- Joined
- Jan 6, 2003
- Messages
- 476
Their intelligence...im sure is something many of you are already aware of and of course they are very intelligent when it comes to behavior. While reading a book I own called "Octopus and Squid: The Soft Intelligence" which you guys probably might have heard of or even own, the author Jacques-Yves Cousteau reveals some rare...and very interesting information based on personal experiences with these creatures. Even though I read this book, some stuff had caught my attention that isn't commonly studied or at least...put out in the media.
One of them was the author's comparison between a dog's intelligence and an octopus' intelligence. I was soo happy to actually see this because my older friend had recently argued with me that Dogs are a lot more intelligent than an octopus. However, it seems the other way around in certain circumstances.
Taken from the book:
"When one thinks of how long it takes to teach a dog something as simple as sitting up or shaking hands, one must admit that an octopus learns very quickly; and that above all, it teaches itself. We did not show it what to do. With a dog, it takes months of patient work before the animal will do what one wants it to do. The difference between a dog learning and an octopus learning is the difference between training an animal and allowing an animal to exorcise its intelligence in determining the means to be used to overcome an obstacle in certain circumstances."
Another quick interesting observation was an octopus "thought" to be having "respect for the dead."? The divers found a dead octopus corpse partially crushed at the bottom of the sea floor which had turned white. They decided to see what would happen if it were to be taken to a hole at another octopus' den.
"The octopus immediately came out of its hole, took the corpse, and carried it to a spot twenty-five or thirty feet away. Then, it returned to its house. Why did it do this? We do not know. We would have thought that it might eat the remains of the dead octopus-which is what generally happens when an octopus is killed in a fight. In the behavior of octopuses, their are subtleties which escape our understanding. It seems a bit far-fetched to speak of 'respect for the dead' among octopuses. It is more likely that given the octopus' highly developed senses of taste and smell, and its sensitivity to chemical emanations, it finds a corpse somehow 'disagreeable.' Even in this context, however, the octopus' behavior is suprising. The almost human act of picking up the offending corpse to carry it away from the octopus' house presupposes a series of thoughts and judgments of which few animals are capable."
Interesting experiences huh? There's so much more though from this book. Im not advertising it, but trying to see what you guys think of the neat info about octopuses in general. Especially how far their intelligence can push it...there's so much more to learn from them. Their incredible animals.
One of them was the author's comparison between a dog's intelligence and an octopus' intelligence. I was soo happy to actually see this because my older friend had recently argued with me that Dogs are a lot more intelligent than an octopus. However, it seems the other way around in certain circumstances.
Taken from the book:
"When one thinks of how long it takes to teach a dog something as simple as sitting up or shaking hands, one must admit that an octopus learns very quickly; and that above all, it teaches itself. We did not show it what to do. With a dog, it takes months of patient work before the animal will do what one wants it to do. The difference between a dog learning and an octopus learning is the difference between training an animal and allowing an animal to exorcise its intelligence in determining the means to be used to overcome an obstacle in certain circumstances."
Another quick interesting observation was an octopus "thought" to be having "respect for the dead."? The divers found a dead octopus corpse partially crushed at the bottom of the sea floor which had turned white. They decided to see what would happen if it were to be taken to a hole at another octopus' den.
"The octopus immediately came out of its hole, took the corpse, and carried it to a spot twenty-five or thirty feet away. Then, it returned to its house. Why did it do this? We do not know. We would have thought that it might eat the remains of the dead octopus-which is what generally happens when an octopus is killed in a fight. In the behavior of octopuses, their are subtleties which escape our understanding. It seems a bit far-fetched to speak of 'respect for the dead' among octopuses. It is more likely that given the octopus' highly developed senses of taste and smell, and its sensitivity to chemical emanations, it finds a corpse somehow 'disagreeable.' Even in this context, however, the octopus' behavior is suprising. The almost human act of picking up the offending corpse to carry it away from the octopus' house presupposes a series of thoughts and judgments of which few animals are capable."
Interesting experiences huh? There's so much more though from this book. Im not advertising it, but trying to see what you guys think of the neat info about octopuses in general. Especially how far their intelligence can push it...there's so much more to learn from them. Their incredible animals.