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Is an Octopus Too Smart For Us To Eat?
An anonymous reader writes: The New Yorker is running a piece on the ethical dilemma we face when considering octopus intelligence alongside our willingness to eat them. "Octopus intelligence is well documented: they have been known to open jars, guard their unhatched eggs for months or even years, and demonstrate personalities. Most famously, they can blast a cloud of ink to throw off predators, but even more impressive is the masterfully complex camouflage employed by several members of Cephalopoda (a class that also includes squid and cuttlefish)." While humans eat animals ranging widely in mental faculties, the octopus remains one of the smartest ones we do consume. And unlike pigs, for example, their population is not dependent on humanity to survive. As our scientific understanding of intelligence grows, these ethical debates will only come into sharper focus. Where do we draw the line?
Actually octopuses are cute, squids not so much, but still.
You can play with them like with a young cat. And yes, they are smart enough to leave an aquarium, cause random trouble and climb back in.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Ugh. Not only not aged properly, but overcooked. Gross.
The proper way to order a steak is "scare it with a flashlight", but only after it's been properly dry aged.
This subthread is really about eating their own species. Chimps have been observed doing so and it's common knowledge that lions will kill and eat offspring that isn't theirs. Just killed (wah) your first two points.
But to continue: wolves will, polar bears have been photographed doing so and brown bears will. We've now covered four main groups of large land mammals.
It is very common in fish, most all carnivorous insects will and has been mentioned, birds will, although it's usually the squab that gets it.
To quote wikipedia "Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded for more than 1500 species." In other words, many species absolutely will kill/eat their own.