Octopus intelligence

[joigus]

It could have been E. O. Wilson... I know his topic of expertise was ants. I don't remember him as making a big deal out of cephalopods.

They're all Greeks to me now LOL. I'm getting old.

I've just whatsapped my friend. See if he can remind me and it rings a bell to any of you.

[Moontanman]

2 hours ago, CharonY said:

There is also a lot of individual variation. Some of my dogs seeing a mirror the first time were at least curious, others basically immediately dismissed, one of the dumber ones barked a few times before realizing that no one else was reacting and so on. One of the issues that are often not documented (because they don't make a good hypothesis-driven paper) is that animals fail tasks because they are simply not interested.

You should try training basset hounds, they are very smart but also very stubborn and have little to no desire to please you!

I've seen octopus do some really odd things in captivity, I spent three years keeping them, from intentionally squirting water at me to get attention (they are very accurate too) to observing their excitement in getting an usual object to add to their fortress. They can open bottles, kill out of boredom-maybe even spite, show emotions through color changes, they are almost a never ending display of WTF! One of the oddest was crawling out of their tank through two other "freshwater" aquariums to get to their preferred food, live crayfish, and crawling back to their tank to feast on the crayfish. They are, IMHO, a lot like cats in their behaviors. 

I'd really like to try cuttlefish someday, if anything they are even odder than octopus.  Or bob tailed squid, I tried to have several bob tailed squid shipped from Hawaii back in 1978, the live coral arrived in great shape but the squid didn't survive. Those squid have light organs under their bodies.

Edited May 15 by Moontanman

[joigus]

@TheVat, @CharonY. Aaah. My friend has just answered. It was Peter Godfrey-Smith. A philosopher of science rather. And he is Australian. Sorry I must have thrown you off.

Edited May 15 by joigus
addition

[MigL]

Now I feel guilty.
One of my favorite Greek dishes is grilled octopus tentacles,
( and their Italian cousins, 'calamari', also )

I hope they grow back.

Edited May 16 by MigL

[dimreepr]

19 hours ago, Moontanman said:

You should try training basset hounds, they are very smart but also very stubborn and have little to no desire to please you!

I've seen octopus do some really odd things in captivity, I spent three years keeping them, from intentionally squirting water at me to get attention (they are very accurate too) to observing their excitement in getting an usual object to add to their fortress. They can open bottles, kill out of boredom-maybe even spite, show emotions through color changes, they are almost a never ending display of WTF! One of the oddest was crawling out of their tank through two other "freshwater" aquariums to get to their preferred food, live crayfish, and crawling back to their tank to feast on the crayfish. They are, IMHO, a lot like cats in their behaviors. 

I'd really like to try cuttlefish someday, if anything they are even odder than octopus.  Or bob tailed squid, I tried to have several bob tailed squid shipped from Hawaii back in 1978, the live coral arrived in great shape but the squid didn't survive. Those squid have light organs under their bodies.

Australian magpies are known for there swooping behaviour  which, on the face of it seems territorial, but they can be persuaded to leave some alone or to become a sought out target.

Quote

 

They are also incredibly intelligent - so smart they have even been caught helping each other unscrew scientific tracking devices - and they have also been known to strike up long-term, meaningful friendships with humans.

One Sydney family even credits a rescued chick named Penguin with helping them recover from a catastrophic accident, a heart-warming tale which grabbed global headlines and has since been turned into a best-selling book and a film.

 

They can also get our intentions wrong, one person tried to save a chick and failed and has been terrorised ever since by the parents.

How close they are to our level of intelligence can never be known, bc we aren't capable of walking a mile in their shoes or suckers.

Edited May 16 by dimreepr