Wednesday, May 30, 2018

May 30/2018

Feature:
8 Fun Facts About Octopi — Or Is It Octopuses?

“The octopus is one of nature’s most delightful oddities: an 8-armed, wildly intelligent, oddly graceful creature that’s fascinated storytellers, chefs, & cephalopod fans for generations…

1. They’re arms, not tentacles
…the extremities of an octopus really are arms. An octopus has 4 pairs of them, & they all move independently, with a highly sophisticated nervous system — 2/3 of an octopus’ neurons are in its arms. This allows them to grasp & grapple potential prey & objects they want to manipulate much more easily…

2. Octopi can fit through almost anything
As long as an aperture is large enough for an octopus’ beak, it’s on… That trait comes in handy for octopi living in captivity, who have been known to confound zookeepers with their escape skills.

3. My, what tasty suckers you have, dear
Octopi have a pretty impressive set of incredibly strong suckers, but did you know that they can taste objects through their suckers? This helps them get a better sense of their surroundings, discriminate between friend & foe…

4. Octopi use tools
Tool use is extremely rare among animals…when octopi were observed building shelters for themselves out of coconut shells, their tiki style made humans sit up & take notice. The animals are clearly making a conscious decision to carry & use the shells, illustrating that they understand tool use & know how to use the environment around them to their advantage.

5. Octopi can regrow their arms- but arms can’t grow into octopi
…if an octopus loses an arm, she can regrow it, which is a pretty nifty trick. Octopi can actually drop their arms to confuse predators, although this is a plan of last resort since growing new ones takes a while. Thanks to the concentration of neurons in their arms, the detached arm can keep wriggling in a rather convincing way while the octopus escapes to safety.

6. The more to love you with
Octopui have a grand total of 3 hearts…2 of them are devoted exclusively to circulation throughout the body, & the 3rd circulates oxygen through the organs. While octopi swim, this 3rd heart doesn’t beat, which cuts down on their stamina, which explains why crawling through the water is preferred to cruising.

7. Octopus ink is an irritant
While cooks use octopus ink — along with inks from other cephalopods like cuttlefish — & it’s by no means toxic, it is an irritant. It’s designed to confuse enemies not just by clouding the waters, but also mangling the vision, sense of taste, & smell of predators so the octopus has time to get away.

8. Octopuses, Octopi, or Octopodes?
…’Octopus’ comes from Ancient Greek… many authorities generally agree that ‘octopuses’ is the most reasonable pluralization…”


s.e. smith 
Jan. 15/ 2018
Care2.com

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