Random rambling excerpts that got cut

I had an idea to parallel sea animals to character arcs but it got out of hand

It is an emotional experience to watch a baby turtle clumsily and frantically scramble to the water. Nesting sea turtles search the coastline for the perfect sand, the right temperature, and a sandy berth with few predators or obstacles. Birds, raccoons, fish, crabs, footprints, garbage. Most sea turtles migrate across thousands of miles of ocean to lay eggs at the very beach where they themselves were hatched. As hatchlings, sea turtles imprint the unique magnetic signature of their natal beach. This magnetic imprint acts as a compass for when they return later in life, as nesting mothers. It is the single most important decision of a sea turtle’s life, to give her baby the strongest chance at returning safely to the water. The thing is, even if the baby survives the treacherous crawl to the surf, it will never find its mother.

The flat head of a hammerhead shark is a peculiar shape. Some scientists believe it serves as an organic metal detector that allows the shark to sweep large swathes of ocean floor with electricity detection. Most strange is the positioning of the hammerhead shark’s eyes on the sides of its flattened head. Hammerhead eyes, though far apart, have the greatest overlap in their fields of view and 360-degree vision. The hammerhead can always see above and below, even if the shark were to swim straight ahead with its head completely still. A hammerhead can improve its stereoscopic vision even further by rotating its eyes and sweeping its head from side to side. However, no matter how far or fast they turn their head, the hammerhead shark will always have a huge blind spot directly in front of them.

Many underwater animals use camouflage to avoid predators, by instantaneously changing color and shape to imitate seaweed, reef, and other animals. When danger has passed, true colors are revealed, and life continues. And then there is the stonefish. The Australian brown or grey native looks like an encrusted rock or lump of coral, sitting perfectly still on the sea floor. The stonefish is patient. They do not actively pursue prey. Their true colors are always unabashedly on display. We just choose not to look close enough. The stonefish wait, knowing that a foolish dinner will inevitably be delivered. Its venom kills quickly before swallowing the unsuspecting prey whole.

In the name of love, seahorses engage in a spectacular display of romance. The male spends days courting his truly beloved as the two swim tail in tail. This harmonious and majestic ritual helps the seahorses synchronize their movements and the couple may even change shift color between lighter and darker shades. The phenomenon of male dedication to his other half is not seen anywhere else in the animal kingdom, whereupon each morning the seahorses dance alongside one another, reaffirming their bond. Following the next new moon, some seahorses renew their courtship and stay for life. For others, it is a short affair.

Stingrays must move their whole bodies to propel through the water. Generally speaking, a stingray is content to float along and only reacts if provoked. With wide and flat bodies that flutter with the rhythm of the ocean even at a standstill, stingrays do not have a skeleton made of bones. Instead, their bodies are supported by cartilage. This makes the stingray particularly flexible but without the defenses to withstand a piercing blow. Don’t be fooled, the stingray is tough enough to be used on the cord of Japanese swords, with a tail venom that can kill humans. But without bones, the stingray ultimately disappears leaving only the faintest trail behind.

Comparative thanology. This is the fancy name for the study of animal grief. It is a young field, largely because attributing human-like behaviour to animals was largely ignored throughout the twentieth century. Wisdom of the time dictated that animals were reactive, lacking thoughts and emotions. Animals were considered to respond to stimuli as would an unthinking, unfeeling robot. Science cautioned against anthropomorphism, the naïve consideration of animals as humans dressed up in fur or feathers. Researchers who detected uniquely human emotions among animals, such as love, joy, or grief, were condescendingly typecast as anecdotal sentimentalists. But I have watched orcas travel miles balancing a dead newborn calf at the water’s surface. In some cases, the whole pod joined in, forming a protective circle around a grieving and the grieved. One need only witness such an event to understand that there is grief in the animal kingdom as certainly as there is a circle of life.