What Lurks in the Heart of the Deep?
I recently read about the discovery of four new species of octopus in the underwater mountains of the Pacific Ocean near Costa Rica. The animals were found by a research ship that was looking for life in deep-sea hydrothermal vents.
This reminded me of one of my all-time favorite Weird but True* facts: We’ve explored only five percent of the ocean, even though the ocean covers 70 percent of Earth’s surface.
So even though most of the planet is ocean, nearly all of that is totally unknown to humans.
It’s exciting to think of all the types of animals that may have evolved to live deep in the seas. We spend lots of time searching for and fantasizing about intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. But who knows what aliens might live in the depths of the ocean?
The team that found the new octopuses (or octopi, if you prefer) said these kinds of discoveries were helpful for developing conservation policy. “It’s hard to [protect deep-sea wildlife] when you don’t know it’s down there,” one of the expedition’s leaders said in an interview with The New Scientist.
That’s certainly true. But still, my guess is the animals living down there prefer to remain unknown to us.
’til next time,
Avery
* Some of you may know that over the years I’ve worked on many of National Geographic Kids’ Weird but True and Bet You Didn’t Know series of books. If you’re not familiar with them, ask your favorite librarian to score you some. They’re fun for all ages, and because the facts are bite-sized nuggets, the books are great to read aloud to kids when you’re short on time or the kids don’t have the attention span for a chapter book.
If you have friends or family who might enjoy this newsletter, please tell them about it! They can sign up here. And of course, just like you, they can unsubscribe any time, and I will never share email addresses or collect data about my subscribers.
Image by Erik Tanghe via Pixabay