Washington Post Goes to the National Aquarium
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:
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.
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.
Labels: aquarium, cephalopods, cuttlefish, octopus
6 Comments:
I'll be curious to get your feedback, on the National Aquarium. I was there several years ago and was quite surprised by how small it was. I've been a larger pet stores.
Here because a co-worker pointed me to the CSI conference.
An alternative would be to visit the Invertebrates cavern at the National Zoo (off the Woodley Park / Zoo Metro stop in DC, on the Red Line). I was there a few weeks ago and they had a lot of critters including baby cuttlefish and a very active giant Pacific octopus. http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/Invertebrates/Exhibit/default.cfm
That sounds pretty cool too. Maybe I can hit both in one day. Thanks for the suggestion.
Hey Window, Congrats on your Black Enterprise section. I was interested in internet security at one point so wanted to find out more about your background. Happy holidays.
Mike
I love to watch octopi. Some of the colors they flash are amazing. I've seen them do electric blue, purple, and something like fluorescent orange. Once, off the coast of the Big Island, I swam with two in the open ocean. It was quite a sight. I got to close to one and it inked me. They are wonderful creatures.
They are incredible. Since this is the second time this has come up today I think I need to get to the aquarium this weekend and park myself in front of the octopus tank for a while.
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