Re-enactment of ancient giant squid catching prey

Millions of years ago, giant squids like the Cameroceras species dominated the ancient oceans with shells up to 8 meters high.

Re-enactment of ancient giant squid catching prey — Cameroceras hunts on the sea floor. Video: *Netflix*

In the Netflix nature documentary Life on Our Planet, filmmakers recreate the ancient giant squid's hunting behavior in unprecedented detail, Newsweek reported on October 24. According to Tom Fletcher, the show's science advisor, ancient cephalopods (a class of marine animals that includes squid and octopuses) like Cameroceras and its relatives were cone-shaped monsters that hovered and drifted across the seafloor in search of prey. Cameroceras had a massive shell, much larger than its face-like head, large eyes and long tentacles, and it specialized in rummaging between crevices in rocks to capture prey.

These tentacled giants lived 470 million years ago and went extinct about 30 million years later. "Their more modern descendants, the nautilus, are quite small and harmless. In contrast, the fossils we have of them are such visual fragments that they reveal just how large Cameroceras was," Fletcher said. Cameroceras fossils have been found in China, Europe, and North America, but showing their soft, tentacled bodies has been a difficult task. Fletcher and his colleagues had to look for modern or extinct relatives of Cameroceras to reconstruct the missing parts because soft tissue fossils like tentacles and internal organs from these animals are rare.

The team also looked at modern cephalopods like cuttlefish, octopuses, and squid to learn more about how Cameroceras moved and what intelligence they had. “Cameroceras’ closest living relative is the nautilus, which has remained relatively unchanged for millions of years. That gives us some clues,” Fletcher said. In the video, Cameroceras moves across the seafloor to hunt for prey. It extends its long tentacles through a crevice in the reef and successfully catches what looks like a horseshoe crab.

The show pioneers a system called time-travel filming, which blends visual effects with natural history. Tapster hopes the show will give viewers a new perspective on prehistoric life on Earth, while also highlighting the importance of protecting the creatures that live on the planet today.

An Khang (According to Newsweek )

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