Ask the Octopus

Do you ever wonder what alien life could be like? what it could turn into?

I'm interested in intelligent animals that aren't mammals - Snakes for example are quite clever I used to have 3 as pets, the way European Adders compete for mates is about the most civilized in the animal kingdom, I think they're less stupid then people.

This is a rather marvelous UK advert for cravendale; On the perils of cats with thumbs!!
YouTube 🙂

But what if an animal could...well....
YouTube
An octopus has better! and they are suprisingly clever - and 'alien' evolving weirdly in water. I'm not sure where they fall between cats and snakes, but could be smarter then both!

I learnt something new the other day - an octopus has a donut shaped brain with its esophagus running through it - unlike my learned friends on here 🙂

But could they evolve / have evolved into something quite clever - capable of human like intelligence - interetingly some myths of giant sea monsters - kraken are quite close to the octopus family - Cephalopods - they're known to reach 13m and there could be bigger ones we don't know about as they swim very deep and surface rarely...

So - there could be aliens in the depths - and i wonder to the creationists on here - why would god devise such a brain?

another video - on cuttlefish and what happens when you put one on a chessboard;
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Originally posted by e4chris
another video - on cuttlefish and what happens when you put one on a chessboard;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__XA6B41SQQ&NR=1&feature=endscreen

They just appeared around 400 million years ago. Yeah, right! No evilutionists would question that. However, everything a creationists says is quickly disbelieved. God created all creatures to show some of His power and glory and to show how stupid man is compared to God.

The Instructor

Originally posted by RJHinds
They just appeared around 400 million years ago. Yeah, right! No evilutionists would question that. However, everything a creationists says is quickly disbelieved. God created all creatures to show some of His power and glory and to show how stupid man is compared to God.

The Instructor

Well he apparently sized up your intellect correctly, lol.

Originally posted by RJHinds
They just appeared around 400 million years ago. Yeah, right! No evilutionists would question that. However, everything a creationists says is quickly disbelieved. God created all creatures to show some of His power and glory and to show how stupid man is compared to God.

The Instructor

Its a good video other then the 400 million year bit!

I don't have a problem with creationism at all but if you stick to 6000 years the fact there are books written before that could cause trouble... But ... looking for fossils of 'mythical' kraken like creatures would be difficult? the sea would break them down i think.

edit - even the daily mail say they exist ... but they have not been given a column yet 🙂
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2047699/Sea-monster-100ft-Kraken-exists-claims-scientist-Mark-McMenamin.html

You may think my line about the donut brain was just a dig, it wasn't, it really is true. Here's a diagram i found;
http://tolweb.org/tree/ToLimages/vampBrainLat.jpg

I have to admit it was a dig at 'people' in general. Perhaps gordon ramsay could open one up to prove it to us - is that right though given the poor creature could well be smarter then him?

As for kraken - look up pictures on that - and some of them are quite possible...

look its a pesky kraken! best picture i can find...
http://glennzo.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Screen-shot-2012-09-04-at-6.54.07-PM.png

found this too http://www.octopusintelligence.com/ a book...

Heres a right-up on keeping an Octopus as a pet
http://www.aboutfishonline.com/articles/octopus.html

''Plus, because they are so smart they need to be entertained. Research studies have shown that octopuses are even capable of observational learning.''

''In addition, octopuses are able to survive for short periods of time out of the water. Some aquarists report that their octopus leaves its own tank, goes across the room and enters a different tank, eats some of the fish or crustaceans, then travels back to its own tank.''

I had a black king snake that did the same - no matter how much tape and books were placed on the lid it half opened it by morning, broke out several times and once tried to break into the other snakes tank to eat it, was caught doing so. And it tamed and fed well. It sounds like octopus are much smarter, snakes quite often bite the hand that feeds, its a problem with them even tame ones.

the ideal pet snake is snappy in its tank but doesn't bite once its picked up

people buy royal pythons as they're very good natured, but i think they make bad pets as there to timid to feed in captivity well. King snakes and larger rat snakes make good pets, they bite but the teeth are so small they can't draw blood. Wouldn't want an octopus I knew people who kept venomous snakes and an octopus sounds a bit like that - risky and expensive.

The Octopus says i'm a donut, esophagus is not the correct spelling and rj is definately using a computer!

a laptop that is 🙂 🙂

If i get another snake it will be one of these - red tailed green ratsnake -apparently can be nervy

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3207/3035509841_c585161443.jpg
http://www.snakeeducation.com/photos/snakes/New%20Red%20Tailed%20Green%20Rat%20May%2005%201.JPG

think they are a good way to study biology...

Snakes are .... not very clever .... but the Octopus is graded 1840 on here ... not bad so far 🙂 🙂

There's quite a few youtube vids on 'snake fails' was trying to find a funny one . but theres loads of live feeding - thats not legal in the UK and rats especially can fight - kill the snake... bad idea... your supposed to wave a dead mouse infront of them if they are picky and pray for your fingers!

here are some mean snakes
YouTube

here are some cute snakes - royal pythons
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Anaconda v Human - wouldn't want to try that with a full sized one!!
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