I try to get to the aquarium when I visit different cities, mostly to check out the cephalopods. I was told that the National Aquarium in Washington D.C. is amazing. I'll be there the first week in November for
CSI, so I am hoping I can sneak away for a few hours to visit.
This caught my attention:
There are even hints that octopuses have a sense of humor, Linden [author of The Octopus and the Orangutan: More True Tales of Animal Intrigue, Intelligence, and Ingenuity] says.
He talks about the finicky octopus who, in a lab in Pennsylvania, was served slightly spoiled shrimp. The octopus refused to finish its dinner, and when the feeding researcher returned to its tank, the octopus made eye contact with her, then meaningfully pushed all the shrimp down the drain.
This reminded me of the cuttlefish at the Seattle Aquarium that seemed to be mimicking the way people were walking behind me, on two legs as humans often do. He moved two of his tentacles walking them across the gravel at the bottom of the tank.
He moved his body forward as he moved his tentacles and really appeared to be walking.
Labels: aquarium, cephalopods, cuttlefish, octopus