The article I found was pretty interesting to me because it was talking about how an octopus is able to learn how to figure out simple mazes, figure out how to open a jar, engage into a playful behavior, and even portray individual personalities, which I thought was pretty amazing, even though they are considered the smartest, most intelligent invertebrate. They called this “octopus enrichment”.
The part in the article I found most interesting was when they experimented with the baby toys. They bought three different toys based on three different criteria, maneuverability, exploration potential, and linkages to reactions. The toys they bought were a pair of plastic pliers, a cow with moveable rings, and a ball. Each of the toys were given to two different octopuses (male and female), nine different times throughout the day and recorded on a table to see which toy would be held the longest, and the best most interesting toy to the octopuses had the most handling time, and the longer the handling time, the more enrichment. One question I have would be how do you think the octopus react if the scientists gave them more complicated toys? I think they should add more information to this article after they experiment with more advanced type toys with more complicated moveable parts.
Entries (RSS)