Octopuses handed Rubik's Cubes
- added July 9, 2008
- 27 responses
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- Callie2
- added this
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Twenty-five octopuses have been given Rubik's Cubes in a research study but marine experts don't expect them to crack the puzzle.
Instead they want to determine if the sea molluscs have a favourite tentacle for picking things up.
Scientists believe the intelligent sea creatures have a preferred arm out of eight that they use to feed and investigate with - just like humans are right or left-handed.
They are testing the theory with a month-long observation project at 23 Sea Life Centres across Britain and Europe by giving them food and toys to play with.
Claire Little, marine expert at the Sea Life Centre in Weymouth, Dorset, said the study could also help to reduce stress among octopuses.
She said: "It will be very interesting to see the results.
"Uniquely, octopuses have more than half their nerves in their arms and have even been shown to partially think with their arms.
"We hope the study will help the overall well-being of octopuses. They are very susceptible to stress so if they do have a favourite side to be fed on, it could reduce risk to them."
A diagram of an octopus will sit alongside the tanks with the arms on the right labelled R1, R2, R3 and R4 from front to back. The left arms will be numbered in the same way but with an L instead of an R.
When items such as a ball, a jam jar and Lego bricks are dropped into the water visitors can note down which arm was closest to the object and which arm picked it up.
If the octopus uses several arms, they must write them all down but in the order they touched it.
Staff at the centre will also do the same during feeding time.
Miss Little said: "Visitors will be handed a form asking them to participate in our study.
"We will add the results to all of the data that has already been collected about octopuses. It will also help towards solving the mystery of handiness in the animal kingdom."
The results will be analysed by Sea Life Centre biologists and the results will be announced in the autumn.
Instead they want to determine if the sea molluscs have a favourite tentacle for picking things up.
Scientists believe the intelligent sea creatures have a preferred arm out of eight that they use to feed and investigate with - just like humans are right or left-handed.
They are testing the theory with a month-long observation project at 23 Sea Life Centres across Britain and Europe by giving them food and toys to play with.
Claire Little, marine expert at the Sea Life Centre in Weymouth, Dorset, said the study could also help to reduce stress among octopuses.
She said: "It will be very interesting to see the results.
"Uniquely, octopuses have more than half their nerves in their arms and have even been shown to partially think with their arms.
"We hope the study will help the overall well-being of octopuses. They are very susceptible to stress so if they do have a favourite side to be fed on, it could reduce risk to them."
A diagram of an octopus will sit alongside the tanks with the arms on the right labelled R1, R2, R3 and R4 from front to back. The left arms will be numbered in the same way but with an L instead of an R.
When items such as a ball, a jam jar and Lego bricks are dropped into the water visitors can note down which arm was closest to the object and which arm picked it up.
If the octopus uses several arms, they must write them all down but in the order they touched it.
Staff at the centre will also do the same during feeding time.
Miss Little said: "Visitors will be handed a form asking them to participate in our study.
"We will add the results to all of the data that has already been collected about octopuses. It will also help towards solving the mystery of handiness in the animal kingdom."
The results will be analysed by Sea Life Centre biologists and the results will be announced in the autumn.
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I love that visitors are asked to participate in the study.
Long live interaction. -
that was a pretty cool idea... its nice to see that people are taking care of animals.
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Octupi play favorites with their arms...who'd a thought? But if some of the arms are smarter than other arms, maybe so. Or maybe they affectionately refer to their "dumb" arm, the one that just doesn't get things (literally).
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Dude someone must have been on drugs when they came up with this one...
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Haha, As a stencil artist, the octopus is my "symbol" so I love this!!
I'll be getting a tattoo of one soon, too!!-
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- Midnight_DevilX
- 2 months ago
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I saw the headline and got far too excited because I presumed the aim was to see if the octupi could solve the puzzles. Now that's science!
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That story had less exciting results than the headline lead on. I thought we going to run into some genius species.
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- huffamoose2k
- 2 months ago
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Cute. I wish I had a favourite tenticle.
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Fun. I like the octopus. It would be fun to participate in such a study. Dropping things in water is fun for children. Bring a child....drop them in. I mean have them drop something in. ha.
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Wouldn't it be great if it happened that the octopi actually solved the Rubick's Cubes? Having seen some documentaries about the intelligence of these cephalopods, I wouldn't put it past them. :)
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- Vierotchka
- 2 months ago
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...and why couldn't the journalist use Octopi instead of "Octopuses"...?
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There are three forms of the plural of octopus; namely, octopuses, octopi, and octopodes. Since octopus stems from Greek and not from Latin, octopi is probably the least correct form.
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- Vierotchka
- 2 months ago
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Same as hippopotamae and hippopotamuses. If in doubt, go with 'hippos'. :-)
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These things are so dexterous: they can open jam jars if they think there's food in there. They can also turn their stomachs inside out...
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Humans "think" with their arms too, ask any musician. My fingers always decide what notes to play.
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- celestialceiling
- 2 months ago
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Haha, I really thought this article was going to be about octopuses being intellegent enough to solve rubik's cubes.
I usually pick things up with my right hand, I think they will find something similar in octopusues. -
I thought they'd done the cubes too! But thios is still great, I like it!
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I wonder if chimpanzees could solve rubix cubes. Then we could have chimp vs. human at the International Rubik's Cube Competition! -
imagine if money was spent on things that actually mattered,,,,i mean does anyone care if an octopus is right or left handed? cut them up ..place on rice and give me some soy sauce,,,,spend money researching thing like...oh i don't know....cancer...cardiac disease...or maybe how it's possible that magic johnson has yet to show signs of the hiv he was diagnosed with almost 20 years ago....just a though...
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- bigstretch
- 2 months ago
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This seems like something that shouldn't have money spent on it....want to reduce stress in the life of octopi? Don't hold them in captivity.
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- SilenceNoMore
- 2 months ago
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How much money do you think it takes to hand an octopus a Rubik's Cube?
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- celestialceiling
- 2 months ago
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We know as much about deep-sea life as we do about life outside this planet. I hope this opens a door to new funding of marine biology!
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- celestialceiling
- 2 months ago
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I love octopuses! I could just hug em and squeeze them all day! ...and eat them... Actually, I really hope it understands how the pieces spin around the axis, if not that, maybe they'd understand the colors don't match and make some sort of attempt.
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