In the new Prime documentary series “Octopus!” actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge spends an hour and a half narrating a story about an octopus named Doris that sets out on her own, falls in love and heroically sacrifices her own life to give her 30,968 children a chance at survival. But ultimately, the series takes a surprising turn to suggest that it might be time to stop anthropomorphizing animals — and instead get real about the risks they face.
Anthropomorphism, or our tendency to ascribe human traits or behaviors to other species, can be traced back to Charles Darwin, whose theory of evolution by natural selection indicated that all species shared a common ancestor and therefore likely shared other traits and behaviors. Yet anthropomorphism was increasingly seen as a form of bias that did not align with the scientific method emerging in the 19th century.
