Here were a couple of my favorite take aways:
- Squid/Octopi could be clutch in developing treatments for neurological disorders. I saw so many words in this book that I usually only see at work (dopamine, ubiquitin). I think a lot of neuroscientists are going to be keeping a close eye on these tentacled guys.
- I knew that these things were smart, but they are probably smarter than we are, comparatively. Aquarists who care for them have struggled to develop puzzles and games that keep them interested and engaged for more than a few minutes. They've even started the "Octopus Enrichment Notebook" to share ideas with each other! (Not having bones really helps you wiggle into those tiny puzzle boxes to get the prize inside.)
- The blanket octopus might be the most savage sounding animal ever: "The blanket octopus has developed a special immunity to the Portugese man-of-war's poisonous tentacles and can rip them off with it's own arms,, then wave them in the water to warn off predators". I will rip off your poisonous arms that don't bother me and wave them at other people.
-The cephalopod brain is wrapped around it's throat.
-Cephalopods live in all of our ocean's except the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea
-Humboldt squids are known to be cannibals
What I thought was really interesting about this book was that very very often a paragraph would end with something like "I mean, that's what the scientists think they are doing. It's kind of a best guess. We aren't sure. Some of them live in the deep deep parts of the ocean and don't like to be watched doing things, even when they are in captivity sooooooo....we need to keep researching!" it's exciting/scary that there is so much out there that we don't know about them. Especially since they are so smart. If they ever can figure out to live outside of water we should probably be scared.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you so much for your comment. I'd love to talk books with you!