Inky the octopus legs it to freedom from NZ aquarium

[camouflage]

What makes octopus intelligence especially interesting (to me at least) is the fact that they are not really social or especially long-lived creatures. Can you even begin to imagine what it must be like to see the world through the slotted eyes of a cephalopod?

Watching a cuttlefish pretending to be some seaweed so that it can 'drift' closer to prey... can you imagine the kind of intelligence that does that?! I mean sure, as humans we can figure out that looking like a tree will help get us closer to the dear or whatever but, making that connection... and then proceeding to understand the tree, the shape of it and the colour, and then making one-self resemble a tree, and of course having a model of how the prey will perceive what it believes to be a tree...

tl: dr; theory of mind and conceptual abstractions all over the shop in that sort of thing imo.

 

[bimble]

It's only a tiny part of the mystery of octopuses but .. their extraordinary camouflaging gets that little bit amazinger still when you learn that they are, apparently, completely colourblind.

 

[trabuquera]

Forget about the aquarium escapes, opening a closed jar from the inside etc etc. The octopodes are getting serious and they are COMING TO WALK AMONG US

 

[sim667]

I for one welcome our cephalopod overlords

 

[teqniq]

 

[Poi E]

So the aquarium was sluicing its grey water straight into the sea? Shocking.

That's NZ for you. The water ways are fucked from farm run-off. Not clean and the green is an algal bloom.

 

[petee]

Much of the early work on octopus intelligence was done at the Naples Zoological Station. In 1959, Peter Dews, a Harvard scientist, trained three octopuses there to pull a lever to obtain a chunk of sardine. Two of the octopuses, Albert and Bertram, pulled the lever in a ‘reasonably consistent’ manner. But the third, Charles, would anchor his arms on the side of the tank and apply great force to the lever, eventually breaking it and bringing the experiment to a premature end. Dews also reported that Charles repeatedly pulled a lamp into his tank, and that he ‘had a high tendency to direct jets of water out of the tank; specifically … in the direction of the experimenter’. ‘This behaviour,’ Dews wrote, ‘interfered materially with the smooth conduct of the experiments, and is … clearly incompatible with lever-pulling.’

...

Captive octopuses appear to be aware of their captivity; they adapt to it but also resist it. When they try to escape, which is often, they tend to wait for a moment they aren’t being watched. Octopuses have flooded laboratories by deliberately plugging valves in their tanks with their arms. At the University of Otago, an octopus short-circuited the electricity supply – by shooting jets of water at the aquarium lightbulbs – so often that it had to be released back into the wild. Jean Boal, a cephalopod researcher at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, reported feeding octopuses in a row of tanks with thawed squid, not an octopus’s favourite food. Returning to the first tank, Boal found that the octopus in it hadn’t eaten the squid, but was instead holding it out in its arm; watching Boal, it slowly made its way across the tank and shoved the squid down the drain.

LRB · Amia Srinivasan · The Sucker, the Sucker!: What’s it like to be an octopus?

 

[sim667]

The other thing with ocotopuses in captivity is that their life span is reduced by around 75%. With a creature that intelligent, you have to wonder whether the octopus is in tune well enough with itself to realise the health implications of not being occupied enough, and being kept in captivity, hence they're so destructive.

Fucking fascinating creatures.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

The other thing with ocotopuses in captivity is that their life span is reduced by around 75%. With a creature that intelligent, you have to wonder whether the octopus is in tune well enough with itself to realise the health implications of not being occupied enough, and being kept in captivity, hence they're so destructive.

Fucking fascinating creatures.

Don't think that's true. Most species only live 6 months to 2 years in the wild.

 

[sim667]

Don't think that's true. Most species only live 6 months to 2 years in the wild.

When I was really into aquariums I read up on keeping them and read they lived roughly 6 in the wild, and 1.5 in captivity.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

When I was really into aquariums I read up on keeping them and read they lived roughly 6 in the wild, and 1.5 in captivity.

Not sure about your source, tbh. All the sources I've read, including Peter Godfrey-Smith's recent book, say different. 1-2 years for most species. Up to 5 for giant octopus. It may be that deep-water octopuses live a bit longer than other species, but they're not generally the ones kept in aquariums. Maybe it used to be thought that they lived longer and older sources give longer spans?

Here's one species Octopus tetricus found to have a maximum lifespan of 11 months.

It's extraordinary that such a clever animal can live such a brief life. They grow up, reproduce once and promptly die.

 

[Yossarian]

I would have guessed they lived a lot longer, that makes them all the more impressive. They don't have parents around to teach them anything either - if they lived for 40 or 50 years or whatever and were able to pass wisdom down through generations, they'd probably have made sashimi out of us by now.

 

[sim667]

Not sure about your source, tbh. All the sources I've read, including Peter Godfrey-Smith's recent book, say different. 1-2 years for most species. Up to 5 for giant octopus. It may be that deep-water octopuses live a bit longer than other species, but they're not generally the ones kept in aquariums. Maybe it used to be thought that they lived longer and older sources give longer spans?

Here's one species Octopus tetricus found to have a maximum lifespan of 11 months.

It's extraordinary that such a clever animal can live such a brief life. They grow up, reproduce once and promptly die.

Ah it may be that I read up on GPO and got stuff confused..... it was years ago I read up on them.

I do remember that they only have 6 arms, but have 2 legs.....

 

[Orang Utan]

Ah it may be that I read up on GPO and got stuff confused..... it was years ago I read up on them.

I do remember that they only have 6 arms, but have 2 legs.....

That's not true either.
Octopuses have eight arms, whereas squid and cuttlefish have six arms and two tentacles.
Cephalopod limb - Wikipedia

 

[sim667]

That's not true either.
Octopuses have eight arms, whereas squid and cuttlefish have six arms and two tentacles.
Cephalopod limb - Wikipedia

ooops..... wrong link

Octopuses have six "arms" and two "legs": study

 

[editor]

Don't know how any could eat an octopus. They're smart, inquisitive creatures.

 

[sim667]

Don't know how any could eat an octopus. They're smart, inquisitive creatures.

Have you ever seen the film oldboy?

 

[Orang Utan]

What about calamari (squid)?
(My dad used to tell me it was whale's arseholes)

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

What about calamari (squid)?
(My dad used to tell me it was whale's arseholes)

There's been unproven accounts of pig assholes being used. They look similar and they go for half the price of calamari.

 

[Orang Utan]

There's been unproven accounts of pig assholes being used. They look similar and they go for half the price of calamari.

i've eaten those too - well, sort of: pig's colon sold as pork intestines - great with chili!

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Don't know how any could eat an octopus. They're smart, inquisitive creatures.

Unfortunately for them, also delicious.

 

[editor]

Unfortunately for them, also delicious.

It's even more unfortunate that humans can't respect another intelligent life form.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

It's even more unfortunate that humans can't respect another intelligent life form.

We can't even manage to respect each other.

 

[Jonti]

It's only a tiny part of the mystery of octopuses but .. their extraordinary camouflaging gets that little bit amazinger still when you learn that they are, apparently, completely colourblind.

Truly amazing. It's hard to doubt that they know all about colour, even though they have only one type of photo-receptor. Here's a promising answer to that conundrum.

 

[pengaleng]

Unfortunately for them, also delicious.

ahhh man I was just thinking of the sashimi

I havent had it for weeks cus me local sushi parlour is on holiday

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Truly amazing. It's hard to doubt that they know all about colour, even though they have only one type of photo-receptor. Here's a promising answer to that conundrum.

Interesting. There is also a theory that octopuses and cuttlefish may be able to get information about colour through their skin. They're getting information from somewhere, otherwise they wouldn't be able to match their backgrounds.

Octopuses and their relatives sense light through skin

 

[killer b]

Much of the early work on octopus intelligence was done at the Naples Zoological Station. In 1959, Peter Dews, a Harvard scientist, trained three octopuses there to pull a lever to obtain a chunk of sardine. Two of the octopuses, Albert and Bertram, pulled the lever in a ‘reasonably consistent’ manner. But the third, Charles, would anchor his arms on the side of the tank and apply great force to the lever, eventually breaking it and bringing the experiment to a premature end. Dews also reported that Charles repeatedly pulled a lamp into his tank, and that he ‘had a high tendency to direct jets of water out of the tank; specifically … in the direction of the experimenter’. ‘This behaviour,’ Dews wrote, ‘interfered materially with the smooth conduct of the experiments, and is … clearly incompatible with lever-pulling.’

...

Captive octopuses appear to be aware of their captivity; they adapt to it but also resist it. When they try to escape, which is often, they tend to wait for a moment they aren’t being watched. Octopuses have flooded laboratories by deliberately plugging valves in their tanks with their arms. At the University of Otago, an octopus short-circuited the electricity supply – by shooting jets of water at the aquarium lightbulbs – so often that it had to be released back into the wild. Jean Boal, a cephalopod researcher at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, reported feeding octopuses in a row of tanks with thawed squid, not an octopus’s favourite food. Returning to the first tank, Boal found that the octopus in it hadn’t eaten the squid, but was instead holding it out in its arm; watching Boal, it slowly made its way across the tank and shoved the squid down the drain.

LRB · Amia Srinivasan · The Sucker, the Sucker!: What’s it like to be an octopus?

I've just read this article, great stuff.

 

[editor]

I've just read this article, great stuff.

Me too. Interesting read.

 

[petee]

so inky is taking it out on other marine life, eh

 

[fishfinger]

so inky is taking it out on other marine life, eh

There's some video of octo-pugilism here:

Did that octopus just punch a fish?