Otto the octopus goes on rampage!

www.telegraph.co.uk...
An octopus has caused havoc in his aquarium by performing juggling tricks using his fellow occupants, smashing rocks against the glass and turning off the power by shortcircuiting a lamp.

"Once we saw him juggling the hermit crabs in his tank, another time he threw stones against the glass damaging it. And from time to time he completely re-arranges his tank to make it suit his own taste better - much to the distress of his fellow tank inhabitants."

It appears the moral of this story is don´t mess with disgruntled hermit crab juggling octopuses


[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

thats cute. lol octopus are crazy and mean though.
sorry for the one liner cute thread

I'd pay good money to see an octupus juggling with crabs


it's total win

smart critters. I read a story in the NY Times a while back about a guy who had two fish tanks on opposite sides of the room. One tank housed his pet octopus, the other was a brakish tank (maybe fresh) with lots of fish. He noticed that he was missing a fish, then another, and another etc. There was no trace of the missing fish. Not corpse on the floor (jumpers), no decaying fish in the tank, no bones to be found anywhere. He was totally perplexed so he set up a camera to film the tank at night as that was when the fish would go missing. What he found was astounding.

The octopus would climb out of the tank, walk across the room, pop into the other tank, grab a fish and head home.

reply to post by Crakeur


Imagine being those 'other fish'...

"Oh my fishy-christ, it's coming back!"

[edit on 11/3/0808 by spines]

I had no idea that octopi are that intelligent! Perhaps poor Otto is just bored, and that is why he has turned into kind of a hooligan? Perhaps they should give hime some puzzles to solve to keep him busy?

The more we learn about octopi (that's the plural for octopus), the more intelligent we discover they are. Intelligence seems to be inherent in all 300 or so species of octopus and not just limited to a few varieties. Octopi can problem solve, can be trained to learn behaviors and are extremely ingenious in figuring out how to get out of an aquarium and get into food. We can learn a lot from an octopus.

Just because an octopus doesn't have a backbone doesn't mean that they also lack nerve. On the contrary, their nervous system is very complex. They don't have very large brains, but they do have a very large nervous system, going all the way down each arm. They are able to take in a lot of information about their world and seem to be able to remember, learn and adapt to new situations.

The suckers on their long arms don't only feel, but also tastes. Each sucker works individually, so an octopus can just focus on one arm or one sucker. Their eyesight is sharp. Although their brains are quite small in comparison to ours, they still have very large brains for invertebrates. In a brain-to-body-weight ratio, octopi have bigger brains than many species of reptiles or fish (which have backbones, considered an evolutionary advancement).

We have brains in our skulls and they have them around their esophagus, but still they have many physical characteristics of a human brain. They have folded lobes. Their tactile centers seem well developed and impressively wrinkly. The memory center in their brains also seems advanced for an invertebrate.

www.helium.com...

This octopus has learned to open bottles to get her lunch:




[edit on 3/11/08 by ziggystar60]

mm I want salt and pepper squid now.

I know a great recipe!

reply to post by Crakeur


r un serious about that story----if so it's amazing---which is why i'm wondering if it was a joke?????



well,, sounds like a hyperactive octo maybe he has ADHD better put him on some ritalin or such like all our kids these days

medicate that octopus!!!!!! zombify him cries big pharma

reply to post by shortywarn


absolutely serious.

Crakeur

After reading your lovely wee anecdote, I was compelled to log-in.

Thanks for sharing that unsettling story! I wonder if our aquatic friends developed a mortal terror towards the murderous cephalopod!?

Assuming the little fishes he or she decided against abducting and devouring could perceive their world, the sight of the killer slithering across the floor must have been poop-inducing. Where, after all, could you hide? What would you do? Point your fin at your meatier friend/relative?

Brilliant anecdote!

Cheers


[edit on 3/11/08 by The Quiet Earth]

Now I want an Octopus...

I have been looking for a different kind of pet...

Might have just solved my little dilemma

How much do you suppose a big smart octopus costs?

reply to post by mopusvindictus


www.liveaquaria.com...

for starters. most ocotopi sold in the industry have short life spans. some are poisonous (blue ring). they can get out of tanks easily and many owners learn that the hard way, waking up to dried out dead pet on the floor.

reply to post by Crakeur


Interesting stuff-the octopus is truly an amazing creature (and quite a sneaky one so it seems)
This one was rehoused in the shark tank at an aquarium........ and ended up eating the sharks!



[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

Aw...that last video is horrible...I just couldn't watch it all...*whimper!*

I've seem film before of an octopus solving problems and mazes and other little games, and it's totally amazing how they learn so quickly.

And Crakeur....I *love* your story...

Cait

Originally posted by caitlinfae
Aw...that last video is horrible...I just couldn't watch it all...*whimper!*

I've seem film before of an octopus solving problems and mazes and other little games, and it's totally amazing how they learn so quickly.

Sorry about the last vid~how about a nice dish of macaronatha

Your not wrong about octopuses being very intelligent,it seems they may work together in order to free themselves from their tanks (someting like a cephlapod version of The Great Escape):

Octopuses at the market try clever techniques to escape the stall owner; one will crawl from the tank, then, when the stall owner goes to retrieve it and her back is turned, the others will make a run for freedom. One octopus currently living in Germany, and originating from Morocco, learnt to unscrew the lids of jars, after observing its human keeper demonstrate the technique

Heres a pic of one caught in the act:
upload.wikimedia.org..." target='_blank' class='tabOff'/>



[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

Originally posted by ziggystar60
I had no idea that octopi are that intelligent! Perhaps poor Otto is just bored, and that is why he has turned into kind of a hooligan?

Perhaps they should give hime some puzzles to solve to keep him busy?

Like a Rubkis cube

Marine experts have given 25 octopuses a Rubik's Cube each in a study aimed at easing their stress levels in captivity.

www.dailymail.co.uk...

They are very smart creatures, huh? Very cute thread. He needs a mate to keep him company.