Harcourt says it looks like the seal was intentionally hitting the kayaker with the octopus, but the slap in the face could have just been coincidental.
"In animal behavior work, we tend to think of play as a way that an animal learns and sort of preps itself to take on a more complicated set of potential behaviors as an adult," Cook says.So was the marine mammal just playing with the octopus?It's hard to say, Cook says, but it's possible.
A sea lion navigates through a school of sardines in the waters off Mexico's Espiritu Santo island in 2015.The kayakers, she says, most likely paddled into an area where the sea lion was feeding, putting them in the line of fire. Shearer gives his ram an…Heart-stopping moment a daredevil raccoon scales nine…Woman, 46, who was viciously mauled by a shark in the…Kung-fu kanga! "I'm not sure who got more of a surprise: the seal, the octopus, or me," Mulinder wrote on Instagram in a comment about the For answers, we turned to two scientists who know something about what makes sea lions tick: Behaviorally, Cook says, sea lions are more outgoing than seals and have a more flexible foraging ecology, meaning that they eat a wider variety of things — crabs, squids, octopuses, really anything they can get a hold of.Sea lions also eat their prey in much less predictable ways.It might be sea lions' tendency to play that gives them their complex feeding behaviors, Cook says.
Researchers say sea lions don't care enough about humans to want to slap one of us with an octopus.
In fact, they can be quite curious. Although the octopus put up a good fight, Mr Mulinder said the seal came out on top. He adds that fur seals do sometimes play with their food, as Cook describes.
28 Sep, 2018 12:01pm . Incredible moment kangaroo narrowly avoids…Taron Egerton is Elton John in ‘Rocketman’ First Official Photo!Tired Ariana Grande Says She Doesn’t Deserve Love in Twitter BreakdownWe and our partners use cookies on this site to improve our service, perform analytics, personalize advertising, measure advertising performance, and remember website preferences. A kayaker in New Zealand, Kyle Mulinder, was in for a surprise when a nearby seal popped up and slapped him with an octopus. ‘I was like “Mate, what just happened?”‘ The double-whammy was captured on a GoPro off the coast of Kaikoura, New Zealand‘It was weird because it happened so fast but I could feel all the hard parts of the octopus on my face like ”dum dum dum”.’He winced and screamed as his peers erupted into laughter.
‘It was weird because it happened so fast but I could feel all the hard parts of the octopus on my face like ‘dum dum dum’ Mr Mulinder said of the incidentWhat caused a seal to throw an octopus at a kayakerIs that a sheep or a Honey Badger?
Fur seals can be bolder or more timid, depending on where they live and how much interaction they have with humans. Masuda shouts, as Mulinder shakes his head and looks back into the water. Never auto play. Alejandro Prieto/Barcroft Media/Getty Images 27/09/2018. So to the seal, the kayaker seemed like a reasonable enough object.’ Mr Muliner said he was sitting in the middle of the ocean when the seal suddenly emerged. Off the coast of Kaikoura, where these kayakers were paddling, Harcourt says they're not scared of people at all. They just sort of look at you," he says.
A seal smacks a kayaker with an octopus, and the video capturing the unlikely encounter quickly becomes a viral sensation.The conflict between man and beasts happened off the coast of New Zealand's South Island.Taiyo Masuda, Kyle Mulinder and friends were going for a paddle off the coast of Kaikoura.
The seal was trying to stun the octopus, and mistook Mr Mulinder for a rock An unruly seal which shocked a kayaker by throwing an octopus in his face was trying to stun its prey before eating it, scientists have revealed.
An unruly seal which shocked a kayaker by throwing an octopus in his face was trying to stun its prey before eating it, scientists have revealed.
"Frequently people observe sea lions doing new things that we did not know they could do," Cook says.
"There are always a lot of questions, and we make our best guess. Lisette Reymer . "After this story was posted, an eagle-eyed reader from New Zealand named Rayment and Harcout both say that the star of the video is a New Zealand fur seal. 'Maybe it's a world-first': Kiwi on his incredible octopus-throwing seal footage. Funny video: Seal slaps kayaker with octopus in the face. Don't auto play. The surprising incident was captured on a GoPro camera off the coast of Kaikoura, on New Zealand’s South Island.Kyle Mulinder was paddling when the seal burst out of the water, launched into the air and whipped the octopus directly into his face.The seal was trying to stun the octopus and mistook Mr Mulinder for a rock, according to scientists from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) in New Zealand.The group of content creators were out testing a new GoPro model off the coast of the South Island when Kyle Mulinder (pictured) was caught up in a battle between a seal and octopus‘Seals will often try and get their prey out of the water and above the surface to gain the upper hand in a tussle,’ NIWA posted on Facebook.
"The idea of a sea lion hitting a person aggressively with an object — I've never heard of that happening. Instead, they bring the prey to the surface and smash it on the water to break it into bite-size pieces, she says.Reichmuth and Cook agree that it is entirely likely a feeding sea lion would have flung the octopus out of the water and smashed it on the surface, whether the kayakers had been there or not.Sea lions typically regard humans with indifference. Video will play in . Alejandro Prieto/Barcroft Media/Getty Images Play now. Niwa answers the riddle . 2 minutes to read . "They do like to fiddle with their food, and throwing an octopus around could be pretty fun," he says.Cook says he has witnessed sea lions in captivity playing with leftover food after finishing a meal. "Sea lions are playful animals, but that doesn't mean they're not disturbed by the presence of people," she says, especially when they are carrying out biologically important activities like foraging for food. A sea lion navigates through a school of sardines in the waters off Mexico's Espiritu Santo island in 2015. For half an hour or so, a sea lion might throw a piece of fish up and down, playing catch with itself.For Cook, a sign that this marine mammal might have been messing around with the octopus is that after the smacking incident, it circles back, swimming very slowly. But, yeah, they can surprise you.