The octopus steals coconut shells, with a great effort, saving the halves for a shelter. One is good, two is better.
Tool Making Octopi
Mon, 2009-12-14 14:31
#1
N.Beltov
Tool Making Octopi
Mon, 2009-12-14 15:41
#2
Catchfire
That video is amazing. I f'b'd that shit.
[pedant]The plural of Octopus is Octopuses, because we are speaking English. Even if we weren't, it'd be wrong, because Octopus has a Greek root, not Latin, so it would be "Octopodes." Sorry for the spelling flame, but this is a pet peeve (See my elaborate feud with Wilf Day (I think?) over the non-word "Fora")[/pedant]
Tell me, O Octopus, I begs
Is those things arms, or is they legs?
I marvel at thee, Octopus;
If I were thou, I'd call me Us.
-- Ogden Nash, "The Octopus"
Tue, 2009-12-15 18:49
#3
That is just SO cool. And not just the tool use - the sight of a soft invertebrate behaving like a crustacean or an arachnid is as fascinating as it is bizarre.
Tue, 2009-12-15 19:45
#4
I hate it when tasty animals turn out to be intelligent.
I've seen demonstrations of octopus problem solving before, and I think if it wasn't for their relatively short life span, we'd be dealing with an even more intelligent animal that goes well with melted butter and garlic.
Tue, 2009-12-15 19:54
#5
I like how the octupus covers up the camera lens at the end of the clip.
"Move along nothing to see here"
Tue, 2009-12-15 22:55
#6
Human tastes rather good too, if we can believe William Buehler Seabrook of the New York Times who obtained and cooked some in 1931.
Tue, 2009-12-15 23:01
#7
And that's why remains of the Franklin Expedition are rare. To medium rare.
Tue, 2009-12-15 23:01
#8
What? Too soon?
Wed, 2009-12-16 16:44
#9
I hate it when tasty animals turn out to be intelligent.
Well I will not be visiting france anytime soon. They are taking horse OFF the menu. Horse is so tasty!
The octopus freaked out my gf because she does not like spiders. And it does run like a big spider!
I thought it was a very neat video. People must have seen this years ago, why is it just now that it is doing the rounds on the internet?
Wed, 2009-12-16 20:29
#10
Isn't it odd that everyone has their bug or critter that just gives them the heebie jeebies?
I have some fossils on my kitchen counter, small examples of Devonian or Sillurian corals and bi-valves. I've cleaned them and will be taking pictures of them soon. One of my daughters can't even look at them, or modern day corals.
Wed, 2009-12-16 22:12
#11
So an octopus moves a couple of shells, and all of a sudden it's a brilliant tool maker? What about things that stick bits on them to hide, or change their colour for the same reason, plants that twine around branches.....
Was the octopus thinking? It just crawled into a shell cos thats a thigmotrophic responce for protection, then a bit was poking out cos it was a little shell, so it still felt the need for a shell and it crawled along into another one. It was not thinking!
Thu, 2009-12-17 03:04
#12
My segway to leafcutter ants. My theory is that the original leafcutters were being attacked by tiny parasitic wasps. (I have seen the tiny flys (you can barely see them) chasing ants here. And maybe that is why the ants have such a jerky run. The ant stops and bingo bango, fly dives and shoots an egg into her belly! A few days later the ant is dead! And one or a few baby wasps are born. Now, if the ant happened to pick up a leaf on its way home, and wave it over its head, it had a better chance of surviving. And then, what to do with the leaf? Toss it in the garbage pile. And thats how the leafcutting and farming the fungus started! The ants were using a tool, (an umbrella) to protect them from flies. But you get home, and you are bluddy starving (6 legs, 2 for holding the leaf up, and 4 for walking ) (but at least there is no fly up your but) "Screw it, I am eating the leaf. Crap, it is effin bitter! But this mold, (growing on the leaf garbage, it is ok! And that is how leafcutter ants. (one of the most successful insect varieties in the world) got started. The fungus can digest the bitter leaf and only the ant grows and eats the fungus.
Thu, 2009-12-17 03:05
#13
My segway to leafcutter ants. My theory is that the original leafcutters were being attacked by tiny parasitic wasps. (I have seen the tiny flys (you can barely see them) chasing ants here. And maybe that is why the ants have such a jerky run. The ant stops and bingo bango, fly dives and shoots an egg into her belly! A few days later the ant is dead! And one or a few baby wasps are born. Now, if the ant happened to pick up a leaf on its way home, and wave it over its head, it had a better chance of surviving. And then, what to do with the leaf? Toss it in the garbage pile. And thats how the leafcutting and farming the fungus started! The ants were using a tool, (an umbrella) to protect them from flies. But you get home, and you are bluddy starving (6 legs, 2 for holding the leaf up, and 4 for walking ) (but at least there is no fly up your but) "Screw it, I am eating the leaf. Crap, it is effin bitter! But this mold, (growing on the leaf garbage, it is ok! And that is how leafcutter ants. (one of the most successful insect varieties in the world) got started. The fungus can digest the bitter leaf and only the ant grows and eats the fungus.
Thu, 2009-12-17 04:31
#14
Was the octopus thinking? It just crawled into a shell cos thats a thigmotrophic responce for protection, then a bit was poking out cos it was a little shell, so it still felt the need for a shell and it crawled along into another one. It was not thinking!
That might be a reasonable idea if we didn't have other evidence for octopus intelligence. Good article here: http://www.slate.com/id/2192211/