# Anyone else a little...underwhelmed by the giant squid? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 26, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-little-underwhelmed-by-the-giant-squid/385661 "2006-12-26T21:10:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![merrily](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@merrily](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merrily)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-little-underwhelmed-by-the-giant-squid/385661/21 "2006-12-28T11:28:54Z")
[QUOTE=Maastricht] Is [this](http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/12/22/giant.squid.ap/index.html)the CNN-link referred to in the OP? [/QUOTE] Yes–also note this line: > [@](#): > > The squid, a female, was not fully grown and was relatively small by giant squid standards. The longest one on record is 60 feet, he said. (She was 24 feet long, as already noted–only 2/5 the size of the longest ever) ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-little-underwhelmed-by-the-giant-squid/385661/22 "2006-12-28T13:26:54Z")
Okay- that video? I’m only halfway through and it’s freaking me out. Those things are big, mean-looking, and scary. _breathes deeply_ ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-little-underwhelmed-by-the-giant-squid/385661/23 "2006-12-28T18:41:40Z")
[QUOTE=merrily] Yes–also note this line: (She was 24 feet long, as already noted–only 2/5 the size of the longest ever) [/QUOTE] But it didn’t even have a giant eyeball! how is it supposed to look at you menacingly without a giant eyeball? That video makes me incredibly sad, stupid japanese boat guys only killed her secure in their knowledge that godzilla and godzuki are only a whistle blow away from saving their ass if big mama squid came after their puny boat. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-little-underwhelmed-by-the-giant-squid/385661/24 "2006-12-28T20:51:39Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] There are only two nature videos on this planet that have ever spooked me. One was a video of a capybara wandering into a piranha pond that was drying up and filled with starving piranhas. They immediately burrowed a hole in its side and ate it from the inside out in just a few minutes. [/QUOTE] Damn. Just…damn. As a minor hijack, ever seen the film of a mama capybara casually watching as an anaconda eats one of her pups after the other? Or the orcas playing ping-pong with a seal? It is my opinion that every single member of PETA should be forced (_Clockwork Orange_ style) to watch these kinds of videos around the clock until they understand that nature is an unbelievably violent realm and not some hippie utopia of animal togetherness – if it restores just one or two to reason it will have been worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Cherry2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cherry2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cherry2000)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-little-underwhelmed-by-the-giant-squid/385661/25 "2006-12-28T22:10:08Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] Could it be [Dr. Clyde Roper vs. the Humboldt Squid](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_5Ecaki-o0)? [/QUOTE] Sweet merciful poo… if the video of the squid wan’t enough to scare ya, wait until the end. That 23 foot sleeper shark will give me nightmares tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-little-underwhelmed-by-the-giant-squid/385661/26 "2006-12-28T22:22:25Z")
[QUOTE=KizarvexiusIt is my opinion that every single member of PETA should be forced (_Clockwork Orange_ style) to watch these kinds of videos around the clock until they understand that nature is an unbelievably violent realm and not some hippie utopia of animal togetherness – if it restores just one or two to reason it will have been worth it.[/QUOTE] True. If animals are going to show no mercy to each other I think it’s OK for humans to behave in the same way. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-little-underwhelmed-by-the-giant-squid/385661/27 "2006-12-28T23:15:40Z")
[QUOTE=Chez Guevara] True. If animals are going to show no mercy to each other I think it’s OK for humans to behave in the same way. [/QUOTE] Don’t put words in my mouth. I’m not excusing human brutality, towards animals or toward one another. I’m talking about the kind of people who watch a film of a lion chasing a gazelle and demand to know why the photographer didn’t intercede on behalf of the gazelle (and I have met people like this). I’m talking about people like the volunteer at our local zoo who rushed past all of the painted boundaries and reached through the bars to pet the jaguar. She insisted afterward that the trouble she caused, including the denial of backstage privileges thenceforth to all volunteers, was worth it – because the moment of contact “was so beautiful.” I’m talking about the idiots who “rescue” minks and sables from furriers, only to release them in populated areas where they can attack children, kill pets, and destroy local wildlife no longer accustomed to predators. Got it? ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-little-underwhelmed-by-the-giant-squid/385661/28 "2006-12-28T23:35:12Z")
Sure. Your first example describes people who don’t understand that lions need to eat. The other examples feature idiots. You don’t have to be a member of PETA to be an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-little-underwhelmed-by-the-giant-squid/385661/29 "2006-12-28T23:52:18Z")
[QUOTE=tomndebb] That’s an octopus, same family as the [kraken](http://www.thecinemasource.com/moviesdb/images/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean_Dead_Mans_Chest%20-%2029%20-%20Kraken.jpg). Squid have typically got those little canard winglets near the tops of their longer heads. [/QUOTE] [You mean like _this_?](http://www.classicjq.com/artifacts/misc/images/20000_front.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-little-underwhelmed-by-the-giant-squid/385661/30 "2006-12-29T01:57:00Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] [You mean like _this_?](http://www.classicjq.com/artifacts/misc/images/20000_front.jpg) [/QUOTE] Thank you. Any lingering fear of the giant squid has now been permanently displaced by fear of Race Bannon’s swimsuit. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-little-underwhelmed-by-the-giant-squid/385661/31 "2006-12-29T04:11:13Z")
[QUOTE=Kizarvexius] It is my opinion that every single member of PETA should be forced to watch these kinds of videos around the clock until they understand that nature is an unbelievably violent realm and not some hippie utopia of animal togetherness [/QUOTE] Nah, just feed 'em to the endangered Polar Bears. Nice phrase, though, “some hippie utopia of animal togetherness.” I’d like to consider it for a sig after we have a new President. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-little-underwhelmed-by-the-giant-squid/385661/32 "2006-12-29T04:16:28Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel] Thank you. Any lingering fear of the giant squid has now been permanently displaced by fear of Race Bannon’s swimsuit. [/QUOTE] If you want to displace any lingering fear of anything by a simple burgeoning horror, try to imagine just what Dr. Quest is doing back in the sub watching his real life Race Bannon bondage porn… ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-little-underwhelmed-by-the-giant-squid/385661/33 "2006-12-29T04:31:33Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] If you want to displace any lingering fear of anything by a simple burgeoning horror, try to imagine just what Dr. Quest is doing back in the sub watching his real life Race Bannon bondage porn… [/QUOTE] More importantly, where the hell is Johnny Quest? Is that a female person swimming to the rescue with a spear gun? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-little-underwhelmed-by-the-giant-squid/385661/34 "2006-12-29T05:10:41Z")
Where’s Hadji? Did it eat him first? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-little-underwhelmed-by-the-giant-squid/385661.md?page=1)