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The mystery of social behavior in octopuses

hakaimagazine.com

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Re: The mystery of social behavior in octopuses

#3

Octopi are remarkably intelligent creatures, as any good aquarium owner will tell you.

(waiting for the recurring comments, that 2 x octopus -> octopodes or octopuses but not octopi since it's not latin 2nd declension, but rather misspelled greek)

Re: The mystery of social behavior in octopuses

#5
post #4

I'd say ask the Octopi first. Wait, can't do that? But you were about to do it anyway ? That's why you can't be friends.

Not all communication is verbal.

You can't be [friends in the same way you are friends with humans] an octopus because they are not human. I'm friends with my cat. We have a mutual social relationship and he doesn't speak a lick of English.

Re: The mystery of social behavior in octopuses

#6

Octopi are remarkably intelligent creatures, as any good aquarium owner will tell you.

An even better aquarium owner wouldn't have them at all.

My Octopus Teacher is a fantastic look into the life of an octopus, their intellectual capacity, and their propensity to interact with humans.

Re: The mystery of social behavior in octopuses

#7
post #4

I'd say ask the Octopi first. Wait, can't do that? But you were about to do it anyway ? That's why you can't be friends.

Not all communication is verbal. You can't be [friends in the same way you are friends with humans] an octopus because they are not human. I'm friends with my cat. We have a mutual social relationship and he doesn't speak a lick of English.

It is pretty amazing the extent of understanding you can achieve with an animal. After a year or so raising my pup, it feels like we have both picked up certain signals to communicate. He paws at me and then sits by the front door when he needs to go to the bathroom, for instance (although sometimes he cleverly abuses this because he just wants to go outside and play with me during worktime, but I can't fault him for that). I'm sure this is mundane for most people who are dog owners, but being my first dog I couldn't help but be impressed at the level of communication the little guy seems to be capable of.

I can't imagine they're the only animals capable of that. It certainly feels like we're friends with a mutual understanding.

Re: The mystery of social behavior in octopuses

#8

Octopi are remarkably intelligent creatures, as any good aquarium owner will tell you.

(waiting for the recurring comments, that 2 x octopus -> octopodes or octopuses but not octopi since it's not latin 2nd declension, but rather misspelled greek)

Octopus is already wrong in itself.

Re: The mystery of social behavior in octopuses

#9

Octopi are remarkably intelligent creatures, as any good aquarium owner will tell you.

(waiting for the recurring comments, that 2 x octopus -> octopodes or octopuses but not octopi since it's not latin 2nd declension, but rather misspelled greek)

Let’s not encourage the unnecessary language pedantry.

Re: The mystery of social behavior in octopuses

#10
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not all communication is verbal. You can't be [friends in the same way you are friends with humans] an octopus because they are not human. I'm friends with my cat. We have a mutual social relationship and he doesn't speak a lick of English.

It is pretty amazing the extent of understanding you can achieve with an animal. After a year or so raising my pup, it feels like we have both picked up certain signals to communicate. He paws at me and then sits by the front door when he needs to go to the bathroom, for instance (although sometimes he cleverly abuses this because he just wants to go outside and play with me during worktime, but I can't fault him for…

Dogs have lived alongside humans for millennia. They're genetically engineered animals (in the oldschool way - by breeding and selection, not in a test tube). And we've bred them largely by rewarding their ability to interact with us. Dogs are obviously quite artificial species in that sense
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