In the article that I read, I learned that octopuses are considered one of the most intelligent invertebrate animals. Octopuses can learn very simple mazes between shapes and patterns. This article that I read was mainly about their intelligence and the way they live and move. Also there was a lot of talk about how they were an enrichment to the environment. Octopuses are also able to unscrew lids off of jars.
There were many facts that I learned that I have never heard about when I read this article. I learned that Octopuses have about 168 million neurons in their brains compared to us with having about 100 billion neutrons. I also learned that octopuses use their brains more efficient than we do. I thought that it was very cool have they tested a female giant pacific octopus unscrewing a lid off of a child proof container. The octopus was able to unscrew the lid in 55 minutes.
I think that its a good idea that scientists are testing these animals because it could show us that there are some creatures our there that are very smart and can think differently that we do. They should just keep on testing these octopuses so that we can learn more about them.
There were many cool facts about theses octopuses, but how long have they been testing theses octopuses? Also what other tests have they been giving theses octopuses?
The blue ringed octopus is one of the most deadly marine animals on the planet. A bite could kill a person in several minutes. The venom comes from the saliva and when bitten the victim starts to feel the symptoms in minutes, symptoms like numbness, muscular weakness, nausea, and difficulty breathing or swallowing. The toxin found in the blue ringed is very similar to the extremely deadly toxin found in puffer-fish. One milligram of the TTX toxin could kill a person making it one of the most potent natural toxins on the planet. No antidote has been found for the toxin, I wonder what kind of medical discoveries could be made with the study of the blue ringed octopus.
I read the article about an octopus biting a driver, that caught the octopus for a demonstration. While he was handling the octupus it bit him and he did not notice still a minute later. He tried to suck the venom out but that did no good, so he called the Aquarium and asked what to do. They told him to put hot water on it, it made the swelling go down.
I don’t understand how such a little bite could make so much pain, but then I found it interesting that octopus have venom. How many species of octopus have venom in them? I don’t really understand why the water had to be hot, was it to kill the venom that the octopus released?
The blue-ringed octopus, an exquisite example of nature’s beauty, and an amazing example of lethal power, The blue-ringed octopus are three or perhaps even four species of octopus that live in tide pools in the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Australia. After reading the article by Dr. Roy Caldwell on his experience with the blue-ringed octopus I decided to do more digging on one of the most venomous animals on the planet. And as a notice to all divers: there is no antivenin for their bite!
I’ve learned that the blue-ringed octopus can be a very sneaky creature often hiding in natural niches throughout tide-pools. Dr. Caldwell’s experience with the blue-ringed octopus was a prime example not paying attention to your surroundings and could have led not only to his own death but even to his teenage daughter who had accompanied him on this trip to Australia. The blue-ringed octopus is very easily identifiable both visually and just from hearing it’s name. As the name suggests, the Blue-ring’s entire body is covered in blue and black rings with a yellowish tint to the skin. The one thing however I was unable to uncover is how deadly this venom is when compared to the toxin of the box jellyfish. Which is the quicker killer?
Have you ever heard of an animal that can open jars? Well octopodes are able to open jars and do much more. According to Dr. Roland C. Anderson’s article,”Smart Octopus?” Octopodes are able to “learn simple mazes,” tell the difference between different shapes and patterns, and “navigate” by using landmarks while they are searching for food. They are also able to operate tools, play and have distinct characters. Since they are so smart, some octopodes are found in captivity for “environmental enrichment.” While in captivity they are supplied with food (crabs, fish, invertebrates) and have to locate it in complex habitats. Octopodes also do ‘prey puzzles,’ which are jars with a screw top that has crab or another animal inside.
The Seattle Aquarium hosts an Octopus Week, which display the talents of the octopodes. Pandora, a large female Pacific octopus showed off her expertise at opening a jar, the first time in 15 minutes, but she cut her time to about two minutes in later demonstrations. What a cut in time! I wonder what caused such a large slash in time?
It is interesting that octopodes only have 168 million neurons and we have 100 billion. They can do some pretty amazing things with this number, although it is likely that their neurons are more organized than ours are.
In this article http://www.thecephalopodpage.org/OctopusSmarts.php I learned that smart octopuses are the most intelligent invertebrates, and that they can learn simple mazes, learn shapes and patterns, use tools, and use landmark navigation. That’s something new I learned about them, because I didn’t know they could do all those things. I also learned that octopuses have a peripheral nerve system.
What I found very interesting is that smart octopuses can open a childproof bottle with bait inside in 55 minutes, I thought that was really cool since they don’t have a lot of brain power, there brain only have 168 brain neurons while humans have 100 billion.
How big can they get? Where can you find the Smart Octopus?
Cephalopods have been on this earth as far back as the Cambrian period, about 550 million years ago. Nautiluses were the most powerful animals during the Paleozoic from the Ordovician and Silurian periods around 505 to 408 million years ago. They had hard buoyant chambered shells that protected their soft body. During this time period, giant straight-shelled nautiluses was the only large animal that could swim above the sea floor. They would eat anything they could find and they would overpower them.
The best-known cephalopod fossils are the Ammonites. The buoyant shell made it easier to swim because they didn’t use much energy. There shell had ribs and a spine was a good defense for all of the predators. The downside to there body was that there shell is bulky an for them to swim faster they would have to make themselves bigger, which was dangerous. They can’t swim very fast because of the drag the ribs and spines they had for defense would pull them down.
What I learned and thought was very interesting about reading this article was how long these animals have been around. They have been here longer then a lot of our animals today. My question is how do they figure out by looking at the fossils how long they have been around?
The article that I am reading is about this man who loves cuttlefish. He explains how he became involved with cuttlefish in his life. The man starts by explaining about how great cuttlefish are. Then he goes in to his history with cuttlefish, when he first encountered a cuttlefish. 20 years later he gets way more in to cuttlefish. He finds two cuttlefish and he feeds them, takes care of them. The origin of the cuttlefish has not been a 100 % figured out quite yet. It is not a fish, it is a Cephalopod.
My question is that why is it not a fish also?
The article I read talks about how scientists are seeing if they can train octopuses to recognize which container out of many carries their preferred food. They Use little plastic eggs that are colored differently and have different textures to see if the octopus can learn which egg has what kind of food, and if it has a favorite food that it will go for instead of the other options available. This is helping us learn to what extent these animals can learn.
It excites scientists because they get to see the potential for real intelligence in a form of life that doesn’t even have a backbone. It also helps to tell us the habits of these animals, so we can better know them and study them later on.
I think that this is amazing. These octopuses do not even have a backbone, and appear to be pretty simple animals. However, despite the fact that they appear this way, they can easily learn more than something we could even teach a pet dog. I think that if we study this further, we could better learn how intelligence forms and evolves in other animals, especially in ones without backbones.
One of the questions I have is: How far does the intelligence of an octopus go? Can it learn more complicated tasks if we tried teaching it?
Nautilus, squid, cuttlefish and octopus all belong to the cephalopod class. With much more developed heads and sensory structures and also much more advanced locomotor systems then their close relative the slugs. Also known to some as the most advanced invertebrates, with eyes evolved towards are own. They can change colors and shape very quickly when trying to change according to habitats their in or hiding from predator.
I think its amazing how advanced these creatures are and things they can do. Being able to change the color or texture of their bodies in an instant just leaves me breathless. But I would like to learn more about their life styles and how long they live?
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