{ENJOY & LEARN Series} - A Playful Octopus
An octopus, just off Crete, that feels playful, or just loves having its head rubbed. Notice how others try to join, but it only goes to its first friend.
Anecdotal Comment:
I'm confident that most people would not have the heart to play with it and then take it home to eat - you wouldn't, would you?
ENJOY & LEARN Series
Now and then I will make posts under this heading. They will be videos and articles I find interesting, which also teach me something. I hope you enjoy and find them educational.
Very cute. Is that common behavior for an octopus?
I have another video where someone found an octopus stranded. It would have died, but he carried it to the water. Days later he came to the same area and while wading in the shallow water, the octopus came to him and, obviously, caressed his leg - we can only assume it was thanking him, or, was aware that he saved it. That fact that it did so a day or two later shows they are capable of remembering.
I have another post, I think it was called "Alien of the Deep" which is about a study made about the specie and they were shocked at its intelligence. They decided the octopus has not evolved further because the mother dies as soon as the babies are born/hatch. It means she cannot pass on her accumulated wisdom. Octopus do not stay in groups, which also holds them back.
However, thanks to us destructive humans, they have found that in the Med (off Italy) they are starting to form groups so as to successfully feed themselves. The scientists are hoping this turns out to be a major breakthrough for the specie. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have our children going to school with their descendants?
EDIT: Sorry, did not answer. Not common, but they are curious about us and don't always swim away when they see divers.
Interesting that they are starting to form groups and that scientist are able to study this evolutionarial change in their behavior. Do you know if such behavior has been seen in other regions? Or is it unique to the Mediterranean?
They said it is unique - and probably depends on divers and fishing boats cotinuing so that they need to act together to feed off fish they normally cannot hunt. I guess that after a few generations it will become a way of life. The good thing is that various generations are working together, which is crucial to their experiment (by the octopus) being a success.