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Aussie Scientists Find Coconut-Carrying Octopus
An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from an AP report: "Australian scientists have discovered an octopus in Indonesia that collects coconut shells for shelter — unusually sophisticated behavior that the researchers believe is the first evidence of tool use in an invertebrate animal. The scientists filmed the veined octopus, Amphioctopus marginatus, selecting halved coconut shells from the sea floor, emptying them out, carrying them under their bodies up to 65 feet (20 meters), and assembling two shells together to make a spherical hiding spot. ... 'I was gobsmacked,' said Finn, a research biologist at the museum who specializes in cephalopods. 'I mean, I've seen a lot of octopuses hiding in shells, but I've never seen one that grabs it up and jogs across the sea floor. I was trying hard not to laugh.'"
From the BBC.
My work here is dung.
Is it an African or a European octopus?
Capitalism: When it uses the carrot, it's called democracy. When it uses the stick, it's called fascism.
This is a temperate zone, the coconut's tropical.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
These octopi were carrying the shells on their tippitty-toes and seemed to be dancing. To their amazement they found they were dancing to the tune of "I got a bubbly bunch of coconuts....dididi deedi dididi dee Here they are .. Big one Small One One as big as ..."
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
I for one welcome our quasi-migratory cephalopod overlords. The African Swallow has been sacked.
But supposing *two* octopuses (octopi?) carried it together!
Do not disturb. Already disturbed. http://www.teaaddictedgeek.com
This will be news when they find an African or European swallow doing the same thing.
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hurt like the dickens and I felt like I was going to cry, laugh, and trow up all at the same time too!
Sig Follows: "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain
I thought it was understood that octopi have primate-level intelligence. Why is this so surprising?
Luckily for us, octopuses live underwater, so they won't have the chance to develop the use of fire, and are nonsocial and fairly short lived, so they won't have the chance to pass on knowledge from one to another.
Were it not for that, we would probably be fighting for our lives against the many-legged hordes of the deep.
Octopuses and their relatives have been surprising researchers for quite a while. They can show some remarkable intelligence. Us vertebrates have competition. The squishy ones have brains too.
They have a partially-decentralized brain, which makes for some interesting potential multi-core sci-fi: Planet of the Squids kind of stuff. And if they ever learn to type, they'll be four times more productive than us, maybe even more if a suction-cup-friendly keyboard/mouse is invented :-)
Table-ized A.I.
That is so weird. You don't associate walking with an octopus, but that's exactly what it did... tuck the shell under it's body, and then scamper across the seabed using its tentacles like legs.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
It's The Professor, he's been reincarnated! Now he can finish that coconut-shell nuclear reactor that Gilligan kept breaking.
Table-ized A.I.
Funny thing is that split coconuts probably aren't too common unless people or animals split them.
This reminds me of the story I have been telling for years whenever someone asks me why I do not eat Octopus.
From Snopes
Though the story is not verified, directly, there is consensus that the story is possible and is even likely to have occurred.
While he may be a perfectly sensitive, metrosexual kind of guy, the immediate problem is that he was diving with SCUBA gear. Full out ROTFL in a SCUBA set can be a bit problematic. Deep gasps of water can ruin your day.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
While he may be a perfectly sensitive, metrosexual kind of guy, the immediate problem is that he was diving with SCUBA gear. Full out ROTFL in a SCUBA set can be a bit problematic. Deep gasps of water can ruin your day.
Feh! He obviously has inferior equipment! He obviously needs a ROFL-capable set of SCUBA gear!
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
JAKARTA (OP) - Indonesian octopi have discovered a scientist in Australia that uses rubber flippers on its feet for propulsion in water - unusually sophisticated behavior that the researchers believe is the first evidence of intelligence in a vertebrate animal.
Look where all this talking got us, baby.
I for one welcome our undersea, coconut wielding, overlords.
There's been a few documentaries on the Discovery channel where they've not only mention how intelligent they were, but even suggested they might have emotions.
To be fair, one is very unlikely to be ROTFL in SCUBA gear. Far more likely is to be FITDL (Flailing In The Deep Laughing).
Especially so if you screw up the gas mixture in your tank.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Is it an African or a European octopus?
You've got two empty 'alves of an octopus and you're bangin' em together!
Bow-ties are cool.
He was using them to make the CLIP-CLOP sound effect for the new theater play his "School" is putting on. The Headless Sea Horse.
Inane Comments are Generously Disregarded
Well, you definitely don't want to piss off an octopus that smart.
You're laughing now. Just wait until Cthulhu returns.
I'a! I'a! Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!
I think GP's point was that the Hermit Crab *does* find an unused shell of suitable shape and size and carry it around, so what's new?
I don't quite understand why the octopus story is a big deal ... if its
behavior is based on instinct rather than rational thinking, it only
proves octopi are not dumber than craps, and we knew that already.
Stop talking while you are chewing your food.
-- Mother
Cory Doctorow talking about cloud computing makes as much sense as George W Bush talking about electrical engineering.