Secrets of the octopus / Sy Montgomery.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Remarkable new discoveries affirm the octopus as one of nature's most intelligent and complex animals.

This new book--written by the beloved author of the international bestseller The Soul of an Octopus, along with Warren Carlyle, founder of Octonation, and enhanced with vivid National Geographic photography--brings us closer than ever to these elusive creatures.

The companion to the highly-anticipated National Geographic television special--narrated by Paul Rudd and airing for Earth Day--this beautifully illustrated book explores the alluring underwater world of the octopus--a creature that resembles an alien lifeform, but whose behavior has earned it a reputation as one of the most intelligent animals on the planet.

This magical journey into the world of the octopus will reveal how the large and capable brain of these creatures occupies their whole body-not just their heads--and they can actually adjust their genetic makeup to respond to the demands of the environment. It will allow readers to watch them change shape and color in order to camouflage themselves more effectively than any other species. And it will divulge how octopus mothers give their all in order to bring forth a new generation.

With this offering, acclaimed author Sy Montgomery--known, thanks to her bestselling book, as the "octopus whisperer"--returns to the species she knows and loves, offering current and compassionate stories about the scientists on the front lines of octopus research and conservation.

For all animal lovers--and especially those drawn to this magical marine being--this will be a book to relish, for both its fascinating imagery and its charming storytelling.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Foreword (10)
• Introduction: From Monster to Superhero (16)
• Part 1 Masters of Camouflage (40)
• Part 2 Gelatinous Geniuses (74)
• Part 3 Octopus Kingdom (108)
• Epilogue: Expanding Imaginations, Opening Hearts (140)
• Octoprofiles (151)
• Acknowledgments (184)
• Illustrations Credits (185)
• Index (186)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

In this enjoyable study, naturalist Montgomery (Of Time and Turtles) examines the "remarkable behaviors and individual quirks" of octopuses. The invertebrates are masters of disguise, Montgomery explains, noting that they can change colors "up to 177 times an hour and assume 50 different body patterns." Expounding on the octopus's distinctive physiology, she writes that their "gelatinous bodies" can wriggle through the smallest of gaps (a common Sydney octopus in a Vermont lab escaped its enclosure by squeezing through "an opening the size of a cherry"), and that each of their "eight arms possesses its own brainy processing center," allowing even detached arms to capture prey. Elsewhere, she discusses the animal's use of tools (coconut octopuses carry around shells that they use as shields when attacked) and propensity for play (the Cleveland Metropark Zoo's octopus enrichment manual encourages keepers to "offer their charges toys like baby teething rings building blocks"). A bounty of full-color photos provides vivid, up-close snapshots of the species discussed, and material on mating rituals proves strangely fascinating; for instance, male giant Pacific octopuses use a "specialized third right arm" to place a "sperm packet" inside the female's "mantle opening--the same opening with which octopuses inhale water to oxygenate their gills." Fans of BBC's Blue Planet will want to add this to their shelf. Photos. Agent: Heather Carr, Friedrich Agency. (Mar.)