Octopus Ocean Book: Exploring the Genius Minds Beneath the Waves with Mark Leiren-Young

Octopus intelligence is nothing short of extraordinary—and in this episode, we dive deep with award-winning author Mark Leiren-Young to explore the surprising minds, behaviors, and conservation challenges of one of the ocean’s most elusive...
Octopus intelligence is nothing short of extraordinary—and in this episode, we dive deep with award-winning author Mark Leiren-Young to explore the surprising minds, behaviors, and conservation challenges of one of the ocean’s most elusive animals. Inspired by his latest book Octopus Ocean: Geniuses of the Deep, Mark shares jaw-dropping stories about tool-using octopuses, their ability to dream, their strange biology (think blue blood and donut-shaped brains), and why these misunderstood creatures deserve our awe and protection.
Octopus conservation is becoming a hot topic thanks to a growing public fascination with cephalopods—sparked in part by documentaries like My Octopus Teacher. Mark and I discuss the ethical questions around octopus farming, the movement to grant them legal protections, and how young readers (and adults!) can become stewards of marine life. This episode is a fun, insightful, and important listen for ocean lovers of all ages.
Buy the book: https://www.orcabook.com/Octopus-Ocean
Website: https://www.leiren-young.com/
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There are so many ocean animals out there
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that have cool characteristics.
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They have personalities.
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They have these evolutionary attributes
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that make them really
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cool to look at and really
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cool to understand.
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And they have this ability to connect
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with us, with humans, and
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make us feel in a different
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sort of way.
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Like just emotionally happy, sometimes
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sad, and sometimes you
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just connect with you when
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you don't realize it.
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And that's who we're
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going to talk to today.
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We're actually going to talk to Mark
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Lanyon, who is an author, a
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screenwriter, a playwright,
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a filmmaker, who's made a name for
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himself, writing and doing
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videos and movies upon orcas,
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on sharks, and now on octopuses.
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And we are going to talk to his new book,
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Octopus Ocean, on
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today's episode of the How
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to Protect the Ocean podcast.
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Let's start the show.
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Hey everybody, welcome back to another
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exciting episode of the How
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to Protect the Ocean podcast.
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I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.
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And this is the podcast where you find
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out what's happening
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with the ocean, how you can
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speak up for the ocean and what you can
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do to live for a better
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ocean by taking action.
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On today's episode, we're going to be
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talking about a new book
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that Mark Lanyon has written.
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It's called Octopus Ocean.
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It is the geniuses of the deep.
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He talks about his
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connection to octopuses.
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He talks about not only his connection,
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but just to the ocean
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environment, into the animals
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that live in the ocean environment.
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He lives out in BC.
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He's got a very interesting connection to
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the orcas out in BC.
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He talks about that connection and just
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like it's an emotional
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connection that not only
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he's had, but he said
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many people that he's met.
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And I've met too, who you see when people
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watch these orcas and see these orcas and
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see how phenomenal they are just by
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spotting them, it
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overtakes them with emotion.
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Happiness, sadness, just this
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bewilderment of watching
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these orcas do their thing.
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And the stories that he has, you are
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going to want to watch.
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He teaches storytelling.
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He tells stories in such a magical way
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that I wanted you to
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be able to hear this.
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So here is the interview with Mark Lanyon
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talking about octopus ocean and orcas and
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all these different animals and wonderful
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connection to these animals.
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Here's the interview.
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Enjoy and I'll talk to you after.
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Hey, Mark, welcome to the how
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to protect the ocean podcast.
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Are you ready to talk
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about octopus ocean?
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Absolutely.
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All right.
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On.
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I am looking forward to this.
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This has been a long time coming.
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You and I have been
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planning this for a while.
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I, you are a fellow podcaster.
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Skana is the podcast that I was actually
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a guest on, which was a lot of fun back.
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I think it was in the summer.
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Was it released?
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Is that yeah, it was in the summer.
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So that was a lot of fun.
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And so it's always nice to, to be able to
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interview another podcaster.
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So that was one of the reasons we had you
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on, but also you are a, an author and you
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have a new book out that we're going to
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talk about called octopus ocean.
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And we love talking about octopus and we
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love talking about the ocean in general.
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So we're going to talk about podcasting.
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We're talking about the ocean.
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We're talking about writing, talking
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about works for the ocean.
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And I think it's going to be a lot of
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fun, but before we get
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into all that fun stuff,
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Mark, why don't you just let the audience
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know who you are and what you do?
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Wow.
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I am a writer.
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I read all sorts of different things.
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I've never sure that it's so funny
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because for the how to
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protect the ocean podcast,
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I feel like it's just like, yeah, I read
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lots of stuff about
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oceans because I really
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do. I, my life was, my life was taken
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over by orca's back in
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2015 and they have not
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let up. And like basically it's like,
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yeah, I, I belong to J-pod at this point.
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And, uh, but that turned into books about
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sharks that turned into this new book,
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but octopuses, I've got another book
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coming out next year that was the main
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reason I wanted to interview you because
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it's all about how to protect the oceans.
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But for kids, I'm like,
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I have to talk to you.
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You are the how to protect the ocean guy.
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And you are the only person who's not a,
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who's not like a youth activist who I've
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currently quoted in the
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book, assuming you make it.
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Wow.
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Thank you.
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Thank you very much.
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I was like, I have to quote the guy who
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runs the how to
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protect the ocean podcast.
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He had the how to protect
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the oceans for kids book.
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It's in the name. It's in
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the name. It kind of goes.
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Yeah.
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Right. I love that. Um, you know, it's a
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lot of fun when we, we, uh, we talk to
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authors because a lot of the authors that
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we've actually talked to
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come up with like textbooks.
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You know, I had a Dr. David Ebert on here
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a number of times. He's written, I think
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it was over 35 tech textbooks. Uh, we've
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had David Schiffman, which is a bit of a
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textbook and kind of every day.
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Also wonderful intro to sharks.
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Yeah, yeah, exactly. A perfect one to
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sharks. Um, so we had a lot of people on
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that, that have different books on being
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activists and, and, uh, you know, about
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climate change and growing up with
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climate change and
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all that kind of stuff.
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And it's a lot of fun, but it's a lot of
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fun when you have someone who's just
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dedicated and you've written multiple
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books on the ocean. So let's just start
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off right from the beginning. I want to
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get to know you a little bit.
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I want the audience to get to know you a
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little bit. Where did this passion for
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the ocean come from?
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Wow. This is where my life gets totally
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confusing for most people. And because
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you're you, I'll give you more context
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that I don't like it.
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Please.
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Yes. Well, I've always people now assume
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that I've got a background like you or
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David Schiffman or something that I've
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got a background in at the very least a
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background in science.
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Yes.
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You know, I've got much more of a
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background in comedy. I've got much more
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of a background in theater. I've got a
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degree in theater and creative writing. I
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went to an event where I was speaking to
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the Marine Mammal Symposium at the
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University of British Columbia.
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And I went, I think I'm the old, not only
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do I think I was the only speaker who
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wasn't an ologist in a Marine related
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profession. I was definitely the only
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person there with a master of fine arts.
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Yeah.
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Right.
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Like, you know, yeah, like one.
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Three hundred people there. I'm pretty
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sure I'm the only one who's positive.
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Yeah. I guess a safe bet. So weirdly,
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where my life took a very interesting
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left turn was I was writing for Maclean's
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magazine a jillion years ago.
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Wow.
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And I was writing a story from Maclean's
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on the never ending battle at the time
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over cetaceans in captivity, vinca record
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and for any of the listeners who do not
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know this Maclean's used to be a very,
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very, very big deal.
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Oh, this is huge.
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It was like Time
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magazine for Canada, really.
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Absolutely.
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Yeah.
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And I was used to writing for regional
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publications. I'd written for a lot of
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stuff in B.C. I've written for like most
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the alternate weeklies, but writing for
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Maclean's was pretty posh.
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And I realized very quickly that I could
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talk to anybody I wanted to because I
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could just say, hi, I'm Mark. I'm voting
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for Maclean's and suddenly I took
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politicians. I could talk to celebrities
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like when I was doing the clean story.
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So that who's the guy
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to talk to about orcas?
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Yeah, Paul Watson.
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Yes, I. So I called Paul Watson, you
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know, who at that time, man, thinking he
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see shepherd at the time.
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So it was just left green.
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Was he did he leave
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green piece at that point?
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I'm not sure what the math was, but I'm
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pretty sure he was running the sea
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shepherd at that time because he left
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green piece when I was pretty young.
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But I asked him about orcas, captivity,
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then cream and the time captivity was so
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not his issue, right? Like he's he's
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become more passionate about it now.
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But at the time, he's like really wild
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whales from a thing. I'm really not your
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guy. But did you know the bank for query
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was the first place ever to
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capture and display an orca?
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And no, how do I not know that? And they
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said, did you know
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that harpoon that orca?
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I was like, God is amazing. How do I not
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know that? And I did two things that
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01:08:11,000 --> 01:08:12,875
broke. I mean, I was a professional
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01:08:12,875 --> 01:08:14,750
freelancer. I made my living writing for
263
01:08:14,750 --> 01:08:15,750
newspapers and magazines
264
01:08:15,750 --> 01:08:17,625
doing freelance stories.
265
01:08:17,625 --> 01:08:19,333
And I did two things freelancers do not
266
01:08:19,333 --> 01:08:23,833
do one. I have no idea why for the life
267
01:08:23,833 --> 01:08:26,041
of me. I still don't know why decades
268
01:08:26,041 --> 01:08:29,625
later. But I decided that the story of
269
01:08:29,625 --> 01:08:33,041
this or can captivity was for me. It
270
01:08:33,041 --> 01:08:34,208
wasn't for my clients.
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01:08:34,750 --> 01:08:35,250
Okay.
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01:08:35,291 --> 01:08:38,083
For I don't know why I did that. I was
273
01:08:38,083 --> 01:08:41,500
just like, No, I'm not wasting this in
274
01:08:41,500 --> 01:08:43,500
this right up on cetaceans and captivity.
275
01:08:43,500 --> 01:08:46,625
I went, I need to know more about this.
276
01:08:46,625 --> 01:08:48,416
And that was the other thing they did
277
01:08:48,416 --> 01:08:52,000
that freelancers do not do. I decided I
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01:08:52,000 --> 01:08:52,833
was gonna look into this
279
01:08:52,833 --> 01:08:54,750
with nobody paying me for it.
280
01:08:55,208 --> 01:08:57,708
Yeah, passion project at this point.
281
01:08:57,708 --> 01:08:59,083
I was just like, I need to know more
282
01:08:59,083 --> 01:09:01,916
about this. And so I tracked down Dr.
283
01:09:02,166 --> 01:09:04,166
Marie Newman, who at that time had been
284
01:09:04,166 --> 01:09:06,125
retired from the Vancouver crane for some
285
01:09:06,125 --> 01:09:09,333
time. And I said, would you talk to me
286
01:09:09,333 --> 01:09:13,583
about this orca you captured? And he's
287
01:09:13,583 --> 01:09:15,208
like, yeah, it was an accident. The orca
288
01:09:15,208 --> 01:09:16,875
was named Moby doll. But the first thing
289
01:09:16,875 --> 01:09:20,666
he does is he breaks open this book from
290
01:09:20,666 --> 01:09:22,541
1964, the same year that they
291
01:09:22,541 --> 01:09:23,083
accidentally caught Moby.
292
01:09:23,125 --> 01:09:26,500
And he reads me this passage. And I'm
293
01:09:26,500 --> 01:09:28,375
gonna badly paraphrase this. There was a
294
01:09:28,375 --> 01:09:30,000
period I could have done this dead on.
295
01:09:30,333 --> 01:09:33,125
But basically, it was lions, tigers and
296
01:09:33,125 --> 01:09:35,583
bears or fierce creatures, but far more
297
01:09:35,583 --> 01:09:38,166
dangerous, far more ferocious than any of
298
01:09:38,166 --> 01:09:42,000
these is the dreaded killer whale. Wow.
299
01:09:42,458 --> 01:09:47,000
This this was written by the top whale
300
01:09:47,000 --> 01:09:51,083
expert in the US. And Marie Newman, as I found it later, still is the most important thing.
301
01:09:51,083 --> 01:09:55,000
And I found out later, studied trout. His
302
01:09:55,000 --> 01:09:58,083
PhD thesis was trout. So he talked about
303
01:09:58,083 --> 01:10:00,291
learning more about orcas and he's like,
304
01:10:01,750 --> 01:10:04,250
not anybody can talk to you and said, you
305
01:10:04,250 --> 01:10:05,791
don't go near them. They will kill you.
306
01:10:06,166 --> 01:10:08,375
You get anywhere near an orca. Sorry.
307
01:10:08,750 --> 01:10:10,375
Anyone here killer whale. Nobody's using
308
01:10:10,375 --> 01:10:12,125
the term orca. No, it was all killer
309
01:10:12,125 --> 01:10:14,291
whale. All killer whale. So and you get
310
01:10:14,291 --> 01:10:15,458
anywhere near one of these killer whales,
311
01:10:15,833 --> 01:10:18,000
it will kill you. There were people who
312
01:10:18,000 --> 01:10:18,791
are afraid that they
313
01:10:18,791 --> 01:10:20,083
would approach them on land.
314
01:10:20,083 --> 01:10:23,083
That if they got too close to shore, that
315
01:10:23,083 --> 01:10:25,208
killer whale is going to jump up like as
316
01:10:25,208 --> 01:10:28,000
scary as we think as scary as people
317
01:10:28,000 --> 01:10:31,291
thought sharks were after jaws. That's
318
01:10:31,291 --> 01:10:33,833
how scary everybody seemed to think these
319
01:10:33,833 --> 01:10:37,125
orcas were back in the in the mid sixties
320
01:10:37,125 --> 01:10:40,500
blew my freaking mind. And then the more
321
01:10:40,500 --> 01:10:41,708
I learned about it, the more I went, oh
322
01:10:41,708 --> 01:10:45,000
my god, I've stumbled onto a real life
323
01:10:45,000 --> 01:10:46,916
science fiction story. Now, science
324
01:10:46,916 --> 01:10:48,625
fiction is my thing. I went, yeah, I
325
01:10:48,625 --> 01:10:49,083
found the story of first consciousness.
326
01:10:49,125 --> 01:10:51,041
Story of first contact with an alien
327
01:10:51,041 --> 01:10:53,541
creature. And the other thing that I
328
01:10:53,541 --> 01:10:56,291
thought was this was the free willy era.
329
01:10:56,500 --> 01:10:59,041
So nobody wanted to hear a story about an
330
01:10:59,041 --> 01:11:03,166
orchid captivity. The where it wasn't
331
01:11:03,166 --> 01:11:05,791
this is monsters like, no, this was
332
01:11:05,791 --> 01:11:08,291
science happening in real time. This was
333
01:11:08,291 --> 01:11:11,750
discovery in real time. And I was
334
01:11:11,750 --> 01:11:15,416
obsessed with the story. I can't stress
335
01:11:15,416 --> 01:11:17,500
enough. I was having almost none of my
336
01:11:17,500 --> 01:11:18,083
pitches rejected this time. I was, I was like, no, I'm not.
337
01:11:18,083 --> 01:11:18,416
You know, I was going to do this. I was like, no, I was going to do this.
I was just, I was just like, no, I was like, I was getting the
338
01:11:18,416 --> 01:11:19,416
news back to this time. I was like,
339
01:11:19,416 --> 01:11:21,500
winning magazine awards on regular basis
340
01:11:21,500 --> 01:11:23,708
newspaper boards. I could not get anyone
341
01:11:23,708 --> 01:11:25,875
to let me write about this story. Really?
342
01:11:25,875 --> 01:11:27,166
Nobody was like nobody was interested?
343
01:11:27,750 --> 01:11:30,291
No, it was a history piece. I was dealing
344
01:11:30,291 --> 01:11:32,000
with a guy who I think was already in his
345
01:11:32,000 --> 01:11:35,166
seventies. He was my nobody was into it
346
01:11:35,166 --> 01:11:37,500
at all. I could not solve anyone. Were
347
01:11:37,500 --> 01:11:40,375
you surprised by that? Yeah. So you were
348
01:11:40,375 --> 01:11:43,291
so interested. I well, I started going to
349
01:11:43,291 --> 01:11:45,000
people that I knew who made documentary
350
01:11:45,000 --> 01:11:46,375
films and I went, you
351
01:11:46,375 --> 01:11:47,083
should do this. Yeah.
352
01:11:47,125 --> 01:11:50,125
like, not, I should do this because I'm
353
01:11:50,125 --> 01:11:51,250
not capable of this. I
354
01:11:51,250 --> 01:11:51,666
don't know how to make
355
01:11:51,666 --> 01:11:53,958
a documentary. And they were like, well,
356
01:11:53,958 --> 01:11:54,333
you're the one who's
357
01:11:54,333 --> 01:11:56,416
passionate about it. Let's pitch
358
01:11:56,416 --> 01:11:59,083
it. I had an Academy award winning
359
01:11:59,083 --> 01:12:00,750
documentary maker try and
360
01:12:00,750 --> 01:12:02,708
pitch this documentary. I had
361
01:12:02,708 --> 01:12:04,833
an Emmy award winning documentary maker
362
01:12:04,833 --> 01:12:06,000
and they just kept
363
01:12:06,000 --> 01:12:06,958
running into you. It's not
364
01:12:06,958 --> 01:12:08,875
free willing. The story of what he wanted
365
01:12:08,875 --> 01:12:10,041
was people wise free
366
01:12:10,041 --> 01:12:11,625
willing free. They wanted
367
01:12:11,708 --> 01:12:13,083
free willy. They didn't want this history
368
01:12:13,083 --> 01:12:16,416
piece. And this is
369
01:12:16,416 --> 01:12:17,291
the third thing I did as
370
01:12:17,291 --> 01:12:19,791
a freelancer that there's no other story
371
01:12:19,791 --> 01:12:20,541
that I've ever stuck with
372
01:12:20,541 --> 01:12:22,166
like this. I kept trying
373
01:12:22,166 --> 01:12:24,166
to give it away because I kept saying
374
01:12:24,166 --> 01:12:25,500
somebody has to interview
375
01:12:25,500 --> 01:12:27,291
these key people because
376
01:12:27,291 --> 01:12:30,208
they're all really old and they just have
377
01:12:30,208 --> 01:12:31,000
to get the story.
378
01:12:31,500 --> 01:12:33,208
Yeah. Yeah. Because what
379
01:12:33,208 --> 01:12:34,750
I found out was that all of the
380
01:12:34,750 --> 01:12:35,500
interviews that were done
381
01:12:35,500 --> 01:12:37,875
with him all started from except
382
01:12:39,333 --> 01:12:40,583
for the stuff in the sixties, everything
383
01:12:40,583 --> 01:12:42,750
started from the premise of how could you
384
01:12:42,750 --> 01:12:44,791
do this horrible thing? Yeah. And they
385
01:12:44,791 --> 01:12:50,708
left out the context of in 1964 fishermen
386
01:12:50,708 --> 01:12:54,500
were shooting these orcas on site. We had
387
01:12:54,500 --> 01:12:57,833
a machine gun turret set up off the coast
388
01:12:57,833 --> 01:13:00,583
of Campbell River to slaughter killer
389
01:13:00,583 --> 01:13:04,708
whales. So this was the world in 1964.
390
01:13:04,708 --> 01:13:07,791
Yeah. And the idea that essentially
391
01:13:08,041 --> 01:13:13,000
really in days of the time Moby doll was
392
01:13:13,000 --> 01:13:17,250
accidentally captured this shifted blew
393
01:13:17,250 --> 01:13:19,875
my mind. So I chased after this story.
394
01:13:20,416 --> 01:13:24,458
Like I looked this up. I actually reached
395
01:13:24,458 --> 01:13:27,208
out to Moby Dick scholars who went they
396
01:13:27,208 --> 01:13:30,583
figure a have chased Moby doll. Sorry, a
397
01:13:30,583 --> 01:13:32,958
have chased Moby Dick. Yeah. For three
398
01:13:32,958 --> 01:13:36,208
for three years max. Right. I chased I
399
01:13:36,208 --> 01:13:37,625
chased Moby doll for freaking decades.
400
01:13:38,041 --> 01:13:39,791
Before anybody would talk to me because I
401
01:13:39,791 --> 01:13:41,708
finally got Marie Newman to say I will
402
01:13:41,708 --> 01:13:44,583
I'll let you tell the story or sorry. I
403
01:13:44,583 --> 01:13:47,500
finally other way around. I finally
404
01:13:47,500 --> 01:13:49,083
figured out how I could do the
405
01:13:49,083 --> 01:13:50,458
interviews. I didn't know who was going
406
01:13:50,458 --> 01:13:52,666
to do them for but I made my own. I made
407
01:13:52,666 --> 01:13:54,250
a different movie. I made a feature film
408
01:13:54,250 --> 01:13:56,250
called the green chain. Oh, cameras
409
01:13:56,250 --> 01:13:59,416
aren't that scary. And I asked the camera
410
01:13:59,416 --> 01:14:01,208
man. I said, what would it cost? That
411
01:14:01,208 --> 01:14:03,041
could just book you for one day. I want
412
01:14:03,041 --> 01:14:04,958
to interview these old guys. I have no
413
01:14:04,958 --> 01:14:06,583
idea what I want to do with it, but I
414
01:14:06,583 --> 01:14:07,875
just need to interview with them. Just
415
01:14:08,041 --> 01:14:11,000
I can sleep at night. I know I need to
416
01:14:11,000 --> 01:14:12,833
know somebody has protected the story.
417
01:14:13,083 --> 01:14:14,750
Right. And somebody's asked them stories
418
01:14:14,750 --> 01:14:18,083
in context and I get the camera man. He's
419
01:14:18,083 --> 01:14:20,791
a documentary guy has won awards and I'm
420
01:14:20,791 --> 01:14:22,333
so psyched and Marie Newman said, you
421
01:14:22,333 --> 01:14:23,708
know what? Every time I've opened my
422
01:14:23,708 --> 01:14:25,333
mouth, but Moby doll somebody calls me a
423
01:14:25,333 --> 01:14:27,041
monster. I've never talked about it
424
01:14:27,041 --> 01:14:31,291
again. No. Yeah. So I finally figured out
425
01:14:31,291 --> 01:14:34,541
how to do this. Yeah. And this is where I
426
01:14:34,541 --> 01:14:36,000
cross into a have
427
01:14:36,000 --> 01:14:37,750
territory because at this point,
428
01:14:38,000 --> 01:14:40,625
I am sending Marie Newman Christmas
429
01:14:40,625 --> 01:14:43,458
cards. Right. He is sending me
430
01:14:43,458 --> 01:14:46,000
relationship. He is sending me articles
431
01:14:46,000 --> 01:14:48,583
about diving. He's like Mark, I will talk
432
01:14:48,583 --> 01:14:50,375
to you about anything in my entire
433
01:14:50,375 --> 01:14:53,625
career. Not just not Moby doll. And
434
01:14:53,625 --> 01:14:55,958
finally, there's a symposium on Saturna
435
01:14:55,958 --> 01:14:59,708
Island celebrating the legacy of Moby
436
01:14:59,708 --> 01:15:01,458
doll. It's like closing in the 50th
437
01:15:01,458 --> 01:15:03,666
anniversary and news. You know what?
438
01:15:03,666 --> 01:15:04,958
We'll do this. Let's do
439
01:15:04,958 --> 01:15:07,500
this. And so he invites me over.
440
01:15:08,750 --> 01:15:11,875
To his house and you can tell and this is
441
01:15:11,875 --> 01:15:14,750
a decade on easily since my first man. So
442
01:15:14,750 --> 01:15:17,916
he's long retired and he invites me over
443
01:15:17,916 --> 01:15:22,958
to his house and thank God. I had a
444
01:15:22,958 --> 01:15:24,458
producer who was a friend who went, you
445
01:15:24,458 --> 01:15:26,041
know what? I'm going to send a couple
446
01:15:26,041 --> 01:15:27,416
cameras with you. Let's see what happens.
447
01:15:27,958 --> 01:15:29,333
My wife came with a GoPro.
448
01:15:30,166 --> 01:15:32,500
Like we had cameras everywhere because
449
01:15:32,500 --> 01:15:34,500
what he did was he said, you know what? I
450
01:15:34,500 --> 01:15:35,750
think you should talk to everybody.
451
01:15:36,083 --> 01:15:39,000
So I show up and I arrive. He went from
452
01:15:39,000 --> 01:15:40,666
nine to 10 o'clock. You will talk. You
453
01:15:40,666 --> 01:15:43,000
will speak with me from 10 o'clock to 11.
454
01:15:43,000 --> 01:15:45,458
You will speak to Dr. Pat McGeer, who was
455
01:15:45,458 --> 01:15:47,916
the neuroscientist who was the scientist
456
01:15:47,916 --> 01:15:50,166
in the expedition from 11. You will talk
457
01:15:50,166 --> 01:15:51,583
to the chief veterinarian from Vancouver.
458
01:15:51,958 --> 01:15:54,625
He'd lined up every from noon to one. We
459
01:15:54,625 --> 01:15:56,083
will have lunch. We were having tuna fish
460
01:15:56,083 --> 01:15:56,833
sandwiches and cookies.
461
01:15:59,875 --> 01:16:29,541
It was like a full day conference kind of thing for you. Here's my science background and my
462
01:16:29,541 --> 01:16:30,916
science background is really weird
463
01:16:30,916 --> 01:16:35,333
because my lab partner in chem 11. Dr.
464
01:16:35,708 --> 01:16:38,666
Bob, Dr. Robert is with the top AIDS
465
01:16:38,666 --> 01:16:42,833
researchers out there teaches at SFU now.
466
01:16:42,833 --> 01:16:46,375
Todd is you know like and I almost ruined
467
01:16:46,375 --> 01:16:48,791
his science career because I would make
468
01:16:48,791 --> 01:16:51,166
jokes. We would get projects. I would
469
01:16:51,166 --> 01:16:55,125
make jokes on them and the chem the chem
470
01:16:55,125 --> 01:16:55,875
teacher actually gave me a great year.
471
01:16:56,875 --> 01:16:58,208
And I was like, you cannot get anymore
472
01:16:58,208 --> 01:17:00,833
called a conditional pass and the
473
01:17:00,833 --> 01:17:02,750
condition was I never set foot in another
474
01:17:02,750 --> 01:17:08,916
science classroom. Right? So so that was
475
01:17:08,916 --> 01:17:14,333
my science background up until suddenly
476
01:17:14,333 --> 01:17:16,583
I'm in the middle of this. So I'm
477
01:17:16,583 --> 01:17:19,375
somewhere that science teachers like no,
478
01:17:19,375 --> 01:17:20,291
no, you're you're not for
479
01:17:20,291 --> 01:17:21,958
science article in Canada.
480
01:17:23,875 --> 01:17:26,208
And I did a story called the killer whale
481
01:17:26,208 --> 01:17:31,750
that changed the world for CBC radio for
482
01:17:31,750 --> 01:17:34,875
ideas and that won a Webster award and
483
01:17:34,875 --> 01:17:36,750
the night of the Webster awards and I'd
484
01:17:36,750 --> 01:17:38,708
pitch this to publishers for 20 something
485
01:17:38,708 --> 01:17:40,250
years night of the Webster
486
01:17:40,250 --> 01:17:41,333
awards publisher came up.
487
01:17:41,875 --> 01:17:43,666
I thought of doing a book and like, yeah,
488
01:17:44,166 --> 01:17:47,250
huh. She'd be like, no. And wrote the
489
01:17:47,250 --> 01:17:49,833
book and somebody that you will have
490
01:17:49,833 --> 01:17:51,500
heard of and I'm hoping your listeners
491
01:17:51,500 --> 01:17:54,416
are aware of Eric Hoyt was kind enough to
492
01:17:54,416 --> 01:17:56,000
read the book and blurt.
493
01:17:56,875 --> 01:17:59,166
Yeah, the biggest, you know, marine
494
01:17:59,166 --> 01:18:02,791
mammal scientist and the guy he's the
495
01:18:02,791 --> 01:18:05,875
guy. Yeah. Yeah. So he offers to read the
496
01:18:05,875 --> 01:18:08,583
book and he gets back to me and he said,
497
01:18:08,583 --> 01:18:10,416
I love it. I've only got one suggestion.
498
01:18:10,625 --> 01:18:12,291
What's that? He said, not the killer
499
01:18:12,291 --> 01:18:15,041
whale that changed the world. The killer
500
01:18:15,041 --> 01:18:17,166
whale who changed the
501
01:18:17,166 --> 01:18:19,833
world. So not and my.
502
01:18:20,875 --> 01:18:23,750
Yeah, my publishers went for it. I mean,
503
01:18:23,750 --> 01:18:25,916
even though we'd started publicizing even
504
01:18:25,916 --> 01:18:29,125
though CBC thing and one major award,
505
01:18:29,541 --> 01:18:32,291
they're like, we'll go with that. I'm I
506
01:18:32,291 --> 01:18:33,958
will be forever grateful to Eric, quite
507
01:18:33,958 --> 01:18:37,458
for that suggestion because that set me
508
01:18:37,458 --> 01:18:40,416
down an entire path of referring to
509
01:18:40,416 --> 01:18:43,708
animals as who not what he, she and they
510
01:18:43,708 --> 01:18:46,833
not it and realizing that's what Dr.
511
01:18:47,208 --> 01:18:51,000
Jane Goodall is into and you know, France
512
01:18:51,000 --> 01:18:53,375
to wallow down throw put an aisle became
513
01:18:53,375 --> 01:18:57,125
an obsessed of mine. So that's where all
514
01:18:57,125 --> 01:18:59,291
that went and then what happened going
515
01:18:59,291 --> 01:19:01,958
back to the books orca publishing, which
516
01:19:01,958 --> 01:19:03,375
ironically does not publish a lot of
517
01:19:03,375 --> 01:19:05,791
books about orcas reached out to me and
518
01:19:05,791 --> 01:19:07,333
they're one of the top kids publishers in
519
01:19:07,333 --> 01:19:10,208
Canada and I'd known the publisher from
520
01:19:10,208 --> 01:19:12,458
my other life where I
521
01:19:12,458 --> 01:19:13,833
published funny stuff.
522
01:19:13,875 --> 01:19:16,666
Yeah, she said, would you be interested
523
01:19:16,666 --> 01:19:19,500
in doing a kid's book of the killer will
524
01:19:19,500 --> 01:19:21,708
have changed the world and I went to
525
01:19:21,708 --> 01:19:24,541
depressing a story. I mean, the whale,
526
01:19:24,791 --> 01:19:27,625
you know, Moby dies. Yeah, being
527
01:19:27,625 --> 01:19:30,083
harpooned. It is a sad freaking story.
528
01:19:30,625 --> 01:19:32,333
Like, sure. I do believe that will change
529
01:19:32,333 --> 01:19:35,291
the world, but it's a sad story. And I
530
01:19:35,291 --> 01:19:37,458
said, could I just do a story about all
531
01:19:37,458 --> 01:19:38,958
the amazing things I've learned about
532
01:19:38,958 --> 01:19:41,666
orcas since being thrown into this world?
533
01:19:41,666 --> 01:19:42,875
And she went absolutely.
534
01:19:43,875 --> 01:19:45,333
And that became workers everywhere and
535
01:19:45,333 --> 01:19:52,750
then I had I used to do a lot of
536
01:19:52,750 --> 01:19:55,708
interviews around movies. I covered the
537
01:19:55,708 --> 01:19:57,583
Toronto Film Festival for 20 years of the
538
01:19:57,583 --> 01:19:59,541
Georgia Strait of Vancouver, sometimes to
539
01:19:59,541 --> 01:20:01,666
think for some and one of the people I
540
01:20:01,666 --> 01:20:05,541
met actually I'd met him when my movie
541
01:20:05,541 --> 01:20:07,250
about forests, which
542
01:20:07,250 --> 01:20:10,458
was fictional was touring.
543
01:20:11,875 --> 01:20:12,000
And I was a little bit
of a fan of Rob
544
01:20:12,000 --> 01:20:14,041
Stewart who made the movie Sharkwater.
545
01:20:14,041 --> 01:20:17,750
Yeah, and we kind of became friends and
546
01:20:17,750 --> 01:20:21,125
so I introduced his movies film festivals
547
01:20:21,125 --> 01:20:25,041
and we hung out a bit and he was actually
548
01:20:25,041 --> 01:20:27,291
set to write a blurb for the killer whale
549
01:20:27,291 --> 01:20:30,750
who changed the world and be one of my
550
01:20:30,750 --> 01:20:31,708
first guests on Skana.
551
01:20:35,875 --> 01:20:38,625
And I decided that the way to honor him
552
01:20:38,625 --> 01:20:42,916
on Skana and part of my podcast was to
553
01:20:42,916 --> 01:20:44,500
run some of the interviews I'd done with
554
01:20:44,500 --> 01:20:46,125
him over the years, even though they were
555
01:20:46,125 --> 01:20:47,125
never intended as audio.
556
01:20:47,875 --> 01:20:50,875
And I had I did that and somebody working
557
01:20:50,875 --> 01:20:53,833
on his posthumous movie reached out and I
558
01:20:53,833 --> 01:20:56,083
had no idea that you were so into him.
559
01:20:56,708 --> 01:21:00,208
Would you be willing to work on promoting
560
01:21:00,208 --> 01:21:06,375
his movie to NGOs and basically talking
561
01:21:06,375 --> 01:21:08,041
about the work politically?
562
01:21:08,875 --> 01:21:09,833
And I was like, Oh, you began to reach
563
01:21:09,833 --> 01:21:12,291
out and go, you know, these are the
564
01:21:12,291 --> 01:21:13,833
things that we would like
565
01:21:13,833 --> 01:21:15,416
to see happen to help sharks.
566
01:21:15,833 --> 01:21:19,333
It's like, oh, this is like, so yeah, the
567
01:21:19,333 --> 01:21:20,791
to be one of the best things that ever
568
01:21:20,791 --> 01:21:23,291
happened in the podcast was being invited
569
01:21:23,291 --> 01:21:25,458
to do that. Yeah, and
570
01:21:25,458 --> 01:21:27,666
the orcas everywhere.
571
01:21:28,875 --> 01:21:29,708
And you know, the first book for orcas
572
01:21:29,708 --> 01:21:32,541
also turned into a book, a baby book, a
573
01:21:32,541 --> 01:21:34,416
big whale, small world and a picture
574
01:21:34,416 --> 01:21:37,625
book, or because it's the other C, and
575
01:21:37,625 --> 01:21:39,875
orcas really happy and said, would you
576
01:21:39,875 --> 01:21:40,708
like do something else?
577
01:21:44,583 --> 01:21:45,916
I would like to write the book about
578
01:21:45,916 --> 01:21:47,791
sharks that Rob should have written.
579
01:21:48,458 --> 01:21:51,166
So that, and I reached out before saying
580
01:21:51,166 --> 01:21:52,041
yes, I reached out the
581
01:21:52,041 --> 01:21:53,000
shark water foundation.
582
01:21:53,666 --> 01:21:55,000
I went, do you think Rob's
583
01:21:55,000 --> 01:21:56,166
parents will be cool with us?
584
01:21:56,916 --> 01:21:58,125
Would you guys be cool with this?
585
01:21:58,541 --> 01:22:00,250
And so that Rob's
586
01:22:00,250 --> 01:22:02,375
parents gave me their blessing.
587
01:22:03,250 --> 01:22:04,666
Shark water foundation gave me their
588
01:22:04,666 --> 01:22:07,041
blessing as access to their photos.
589
01:22:07,583 --> 01:22:08,125
Oh wow.
590
01:22:08,791 --> 01:22:10,000
All of these amazing photos.
591
01:22:11,875 --> 01:22:13,916
I also did a shark baby book, which was
592
01:22:13,916 --> 01:22:16,416
specifically because I
593
01:22:16,416 --> 01:22:17,708
wanted to get across that sharks
594
01:22:17,708 --> 01:22:18,916
are awesome, not scary.
595
01:22:19,583 --> 01:22:19,791
Yeah.
596
01:22:20,583 --> 01:22:20,791
Right.
597
01:22:21,875 --> 01:22:24,291
And then, one sec.
598
01:22:25,500 --> 01:22:28,166
And then, or I can say, so
599
01:22:28,166 --> 01:22:29,125
what else are you going to do?
600
01:22:29,125 --> 01:22:30,666
I'm like, I got nothing.
601
01:22:31,166 --> 01:22:33,458
This I keep, this isn't my world.
602
01:22:33,458 --> 01:22:34,708
I'm like a comedy writer.
603
01:22:35,166 --> 01:22:35,916
Please man.
604
01:22:36,958 --> 01:22:39,583
But my wife rain, who basically is
605
01:22:39,583 --> 01:22:40,416
responsible for me having
606
01:22:40,416 --> 01:22:43,208
the podcast to she did the tack
607
01:22:43,208 --> 01:22:44,375
and said, yeah, if you did
608
01:22:44,375 --> 01:22:45,791
the podcast, I'll do the tack.
609
01:22:45,791 --> 01:22:46,458
Okay.
610
01:22:47,458 --> 01:22:50,208
I said, you should do octopuses because
611
01:22:50,208 --> 01:22:51,708
octopuses are awesome.
612
01:22:52,708 --> 01:22:55,375
And so I came through so amazing.
613
01:22:56,208 --> 01:22:58,750
And so I came in octopuses completely
614
01:22:58,750 --> 01:23:01,833
cold beyond always, you
615
01:23:01,833 --> 01:23:02,500
know, whatever I'd gone
616
01:23:02,500 --> 01:23:04,083
to an aquarium as a kid, I would just
617
01:23:04,083 --> 01:23:05,333
obsess over watching them.
618
01:23:05,583 --> 01:23:06,083
Of course.
619
01:23:06,791 --> 01:23:07,958
Cause how do you not?
620
01:23:08,458 --> 01:23:08,625
Yeah.
621
01:23:08,875 --> 01:23:09,083
Right.
622
01:23:10,166 --> 01:23:11,458
And, but I came at
623
01:23:11,458 --> 01:23:15,041
their world completely cold.
624
01:23:15,500 --> 01:23:16,458
And again, that's where
625
01:23:16,458 --> 01:23:17,708
the podcast was a gift.
626
01:23:17,958 --> 01:23:20,541
So it, Oh, I will just interview octopus
627
01:23:20,541 --> 01:23:21,583
experts and I'll get
628
01:23:21,583 --> 01:23:22,500
them to tell me things.
629
01:23:23,000 --> 01:23:25,416
So I interviewed Simon, Montgomery, and
630
01:23:25,416 --> 01:23:26,958
they interviewed down a
631
01:23:26,958 --> 01:23:28,833
staff and just went, okay,
632
01:23:29,083 --> 01:23:30,041
tell me cool octopus things
633
01:23:30,041 --> 01:23:31,208
that kids would want to know.
634
01:23:31,208 --> 01:23:33,375
And I went to, I went to a local
635
01:23:33,375 --> 01:23:35,666
elementary school and what do you know?
636
01:23:36,375 --> 01:23:37,291
What do you want to know?
637
01:23:37,833 --> 01:23:39,666
And so that was just kind
638
01:23:39,666 --> 01:23:41,875
of fueled it all for you.
639
01:23:41,875 --> 01:23:42,083
Right?
640
01:23:43,000 --> 01:23:45,000
Yeah. But that was just pure research and fun.
641
01:23:45,916 --> 01:23:46,125
Right.
642
01:23:46,958 --> 01:23:51,666
But again, it's very odd sort of led like
643
01:23:51,666 --> 01:23:55,375
if, if like my career,
644
01:23:55,375 --> 01:23:56,625
my life has taken a lot
645
01:23:56,625 --> 01:23:57,416
of odd turns.
646
01:23:58,500 --> 01:23:59,791
I'm pretty sure no one could have
647
01:23:59,791 --> 01:24:02,125
predicted that 2015, I was
648
01:24:02,125 --> 01:24:02,958
going to write a book about
649
01:24:03,041 --> 01:24:07,000
orcas and 2025 that this is
650
01:24:07,000 --> 01:24:08,041
still where I'd be playing.
651
01:24:08,500 --> 01:24:08,666
Yeah.
652
01:24:08,958 --> 01:24:11,041
I would still be talking about orcas.
653
01:24:11,041 --> 01:24:12,250
Still talking about the science.
654
01:24:12,875 --> 01:24:13,541
Oh yeah.
655
01:24:13,750 --> 01:24:15,916
My, my students, I teach courses in
656
01:24:15,916 --> 01:24:17,708
writing and pop culture
657
01:24:17,708 --> 01:24:18,958
and intro to fight hearts.
658
01:24:19,208 --> 01:24:20,083
And my students were like,
659
01:24:20,083 --> 01:24:21,291
you're the whale guy, right?
660
01:24:23,166 --> 01:24:25,041
Like my classes are on the marvel.
661
01:24:25,291 --> 01:24:26,750
I teach a storytelling course built
662
01:24:26,750 --> 01:24:27,250
around the marvel
663
01:24:27,250 --> 01:24:28,541
universe, a storytelling course
664
01:24:28,708 --> 01:24:29,875
built around the DC universe.
665
01:24:29,875 --> 01:24:31,708
Like you're the whale guy, right?
666
01:24:31,708 --> 01:24:32,458
You're the whale guy.
667
01:24:32,791 --> 01:24:33,125
Yeah.
668
01:24:33,125 --> 01:24:33,583
Now you got to switch
669
01:24:33,583 --> 01:24:35,083
your storytelling courses.
670
01:24:35,083 --> 01:24:37,458
You got to switch it to more of, uh, you
671
01:24:37,458 --> 01:24:39,000
know, of, of like, like
672
01:24:39,000 --> 01:24:40,875
ocean stuff, you know, I
673
01:24:40,875 --> 01:24:41,208
try.
674
01:24:41,875 --> 01:24:44,666
I, I try.
675
01:24:44,666 --> 01:24:45,500
Am I intro to fine arts?
676
01:24:45,500 --> 01:24:48,541
I'm just like, yeah, I'm just like, yeah,
677
01:24:48,541 --> 01:24:49,875
we're going to talk about whales now.
678
01:24:50,166 --> 01:24:51,958
And like, if I let my students ask me
679
01:24:51,958 --> 01:24:53,708
questions, they now go,
680
01:24:53,708 --> 01:24:55,083
tell us more about sharks.
681
01:24:55,583 --> 01:24:57,250
But like, and I'll talk about like the
682
01:24:57,250 --> 01:24:58,625
studies on lemon sharks and friendship.
683
01:24:59,500 --> 01:24:59,625
Yeah.
684
01:25:00,083 --> 01:25:02,833
Like, what are the most like, what are
685
01:25:02,833 --> 01:25:03,416
the things that are
686
01:25:03,416 --> 01:25:04,625
most shocking to people?
687
01:25:04,625 --> 01:25:05,375
And that's what I go to.
688
01:25:05,375 --> 01:25:06,791
Like it's the stuff you cover, man.
689
01:25:07,125 --> 01:25:07,333
Yeah.
690
01:25:07,625 --> 01:25:09,750
Like it's why I love your podcast because
691
01:25:09,750 --> 01:25:12,125
you cover all of the, this stuff that's
692
01:25:12,125 --> 01:25:15,000
just unexpected, right?
693
01:25:15,125 --> 01:25:16,625
That sort of rakes the
694
01:25:16,625 --> 01:25:17,916
way we think things are.
695
01:25:18,291 --> 01:25:19,625
Well, I think, I think that's the thing
696
01:25:19,625 --> 01:25:21,500
is, is when you take all this
697
01:25:21,500 --> 01:25:22,500
information, there's one of the reasons
698
01:25:22,500 --> 01:25:24,541
why I do the podcast and you bring on
699
01:25:24,541 --> 01:25:26,625
people who you may or may not have heard
700
01:25:26,625 --> 01:25:27,916
of at some point in time.
701
01:25:28,000 --> 01:25:29,000
And you talk about the
702
01:25:29,000 --> 01:25:29,958
cool projects that they like.
703
01:25:29,958 --> 01:25:31,666
There are so many cool things and
704
01:25:31,666 --> 01:25:34,000
research and conservation projects and
705
01:25:34,000 --> 01:25:36,625
impacts and channels like I just did.
706
01:25:36,625 --> 01:25:38,166
I just did an interview just before this
707
01:25:38,166 --> 01:25:40,916
on, you know, there's a guy who's in in
708
01:25:40,916 --> 01:25:44,083
in Australia who started an organization
709
01:25:44,083 --> 01:25:46,041
because he saw the Great Barrier Reef
710
01:25:46,041 --> 01:25:47,541
bleach 10 years ago.
711
01:25:48,000 --> 01:25:49,333
And he wasn't happy about that.
712
01:25:49,333 --> 01:25:50,250
They needed more data.
713
01:25:50,250 --> 01:25:52,416
So he came up with a way to create an
714
01:25:52,416 --> 01:25:55,000
A.I. and use citizen scientists to
715
01:25:55,000 --> 01:25:57,791
basically, you know, determine and get
716
01:25:57,791 --> 01:25:59,666
more data just in terms of like three
717
01:25:59,666 --> 01:26:00,583
categories of reefs.
718
01:26:01,125 --> 01:26:02,708
And so now it's an app where you can
719
01:26:02,708 --> 01:26:04,458
actually just go and use the A.I. and you
720
01:26:04,458 --> 01:26:06,583
just need science to say, yes, this is
721
01:26:06,583 --> 01:26:08,708
rubble or yes, this is a branching coral.
722
01:26:08,708 --> 01:26:11,666
Yes, this is a a a
723
01:26:11,666 --> 01:26:13,000
boulder coral or whatever.
724
01:26:13,541 --> 01:26:15,208
And that information goes to university
725
01:26:15,208 --> 01:26:16,500
and they put that into a model.
726
01:26:16,500 --> 01:26:18,625
Like, how do you come up
727
01:26:18,625 --> 01:26:19,500
with this kind of stuff?
728
01:26:19,750 --> 01:26:21,166
And you don't do it until you start
729
01:26:21,166 --> 01:26:22,583
reaching out to people or they reach out
730
01:26:22,583 --> 01:26:25,083
to you and then you start talking to them
731
01:26:25,083 --> 01:26:26,291
about this kind of work.
732
01:26:26,291 --> 01:26:27,333
Right. And you never know
733
01:26:27,333 --> 01:26:28,458
who it's going to inspire.
734
01:26:28,458 --> 01:26:30,208
Like, just like he was in the Netherlands
735
01:26:30,208 --> 01:26:32,291
at the time where hearing about the Great
736
01:26:32,291 --> 01:26:33,333
Barrier Reef, he was originally from
737
01:26:33,333 --> 01:26:35,583
Australia, moves back and is like, yes,
738
01:26:35,916 --> 01:26:37,416
like I'm going to do something about this
739
01:26:37,416 --> 01:26:39,500
because I have to, you know, like that's
740
01:26:39,500 --> 01:26:40,958
an incredible story
741
01:26:40,958 --> 01:26:42,291
that needs to be told.
742
01:26:43,125 --> 01:26:45,000
I've met students who've gone into marine
743
01:26:45,000 --> 01:26:46,583
science because they read The Killer
744
01:26:46,583 --> 01:26:47,875
Wheel could change the world.
745
01:26:48,083 --> 01:26:49,875
That blows my mind.
746
01:26:50,250 --> 01:26:52,916
Isn't it crazy? Yeah, it's crazy.
747
01:26:53,416 --> 01:26:54,791
And you never know who they might become.
748
01:26:54,791 --> 01:26:55,583
You never know what they might
749
01:26:55,583 --> 01:26:58,291
accomplish, you know, and and like you've
750
01:26:58,291 --> 01:27:00,041
done like, like for when you
751
01:27:00,041 --> 01:27:02,375
write, what do you write for?
752
01:27:03,250 --> 01:27:04,625
Like, like when you write a book, any of
753
01:27:04,625 --> 01:27:05,458
the books that you that
754
01:27:05,458 --> 01:27:06,833
you've written in your past, right?
755
01:27:06,833 --> 01:27:07,541
How many books have you read?
756
01:27:07,791 --> 01:27:09,458
Yeah, I don't know.
757
01:27:09,791 --> 01:27:12,333
I like I really don't know.
758
01:27:12,333 --> 01:27:13,208
No, no. And and about
759
01:27:13,208 --> 01:27:14,416
countless articles, right?
760
01:27:14,416 --> 01:27:15,500
Like countless articles.
761
01:27:15,500 --> 01:27:16,791
Yeah. Oh, thousands.
762
01:27:17,000 --> 01:27:17,208
Right.
763
01:27:18,000 --> 01:27:18,166
Right.
764
01:27:18,250 --> 01:27:18,708
Thousands of articles.
765
01:27:18,708 --> 01:27:20,333
So when you write a piece, whether it's
766
01:27:20,333 --> 01:27:22,500
an article or a book or whatever, like
767
01:27:22,500 --> 01:27:25,458
overall, like what are you trying to
768
01:27:25,458 --> 01:27:26,708
accomplish at that point?
769
01:27:27,375 --> 01:27:28,791
I'm trying to share whatever I
770
01:27:28,791 --> 01:27:29,958
found that I think is amazing.
771
01:27:30,666 --> 01:27:30,875
Right.
772
01:27:31,083 --> 01:27:32,916
Whatever I'm like that, whatever I think
773
01:27:32,916 --> 01:27:36,291
people should know this like the shark
774
01:27:36,291 --> 01:27:37,666
book just kind of kicks off
775
01:27:37,666 --> 01:27:39,416
going sharks do not want to.
776
01:27:39,500 --> 01:27:41,666
You eat you if you read no further, this
777
01:27:41,666 --> 01:27:42,791
is all you need to know.
778
01:27:43,000 --> 01:27:43,541
You need to know.
779
01:27:44,083 --> 01:27:44,250
Right.
780
01:27:44,250 --> 01:27:46,000
Like you can just stop the book now.
781
01:27:46,500 --> 01:27:47,708
Sharks don't want to eat you.
782
01:27:48,166 --> 01:27:48,375
Right.
783
01:27:49,250 --> 01:27:51,083
With the Octopus book, I so wanted to get
784
01:27:51,083 --> 01:27:52,291
across how amazing they are, how
785
01:27:52,291 --> 01:27:53,916
intelligent they are.
786
01:27:54,500 --> 01:27:59,083
And with orcas, for lack of a better
787
01:27:59,083 --> 01:28:00,666
word, how human they are.
788
01:28:01,125 --> 01:28:01,541
Right.
789
01:28:01,708 --> 01:28:04,416
Like the gift to me of not being a
790
01:28:04,416 --> 01:28:08,083
scientist is that I came at this world
791
01:28:08,083 --> 01:28:09,875
having no clue that
792
01:28:09,875 --> 01:28:11,500
anthropomorphism was a thing.
793
01:28:12,041 --> 01:28:14,500
I did not, I did not even know that term.
794
01:28:15,500 --> 01:28:20,333
So, um, so, and I lucked out because the
795
01:28:20,333 --> 01:28:22,125
first, when the first scientist, he
796
01:28:22,125 --> 01:28:23,708
really made time for me was Lance Barrett
797
01:28:23,708 --> 01:28:24,833
Leonard for the bank for credit.
798
01:28:25,500 --> 01:28:28,375
And he is his life has been
799
01:28:28,375 --> 01:28:30,041
dealing with orca behavior.
800
01:28:30,458 --> 01:28:32,250
And I think I caught him on just the
801
01:28:32,250 --> 01:28:35,125
right day because when I was asking him a
802
01:28:35,125 --> 01:28:35,916
question, he said, you know what?
803
01:28:35,916 --> 01:28:37,041
I'm really tired of
804
01:28:37,041 --> 01:28:38,708
apologizing for more of housing.
805
01:28:39,500 --> 01:28:41,625
He said, I don't know what else to say
806
01:28:41,625 --> 01:28:43,416
beyond these animals have the
807
01:28:43,416 --> 01:28:45,041
same type of emotions we do.
808
01:28:45,458 --> 01:28:45,833
Yeah.
809
01:28:45,833 --> 01:28:46,000
Right.
810
01:28:46,375 --> 01:28:47,416
And I caught him on.
811
01:28:48,041 --> 01:28:49,000
I really do think it was
812
01:28:49,000 --> 01:28:50,166
like just the right day.
813
01:28:50,666 --> 01:28:51,666
And rain.
814
01:28:51,708 --> 01:28:55,833
I asked him a question that became kind
815
01:28:55,833 --> 01:28:58,416
of a go to for me in all of my work
816
01:28:58,416 --> 01:29:00,791
since, which was, she said, do
817
01:29:00,791 --> 01:29:02,208
you think whales are psychic?
818
01:29:03,041 --> 01:29:05,250
Because he was talking about where these
819
01:29:05,250 --> 01:29:07,166
orcas show up and he,
820
01:29:07,166 --> 01:29:09,916
he didn't love the word.
821
01:29:10,166 --> 01:29:10,541
Of course.
822
01:29:10,916 --> 01:29:13,708
But he went first day I show up in
823
01:29:13,708 --> 01:29:15,708
Vancouver and I'm about to dedicate my
824
01:29:15,708 --> 01:29:19,166
life to these orcas and I'm on a kayak
825
01:29:19,166 --> 01:29:20,541
and I'm suddenly surrounded by orcas.
826
01:29:21,416 --> 01:29:23,916
And I started asking the question a
827
01:29:23,916 --> 01:29:26,625
little bit differently and I started
828
01:29:26,625 --> 01:29:29,833
basically asking people who've devoted
829
01:29:29,833 --> 01:29:31,041
their lives to orcas.
830
01:29:31,541 --> 01:29:32,916
Tell me your impossible story.
831
01:29:33,625 --> 01:29:36,333
Tell me the story that you are
832
01:29:36,333 --> 01:29:41,166
uncomfortable sharing because it just
833
01:29:41,166 --> 01:29:43,208
sounds fictionally implausible.
834
01:29:43,208 --> 01:29:43,500
Tell me your
835
01:29:43,500 --> 01:29:44,375
fictionally implausible work.
836
01:29:44,375 --> 01:29:47,583
I started and they all have one and they
837
01:29:47,583 --> 01:29:49,416
actually they all multiples and the one
838
01:29:49,416 --> 01:29:50,916
that really blew my mind.
839
01:29:51,250 --> 01:29:53,791
I know have multiples and the one that
840
01:29:53,791 --> 01:29:56,958
just completely blew my mind was
841
01:29:56,958 --> 01:30:00,666
Alexandra Morton talking about these
842
01:30:00,666 --> 01:30:03,416
orcas surrounding her when her boat was
843
01:30:03,416 --> 01:30:05,583
lost the fog and the orcas leading her
844
01:30:05,583 --> 01:30:08,375
back to safety and
845
01:30:08,375 --> 01:30:09,708
this pod she was studying.
846
01:30:09,750 --> 01:30:13,541
And the reason that it blew my mind was I
847
01:30:13,541 --> 01:30:16,125
went, I think Ken Baucom told me that
848
01:30:16,125 --> 01:30:19,166
story a few months ago and Ken Baucom
849
01:30:19,166 --> 01:30:20,500
said it for whale researcher.
850
01:30:21,250 --> 01:30:24,041
Same thing where his boat was lost and a
851
01:30:24,041 --> 01:30:26,208
group of orcas, a pod of orcas surrounded
852
01:30:26,208 --> 01:30:28,041
him and took him to safety.
853
01:30:28,708 --> 01:30:30,291
This isn't possible.
854
01:30:31,000 --> 01:30:32,833
I like I actually heard the story and I
855
01:30:32,833 --> 01:30:34,791
couldn't even connect it to that.
856
01:30:34,791 --> 01:30:35,541
I must be mixing up.
857
01:30:35,583 --> 01:30:36,666
Ken must not have told me
858
01:30:36,666 --> 01:30:38,250
this like, yeah, he did.
859
01:30:38,583 --> 01:30:39,583
And in both cases,
860
01:30:39,583 --> 01:30:40,333
they said the same thing.
861
01:30:40,500 --> 01:30:41,541
This happened once.
862
01:30:42,791 --> 01:30:44,666
This happened exactly once.
863
01:30:45,000 --> 01:30:45,833
They were in trouble.
864
01:30:46,166 --> 01:30:47,375
The orcas stuck with them.
865
01:30:47,958 --> 01:30:51,000
And I look and I put a chapter about all
866
01:30:51,000 --> 01:30:52,000
of these weird things.
867
01:30:52,333 --> 01:30:54,208
Yeah, in orcas everywhere.
868
01:30:55,000 --> 01:30:57,791
And the first time I read this chapter,
869
01:30:57,791 --> 01:30:58,791
I'm on Saturna Island.
870
01:30:58,791 --> 01:31:00,416
I'd spent an entire summer on Saturna
871
01:31:00,416 --> 01:31:03,375
Island because somebody Saturna Island
872
01:31:03,375 --> 01:31:04,750
was where Moby doll was captured.
873
01:31:05,250 --> 01:31:05,333
Right.
874
01:31:05,666 --> 01:31:07,458
Somebody basically gifted me their place
875
01:31:07,458 --> 01:31:11,000
on Saturna Island for a very small fee so
876
01:31:11,000 --> 01:31:12,708
I could write the book on Saturna Island.
877
01:31:13,541 --> 01:31:15,000
Never managed to see an orca the whole
878
01:31:15,000 --> 01:31:16,875
time I'm on Saturna Island there.
879
01:31:18,083 --> 01:31:19,916
And so Rain and I are
880
01:31:19,916 --> 01:31:21,708
there the whole summer.
881
01:31:22,000 --> 01:31:22,750
So I'm back.
882
01:31:23,208 --> 01:31:24,875
They want me to do a reading in the park
883
01:31:24,875 --> 01:31:27,083
where Moby was harpooned.
884
01:31:28,291 --> 01:31:31,500
And this is just after Taliqua had
885
01:31:31,500 --> 01:31:35,166
carried her dead daughter for 17 days.
886
01:31:36,208 --> 01:31:38,750
And I had decided I had not told anybody
887
01:31:38,750 --> 01:31:40,666
this, but I decided I
888
01:31:40,666 --> 01:31:41,791
could no longer do this.
889
01:31:42,083 --> 01:31:43,000
It was just too sad.
890
01:31:43,583 --> 01:31:47,291
I was like, I, because it's hard for
891
01:31:47,291 --> 01:31:48,458
people to get to now you hear the
892
01:31:48,458 --> 01:31:49,708
Southern residents and they're no longer
893
01:31:49,708 --> 01:31:50,625
called the Southern residents.
894
01:31:50,875 --> 01:31:51,500
They're called the critically
895
01:31:51,500 --> 01:31:52,750
endangered Southern residents.
896
01:31:53,000 --> 01:31:53,250
Yeah.
897
01:31:53,416 --> 01:31:55,458
And when, when I jumped onto this story,
898
01:31:55,458 --> 01:31:57,041
when I first told the story of the killer
899
01:31:57,041 --> 01:31:59,250
whale who changed the world, it was a
900
01:31:59,250 --> 01:32:02,291
phenomenal story of a recovery of the
901
01:32:02,291 --> 01:32:04,500
population of recovered and everybody I
902
01:32:04,500 --> 01:32:06,458
talked to was excited and enthusiastic
903
01:32:06,458 --> 01:32:07,583
and talking about the
904
01:32:07,583 --> 01:32:08,583
resilience of nature.
905
01:32:09,458 --> 01:32:11,041
I didn't talk to a single sad person.
906
01:32:11,041 --> 01:32:11,541
They were all like, Oh
907
01:32:11,541 --> 01:32:12,916
my God, is this amazing?
908
01:32:14,583 --> 01:32:16,458
And then they started to freaking die.
909
01:32:16,458 --> 01:32:19,291
And I was making a movie called the
910
01:32:19,291 --> 01:32:20,333
hundred year old whale.
911
01:32:20,333 --> 01:32:21,666
I can show you a link to this one because
912
01:32:21,666 --> 01:32:23,750
it it's up everywhere now.
913
01:32:24,958 --> 01:32:26,291
Made a movie with rain called the hundred
914
01:32:26,291 --> 01:32:30,208
year old whale and about granny.
915
01:32:31,250 --> 01:32:33,833
But I thought we're going to put out that
916
01:32:33,833 --> 01:32:35,958
movie and I'm going to put out this book
917
01:32:35,958 --> 01:32:37,125
and then I'm done
918
01:32:37,125 --> 01:32:39,625
because this is just too sad.
919
01:32:40,083 --> 01:32:40,583
Yeah, it's hard.
920
01:32:40,625 --> 01:32:42,208
I'm standing there and I'm about to read
921
01:32:42,208 --> 01:32:43,791
from this chapter for this book that is
922
01:32:43,791 --> 01:32:48,083
unpublished and somebody shouts whale and
923
01:32:48,083 --> 01:32:49,375
suddenly all the people
924
01:32:49,375 --> 01:32:50,000
are there for the reading.
925
01:32:50,375 --> 01:32:52,291
We race to the side of the cliff and
926
01:32:52,291 --> 01:32:53,541
there is J pod, including
927
01:32:53,541 --> 01:32:56,041
telequa freaking dancing.
928
01:32:56,875 --> 01:32:58,166
Like, I don't know how else you want to
929
01:32:58,166 --> 01:32:59,333
put it, but they are
930
01:32:59,333 --> 01:33:01,166
just splashing everywhere.
931
01:33:03,041 --> 01:33:03,625
Have a good time.
932
01:33:03,625 --> 01:33:04,000
I got it.
933
01:33:04,666 --> 01:33:04,916
Okay.
934
01:33:04,916 --> 01:33:05,166
Yeah.
935
01:33:05,166 --> 01:33:05,583
I'm yours.
936
01:33:06,375 --> 01:33:06,625
Yeah.
937
01:33:07,333 --> 01:33:08,041
I don't get to quit.
938
01:33:08,416 --> 01:33:08,791
I'm yours.
939
01:33:09,333 --> 01:33:09,666
Right.
940
01:33:11,041 --> 01:33:11,666
That's insane.
941
01:33:12,500 --> 01:33:15,583
Like the timing, you know, like, oh, like
942
01:33:15,583 --> 01:33:17,666
I absolutely decided I was done.
943
01:33:18,166 --> 01:33:19,458
I was absolutely sure I
944
01:33:19,458 --> 01:33:21,041
was done and J pod shows up.
945
01:33:21,666 --> 01:33:23,583
And when I posted some Facebook, the
946
01:33:23,583 --> 01:33:24,916
number of people said they showed up for
947
01:33:24,916 --> 01:33:28,083
you, which sounds utterly crazy.
948
01:33:28,333 --> 01:33:30,666
I'm so you go back to you go back to Eric
949
01:33:30,666 --> 01:33:34,000
Hoyt's work where he goes or because show
950
01:33:34,000 --> 01:33:35,750
up for the people who need them.
951
01:33:36,333 --> 01:33:37,500
Yeah, and this is in
952
01:33:37,500 --> 01:33:39,791
Orca and Marie Newman back.
953
01:33:40,375 --> 01:33:41,958
The first time I saw the word psychic
954
01:33:41,958 --> 01:33:43,041
Mitch was Marie Newman saying
955
01:33:43,041 --> 01:33:44,583
these orcas must be psychic.
956
01:33:44,791 --> 01:33:45,916
They've never avoided
957
01:33:45,916 --> 01:33:47,000
to turn Island before.
958
01:33:47,750 --> 01:33:48,208
And here we are.
959
01:33:48,208 --> 01:33:50,500
We've been here all summer and it's like
960
01:33:50,500 --> 01:33:51,583
they know we've got a harpoon.
961
01:33:52,208 --> 01:33:54,333
When the, when the machine go, we'll set
962
01:33:54,333 --> 01:33:55,083
up at Campbell river.
963
01:33:55,166 --> 01:33:56,916
The orcas went nowhere near Campbell
964
01:33:56,916 --> 01:33:58,458
river that entire summer.
965
01:33:58,458 --> 01:33:59,000
And you already.
966
01:34:00,208 --> 01:34:02,791
So how does that happen?
967
01:34:03,666 --> 01:34:04,083
Right.
968
01:34:04,083 --> 01:34:05,875
Like that's that's where I've
969
01:34:05,875 --> 01:34:07,416
just become totally obsessed.
970
01:34:07,958 --> 01:34:08,208
Yes.
971
01:34:08,208 --> 01:34:09,166
Like, how does that happen?
972
01:34:10,500 --> 01:34:12,875
It's unreal to like, you know, you hear
973
01:34:12,875 --> 01:34:14,666
these these, as you say, impossible
974
01:34:14,666 --> 01:34:16,458
stories and you just say,
975
01:34:17,500 --> 01:34:19,583
you know, how can they show up like this
976
01:34:19,583 --> 01:34:21,708
each and every time, you know, how can
977
01:34:21,708 --> 01:34:23,416
they help guide people to safety?
978
01:34:23,416 --> 01:34:25,166
How can they show up in emotional moments
979
01:34:25,166 --> 01:34:27,416
where you just, you know, you know,
980
01:34:27,416 --> 01:34:28,875
they've been going through a hard time.
981
01:34:28,875 --> 01:34:30,500
You follow them for you for decades.
982
01:34:31,583 --> 01:34:32,250
And then all of a sudden
983
01:34:32,250 --> 01:34:34,125
they show up when you need them.
984
01:34:34,416 --> 01:34:35,208
Like when you're like, I'm
985
01:34:35,208 --> 01:34:36,541
not sure I can do this anymore.
986
01:34:36,541 --> 01:34:38,125
Like, this is it after this.
987
01:34:38,125 --> 01:34:38,958
And they're like, no,
988
01:34:38,958 --> 01:34:40,458
you still have a job to do.
989
01:34:40,458 --> 01:34:42,333
You need to you need to speak for us.
990
01:34:42,333 --> 01:34:43,250
And we're going to be here
991
01:34:43,250 --> 01:34:45,000
for you when, when you need it.
992
01:34:45,000 --> 01:34:46,583
It's it's weird because, you know, as a
993
01:34:46,583 --> 01:34:47,375
scientist, you're just
994
01:34:47,375 --> 01:34:48,708
like, this, this doesn't happen.
995
01:34:48,708 --> 01:34:50,791
It's like, this is not a thing, you know,
996
01:34:50,791 --> 01:34:52,166
but when you when you look at the
997
01:34:52,166 --> 01:34:54,708
complexity and emotion, emotionality, I
998
01:34:54,708 --> 01:34:57,666
guess, of these whales, you know, these
999
01:34:57,666 --> 01:35:00,833
these orcas, you are, I feel like you're
1000
01:35:00,833 --> 01:35:04,000
constantly surprised, you know, as as,
1001
01:35:04,000 --> 01:35:05,375
you know, general, we like we're
1002
01:35:05,375 --> 01:35:06,416
constantly surprised by
1003
01:35:06,416 --> 01:35:07,458
what they can accomplish.
1004
01:35:08,083 --> 01:35:10,333
Right. And, and, and you just think about
1005
01:35:10,333 --> 01:35:13,708
the last 40 years that they, what we've
1006
01:35:13,708 --> 01:35:15,666
put them through as humans and you just
1007
01:35:15,666 --> 01:35:18,541
like, they keep showing up for us yet,
1008
01:35:18,833 --> 01:35:20,750
you know, humans keep doing this to them.
1009
01:35:20,750 --> 01:35:22,583
And it's like, at what point are we going
1010
01:35:22,583 --> 01:35:25,208
to learn, you know, that we need to do
1011
01:35:25,208 --> 01:35:26,666
better for these, for these animals?
1012
01:35:27,708 --> 01:35:30,833
I, I mean, I go with Ken Balcom on,
1013
01:35:30,833 --> 01:35:32,916
Telico was trying to tell us something.
1014
01:35:33,458 --> 01:35:36,208
Right. But I mean, like, to me, the story
1015
01:35:36,208 --> 01:35:37,875
just told me, that's not even our
1016
01:35:37,875 --> 01:35:41,958
craziest orchestra. Right. Like, I had
1017
01:35:41,958 --> 01:35:43,708
sold what we call the hundred year old
1018
01:35:43,708 --> 01:35:46,416
whale, I had assumed there was a ton of
1019
01:35:46,416 --> 01:35:47,250
footage of granny out
1020
01:35:47,250 --> 01:35:48,875
there, because she's really old.
1021
01:35:49,208 --> 01:35:50,083
Whether she's around everywhere.
1022
01:35:50,958 --> 01:35:56,000
So what happens is, Rain and I are like,
1023
01:35:56,666 --> 01:35:58,625
oh, you know, we're out hanging around
1024
01:35:58,625 --> 01:36:03,125
downtown Victoria. And there's a, there's
1025
01:36:03,125 --> 01:36:05,166
a particular whale watching company that
1026
01:36:05,166 --> 01:36:06,458
works with a lot of the department
1027
01:36:06,458 --> 01:36:07,375
fisheries notions were
1028
01:36:07,375 --> 01:36:08,916
scientists, a lot of unique people.
1029
01:36:08,958 --> 01:36:12,791
Um, and the guy who runs it said, you
1030
01:36:12,791 --> 01:36:15,875
know what? If we see granny, if we see
1031
01:36:15,875 --> 01:36:17,916
her, we will take you out and we have
1032
01:36:17,916 --> 01:36:19,125
this great conversation. She said, you
1033
01:36:19,125 --> 01:36:21,000
just need to know she's mostly hanging
1034
01:36:21,000 --> 01:36:21,916
out with this other
1035
01:36:21,916 --> 01:36:23,500
orchid and onyx from L pod.
1036
01:36:23,500 --> 01:36:25,791
They are not being spotted very often.
1037
01:36:25,791 --> 01:36:28,000
They're not being spotted with J pod. So
1038
01:36:28,000 --> 01:36:29,583
no idea if we'll be able to help you up
1039
01:36:29,583 --> 01:36:31,708
with summer. Yeah. If it happens, we'll
1040
01:36:31,708 --> 01:36:34,250
call an hour later, he calls and says,
1041
01:36:34,250 --> 01:36:36,375
um, hi, you know, I
1042
01:36:36,375 --> 01:36:36,916
said, we haven't seen granny.
1043
01:36:36,958 --> 01:36:40,000
Granny just showed up and she's hanging
1044
01:36:40,000 --> 01:36:41,750
out by one of our whale watching boats.
1045
01:36:42,333 --> 01:36:44,000
How fast can you get down to fishermen's
1046
01:36:44,000 --> 01:36:48,750
work? And next thing I know, rain and I
1047
01:36:48,750 --> 01:36:51,333
rain has a new camera. She's never used.
1048
01:36:52,291 --> 01:36:55,250
Because this is not supposed to be for
1049
01:36:55,250 --> 01:36:57,250
the film. This is just a camera. She was
1050
01:36:57,250 --> 01:37:01,541
out playing with that day. And, oh, he
1051
01:37:01,541 --> 01:37:02,750
said, you know what, I'm going to take
1052
01:37:02,750 --> 01:37:04,208
you out because we, you may never get
1053
01:37:04,208 --> 01:37:04,916
that another chance.
1054
01:37:04,958 --> 01:37:08,166
So Brett who runs this company, Eagle
1055
01:37:08,166 --> 01:37:10,583
Wing, uh, Clint, who's this amazing
1056
01:37:10,583 --> 01:37:13,541
photographer, rain and I get on a boat. I
1057
01:37:13,541 --> 01:37:14,833
don't, I just assumed he was getting us
1058
01:37:14,833 --> 01:37:15,833
on a whale watching, but he's just
1059
01:37:15,833 --> 01:37:16,958
getting us on his boat.
1060
01:37:16,958 --> 01:37:17,625
So we could see granny.
1061
01:37:17,625 --> 01:37:19,791
Cause he said, granny story is important.
1062
01:37:20,166 --> 01:37:22,125
I will help you tell this story to race
1063
01:37:22,125 --> 01:37:26,666
out there. And the best way to get it
1064
01:37:26,666 --> 01:37:28,208
across with the people on the whale
1065
01:37:28,208 --> 01:37:30,250
watching boat who they had left there so
1066
01:37:30,250 --> 01:37:31,666
that we could catch them. So they would
1067
01:37:31,666 --> 01:37:31,916
not lose sight of granny.
1068
01:37:31,958 --> 01:37:35,083
When they got back to shore, they said
1069
01:37:35,083 --> 01:37:37,791
they were asked other choices. Oh, you
1070
01:37:37,791 --> 01:37:41,875
know, it was great. But then the other
1071
01:37:41,875 --> 01:37:45,625
boat showed up and it was amazing. And
1072
01:37:45,625 --> 01:37:48,416
what happens is we show up rain points
1073
01:37:48,416 --> 01:37:49,875
your camera. And if you've ever been out
1074
01:37:49,875 --> 01:37:52,333
looking for orcas with the camera, you
1075
01:37:52,333 --> 01:37:53,916
know that they're like, oh, camera. Yeah.
1076
01:37:53,958 --> 01:37:57,250
We're side to side wherever you want,
1077
01:37:57,250 --> 01:37:57,666
wherever you point
1078
01:37:57,666 --> 01:37:59,583
that camera. Good luck.
1079
01:37:59,833 --> 01:38:01,500
I might be right behind you, but you
1080
01:38:01,500 --> 01:38:03,750
won't know. Good luck getting my freaking
1081
01:38:03,750 --> 01:38:08,291
tail. No, no. The granny goes, Oh, hey,
1082
01:38:08,291 --> 01:38:10,416
rain. I'm going to tell a slap for you.
1083
01:38:11,333 --> 01:38:12,791
And then a moment later, it's like, Hey,
1084
01:38:12,791 --> 01:38:14,458
rain, I think I'm going to jump out. I'm
1085
01:38:14,458 --> 01:38:16,791
going to spy hop for you. And then
1086
01:38:16,791 --> 01:38:20,500
there's, we're out at, if you know, no,
1087
01:38:20,500 --> 01:38:22,916
what films magic hours when the sun just goes orange and purple.
1088
01:38:22,958 --> 01:38:26,083
Right? Yeah. We are out at magic hour.
1089
01:38:26,375 --> 01:38:29,541
Pretty much the entirety of J pod, except
1090
01:38:29,541 --> 01:38:32,125
for granny is behind the boat for all
1091
01:38:32,125 --> 01:38:34,083
looking almost right behind us. Like
1092
01:38:34,083 --> 01:38:36,375
we're parked. We're not moving. They're
1093
01:38:36,375 --> 01:38:38,666
coming towards towards you guys. They're
1094
01:38:38,666 --> 01:38:40,833
like, Hey, we're ready for a close up.
1095
01:38:40,833 --> 01:38:44,083
Just get that camera ready. And I
1096
01:38:44,083 --> 01:38:46,041
actually said, look, I don't care if the
1097
01:38:46,041 --> 01:38:48,458
orcas behind us start to hula. I said
1098
01:38:48,458 --> 01:38:50,750
granny was over there. Just point your
1099
01:38:50,750 --> 01:38:51,916
camera over there. Yeah.
1100
01:38:52,166 --> 01:38:55,541
Yeah. As much as possible. And the next
1101
01:38:55,541 --> 01:38:59,041
thing we know, granny does this
1102
01:38:59,041 --> 01:39:02,708
phenomenal perfect freaking breach. Does
1103
01:39:02,708 --> 01:39:05,916
this arc out of the water rain catches it
1104
01:39:05,916 --> 01:39:07,875
just to make sure she didn't miss it. She
1105
01:39:07,875 --> 01:39:10,125
does it a second time. She's and if you
1106
01:39:10,125 --> 01:39:12,875
listen to the entire tape, like if you
1107
01:39:12,875 --> 01:39:15,166
can hear the whole audio, you can hear
1108
01:39:15,166 --> 01:39:18,583
the guy who has been running these whale
1109
01:39:18,583 --> 01:39:19,833
watching tours and the
1110
01:39:19,833 --> 01:39:20,916
photographers but out with them for
1111
01:39:20,958 --> 01:39:23,875
decades. Yeah. Oh my, oh my, oh my, oh
1112
01:39:23,875 --> 01:39:25,000
my, this granny's getting like, they
1113
01:39:25,000 --> 01:39:26,583
sound like four year old girls and then
1114
01:39:26,583 --> 01:39:29,625
you hear me, the mother and going, please
1115
01:39:29,625 --> 01:39:31,208
tell me about the shot. Please tell me
1116
01:39:31,208 --> 01:39:32,500
about the shot. Please tell me about the
1117
01:39:32,500 --> 01:39:35,333
shot. Uh, like the camera did not reset
1118
01:39:35,333 --> 01:39:36,750
in time to get the second breach because
1119
01:39:36,750 --> 01:39:39,250
they were so fast. Wow. And I said to,
1120
01:39:39,500 --> 01:39:41,500
and I turned to guys. I said, she must
1121
01:39:41,500 --> 01:39:44,625
have seen this dozens of times. Yeah. And
1122
01:39:44,625 --> 01:39:47,375
they looked at it. No, five times ever.
1123
01:39:47,375 --> 01:39:49,291
We've seen granny breach five times ever.
1124
01:39:49,291 --> 01:39:49,916
Those were two of them.
1125
01:39:51,541 --> 01:39:53,416
Jesus. Then I reached out
1126
01:39:53,416 --> 01:39:54,458
to center for whale research.
1127
01:39:56,041 --> 01:39:57,708
Decades. They've been out there for
1128
01:39:57,708 --> 01:39:59,958
decades. I reached out to center for
1129
01:39:59,958 --> 01:40:02,125
whale research and went, can we please
1130
01:40:02,125 --> 01:40:04,666
get all of your footage of granny? And I,
1131
01:40:04,833 --> 01:40:07,000
oh, we've got no footage of granny. And
1132
01:40:07,000 --> 01:40:07,916
what do you mean with this? We've got
1133
01:40:07,916 --> 01:40:09,916
some stills. But it's. But no.
1134
01:40:10,541 --> 01:40:13,625
And I started putting out calls for
1135
01:40:13,625 --> 01:40:16,416
footage of granny. If we had known there
1136
01:40:16,416 --> 01:40:17,791
was no footage of granny, we couldn't
1137
01:40:17,791 --> 01:40:19,000
have made the movie. Our producer
1138
01:40:19,000 --> 01:40:21,333
wouldn't have approved it. So this one
1139
01:40:21,333 --> 01:40:24,125
fluky day, we get the footage that ends
1140
01:40:24,125 --> 01:40:26,541
our movie that if we want a whole bunch
1141
01:40:26,541 --> 01:40:28,333
of awards for that movie, we want awards
1142
01:40:28,333 --> 01:40:29,875
because granny showed up for her close
1143
01:40:29,875 --> 01:40:32,625
up. A few days later, rain goes out
1144
01:40:32,625 --> 01:40:36,708
without me. Just one of the great regrets
1145
01:40:36,708 --> 01:40:37,916
of my life was I was like,
1146
01:40:37,916 --> 01:40:38,958
no, I've got some deadlines.
1147
01:40:40,291 --> 01:40:43,166
And a super pod shows up again. The boat
1148
01:40:43,166 --> 01:40:45,875
is freaking parked and the super pod just
1149
01:40:45,875 --> 01:40:47,916
goes, excuse me. She needs some photos
1150
01:40:47,916 --> 01:40:51,583
for her movie. So we've got seven New
1151
01:40:51,583 --> 01:40:54,583
Yorkers here. We better. We heard you're
1152
01:40:54,583 --> 01:40:56,333
making a movie. We want to be
1153
01:40:56,333 --> 01:40:57,916
in granny. We would all like.
1154
01:40:58,958 --> 01:41:01,000
We'd all like to be
1155
01:41:01,000 --> 01:41:02,416
in the movie. Yeah. So.
1156
01:41:03,333 --> 01:41:05,291
Rain was supposed to give a bit of extra
1157
01:41:05,291 --> 01:41:06,375
footage for a movie and
1158
01:41:06,375 --> 01:41:08,500
instead she shot half the film.
1159
01:41:09,375 --> 01:41:11,250
In these right now, one in these two days
1160
01:41:11,250 --> 01:41:13,791
because she's got the super
1161
01:41:13,791 --> 01:41:16,166
pod and she came back just.
1162
01:41:17,416 --> 01:41:18,916
In tears. And this is the most amazing
1163
01:41:18,916 --> 01:41:21,125
thing I've ever seen in my life. Right.
1164
01:41:23,291 --> 01:41:26,958
And again, super pods are wild and scientifically important.
1165
01:41:27,958 --> 01:41:28,375
And I think that's a very plausible
1166
01:41:28,375 --> 01:41:32,125
because they almost always seem to
1167
01:41:32,125 --> 01:41:34,708
coincide with bursts and deaths. Yeah.
1168
01:41:35,375 --> 01:41:37,833
Again, sciencey scientists are very
1169
01:41:37,833 --> 01:41:40,500
uncomfortable and just even it's a
1170
01:41:40,500 --> 01:41:42,500
coincidence. I'm like, no, no, I read my
1171
01:41:42,500 --> 01:41:44,333
Sherlock Holmes once as a coincidence.
1172
01:41:44,791 --> 01:41:47,333
Three times as evidence. Right? Exactly.
1173
01:41:47,958 --> 01:41:52,291
Fifty times I don't get how you don't go
1174
01:41:52,291 --> 01:41:55,250
some in some way, shape or form. We do
1175
01:41:55,250 --> 01:41:58,000
not understand. They are sharing
1176
01:41:58,000 --> 01:42:01,125
information that is saying it's super pod
1177
01:42:01,125 --> 01:42:03,666
time, guys. We've got a we got a
1178
01:42:03,666 --> 01:42:05,500
celebration or we've got a grief ritual.
1179
01:42:06,875 --> 01:42:07,916
And unreal. Yeah.
1180
01:42:08,958 --> 01:42:12,041
These like it's really interesting to see
1181
01:42:12,041 --> 01:42:15,208
like you telling these stories and then
1182
01:42:15,208 --> 01:42:17,166
you know, you see on like I watch tiktok
1183
01:42:17,166 --> 01:42:19,583
incessantly I'm addicted and I see a
1184
01:42:19,583 --> 01:42:23,166
number of creators on there that you
1185
01:42:23,166 --> 01:42:26,500
know, are scientists and they talk about
1186
01:42:26,500 --> 01:42:28,333
orcas and they work for organizations
1187
01:42:28,333 --> 01:42:29,916
around orcas or they live in B.C.
1188
01:42:30,958 --> 01:42:34,250
And I'll tell you when they show their
1189
01:42:34,250 --> 01:42:37,625
footage of them going out just to see
1190
01:42:37,625 --> 01:42:40,125
them like they hear the orcas are in or
1191
01:42:40,125 --> 01:42:41,583
they're close or they I don't know if
1192
01:42:41,583 --> 01:42:43,125
there's like a network of people citing
1193
01:42:43,125 --> 01:42:45,000
them and then people just you see all
1194
01:42:45,000 --> 01:42:47,333
these careers just go and a lot of times
1195
01:42:47,333 --> 01:42:47,916
they're just showing the camera.
1196
01:42:47,958 --> 01:42:50,291
You know, they may have music in the
1197
01:42:50,291 --> 01:42:51,708
background. Sometimes they don't but they
1198
01:42:51,708 --> 01:42:53,583
show themselves watching them and it's
1199
01:42:53,583 --> 01:42:56,541
like it's emotional. It's it's super
1200
01:42:56,541 --> 01:42:59,500
emotional for these like these
1201
01:42:59,500 --> 01:43:02,916
professionals who see them often. Right?
1202
01:43:03,208 --> 01:43:05,833
Like they go out whenever they can and
1203
01:43:05,833 --> 01:43:08,500
have studied them or have researched them
1204
01:43:08,500 --> 01:43:10,666
and when they see them in person, it's
1205
01:43:10,666 --> 01:43:14,208
like this this uncontrollable human
1206
01:43:14,208 --> 01:43:16,541
emotion to get emotional. Whether it's
1207
01:43:16,541 --> 01:43:19,291
happiness, whether it's happy tears or
1208
01:43:19,291 --> 01:43:21,291
sad tears or whatever that might be.
1209
01:43:21,291 --> 01:43:22,958
No matter how many times you like people
1210
01:43:22,958 --> 01:43:25,250
live out there and how many times you see
1211
01:43:25,250 --> 01:43:27,625
them every time seems to be like it hits
1212
01:43:27,625 --> 01:43:28,500
that emotional strings.
1213
01:43:28,958 --> 01:43:32,000
It was amazing to me because we really
1214
01:43:32,000 --> 01:43:33,416
didn't know how our documentary was going
1215
01:43:33,416 --> 01:43:36,208
to spin. So one of the questions that I
1216
01:43:36,208 --> 01:43:38,916
asked non scientists asked scientists as
1217
01:43:38,916 --> 01:43:40,541
well. Can you tell me about the first
1218
01:43:40,541 --> 01:43:43,416
time you saw well and the number of times
1219
01:43:43,416 --> 01:43:44,500
I heard the word magic.
1220
01:43:45,333 --> 01:43:49,125
Like if you know if I was just
1221
01:43:49,125 --> 01:43:51,166
categorized in the words that came up
1222
01:43:51,166 --> 01:43:56,625
magic and magical just were the go tos.
1223
01:43:56,625 --> 01:43:59,625
Yeah, right. Just there's something just
1224
01:43:59,625 --> 01:44:01,625
overwhelming about being out there with I
1225
01:44:01,625 --> 01:44:02,458
just realized that we're
1226
01:44:02,458 --> 01:44:02,916
talking entirely about the wrong.
1227
01:44:02,958 --> 01:44:05,458
Yeah, but doesn't matter. This is good
1228
01:44:05,458 --> 01:44:08,375
because I think people don't realize that
1229
01:44:08,375 --> 01:44:10,208
we see them again. We get to see them a
1230
01:44:10,208 --> 01:44:11,916
lot on online and on
1231
01:44:11,916 --> 01:44:13,458
TV and in documentaries.
1232
01:44:15,458 --> 01:44:16,791
I feel like it should be on every
1233
01:44:16,791 --> 01:44:19,541
everybody's bucket list to go whale. I
1234
01:44:19,541 --> 01:44:21,166
should go orca watching. You know, it's
1235
01:44:21,166 --> 01:44:22,291
definitely on mine. I've never seen an
1236
01:44:22,291 --> 01:44:25,000
orca in the wild. Oh, I know. It's
1237
01:44:25,000 --> 01:44:26,875
something that I want to do. You know,
1238
01:44:26,875 --> 01:44:28,083
it's definitely on my bucket list.
1239
01:44:28,958 --> 01:44:32,166
And it's just I feel like it's just
1240
01:44:32,166 --> 01:44:34,291
something just you've seen professionals
1241
01:44:34,291 --> 01:44:37,500
who see them often react every time the
1242
01:44:37,500 --> 01:44:40,000
same way. It's just it's a very different
1243
01:44:40,000 --> 01:44:41,625
thing. And I don't know what it is about
1244
01:44:41,625 --> 01:44:43,666
these orca's that do it. But they're just
1245
01:44:43,666 --> 01:44:45,250
and you've described it just like their
1246
01:44:45,250 --> 01:44:48,708
timing their ability to provide like good
1247
01:44:48,708 --> 01:44:49,708
moments at the right
1248
01:44:49,708 --> 01:44:51,916
time when you just need it.
1249
01:44:52,125 --> 01:44:53,583
I mean, other times the frustration of
1250
01:44:53,583 --> 01:44:55,250
them not showing up when you go out and
1251
01:44:55,250 --> 01:44:56,500
you're looking for them. You got the big
1252
01:44:56,500 --> 01:44:59,125
camera out and everything. I just I just
1253
01:44:59,125 --> 01:45:01,041
love that. But it just goes to show that
1254
01:45:01,041 --> 01:45:02,958
it can get someone like yourself who's
1255
01:45:02,958 --> 01:45:04,708
not a scientist who doesn't study them,
1256
01:45:04,708 --> 01:45:06,125
but as somebody who loves
1257
01:45:06,125 --> 01:45:08,375
to write and tell stories.
1258
01:45:09,291 --> 01:45:10,375
And there's a number of people. You know,
1259
01:45:10,375 --> 01:45:12,375
you mentioned Alexandra Morton who loves
1260
01:45:12,375 --> 01:45:14,083
to tell stories about these orca's. Yeah,
1261
01:45:14,208 --> 01:45:16,125
very good storyteller in her own right.
1262
01:45:16,625 --> 01:45:17,416
And you just sit there
1263
01:45:17,416 --> 01:45:17,958
and you're just like.
1264
01:45:19,375 --> 01:45:21,250
I'm glad that it's not just a scientist
1265
01:45:21,250 --> 01:45:22,875
that's writing about these. And of
1266
01:45:22,875 --> 01:45:24,916
course, they've affected every people
1267
01:45:24,916 --> 01:45:26,500
other than scientists as well. But it's
1268
01:45:26,500 --> 01:45:29,833
just so nice to see someone who you and
1269
01:45:29,833 --> 01:45:31,416
your and rain your wife like to be like
1270
01:45:31,416 --> 01:45:34,041
we want to share their stories like the
1271
01:45:34,041 --> 01:45:35,041
way they affected us.
1272
01:45:35,541 --> 01:45:37,000
We need their stories to go because
1273
01:45:37,000 --> 01:45:38,041
obviously, you know, critically
1274
01:45:38,041 --> 01:45:39,791
endangered southern resident orca
1275
01:45:39,791 --> 01:45:41,875
population. You have the northern orca
1276
01:45:41,875 --> 01:45:43,791
population, which they're doing okay, but
1277
01:45:43,791 --> 01:45:44,708
they're not the best. You have a
1278
01:45:44,708 --> 01:45:46,041
transient population, which we still
1279
01:45:46,041 --> 01:45:46,916
don't know too much about.
1280
01:45:46,958 --> 01:45:48,666
And then you have another population out
1281
01:45:48,666 --> 01:45:50,625
even further, which we still don't like
1282
01:45:50,625 --> 01:45:51,875
we're just seems like we're so the
1283
01:45:51,875 --> 01:45:54,208
officers are just weird. They're right.
1284
01:45:54,875 --> 01:45:56,041
Oh, they're just out there. They're
1285
01:45:56,041 --> 01:45:58,500
they're eating sharks. Right. And the
1286
01:45:58,500 --> 01:46:01,416
fact that they were identified by their
1287
01:46:01,416 --> 01:46:03,583
lousy teeth. That's just awesome.
1288
01:46:04,458 --> 01:46:06,833
Exactly. Exactly. So it's just such a
1289
01:46:06,833 --> 01:46:09,708
like it's such a moment where I did want
1290
01:46:09,708 --> 01:46:10,750
to cover because obviously you've
1291
01:46:10,750 --> 01:46:12,250
dedicated a big part of your life to
1292
01:46:12,250 --> 01:46:14,208
orcas. And it's part of your story in
1293
01:46:14,208 --> 01:46:15,291
writing about science.
1294
01:46:16,041 --> 01:46:18,291
I think that's it's amazing. But like
1295
01:46:18,291 --> 01:46:20,166
when we as you pivot towards different,
1296
01:46:20,625 --> 01:46:23,416
you know, going to sharks and other big
1297
01:46:23,416 --> 01:46:25,541
whales, small world like that type of
1298
01:46:25,541 --> 01:46:29,166
work and now octopus ocean when you when
1299
01:46:29,166 --> 01:46:30,416
you move in, obviously, you know, sharks
1300
01:46:30,416 --> 01:46:31,916
forever. It had a bit different story.
1301
01:46:31,916 --> 01:46:33,583
Definitely had that emotional connection
1302
01:46:33,583 --> 01:46:35,791
for you and, you know, for Robin, his
1303
01:46:35,791 --> 01:46:36,833
family and his legacy.
1304
01:46:38,166 --> 01:46:40,625
The other books like what makes it like
1305
01:46:40,625 --> 01:46:42,708
obviously people suggested but what makes
1306
01:46:42,708 --> 01:46:44,583
like is there an emotional tie that you
1307
01:46:44,583 --> 01:46:48,416
have to octopus like whales you do but
1308
01:46:48,416 --> 01:46:50,666
like what is that tie to octopus that you
1309
01:46:50,666 --> 01:46:53,166
have? Well, with octopuses, I was like,
1310
01:46:53,500 --> 01:46:55,916
we just come out of the pandemic. And I
1311
01:46:55,916 --> 01:46:58,958
had read Simon gumrys amazing book where
1312
01:46:58,958 --> 01:47:00,916
she went and hung up with octopuses.
1313
01:47:00,958 --> 01:47:04,708
Yeah. And the Shaw Center for the Salish
1314
01:47:04,708 --> 01:47:07,833
Sea in Sydney, which is like 30 minutes
1315
01:47:07,833 --> 01:47:09,833
from my house. And I said, Are you guys
1316
01:47:09,833 --> 01:47:12,833
cool with me just coming out and watching
1317
01:47:12,833 --> 01:47:17,291
people watch your octopuses? Right? So I
1318
01:47:17,291 --> 01:47:21,708
just watched kids and adults watching
1319
01:47:21,708 --> 01:47:25,666
mostly this octopus named storm. And
1320
01:47:25,666 --> 01:47:28,416
after I'd been great, like
1321
01:47:28,416 --> 01:47:29,583
one of those great octopus.
1322
01:47:29,958 --> 01:47:35,000
Yeah. And finally, it's really
1323
01:47:35,000 --> 01:47:36,833
interesting. They're very careful with
1324
01:47:36,833 --> 01:47:40,125
who they let meet their octopuses there
1325
01:47:40,125 --> 01:47:42,416
because they return them. They've got a
1326
01:47:42,416 --> 01:47:44,000
really interesting policy where they're
1327
01:47:44,000 --> 01:47:47,041
like, you know what? We are in the center
1328
01:47:47,041 --> 01:47:49,875
of where these guys live. So we're only
1329
01:47:49,875 --> 01:47:51,916
going to keep them six months. Right.
1330
01:47:52,166 --> 01:47:55,875
And storm had a really interesting story
1331
01:47:55,875 --> 01:48:01,291
because she was basically captured and
1332
01:48:01,291 --> 01:48:04,791
was on route to Iceland where she would
1333
01:48:04,791 --> 01:48:06,625
have spent her entire life in captivity
1334
01:48:06,625 --> 01:48:10,000
and a storm kept her
1335
01:48:10,000 --> 01:48:11,583
from flying out to Iceland.
1336
01:48:12,291 --> 01:48:15,791
And instead of short term at the state of
1337
01:48:15,791 --> 01:48:17,041
season, they went, you know, we can just
1338
01:48:17,041 --> 01:48:19,416
find another octopus. So why doesn't she
1339
01:48:19,416 --> 01:48:23,375
just stay with you? And then she was
1340
01:48:23,375 --> 01:48:24,625
supposed to be returned. I think she
1341
01:48:24,625 --> 01:48:25,791
stayed with them longer than any other
1342
01:48:25,791 --> 01:48:29,208
octopus because we had fires and they
1343
01:48:29,208 --> 01:48:32,333
could not get her home. And so her story
1344
01:48:32,333 --> 01:48:36,458
became a wild story in terms of terrible
1345
01:48:36,458 --> 01:48:37,583
weather effects we have here now.
1346
01:48:38,166 --> 01:48:46,041
And they were kind enough to let me put a
1347
01:48:46,041 --> 01:48:48,166
hand into storms tank right before she
1348
01:48:48,166 --> 01:48:50,875
left. Right. And storm we shut and shook
1349
01:48:50,875 --> 01:48:52,458
my hand. I'm like, yeah, that's my
1350
01:48:52,458 --> 01:48:56,333
opening. Like I knew I actually as soon
1351
01:48:56,333 --> 01:48:58,666
as I left, I'm like, I went to a cafe
1352
01:48:58,666 --> 01:49:00,500
right around the corner from and I wrote
1353
01:49:00,500 --> 01:49:01,916
the introductory chapter. And I went, yeah, I've just just right then and there.
1354
01:49:01,958 --> 01:49:06,625
Yeah, I was just like, I should cancel
1355
01:49:06,625 --> 01:49:08,166
the octopus. Everything else in the
1356
01:49:08,166 --> 01:49:09,833
entire book may change. This is my
1357
01:49:09,833 --> 01:49:13,041
opening. Because it was shows it you had
1358
01:49:13,041 --> 01:49:16,166
that connection. Yeah, that was the
1359
01:49:16,166 --> 01:49:17,583
inspiration right at that connection.
1360
01:49:18,125 --> 01:49:19,916
Yeah, she reached out. She said, Hey,
1361
01:49:20,666 --> 01:49:22,583
decided I was nowhere near as interesting
1362
01:49:22,583 --> 01:49:26,000
as the crab she was eating. But, you
1363
01:49:26,000 --> 01:49:27,916
know, and did she recognize me as the guy I've been watching her off and on for six months?
1364
01:49:28,958 --> 01:49:35,708
Probably because they know stuff. Right?
1365
01:49:35,708 --> 01:49:37,583
Like story after story that I read about
1366
01:49:37,583 --> 01:49:39,125
optimuses and interview after interview,
1367
01:49:39,125 --> 01:49:41,041
it was like, yeah, yeah, they recognize
1368
01:49:41,041 --> 01:49:42,833
keepers they recognize certain people.
1369
01:49:43,375 --> 01:49:46,125
And I mean, running into stories with
1370
01:49:46,125 --> 01:49:48,875
animals with sense of humor. That's just
1371
01:49:48,875 --> 01:49:51,916
weird. Right? Like just going, yeah, they
1372
01:49:51,916 --> 01:49:54,458
spray somebody because they want to or,
1373
01:49:54,458 --> 01:49:56,916
you know, one of the wildest things that I've ever seen in my life is just how it is.
1374
01:49:56,958 --> 01:49:58,500
And I think one of the wildest stories
1375
01:49:58,500 --> 01:50:01,541
really stuck with me was Chester the
1376
01:50:01,541 --> 01:50:02,625
false killer whale, the anchor for
1377
01:50:02,625 --> 01:50:07,291
Korean. And I asked this is an animal.
1378
01:50:07,583 --> 01:50:10,166
This is false killer whale who washed up.
1379
01:50:10,166 --> 01:50:12,041
I remember correctly on the beach. Not
1380
01:50:12,041 --> 01:50:13,416
some I've never written about Chester,
1381
01:50:14,000 --> 01:50:16,416
but washed up on the beach was taken in
1382
01:50:16,416 --> 01:50:18,625
and they don't know didn't know which
1383
01:50:18,625 --> 01:50:21,291
family Chester belong to and was
1384
01:50:21,291 --> 01:50:24,041
basically doing medical rehab for all
1385
01:50:24,041 --> 01:50:25,916
that time. Chester would have learned.
1386
01:50:25,958 --> 01:50:28,375
How to be a false killer whale. Right?
1387
01:50:28,375 --> 01:50:29,583
It's very hard to explain to people like
1388
01:50:29,583 --> 01:50:33,208
no, no, these animals learn their own
1389
01:50:33,208 --> 01:50:34,750
language. They learn their culture. This
1390
01:50:34,750 --> 01:50:37,166
is even in their dialect for each pod.
1391
01:50:37,166 --> 01:50:39,750
Like there's differences, right? Yeah. So
1392
01:50:39,750 --> 01:50:43,000
I said, you know, I asked what seemed
1393
01:50:43,000 --> 01:50:44,333
like a really normal question. I said,
1394
01:50:44,333 --> 01:50:46,750
you know, what's Chester like? And the
1395
01:50:46,750 --> 01:50:47,875
person who was showing
1396
01:50:47,875 --> 01:50:48,666
us around the crime what?
1397
01:50:50,708 --> 01:50:53,333
Wasn't sure what same kind of an asshole
1398
01:50:53,333 --> 01:50:57,500
like what? Yeah, that was my I was like,
1399
01:50:57,500 --> 01:51:02,291
what? And they said, Chester has this
1400
01:51:02,291 --> 01:51:05,375
game and just discovered that when
1401
01:51:05,375 --> 01:51:07,000
there's when there's a lot of people
1402
01:51:07,000 --> 01:51:10,583
around, especially kids, Chester will
1403
01:51:10,583 --> 01:51:14,500
sink like a stone to the bottom of his
1404
01:51:14,500 --> 01:51:17,916
tank and wait till people scream and cry.
1405
01:51:18,083 --> 01:51:21,833
And then pop back up and go, I'm fine.
1406
01:51:21,833 --> 01:51:25,333
They said they dubbed it the resurrection
1407
01:51:25,333 --> 01:51:29,791
game because Chester was clearly messing.
1408
01:51:29,791 --> 01:51:32,458
Yeah, Chester was clearly messing with
1409
01:51:32,458 --> 01:51:35,875
the people. They are like and what stuck
1410
01:51:35,875 --> 01:51:37,875
with me about that was the idea that
1411
01:51:37,875 --> 01:51:42,083
people who were there were very like they
1412
01:51:42,083 --> 01:51:43,666
weren't comfortable saying Chester to
1413
01:51:43,666 --> 01:51:45,708
personality, but they admitted
1414
01:51:45,708 --> 01:51:46,916
Chester to personality. Right?
1415
01:51:47,250 --> 01:51:49,958
And the idea of the personalities of
1416
01:51:49,958 --> 01:51:51,833
these animals, the fact that every single
1417
01:51:51,833 --> 01:51:53,833
person I've spoken to who's an octopus
1418
01:51:53,833 --> 01:51:55,666
expert is like, oh, yeah, they are so
1419
01:51:55,666 --> 01:51:58,791
different. And again, shark people are
1420
01:51:58,791 --> 01:52:00,500
like, oh, you have met shy sharks. I've
1421
01:52:00,500 --> 01:52:04,791
met friendly sharks. Yeah, that's like
1422
01:52:04,791 --> 01:52:06,916
trying to get across their individuals.
1423
01:52:06,958 --> 01:52:11,625
Well, I like, Mark, I have like I did the
1424
01:52:11,625 --> 01:52:12,958
Toronto Zoo podcast for a long time. I
1425
01:52:12,958 --> 01:52:14,208
hosted it and I got to talk to
1426
01:52:14,208 --> 01:52:15,625
zookeepers. And one of the things that we
1427
01:52:15,625 --> 01:52:17,625
had with a special was like stories from
1428
01:52:17,625 --> 01:52:19,041
the zookeepers. And they would talk about
1429
01:52:19,041 --> 01:52:20,958
their silverback gorillas and they would
1430
01:52:20,958 --> 01:52:22,750
talk about the personalities. There was
1431
01:52:22,750 --> 01:52:24,625
one. I think it was like Josephine's
1432
01:52:24,625 --> 01:52:26,333
daughter. I forget her name. She used to
1433
01:52:26,333 --> 01:52:27,833
love hats. She used to see people wear
1434
01:52:27,833 --> 01:52:29,958
hats. So they gave her hats and she would
1435
01:52:29,958 --> 01:52:31,666
try them on in a mirror and see how she
1436
01:52:31,666 --> 01:52:33,958
looked like a massive
1437
01:52:33,958 --> 01:52:35,958
silverback gorilla would try on a.
1438
01:52:36,958 --> 01:52:39,958
A hat like like and I mean sun hats, ball
1439
01:52:39,958 --> 01:52:41,791
caps, like everything she would see. And
1440
01:52:41,791 --> 01:52:42,708
then she'd like, oh, that looks
1441
01:52:42,708 --> 01:52:43,750
interesting. And they would give her old
1442
01:52:43,750 --> 01:52:46,375
hats and they should try them on. And
1443
01:52:46,375 --> 01:52:48,500
they're the troop leader. You know, big,
1444
01:52:48,500 --> 01:52:51,166
big silverback, scary, like typical. Like
1445
01:52:51,166 --> 01:52:52,708
you do not want to mess. This guy will
1446
01:52:52,708 --> 01:52:53,666
rip off your arms in a
1447
01:52:53,666 --> 01:52:55,000
second if he really wanted to.
1448
01:52:55,291 --> 01:52:56,750
Never did. Of course, he was very gentle.
1449
01:52:57,458 --> 01:53:00,708
He was afraid of frogs. Afraid of frogs.
1450
01:53:01,250 --> 01:53:02,958
Okay, think about it. Like imagine,
1451
01:53:02,958 --> 01:53:04,791
imagine you see. And this is the keeper
1452
01:53:04,791 --> 01:53:05,750
said this. They saw one
1453
01:53:05,750 --> 01:53:05,916
time there was a frog.
1454
01:53:05,958 --> 01:53:10,583
In the in their enclosure and all these
1455
01:53:10,583 --> 01:53:12,791
gorillas were were like were like
1456
01:53:12,791 --> 01:53:14,916
surrounding this frog and you see Charles
1457
01:53:14,916 --> 01:53:17,208
just kind of like flick it and like what
1458
01:53:17,208 --> 01:53:18,750
and it would jump and they'd all like
1459
01:53:18,750 --> 01:53:20,208
back up like these massive
1460
01:53:20,208 --> 01:53:22,125
troops of like massive gorillas.
1461
01:53:22,125 --> 01:53:23,666
A troop of massive gorillas just would
1462
01:53:23,666 --> 01:53:25,833
like be afraid and there was one time and
1463
01:53:25,833 --> 01:53:26,708
I'll tell this story quick because I know
1464
01:53:26,708 --> 01:53:27,875
this interviews about you. There's one
1465
01:53:27,875 --> 01:53:30,041
time where they all where they were
1466
01:53:30,041 --> 01:53:31,458
coming out of their nightly enclosure
1467
01:53:31,458 --> 01:53:31,916
like their bed area. Yeah.
1468
01:53:31,958 --> 01:53:35,041
And they came out and Charles stopped all
1469
01:53:35,041 --> 01:53:36,958
them and they put them all back into
1470
01:53:36,958 --> 01:53:38,583
their bed area and you wouldn't come out
1471
01:53:38,583 --> 01:53:41,375
and like what is going on and they looked
1472
01:53:41,375 --> 01:53:42,333
around. They looked around. They look
1473
01:53:42,333 --> 01:53:44,541
around. There was a tree frog in the back
1474
01:53:44,541 --> 01:53:46,416
corner and he saw it. He
1475
01:53:46,416 --> 01:53:46,916
wouldn't let any of them out.
1476
01:53:46,958 --> 01:53:50,625
So you so afraid of this to the point
1477
01:53:50,625 --> 01:53:52,958
where we I was out there with my daughter
1478
01:53:52,958 --> 01:53:54,500
and we went to watch. She wants to be a
1479
01:53:54,500 --> 01:53:55,833
wildlife biologist or watching all these
1480
01:53:55,833 --> 01:53:57,125
animals and I'm telling her about all
1481
01:53:57,125 --> 01:53:59,041
these these different animals and the
1482
01:53:59,041 --> 01:54:00,958
different characteristics of each one and
1483
01:54:00,958 --> 01:54:02,958
you see like this outdoor enclosure and
1484
01:54:02,958 --> 01:54:04,083
there's like you know it's a cage
1485
01:54:04,083 --> 01:54:06,166
obviously reinforced cage and you get to
1486
01:54:06,166 --> 01:54:08,000
see these girls like you're not that far
1487
01:54:08,000 --> 01:54:09,000
but you can see them
1488
01:54:09,000 --> 01:54:09,916
and they're just amazing.
1489
01:54:11,250 --> 01:54:12,916
There's one area case that had like a
1490
01:54:12,916 --> 01:54:14,208
little cutout. It was like it was
1491
01:54:14,208 --> 01:54:15,708
reinforced with something else because
1492
01:54:15,708 --> 01:54:17,833
like maybe the enclosure broke or
1493
01:54:17,833 --> 01:54:19,916
something like that. But it looked like
1494
01:54:19,916 --> 01:54:23,208
it was fixed and on there was a picture
1495
01:54:23,208 --> 01:54:25,916
of a frog like right dead smack in the
1496
01:54:25,916 --> 01:54:28,166
middle of that area that was fixed. It
1497
01:54:28,166 --> 01:54:29,916
was a picture of a frog and do you think
1498
01:54:29,916 --> 01:54:31,750
the girls went close to
1499
01:54:31,750 --> 01:54:32,916
it when they went near it.
1500
01:54:32,958 --> 01:54:36,625
They would run to skirt by it so they
1501
01:54:36,625 --> 01:54:37,625
could get rid of it. They wouldn't run
1502
01:54:37,625 --> 01:54:38,916
anywhere else but they would walk walk
1503
01:54:38,916 --> 01:54:40,583
walk nice and slow and then it would like
1504
01:54:40,583 --> 01:54:42,375
like run like they were afraid because
1505
01:54:42,375 --> 01:54:44,125
there was a frog on there.
1506
01:54:44,333 --> 01:54:47,041
You're telling me all the I love that so
1507
01:54:47,041 --> 01:54:48,666
they all have their different
1508
01:54:48,666 --> 01:54:50,000
personalities. They all have their
1509
01:54:50,000 --> 01:54:51,958
things. Some of them are devious. Some of
1510
01:54:51,958 --> 01:54:53,666
them are tricksters. Some of them are fun
1511
01:54:53,666 --> 01:54:56,458
and cuddly and and they're just amazing
1512
01:54:56,458 --> 01:54:59,916
to watch and and it's phenomenal to see
1513
01:54:59,916 --> 01:55:01,750
these these characteristics and I'm sure
1514
01:55:01,750 --> 01:55:01,916
if you see orcas in the wild.
1515
01:55:01,958 --> 01:55:04,291
They're octopus in the wild. I mean my
1516
01:55:04,291 --> 01:55:06,625
octopus teacher wanted Grammy for not
1517
01:55:06,625 --> 01:55:08,958
Grammy but an Academy Award for for that
1518
01:55:08,958 --> 01:55:12,000
movie because you saw the personality of
1519
01:55:12,000 --> 01:55:14,250
an octopus. Well that was one of the
1520
01:55:14,250 --> 01:55:15,291
things that came up when I was hanging
1521
01:55:15,291 --> 01:55:19,625
out at the center facility was oh my god
1522
01:55:19,625 --> 01:55:21,750
everybody had seen that movie. So it was
1523
01:55:21,750 --> 01:55:24,333
pretty cool when Craig Foster read
1524
01:55:24,333 --> 01:55:25,916
Octopus Ocean went yes you're all right
1525
01:55:25,916 --> 01:55:28,666
you're nice blurb and gave and did a bit
1526
01:55:28,666 --> 01:55:29,458
of a fact check and I'm
1527
01:55:29,458 --> 01:55:30,916
like yeah awesome nice nice.
1528
01:55:30,958 --> 01:55:34,750
Nice. Nice. You know like okay I feel
1529
01:55:34,750 --> 01:55:40,041
very official now. I love it. I love it.
1530
01:55:40,041 --> 01:55:42,125
So like so like for what do you what do
1531
01:55:42,125 --> 01:55:45,625
you want people to get out of octopus
1532
01:55:45,625 --> 01:55:50,000
ocean with octopus ocean. I want to get
1533
01:55:50,000 --> 01:55:52,625
across the word not the only with so many
1534
01:55:52,625 --> 01:55:54,458
of these now that were not the only
1535
01:55:54,458 --> 01:55:57,625
intelligent animals on this planet. Yeah
1536
01:55:57,625 --> 01:55:59,541
right. Just the more I
1537
01:55:59,541 --> 01:55:59,916
learned the more it's like.
1538
01:55:59,958 --> 01:56:03,541
Oh wow the whole human exceptionalism
1539
01:56:03,541 --> 01:56:06,625
thing makes no sense at all because again
1540
01:56:06,625 --> 01:56:08,916
coming at this without a science
1541
01:56:08,916 --> 01:56:12,500
background. I started by saying okay so
1542
01:56:12,500 --> 01:56:14,541
walk me through the whole food chain
1543
01:56:14,541 --> 01:56:16,166
concept like walk me through why we're
1544
01:56:16,166 --> 01:56:17,875
considered the best the
1545
01:56:17,875 --> 01:56:18,916
coolest animal on earth.
1546
01:56:20,333 --> 01:56:22,916
And I just like for real I just assumed
1547
01:56:22,916 --> 01:56:26,125
there was a scientific basis to this I
1548
01:56:26,125 --> 01:56:28,083
just assumed somebody's gonna say well
1549
01:56:28,083 --> 01:56:30,166
humans can do this and this and this and
1550
01:56:30,166 --> 01:56:32,541
I would hear all the stuff is like man
1551
01:56:32,541 --> 01:56:34,541
the tool maker. Yeah crows do that you
1552
01:56:34,541 --> 01:56:37,041
know like you could just break down like
1553
01:56:37,041 --> 01:56:39,625
or no how to make nets with bubbles.
1554
01:56:40,375 --> 01:56:44,833
Yeah, like that's cool right and crows
1555
01:56:44,833 --> 01:56:47,166
know how to make keys and you just start
1556
01:56:47,166 --> 01:56:49,291
to go through the animals like okay that
1557
01:56:49,291 --> 01:56:52,125
doesn't hold up and I mean one of the
1558
01:56:52,125 --> 01:56:55,916
gifts of of of being a social instructor
1559
01:56:55,916 --> 01:56:58,333
at the University of Victoria was I've
1560
01:56:58,333 --> 01:57:00,791
had access to like amazing students who
1561
01:57:00,791 --> 01:57:02,916
have studied science and for orcas
1562
01:57:02,916 --> 01:57:04,500
everywhere I got I was basically
1563
01:57:06,416 --> 01:57:08,041
a history prof is a friend of mine who
1564
01:57:08,041 --> 01:57:09,916
was also doing a book on orcas basement.
1565
01:57:10,416 --> 01:57:12,375
I have like a bunch extra hours with my
1566
01:57:12,375 --> 01:57:14,291
master student. Do you want her to help
1567
01:57:14,291 --> 01:57:16,833
you do research and she does she knows
1568
01:57:16,833 --> 01:57:19,291
marine biology and I would just go okay
1569
01:57:19,291 --> 01:57:21,041
Lily walk me through this I said so I'm
1570
01:57:21,041 --> 01:57:22,708
not asking a really dumb question to a
1571
01:57:22,708 --> 01:57:23,625
scientist I'm going to ask
1572
01:57:23,625 --> 01:57:24,916
the dumb questions to you.
1573
01:57:25,166 --> 01:57:27,666
Yeah, I haven't because I have not taken
1574
01:57:27,666 --> 01:57:30,916
first year marine biology right so I
1575
01:57:30,916 --> 01:57:33,000
would ask questions especially around
1576
01:57:33,000 --> 01:57:36,916
human exceptionalism basically which I
1577
01:57:36,916 --> 01:57:39,541
not a term that I knew when I started
1578
01:57:39,541 --> 01:57:44,041
this you know all these years ago and I
1579
01:57:44,041 --> 01:57:46,583
kept thinking I would find a science
1580
01:57:46,583 --> 01:57:49,750
behind it and what I found was this was
1581
01:57:49,750 --> 01:57:52,208
the one place science really was
1582
01:57:52,208 --> 01:57:52,916
deferring to religion.
1583
01:57:52,958 --> 01:57:55,416
And pretending there was science behind
1584
01:57:55,416 --> 01:57:57,916
it but really going yeah we're the only
1585
01:57:57,916 --> 01:58:00,875
ones who have language and let's define
1586
01:58:00,875 --> 01:58:03,000
language to make sure make sure of that
1587
01:58:03,000 --> 01:58:05,416
right right let's make sure our
1588
01:58:05,416 --> 01:58:08,166
definition of language excludes anything
1589
01:58:08,166 --> 01:58:10,000
else that could conceivably be language
1590
01:58:10,000 --> 01:58:13,166
and interesting that we that we just kept
1591
01:58:13,166 --> 01:58:14,916
moving the goalposts and again.
1592
01:58:15,958 --> 01:58:19,000
I came at this expecting there to be
1593
01:58:19,000 --> 01:58:21,666
goalposts I really did I didn't come out
1594
01:58:21,666 --> 01:58:24,500
this contrary I came out this knowing
1595
01:58:24,500 --> 01:58:27,500
nothing so I came out this going what is
1596
01:58:27,500 --> 01:58:29,333
this anthropomorphism thing you speak of
1597
01:58:29,333 --> 01:58:32,916
why am I supposed to why is it a thing in
1598
01:58:32,916 --> 01:58:35,458
science walk me through this and going oh
1599
01:58:35,458 --> 01:58:37,208
there's no scientific basis for this at
1600
01:58:37,208 --> 01:58:40,166
all right there's no like walk me through
1601
01:58:40,166 --> 01:58:41,916
the science of why this is a bad thing.
1602
01:58:42,458 --> 01:58:45,500
You know like my favorite was friends to
1603
01:58:45,500 --> 01:58:46,500
all talk me through.
1604
01:58:48,083 --> 01:58:52,916
I'm sorry if a three year old sees a
1605
01:58:52,916 --> 01:58:54,875
tickle induced vocalizations there oh the
1606
01:58:54,875 --> 01:58:56,375
monkey's laughing yes the monkey's
1607
01:58:56,375 --> 01:58:58,583
laughing yeah yeah yeah yeah different
1608
01:58:58,583 --> 01:59:01,958
term different yeah and with the orca
1609
01:59:01,958 --> 01:59:05,250
book I saw oh man I saw one scientist
1610
01:59:05,250 --> 01:59:08,416
like wrap themselves in knots to come up
1611
01:59:08,416 --> 01:59:12,166
with a term that basically made sure you
1612
01:59:12,166 --> 01:59:14,500
did not it may have been the sharks in
1613
01:59:14,500 --> 01:59:15,916
France and just made sure they they made sure that they were not.
1614
01:59:15,958 --> 01:59:19,041
made sure they they have affiliates like
1615
01:59:19,041 --> 01:59:23,000
really yeah the the big one for me was
1616
01:59:23,000 --> 01:59:26,500
taliqua because taliqua just rocked my
1617
01:59:26,500 --> 01:59:28,833
world and I so wanted to do another
1618
01:59:28,833 --> 01:59:30,166
killer whale who changed the world
1619
01:59:30,166 --> 01:59:32,583
because she's the other one who did and
1620
01:59:32,583 --> 01:59:36,291
when I saw I think it was the New York
1621
01:59:36,291 --> 01:59:39,333
Times go the orca appears to be grieving
1622
01:59:39,333 --> 01:59:42,291
and I thought no humans may appear to be
1623
01:59:42,291 --> 01:59:44,541
grieving I have seen humans at funerals
1624
01:59:44,541 --> 01:59:45,500
where they were going oh
1625
01:59:45,500 --> 01:59:45,916
I'm glad that they were
1626
01:59:45,958 --> 01:59:48,166
that person's in the box right I'm so
1627
01:59:48,166 --> 01:59:49,791
glad that I do not believe.
1628
01:59:50,500 --> 01:59:52,791
Tala was faking us out here I don't
1629
01:59:52,791 --> 01:59:54,125
believe she appears to be good.
1630
01:59:55,666 --> 01:59:59,333
So how can we go humans great we know
1631
01:59:59,333 --> 02:00:00,416
exactly that all of
1632
02:00:00,416 --> 02:00:01,916
all human grief is legit.
1633
02:00:02,958 --> 02:00:06,083
I cannot know what is going on. Yeah, no,
1634
02:00:06,083 --> 02:00:09,750
no, you're trying way too hard to sound
1635
02:00:09,750 --> 02:00:11,500
like we have signs and you're just like
1636
02:00:11,500 --> 02:00:13,500
hold on a second here like well and then
1637
02:00:13,500 --> 02:00:15,375
you can just like it's sentimental
1638
02:00:15,375 --> 02:00:18,708
version of this, you know and oh and you
1639
02:00:18,708 --> 02:00:20,458
can call it whatever you want but it's
1640
02:00:20,458 --> 02:00:23,041
it's very similar to what we do right and
1641
02:00:23,041 --> 02:00:24,833
then you get into science which again was
1642
02:00:24,833 --> 02:00:27,250
all new to me right and you get into
1643
02:00:27,250 --> 02:00:29,750
science of mirror neurons and going okay
1644
02:00:29,750 --> 02:00:31,666
so these orcas have the
1645
02:00:31,958 --> 02:00:34,291
and the apes have the exact same neurons
1646
02:00:34,291 --> 02:00:37,000
that are referred to as the neurons that
1647
02:00:37,000 --> 02:00:40,125
make us human. So the neurons that deal
1648
02:00:40,125 --> 02:00:42,458
with complex emotions like grief, they've
1649
02:00:42,458 --> 02:00:44,958
got them. So they've got the exact same
1650
02:00:44,958 --> 02:00:46,666
neurons we do, but they
1651
02:00:46,666 --> 02:00:47,583
don't have the same emotions.
1652
02:00:50,166 --> 02:00:53,500
So yeah, crazy. Yeah, crazy. I love it. I
1653
02:00:53,500 --> 02:00:55,500
love this conversation. You and I could
1654
02:00:55,500 --> 02:00:58,583
probably talk for hours on this and I'm
1655
02:00:58,583 --> 02:01:00,458
sure we will have you back on to be able
1656
02:01:00,458 --> 02:01:02,083
to talk more about your next
1657
02:01:02,083 --> 02:01:03,375
book that you'll be writing.
1658
02:01:04,500 --> 02:01:06,041
And then and but this is awesome if
1659
02:01:06,041 --> 02:01:08,375
people want to get a hold of this and
1660
02:01:08,375 --> 02:01:09,833
this copy, how would they do so?
1661
02:01:10,958 --> 02:01:13,833
Oh, learn young calm the books available
1662
02:01:13,833 --> 02:01:16,083
everywhere you buy books. So all the
1663
02:01:16,083 --> 02:01:19,875
books are and learn young calm or scan or
1664
02:01:19,875 --> 02:01:22,708
for the podcast look up scan and ask a
1665
02:01:22,708 --> 02:01:24,958
and a and you get my podcast and you get
1666
02:01:24,958 --> 02:01:28,291
my interview with Andrew and learn young
1667
02:01:28,291 --> 02:01:29,541
calm and you can check the
1668
02:01:29,541 --> 02:01:31,666
spelling out but spell it out.
1669
02:01:31,958 --> 02:01:33,666
I'll post it in the show notes so they so
1670
02:01:33,666 --> 02:01:35,583
they get access to it. Mark, this has
1671
02:01:35,583 --> 02:01:38,375
been such a treat to have you on really
1672
02:01:38,375 --> 02:01:40,333
appreciate it's always great to to
1673
02:01:40,333 --> 02:01:42,291
interview, not only a fellow podcaster
1674
02:01:42,291 --> 02:01:44,791
but someone who writes, you know, from a
1675
02:01:44,791 --> 02:01:45,916
non scientist point of view,
1676
02:01:45,958 --> 02:01:48,041
where it's science books and just gets it
1677
02:01:48,041 --> 02:01:50,541
gets it like we we get it and it's it's
1678
02:01:50,541 --> 02:01:52,458
so great. And I love the connection you
1679
02:01:52,458 --> 02:01:54,083
have with the ocean and with the orcas
1680
02:01:54,083 --> 02:01:56,041
and I can't wait to go or go watching
1681
02:01:56,041 --> 02:01:57,791
with you someday. It'd be a lot. Yes, we
1682
02:01:57,791 --> 02:01:59,375
said thank you so much for all of you do.
1683
02:01:59,375 --> 02:02:00,083
I love your podcast.
1684
02:02:00,833 --> 02:02:02,375
Thank you. I appreciate it. Talk to you
1685
02:02:02,375 --> 02:02:04,000
soon. Thank you, Mark, for joining us on
1686
02:02:04,000 --> 02:02:05,875
today's episode of the How to Protect the
1687
02:02:05,875 --> 02:02:08,750
Ocean podcast and bringing the magic of
1688
02:02:08,750 --> 02:02:11,625
storytelling, bringing the importance of
1689
02:02:11,625 --> 02:02:13,875
connection to these animals to orcas to
1690
02:02:13,875 --> 02:02:14,916
octopuses to sharks and to the people that are in the ocean.
1691
02:02:14,958 --> 02:02:21,000
I just, you know, scientists have this
1692
02:02:21,000 --> 02:02:23,125
bond. We we we have colleagues. We have
1693
02:02:23,125 --> 02:02:25,000
they turn into friends. Some of them are
1694
02:02:25,000 --> 02:02:26,500
colleagues. Some of them, you know, you
1695
02:02:26,500 --> 02:02:28,208
get a criticism from them. They might be
1696
02:02:28,208 --> 02:02:30,000
enemies, whatever that might be. But
1697
02:02:30,000 --> 02:02:31,750
there's this ultimate connection that we
1698
02:02:31,750 --> 02:02:34,500
all have. And it's not just scientists.
1699
02:02:34,500 --> 02:02:35,916
It goes to ocean conservationists. It goes to storytellers. It goes to writers. It goes to filmmakers. We we all have something in common in that we've connected with the ocean. We've connected with each other.
1700
02:02:44,833 --> 02:02:47,541
And when we have this connection, we want
1701
02:02:47,541 --> 02:02:48,875
to tell people stories. It's the
1702
02:02:48,875 --> 02:02:50,541
connection that I have with a lot of the
1703
02:02:50,541 --> 02:02:52,083
guests that I've had on, you know, it's
1704
02:02:52,083 --> 02:02:53,750
meeting them at conferences, meeting them
1705
02:02:53,750 --> 02:02:55,958
online and having them on the podcast and
1706
02:02:55,958 --> 02:02:56,916
hearing them tell their stories gives me that connection gives me that inspiration where after I leave this after I've done this intro, I'm doing this right after the interview. I leave this my office and I'm just like, that's the way I'm going to do it.
1707
02:03:08,250 --> 02:03:10,416
And I think it's, you know, you want to
1708
02:03:10,416 --> 02:03:12,000
do that. You want to pay tribute to the
1709
02:03:12,000 --> 02:03:13,750
people that you interviewed to the people
1710
02:03:13,750 --> 02:03:14,958
that your colleagues with the people
1711
02:03:14,958 --> 02:03:16,333
who've had these extraordinary
1712
02:03:16,333 --> 02:03:17,916
experiences, whether it be science, whether it be conservation, whether it be writing about them or creating a film about them. There is this incessant like connection that we all share and we all want to pay tribute to that. And to watch more of that, I think it's really important to us to be able to do that.
1713
02:03:24,750 --> 02:03:28,500
And to watch Mark pay tribute to his
1714
02:03:28,500 --> 02:03:31,666
heroes, you know, to Paul Watson, to Rob
1715
02:03:31,666 --> 02:03:34,333
Stewart, you know, to other podcasters
1716
02:03:34,333 --> 02:03:36,791
and so forth. It's amazing to see that
1717
02:03:36,791 --> 02:03:37,833
it's just amazing to see that
1718
02:03:37,833 --> 02:03:39,666
collaboration that ability to tell those
1719
02:03:39,666 --> 02:03:39,916
stories and feel that connection and then pay tribute to the people by telling
other stories, their stories through books, through the eyes and vision.
1720
02:03:45,583 --> 02:03:50,958
Of orcas through other whales through
1721
02:03:50,958 --> 02:03:53,291
octopuses is just phenomenal. And I
1722
02:03:53,291 --> 02:03:54,916
absolutely love it. There's a point
1723
02:03:54,916 --> 02:03:56,333
where, you know, markets a little
1724
02:03:56,333 --> 02:03:58,125
emotional telling with the story. And you
1725
02:03:58,125 --> 02:03:59,666
can just see that he's so into it that
1726
02:03:59,666 --> 02:04:00,916
the connections that he's had with these orcas, the octopuses, you know, the whales, the sharks and the people who have helped them understand the material and tell those stories.
1727
02:04:00,958 --> 02:04:12,625
It's just phenomenal. It's absolutely
1728
02:04:12,625 --> 02:04:14,375
phenomenal. It makes a great interview.
1729
02:04:14,375 --> 02:04:16,250
It makes a great episode. Love to hear
1730
02:04:16,250 --> 02:04:19,583
what you think of this episode. Go and go
1731
02:04:19,583 --> 02:04:22,833
to my DMS on Instagram. DM me at how to
1732
02:04:22,833 --> 02:04:24,083
protect the ocean. Let me know how you
1733
02:04:24,083 --> 02:04:25,541
feel. If you're watching this on YouTube,
1734
02:04:25,541 --> 02:04:25,916
just let me know how you feel about this episode and that connection and share a connection that you might
have with the specific animals, specific animals, specific animals, and that's what I'm going to do.
1735
02:04:31,583 --> 02:04:35,666
I'm going to put the links in to Mark
1736
02:04:35,666 --> 02:04:38,291
Lane Young's website. I'm going to put it
1737
02:04:38,291 --> 02:04:41,000
into how you can buy his book in the show
1738
02:04:41,000 --> 02:04:42,750
notes. So check that out and check in the
1739
02:04:42,750 --> 02:04:43,875
description if you're watching this on
1740
02:04:43,875 --> 02:04:45,666
YouTube. But I want to thank you. I want
1741
02:04:45,666 --> 02:04:47,166
to thank Mark. I want to thank you for
1742
02:04:47,166 --> 02:04:49,000
joining us on today's episode of the how
1743
02:04:49,000 --> 02:04:50,291
to protect the ocean podcast. I'm your
1744
02:04:50,291 --> 02:04:52,291
host, Andrew from the true North strong
1745
02:04:52,291 --> 02:04:53,416
and free. Have a great day.
1746
02:04:53,416 --> 02:04:53,958
We'll talk to you next time.