flickering pictures

Before I read this, I didn’t know that octopuses could navigate mazes, solve problems, and even work the lid off a screw-top jar in search of food.

Wikipedia says:

An octopus has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localized in its brain. Two-thirds of an octopus’s neurons are found in the nerve cords of its arms, which have a remarkable amount of autonomy. […] Some octopuses, such as the Mimic Octopus, will move their arms in ways that emulate the movements of other sea creatures.

In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practice observational learning, although the validity of these findings is widely contested on a number of grounds. Octopuses have also been observed in what some have described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs

The U.K. has even decided that although they lack a spine, octopuses’ extreme cleverness makes them “honorary vertebrates,” which means researchers and pet-owners must follow the same animal cruelty laws for them as they would for mammals and other intelligent backboned critters.

So, with octopuses as bright as they are, it should be no surprise that a British octopus named Louis has grown extremely attached to his Mr. Potato Head toy — so attached that he gets violent when his handlers tried to take it away. Louis has even figured out how to get hidden food out of the toy’s spare parts compartment.

Over the course of my extensive scholarly research for this post, I came across this and asked myself the age-old question: “Is it possible to stumble upon a Wikipedia article on ‘Octopus Wrestling’ without stopping to read it?” Answer: No. Apparently, wrestling matches between divers and octopuses attracted up to 5,000 spectators in the 1960s. Now they watch NASCAR.

Incidentally, and because I know you were all wondering, Wikipedia also says the acceptable plural forms of “octopus” are “‘octopuses,’ ‘octopi,’ or ‘octopodes,’” and that “[c]urrently, ‘octopuses’ is the most common form in the US as well as the UK; ‘octopodes’ is rare, and ‘octopi’ is often objectionable.” It doesn’t say what’s so objectionable about “octopi.”

Thanks, B!
Top image via Apex/Metro
Side image via Wikipedia.

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