Tagoctopus
Loving Goodbye… From an Octopus?
Did the octopus really know she was dying? Was she trying to say goodbye?The film My Octopus Teacher (2020) paved the way for studying the intelligence of the remarkable eight-armed creature. One outcome has been more attention paid to other remarkable stories of human–octopus friendships. At Hakai Magazine, we learn about a part-time science teacher who befriended an octopus and learned a sad truth about her eight-armed companion: One of the first octopuses Nitz raised was an algae octopus (Abdopus aculeatus) she named the Once-ler after the narrator of The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. She and her daughters would stand in front of the Once-ler’s tank and wave their whole arms as though they were undulating blades of kelp. Eventually, the Once-ler started waving back, imitating their movements with a single arm while Read More ›
Can Insects, Bacteria, and Plants Have Personalities Too?
If personality amounts to observed individual differences in behavior, the answer is yes, though the issues are more complex for plantsYesterday, we looked at a paper in which researchers reported that marmosets (a South American monkey) have personalities. Most of us would simply assume that they do and we are right to think so. Research on many vertebrate animal species shows that even reptiles and fish have personalities. Of course, the number of dimensions a vertebrate’s personality can have varies with its intellectual and lifestyle complexity. But now, what about the vast world of the invertebrates, the life forms whose body is not organized around a spinal cord terminating in a brain? Their body plans can vary from that of a starfish through to a honeybee. Can they have personalities, despite very different brain arrangements, including — in some cases Read More ›
Scientists Clash Over Why Octopuses Are Smart
New findings show, the brainy seafood breaks all the rules about why some life forms are smart
Yes, Even Lizards Can Be Smart
If you catch them at the right time. But can we give machines what the lizard has by nature?