Passing Cloud

Male kangaroos kick at each other. Male elephant seals gore each other with their large canine teeth. Male Giant Australian cuttlefish also undergo intense competition for females, but besides physically grabbing and biting each other, they also showcase a brilliant pattern on their skin.

Dr. Roger Hanlon who studies cephalopod camouflage at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA, describes the mesmerizing "passing cloud" pattern and the purpose behind this agonistic display.

Animation and Audio Editing by Natividad Chen and Kimberly Ulmer. This podcast is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license.

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