By Stephanie
Pappas, Live Science Contributor | September 27, 2018 06:37am ET
Talk about a
slap in the face. A new video captures the moment that a seal or sea lion flung
a dead octopus into the face of a kayaker in New Zealand.
The video was posted on Instagram by
22-year-old filmmaker Taiyo Masuda. It shows his friend and fellow GoPro camera
content promoter Kyle "te Kiwi" Mulinder experiencing the unexpected
octopus assault during an ocean kayak trip.
The
bewhiskered marine mammal may have been sporting with the human interlopers,
but it's also quite likely that the octopus slam was an attempt to tenderize
the meat for consumption.
Sea lions
and fur seals are known to hunt and eat octopuses,
which are not easy prey to eat. In 2010, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game
shared photos
of a Steller sea lion wrestling a large octopus. Marine
biologists in that case pointed out that the octopus was far from defenseless,
armed with its sharp, parrot-like beak. Sea lions have also been known to use
the smash-and-grab approach to killing: A 2017
National Geographic article on a rare cannibalistic
Steller sea lion mentions a 1991 case in which a bull sea lion killed a pup by hitting
it against a rock.
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