Escape artist
Category: Cephalopods
Posted on: December 3, 2006 1:51 PM, by PZ Myers
Another video: watch the octopus escape through a small hole in a box. Bones are such a nuisance, aren't they?
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Comments
Zoologist Norbert Smith writes:
Posted by: keiths | December 3, 2006 2:21 PM
But, what about his BRAINS man! Are they so small that they fit through the hole, or are they squisy and re-arrangeable too?
I mean geeze, squishy brains - would he experience problems with cognition?
Posted by: calladus | December 3, 2006 2:33 PM
Yep, once he gets his beak through, he knows he's home free. Cadallus, their brains aren't all that big.
Posted by: Russell | December 3, 2006 2:56 PM
PZed, I for one am really happy we have bones:
1. They're really pretty; the shapes of the human femur, pelvis and skull are really pleasing forms.
2. They make our images easier to reproduce naturalistically. I have the hardest time drawing octopodes because of their lack of rigid structure.
Posted by: Bobryuu | December 3, 2006 3:07 PM
Cool video. Does anyone know how big octopus brains are?
Posted by: Paguroidea | December 3, 2006 3:07 PM
neat. I'm guessing that the head (or whatever that part is) is usually just filled with water, for the octopus to be able to shrink it that dramatically.
Posted by: Meri | December 3, 2006 3:53 PM
I know octopuses have a high EQ. I also know people have sometimes claimed they have the highest EQ outside of humans, but that's nonsense. But for an invertebrate it's very high.
Posted by: QrazyQat | December 3, 2006 4:10 PM
Hey, you've got to watch the next video in that line up. It shows an octo eating a shark... Yikes!
Bobryuu said: I have the hardest time drawing octopodes because of their lack of rigid structure.
My experience drawing invertebrates is the opposite. For me, boneless is easier. But it no longer matters, I've got so much nerve damage I can barely scrawl my signature on a check let alone draw sea creatures.
Posted by: MTran | December 3, 2006 4:41 PM
Of course... how else can Cephalo Claus get down our chimneys to deliver Cephalopodmas gifts? As if any human (especially a fat, jolly one) could fit into those narrow excuses for chimneys we have these days to vent our furnaces. Plus, eight arms are so much quicker than two for stuffing the stockings.
Posted by: Kevin Dorner | December 3, 2006 5:08 PM
EQ - Emotional Quotient? So octopodes are good at empathy?
Posted by: JohnnieCanuck | December 3, 2006 6:23 PM
Bones do make it hard for me to be able to pull my body through a coat hanger like I could in younger days, but since I'm not buoyant enough to ambulate through the air, then I kinda like them for keeping me rigid and upright and off the dirty ground.
Posted by: Rey Fox | December 3, 2006 8:21 PM
Bones are such a nuisance, aren't they?
I dunno, I have seen cats squeeze through some amazingly tight spaces. Most recently was my 15 pound cat getting under the front seat of the car. With cats too I suppose the brain size wouldn't make much of a difference in getting through a small space.
Posted by: Mena | December 3, 2006 11:31 PM
I've seen my dog (miniature schnauzer, slightly larger than average) slither under a garage door that was no more than six inches off the ground, and dogs aren't even known for being able to do that. All the more impressive when you watch a species that has a talent for that sort of thing...
I wonder if anyone's ever presented the octopus as an argument against intelligent design -- after all, what intelligent designer would give an animal a highly developed brain without the lifespan to take full advantage of it?
Posted by: Brian X | December 3, 2006 11:37 PM
That octopus eating the shark was pretty amazing. It reminded me of all those fakey undersea movies where the Kraken got into it with the sperm whale...... only this time I guess you'd say the good guy won.
Posted by: anomalous4 | December 4, 2006 2:13 AM
Bobryuu, 1. They're really pretty; the shapes of the human femur, pelvis and skull are really pleasing forms.
Evolution made this true for you; if you'd evolved from molluscs instead of apes, you'd find something else erotic - suckers, tentacles, ink clouds, beaks.
Dunno what this says for PZ?
Posted by: Richard Harris, FCD | December 4, 2006 4:55 AM
noes!!! Does this mean I'll never be able to remake Boxing Helena with octopussies?
Posted by: Drhoz! | December 4, 2006 5:50 AM
Mice and hamsters are escape artists too.
In my childhood one of my Syrian hamsters were happily exploring the house one evening when the family returned from a trip. That was a particularly limber one who liked to cling under the cage top, and eventually had worked a bad weld loose in the lid. Apparently he could push his body through a slot half his usual height while hanging upside down.
Posted by: Torbjörn Larsson | December 4, 2006 7:22 AM