it had lifted a piece of seaweed, ____ it around itself, and was staring at me out of a little gap.
What an ____ extraordinary creature!
I wondered what would ____ if I kept watching it.
To see the world from the octopus’s perspective, I left a camera ____ the den and started visiting regularly.
I even mapped the environment around the ____
Expecting some drama to ____ I waited.
Making Friends
The octopus became less scared as I visited ____ often.
After about ____ month, it came near me.
I put my hand out, and it ____ out to me.
After another week, it ____ to wave like a human friend saying, “Hi, I’m excited to see you.”
I ____ still, and it covered my whole hand.
Since I had to take a ____ I swam toward the surface.
To my surprise, it rode on my hand all the way to the ____
There I was, just staring into the ____ of this incredible creature.
It ____ my curiosity in a way that I had not experienced before.
Had I gained ____ trust?
I started reading books about octopuses, but I wanted to learn more ____ this marvelous creature.
The first thing I learned was that “it” ____ a “she.”
Getting Closer
Danger in the form of pyjama sharks, the area’s biggest predators, came with little warning in ____ sea.
The octopus was moving around near the edge of the seaweed forest, ____ I saw a shark tracking her.
In an instant, ____ swam into a crack to escape, but the shark was faster.
The shark had taken a bite of one of her arms and was waiting for ____
I ____ to save my friend, but in this environment, I could only observe.
She managed to get deeper into the crack, but ____ was bleeding.
After a while, ____ shark lost interest, and the octopus used the opportunity to get back to her den, without one of her arms.
She was in serious danger because her arms function like the hands, legs, nose, ____ eyes of humans.
The next day, I was relieved to see that she ____ survived.
____ was weak, and her colors were not as bright.
I checked on her every day, wondering if that day ____ be the last.
It was ____ painful to witness these things happening to her.
Recovery, Growth, and Sacrifice
____ short while later, I saw that the wound had healed.
To my amazement, a little arm started to grow back, and she ____ to become active again.
I started to compare my life to life ____ the unforgiving sea.
I thought of what was ____ in life.
____ began to spend more time with my family and friends, and I even started to dive with my young son.
____ became just as interested in her as I was.
As the octopus’s arm became more functional, I felt things in ____ life were improving too.
An octopus’s average life is about a year, which ends after ____
One day, eight months after meeting her, I found her with another ____
It was bittersweet knowing her final days were approaching even though she would bear ____
After mating, she didn’t come out of her ____
There would be no ____ or hunting.
She was ____ her final moments for the hatching of her eggs.
After ____ eggs hatched, she died.
A few months later, my ____ found a little octopus.
We ____ her story continues on.
I fell in love with an octopus ____ the amazing wildness she represented.
I built a relationship ____ her and witnessed her life up to the final moments.
I saw her from a perspective that I could not have had without this ____
She was smart, sensitive, and strong, often ____ through rough and tough days just like humans do.
Eventually, she committed herself to protecting the birth of her young before she ____
____ a human being, I found something noble in that sacrifice.
She was ____ simply an octopus; she was a part of this world just as I am a part of it now, and in that sense, we all have our own stories to tell.