Now, well, this is pretty cool. An extended phenotype . . .

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2 ... .tools.abc

Yes, very cool indeed. Interesting that the octopus used coconut shells discarded by humans. It is a wonder to think that marine life, such as the octopus could evolve to not only use the waste of humans, but to possibly find a way to thrive in polluted areas. Smart octopus!

Sometimes I see on sci-fi movies these fantastic-looking creatures who are as intelligent as we are and automatically think, "Nah!, any creature that intelligent would have to look more like us." It's just my human chauvinism coming through. Why couldn't a species called octopus sapiens be possible?

I read something about an octopus using a coconut shell, is this what this forum is about? Amazing that a non-vertebrae shows to have an above-average intelligence. Makes me realise once more that we are not that special as humans...

The octopus doesn't live long but their intelligence can be proven from this story which I think is 3 yrs old now.
An aquarium held an octopu in a tank near another tank containing whatever auqatic aanimals they like to eat.
Every morning the lab crew would come in and find the one tank with a lot less fish. Couldn't figure it out.
One morning, a worker noticed a wet trail between the two tanks. So, at end of day one person watched frrom distance and as soon as the lights went out the octopus climbed out of it's tank, skiddered over tthe foor and dropped into the other tank for a food orgy.
Read this in reputable magazine like New Yorker or Atlantic Monthly.
We need to rethink our concepts on animal intelligence.

weaver wrote:The octopus doesn't live long but their intelligence can be proven from this story which I think is 3 yrs old now.
An aquarium held an octopu in a tank near another tank containing whatever auqatic aanimals they like to eat.
Every morning the lab crew would come in and find the one tank with a lot less fish. Couldn't figure it out.
One morning, a worker noticed a wet trail between the two tanks. So, at end of day one person watched frrom distance and as soon as the lights went out the octopus climbed out of it's tank, skiddered over tthe foor and dropped into the other tank for a food orgy.
Read this in reputable magazine like New Yorker or Atlantic Monthly.
We need to rethink our concepts on animal intelligence.

And what, we are to believe that this freakishly smart octopus ate the yummy fish and then high tailed it back to the other aquarium devoid of its snack food in order to mess with the stupid humans?

Someone is hanging noodles on your ears.

As for the coconuts, they look a lot like clams and scallops. I think eight legs is just trying to eat them and is too stupid to realize they aren't food.

Stahrwe
Y.E.C.
C.R.U.D.E.
Turtle up

weaver wrote:The octopus doesn't live long but their intelligence can be proven from this story which I think is 3 yrs old now.
An aquarium held an octopu in a tank near another tank containing whatever auqatic aanimals they like to eat.
Every morning the lab crew would come in and find the one tank with a lot less fish. Couldn't figure it out.
One morning, a worker noticed a wet trail between the two tanks. So, at end of day one person watched frrom distance and as soon as the lights went out the octopus climbed out of it's tank, skiddered over tthe foor and dropped into the other tank for a food orgy.
Read this in reputable magazine like New Yorker or Atlantic Monthly.
We need to rethink our concepts on animal intelligence.

This is a cool story, weaver. It appears to be true. Here's a discussion I found . . .

http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread. ... nextnewest

An excerpt: "The culprit was our Pinnoctopus cordiformis (then O. maorum ) and he skipped out of his tank over the top of another tank into the Crayfish tank ( Jasus edwardsii ) had a meal and skipped home before the resident technician did his late night checks! He was caught when the tech came in half an hour early to do the checks. I have since seen (PERSONALLY!) other members of this species do the exact same thing (although we've shifted the crays as it's too expensive to keep sending the boats and divers out for more!). We've since sealed the octi tank with perspex sheets (astroturf and all that sort of stuff didn't work!)."

Okay, here's a video that seems to show an octopus leaving its tank, eating a crab in the tank nearby, then returning to its own tank. Hilarious. Not a great quality video however.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvv537vy ... re=related

(hey, is there a way to embed youtube videos? I thought we could do that.)

I was just coming throught o post this very link!


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johnson1010 wrote:I was just coming throught o post this very link!


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Heh, heh. beat you to it.