# Octopus vs Eagle, Let Eight Legs Lie or Birds of a Feather? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 16, 2019, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-vs-eagle-let-eight-legs-lie-or-birds-of-a-feather/844937 "2019-12-16T10:49:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-vs-eagle-let-eight-legs-lie-or-birds-of-a-feather/844937/1 "2019-12-16T10:49:30Z")
Saw this video recently and thought it was definitely something you don’t see every day. [https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=Cl1A\_1576253470](https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=Cl1A_1576253470) Basically an Octopus grabs an eagle which is a peculiar sight and the people intervene and free the bird brain. Would you intervene or let nature take its course? I feel I would have watched what happened, I’m not so sure the Eagle wouldn’t have won in the end with his talons and beak but who knows. Emotionally though I can see why I might jump in and free the mighty eagle. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-vs-eagle-let-eight-legs-lie-or-birds-of-a-feather/844937/2 "2019-12-16T11:18:24Z")
I’d help the eagle. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-vs-eagle-let-eight-legs-lie-or-birds-of-a-feather/844937/3 "2019-12-16T11:56:30Z")
What’s an octopus going to do with an eagle anyway? Eat it? Do octopuses eat eagles? ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-vs-eagle-let-eight-legs-lie-or-birds-of-a-feather/844937/4 "2019-12-16T13:28:55Z")
I almost always side with the predators they are so rarely successful in their kills to take one away is cruelty in the highest degree. The octopus earned his meal let him eat it. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-vs-eagle-let-eight-legs-lie-or-birds-of-a-feather/844937/5 "2019-12-16T13:44:06Z")
I think everyone’s a winner here. That’s a pretty big octopus and the eagle was clearly going to drown rather than chow down, the eagle doesn’t know what’s good for it as…without being too dismissive, it is as thick as pig-shit. Corvids and octopus? smart creatures, Raptors? nah, not so much and we sometimes have to save it from itself. At least it had the decency to look pretty sheepish at the end of it. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-vs-eagle-let-eight-legs-lie-or-birds-of-a-feather/844937/6 "2019-12-16T14:00:54Z")
I really want to see how the octopus got ahold of the eagle to start with. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-vs-eagle-let-eight-legs-lie-or-birds-of-a-feather/844937/7 "2019-12-16T14:04:20Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > I really want to see how the octopus got ahold of the eagle to start with. My guess is that the eagle started it. Probably swooped in to grab it and got more than it bargained for. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-vs-eagle-let-eight-legs-lie-or-birds-of-a-feather/844937/8 "2019-12-16T14:15:32Z")
I saw an article on this over the weekend. The fishermen said they watched it for a while, torn as to whether they should intervene or not. [Here](https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/12/americas/bald-eagle-octopus-trnd/) it is: > [@CNN](#): > > The team watched the interaction for about five minutes, unsure if they should intervene to help. > “We weren’t sure if we should interfere because it is mother nature, survival of the fittest,” Ilett said. “But it was heart wrenching – to see this octopus was trying to drown this eagle.” ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-vs-eagle-let-eight-legs-lie-or-birds-of-a-feather/844937/9 "2019-12-16T14:29:00Z")
Huh, my original post was going to say that I’d help the eagle, but solely because they’re endangered. I’d have let the octopus have a crow or pigeon or Canada goose (I’d cheer the last one). But it turns out that the bald eagle is now “least concern”, so yeah, let the octopus have its dinner. And no way the eagle was going to escape. It’s out of its own environment, and octopi are pretty fearsome predators. Have we forgotten the time an [octopus ate a shark](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q36_8s5z6S8)? ---
**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-vs-eagle-let-eight-legs-lie-or-birds-of-a-feather/844937/10 "2019-12-16T14:41:52Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Huh, my original post was going to say that I’d help the eagle, but solely because they’re endangered. I’d have let the octopus have a crow or pigeon or Canada goose (I’d cheer the last one). But it turns out that the bald eagle is now “least concern”, so yeah, let the octopus have its dinner. > > And no way the eagle was going to escape. It’s out of its own environment, and octopi are pretty fearsome predators. Have we forgotten the time an [octopus ate a shark](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q36_8s5z6S8)? I don’t believe bald eagles are considered “endangered “ currently. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-vs-eagle-let-eight-legs-lie-or-birds-of-a-feather/844937/11 "2019-12-16T14:54:57Z")
> [@2Bits](#): > > I don’t believe bald eagles are considered “endangered “ currently. Yes, that’s what I said in my post. “Least Concern” is IUCN terminology for “more than we know what to do with”. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-vs-eagle-let-eight-legs-lie-or-birds-of-a-feather/844937/12 "2019-12-16T15:23:08Z")
I’m sorry they didn’t video the part before they intervened, that would have been really interesting. I’d probably have helped the eagle. Yeah, they are dirty aggressive birds. But by and large, I side with the vertebrate. ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-vs-eagle-let-eight-legs-lie-or-birds-of-a-feather/844937/13 "2019-12-16T15:31:49Z")
I am of the “don’t interfere” view. Lots of different possible outcomes: the octopus may get tired and let the eagle go all on its own. The eagle manages to drag the octopus to land and the octopus lets go. The octopus wears the eagle down, and the eagle drowns. So the question is: if it was a sea gull, would you still interfere to free it ? Or if bald eagles are endangered, does saving this one really make a difference ? (if so, should we be protecting them from all other natural predators out there ?) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-vs-eagle-let-eight-legs-lie-or-birds-of-a-feather/844937/14 "2019-12-16T16:21:11Z")
Well, the Eagle would have gotten away as I fished that Octopus out to make myself some killer sushi, but otherwise I would have let nature takes it course. That bird was done for. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-vs-eagle-let-eight-legs-lie-or-birds-of-a-feather/844937/15 "2019-12-16T16:30:24Z")
Is it strange that when I first saw the thread title I thought you were talking about the season finale of The Masked Singer? ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-vs-eagle-let-eight-legs-lie-or-birds-of-a-feather/844937/16 "2019-12-16T16:42:24Z")
Eagles are magnificent creatures whose survival is in peril, so I definitely would have intervened in the Eagle’s favor. To answer Cormac, I would not intervene to save a Sea Gull. They are scavengers of whom I hold little regard. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-vs-eagle-let-eight-legs-lie-or-birds-of-a-feather/844937/17 "2019-12-16T16:50:53Z")
I don’t see a moral question here. I would intervene or not, based on my personal preference. That’s also survival of the fittest. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-vs-eagle-let-eight-legs-lie-or-birds-of-a-feather/844937/18 "2019-12-16T17:05:06Z")
Meh, didn’t look like much of a fight was going on, I might have waited it out. Didn’t look like the octopus had much chance of dragging the eagle under, I’ve got 5 bucks on stalemate. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-vs-eagle-let-eight-legs-lie-or-birds-of-a-feather/844937/19 "2019-12-16T17:18:14Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > My guess is that the eagle started it. Probably swooped in to grab it and got more than it bargained for. I think this is almost certainly correct - there’s no other way an octopus gets hold of an eagle. As a species, Bald Eagles are no longer in difficulty, and there’s nothing really wrong with the Bald Eagle gene pool digesting the message that octopodes are not choice prey. But I feel there’s a decent case for separating the two and letting each go on its way. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-vs-eagle-let-eight-legs-lie-or-birds-of-a-feather/844937/20 "2019-12-16T17:54:08Z")
I kind of feel sorry for octopodes. Most octopus species are semelparous, meaning they die after mating, although the females usually live long enough to tend their eggs. Eagles have a fair chance at doing it more than once. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-vs-eagle-let-eight-legs-lie-or-birds-of-a-feather/844937.md?page=2)