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@gjbarord
I am remiss on taking some video, partially because I want to try to document learning that I am still not totally sure exists. Last night, however, encourages my thinking. Nemo seems to have become accustomed to being fed when the lights come ON (ie seemingly opposite night feeding). He appears to recognize that I bring food at this time.
Last night we were late coming home and I was planning on a fasting night (I am not very good about fasting one night a week - something I used to do). Normally, I feed the other critters in the tank with a shrimp slurry to stimulate a feeding response (very effective) but last night the queue seemed to be seeing me moving about the kitchen. Nemo is in the dining room, visible to the kitchen but about 20' away. His lights were cycling back down to off and he was "sleeping" until he saw me then he started swimming with tentacles extended (hunting). I thawed him a piece of salmon, walked to the tank, showed him the food from outside the tank and he came up to feeding depth (within a foot of the top - tank is 3' deep) and over to my hand to accept the food without dallying. This is the first time I was fully aware (but have "thought" he was responding this way) that he is understanding a feeding routine.
I also "think" he tells me when he wants a second piece of food. This is a little harder to confirm/demonstrate or be sure of what I am watching (and more fascinating). I only see the behavior about once a week and am not sure how to demonstrate/record it convincingly.
Lastly, I am convinced that food size is important. I have found this to be true with octopuses when initially trying to get them to eat dead food in an aquarium and my "eye sized" proportion seems to fit optimal sizing. Unlike octopuses, Nemo does not typically reject a piece of food too large but will only eat a portion with the remaining dropped to the bottom. Occasionally, if he was still hungry, he would locate the dropped portion and eat more but not necessarily all. Since I have reduced the portion size, he eats the entire piece daily.
I mentioned an observation with Zilch that you had not observed but I have seen it with Nemo as well. If the food is too large or has been accepted and then rejected (rare or not at all since changing the food size), it appears it can be difficult to free it from his tentacles. He will work hard to blow it away with his siphon as if he cannot release it with tentacles alone. I don't see this since I have made the food smaller but may try to offer an over-sized portion and try to video the behavior.
I am remiss on taking some video, partially because I want to try to document learning that I am still not totally sure exists. Last night, however, encourages my thinking. Nemo seems to have become accustomed to being fed when the lights come ON (ie seemingly opposite night feeding). He appears to recognize that I bring food at this time.
Last night we were late coming home and I was planning on a fasting night (I am not very good about fasting one night a week - something I used to do). Normally, I feed the other critters in the tank with a shrimp slurry to stimulate a feeding response (very effective) but last night the queue seemed to be seeing me moving about the kitchen. Nemo is in the dining room, visible to the kitchen but about 20' away. His lights were cycling back down to off and he was "sleeping" until he saw me then he started swimming with tentacles extended (hunting). I thawed him a piece of salmon, walked to the tank, showed him the food from outside the tank and he came up to feeding depth (within a foot of the top - tank is 3' deep) and over to my hand to accept the food without dallying. This is the first time I was fully aware (but have "thought" he was responding this way) that he is understanding a feeding routine.
I also "think" he tells me when he wants a second piece of food. This is a little harder to confirm/demonstrate or be sure of what I am watching (and more fascinating). I only see the behavior about once a week and am not sure how to demonstrate/record it convincingly.
Lastly, I am convinced that food size is important. I have found this to be true with octopuses when initially trying to get them to eat dead food in an aquarium and my "eye sized" proportion seems to fit optimal sizing. Unlike octopuses, Nemo does not typically reject a piece of food too large but will only eat a portion with the remaining dropped to the bottom. Occasionally, if he was still hungry, he would locate the dropped portion and eat more but not necessarily all. Since I have reduced the portion size, he eats the entire piece daily.
I mentioned an observation with Zilch that you had not observed but I have seen it with Nemo as well. If the food is too large or has been accepted and then rejected (rare or not at all since changing the food size), it appears it can be difficult to free it from his tentacles. He will work hard to blow it away with his siphon as if he cannot release it with tentacles alone. I don't see this since I have made the food smaller but may try to offer an over-sized portion and try to video the behavior.
Interesting...
Nautiluses can definitely learn though. Jennifer Basil and Robyn Crook have shown some experiments that show that. Of course, there is the whole thing with LEARNING VS. CONDITIONING, two different things in my mind. But from maze trials, I think it's safe to say they can learn to do different tasks and could certainly be conditioned, especially with food as a motivation. I still have a hard time being blown away by the learning/conditioning/cognition side of studies with any animal. In contrast, I am more interested in the absence of such behaviors in animals and other living things. Going forward, I'm sure that more and more animals will show these types of capabilities as scientists are able to find out more and more about the cues and mechanisms that certain animals use to live and survive in their environment.
Definitely some cool observations you are making! Look forward to the videos and more!
Greg
Nautiluses can definitely learn though. Jennifer Basil and Robyn Crook have shown some experiments that show that. Of course, there is the whole thing with LEARNING VS. CONDITIONING, two different things in my mind. But from maze trials, I think it's safe to say they can learn to do different tasks and could certainly be conditioned, especially with food as a motivation. I still have a hard time being blown away by the learning/conditioning/cognition side of studies with any animal. In contrast, I am more interested in the absence of such behaviors in animals and other living things. Going forward, I'm sure that more and more animals will show these types of capabilities as scientists are able to find out more and more about the cues and mechanisms that certain animals use to live and survive in their environment.
Definitely some cool observations you are making! Look forward to the videos and more!
Greg
The reason I use quotes for "learning" is exactly that so it is when cephs (interacting with octos, of course is where I have the most observation time) do something voluntarily outside the food conditioned response. With octopuses, I interact without food as I think all food "learning" is conditioning and even serpent stars (no brain or vision) will accept/expect hand feeding. That being said, Nemo's actions last night, though food related, were outside his current conditioning (adding a stimulant to the water before feeding, feeding with the lights at max daily brightness - only 1/2 of the lighting capability) but may still suggest time conditioning with the interesting part being that I was "late" and the lights were reverting to off AND it was the first time I have seen this behavior.
. We returned from our week long vacation to find Nemo had died. He had been staying near the top of the tank for several weeks and not eating as well as in the past so I don't suspect our absence was involved in his death. Zilch lived 5 months in the tank and Nemo only 4 but I think they were in captivity about the same amount of time (6 months). Where Zilch had an obvious infection, we saw not external changes in Nemo. At death, Zilch's eyes were fully dilated. This was not the case with Nemo but his tentacles were extended and very thin.
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