Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey Brainstuff, Lauren
Speaker 1: vogelbomb here with a classic episode of the podcast. A
Speaker 1: giant squid are legendary, and it's easy to understand why
Speaker 1: such beautifully unhuman, sort of eldritch creatures have inspired so
Speaker 1: many stories. But could a giant squid really take down
Speaker 1: a ship or submarine? Hey Brainstuff, Lauren vogelbomb here. About
Speaker 1: three hundred different species of squid have been swimming in
Speaker 1: the world's oceans for more than four hundred million years.
Speaker 1: There are three species that grow to massive proportions, the giant,
Speaker 1: the colossal, and the jumbo, also known as the Humboldt squid.
Speaker 1: While many squid are just a few inches long, giant
Speaker 1: and colossal squid are enormous. These two types are estimated
Speaker 1: to reach from thirty five to sixty feet in length
Speaker 1: that's about ten to eighteen meters including their body and tentacles.
Speaker 1: That's larger than a full length school bus, and they
Speaker 1: can weigh up to a thousand pounds or about four
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty kilograms. Their protruding eyes are the size
Speaker 1: of volleyballs. Humboldt squid are the smallest of the three
Speaker 1: only about six feet that's two meters long and one
Speaker 1: hundred pounds or forty five kilograms. But how did these
Speaker 1: marine animals get so big? The most common explanation is
Speaker 1: a phenomenon called deep sea gigantism. The theory suggests that
Speaker 1: over time, small shallow water creatures evolved to live at
Speaker 1: vast deep sea levels by getting bigger, likely due to
Speaker 1: a combination of food supply and the increased size of
Speaker 1: the predators at great depths. In shallow waters, it's advantageous
Speaker 1: to stay small because there's limited food. But at the
Speaker 1: extreme depths, where massive squid are thought to live between
Speaker 1: about six hundred and fifty and two thousand, six hundred
Speaker 1: feet that's about two hundred to seven hundred meters below
Speaker 1: the surface, bigger creatures have size and endurance on their
Speaker 1: side when traveling longer distances in search of food. When
Speaker 1: you're a small fish in a large pond, you're a snack.
Speaker 1: But if you're the bigh you have your choice of snacks.
Speaker 1: But is the whole ocean there buffet, including human, ships
Speaker 1: and submarines. Sea creatures feature prominently in seafairer tales around
Speaker 1: the world dating back to ancient times. In Greek and
Speaker 1: Roman mythology, there's tales of great battles between man and
Speaker 1: marine monsters capable of pulling ships underwater. Twelfth century Norwegian
Speaker 1: sailors told stories of sea creatures they had seen. By
Speaker 1: the eighteenth century, the creatures of Norwegian legend had grown
Speaker 1: to the likes of islands with arms. It's thought that giant,
Speaker 1: colossal and Humboldt squid are aggressive, opportunistic creatures that prey
Speaker 1: on anything that comes their way, from easy meals of
Speaker 1: fish and shrimp to a more sporting hunt of other
Speaker 1: large cephalopods and whales. The Humboldts specifically are known to
Speaker 1: be fierce cannibalistic fighters. Mexican fishermen have nicknamed them dieblos
Speaker 1: rojos or red devils because of their bodies, red color
Speaker 1: and their hostile nature. And A squid of colossal dimensions
Speaker 1: featured in Jules Vern's eighteen sixty nine novel twenty thousand
Speaker 1: Leagues under the Sea, said to be a fictionalized account
Speaker 1: of a real encounter between a French Navy ship and
Speaker 1: a giant squid. Whether the original account is entirely fictional
Speaker 1: or not, the novel peaked the public's interest in deep
Speaker 1: sea gigantism and marine attacks, and certainly isn't the only
Speaker 1: account of squid attacking ships. In the nineteen thirties, the Brunswick,
Speaker 1: the Royal Norwegian Navy's fifteen thousand ton tanker, was attacked
Speaker 1: three separate times by different giant squid. Each account tells
Speaker 1: of a squid pursuing the tanker and striking it. Suddenly,
Speaker 1: tentacles wrapped around the hull, fortunately for the sailors, yet
Speaker 1: unfortunately for the squid. The steel of the ship proved
Speaker 1: either too slick or too hard for the tentacles too
Speaker 1: grapple and pierce. Each squid that tried to land the
Speaker 1: Brunswick ended up perishing after sliding into the tanker's propellers.
Speaker 1: As recently as two thousand and three, a giant squid
Speaker 1: attempted to take down a boat, this time a French
Speaker 1: yacht sailing ironically in the Jewels Verne Trophy, a prize
Speaker 1: for the fastest global circumnavigation by a yacht. Luckily, the
Speaker 1: twenty six foot long that's about eight meters squid gave
Speaker 1: up before its demise or that of the boat. Some
Speaker 1: scientists are skeptical that squid are dangerous to humans or watercraft,
Speaker 1: suggesting that there are species with a fish based diet
Speaker 1: and therefore have no need to attack humans or the
Speaker 1: steel of a ship. But whether they're actively pursuing our
Speaker 1: vessels or not, no gigantic squid has yet taken down
Speaker 1: a modern ship, but it hasn't been for the lack
Speaker 1: of trying. Today's episode is based on the article could
Speaker 1: a squid take down a submarine? On HowStuffWorks dot com
Speaker 1: written by Maria or Marky. Brainstuff is production of iHeartRadio
Speaker 1: in partnership withhoustuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Claying.
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