I just was wondering if there is any proof that certain species of Octopus excell in certain types of thinking, I've searched for info, :read: and haven't found anything that points to that, but maybe one of you more experienced members may know. Please post both knowledge and theories, OV!

I don't think that there is anything online, scratch that--there is anything online, try out a search engine. :)

Ok, thanks, I'll go try that out! :)
EDIT: Couldn't find anything! Everything I found was too general and didn't help at all! Maybe :oshea: or another specialist on this site could lend a little insght.

There's a lot of research left to be done on octopus behavior. However, some of our members may have some experiences or insight - you've posted this over the Thanksgiving holiday, so be patient, not all our members are online at the moment.

I haven't personally come across anything on this subject and my personal experience is with only one species.

Nancy

Okay! Thanks Nancy, and just out of curiosity, which species was it?

Hi OctopusV,

I have Ollie, a female O.bimaculoides (bimac). She's been with me since last March.

If you look back through the Journals and Photos, you'll find lots of Ollie pics.

Nancy

I just was wondering if there is any proof that certain species of Octopus excell in certain types of thinking, I've searched for info, :read: and haven't found anything that points to that, but maybe one of you more experienced members may know. Please post both knowledge and theories, OV!

That's a really good question!!! I'm not familiar with any comparative work having been done either. This would be a fantastic subject for someone to research - focus to date really has been on who's the largest, longest or heaviest, or with research concentrating on differentiating species - but just who the most 'intelligent octopus' is .... well, there's a documentary in that!
O

Thanks, Prof. O'Shea, I've wanted to speak with you ever scince I saw you in one of Clyde F. E. Roper's televised expeditions. If I'm lucky, someday there will be an experiment to find this out, with all the bigwigs of the teuthology feild participating, but alas, it is still just an idea. :idea:

..... not too sure who that Prof fella is. You know that you don't have to wait to undertake experimentation like this; as Tonmo community such an experiment could be undertaken (although there would be many different tank environments/few controls).

Determine the species, come up with a series of simple tasks, and see what species does what, in how long, and whether any particular octopus species is a savant.

You'd all have to introduce some controls (it would best be done at one laboratory, but for now why not experiment across the Tonmo community). You could iron ouyt a few problems this way, before undertaking a larger-scale controlled experiment.
Cheers
O

I think it would be worthwhile to enlist the Tonmo (octopus-keeping) community for suich experiments.

Even the various reports of what our octopuses are doing could be valuable - look at Ink, living on long after egg laying. Or both Ollie and Ink eating during this period, while a lot of the literature says that octis don't eat after they lay eggs.

We mostly have bimacs, with a few members of other species in our community.

Nancy

It may work Nancy, asking Tonmo members to have their octos run tests they make at home, but each test would be unique, and as Dr. O'Shea put it, there would be few controls, nevertheless, I'm open to any and all suggestions as to how to pull this off.

:octopus:V here.

Here's a site that has octos running a series of tests.
:arrow: http://www.jimbolouislabs.com/visiting_the_nrcc4.htm
I've tried doing a test a month or two ago with Pudge by putting his food in different colored (one purple, two yellow) easter eggs, but he'd get bored and go back to his shell.

Thanks for the topic Nick! Too bad it only deals with O. Cyanea, and as for Pudge, I think you got stuck with the Garfield of octopuses :roll:

:idea::idea::idea: That's it! I was practically up all night thinking of this, credit goes to NickA5582, he came up with it, I just modified it, (Kinda like Mr. Edison). Here are instructions for a memory exam, please post the species of your octopus with the results, we'll try to get two of each species owned by "Tonmo-ers".


Memory Exam

1) Make sure your Octopus is watching you do this: Take two small containers, like Nick's easter eggs, each separate colors that have different tones, Octos are colorblind. (Make sure that they are opaque, so the octo can't see through them) Put food in one and water in the other. (Best to do that in the tank, underwater, so the octo can watch.)

2) Take the two containers out of the tank, and put them somewhere where the food will be fresh the next day (Or take the food out of the container without the octo watching and feed it to it then, and put new food in the next day)

3) The next day, when the Octo is at its hungriest, put the two containers in the tank, with each one containing their respective contents as the day before, time how long it takes for your Octo to find the right container, and record what he or she does exactly, in the utmost detail, and post it here along with the species, and possibly age, and whether or not it's laid eggs.


Happy testing!
OctopusV :octopus:

you'll need to make sure that the octopus cant smell the food inside the case or it'll rely on that

:shock: Um... Thanks Colin, it'd be good to use a container with a secure closing mechanism, the pop top on an easter egg, like the one Nick used would work, smell...hmm, taste and touch, I knew, but an Octopus can smell using its suckers? I read that online once, but I didn't beleive it because there were many other errors in the info they gave about Octopuses.

:shock: Um... Thanks Colin, it'd be good to use a container with a secure closing mechanism, the pop top on an easter egg, like the one Nick used would work, smell...hmm, taste and touch, I knew, but an Octopus can smell using its suckers? I read that online once, but I didn't beleive it because there were many other errors in the info they gave about Octopuses.

I don't know about smelling with the suckers but some certainly have taste receptors in them!

J

taste would be a better way of describing what i meant.

However, without actually seeing prey they do seem to get twitchy when near a crab or other food, or when the smell of their food is on your hands.

Just a control that needs monitored

On the subject of intelligence:--
We have a hand-tame Robin (small red-fronted wild bird) around our home which cannot resist mealworms. I stored some in a glass jar and when there was only one left, encouraged Robin to eat it straight from the jar. After restocking the jar, I fed it some more, leaving the jar on the ground. Robin noticed the mealworms in the jar and pecked at the glass a couple of times before flying back up into a bush (I may have moved and disturbed it before it discovered the open top?). Some more mealworms were consumed from my hand, then Robin flew up into a tree for its evening territorial singing session.
I was reluctant to let it be frustrated as there are stories of carnivorous fish bumping their nose against a glass barrier put between them and suitable prey, then never learning that they could catch them when the glass was removed!

This is a good study and definetley somthing worth pursuing bearing in mind the community available online, although the results would be indifferent as mentioned by Steve i.e. strict controls regarding environments cannot be maintained due to different spec tanks.

I tried to instigate something similar under the post ...bangin the drum or bananas? under this forum, hopefully the link below works.

The only shame is I didnt have enough time to properly sort through how to set it up an then go back and ammend it. Im sure you could take it further if you have the time to work on it, but some people gave some very intresting comments on behaviour.....if only there was enough hours in the day!!!!! :)


http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=1266


Laters

Rich :D

Wow, Neat! Thanks for that Scouse!

No worries mate, hopefully this could be expanded on and developed, as if there are some good results to sort through then maybe somewhere like the NRCC or whoever may take it on and do it properly. who knows?!?!

Suppose it needs a format for data comparison first an foremost.

Good luck!!!

Um.......... Let me clarify here for a moment, if you have an octo, some free time, and all the needed supplies, try the memory exam on your octo and post the results here.