Aussie scientists find coconut-carrying octopus

[ccharles000]

SYDNEY— Australian scientists have discovered an octopus in Indonesia that collects coconut shells for shelter _ unusually sophisticated behavior that the researchers believe is the first evidence of tool use in an invertebrate animal.

The scientists filmed the veined octopus, Amphioctopus marginatus, selecting halved coconut shells from the sea floor, emptying them out, carrying them under their bodies up to 65 feet (20 meters), and assembling two shells together to make a spherical hiding spot.

Julian Finn and Mark Norman of Museum Victoria in Melbourne observed the odd activity in four of the creatures during a series of dive trips to North Sulawesi and Bali in Indonesia between 1998 and 2008. Their findings were published Tuesday in the journal Current Biology.

"I was gobsmacked," said Finn, a research biologist at the museum who specializes in cephalopods. "I mean, I've seen a lot of octopuses hiding in shells, but I've never seen one that grabs it up and jogs across the sea floor. I was trying hard not to laugh."

Octopuses often use foreign objects as shelter. But the scientists found the veined octopus going a step further by preparing the shells, carrying them long distances and reassembling them as shelter elsewhere.

That's an example of tool use, which has never been recorded in invertebrates before, Finn said.

http://www.rr.com/news/topic/article/rr/9000/9785383/Aussie_scientists_find_coconut-carrying_octopus

[Dogtown]

1. K&R n/t

[Are_grits_groceries]

2. Why the surprise?

If a gormless group of Rethugs can use just the threat of a filibuster to block everything but bowels, then why shouldn't a higher form of life such as an octopus use a coconut for some purpose?

[yodoobo]

3. I for one, welcome our new Octopus overlords

[Jamastiene]

7. All 8 tentacles of it.

:thumbsup:

[whistler162]

4. But did it take the lime and put it in the coconut?

[Jamastiene]

8. OH NOES!!! Earworm...

I actually have had that song as an earworm for a solid month now. I cannot see the word lime or the word coconut without thinking of that song.

[Irreverend IX]

5. Octopi are known to be quite intelligent...

I'm surprised that tool use hasn't been recorded among them before.

[Jamastiene]

6. That is so cool. Did you see the video of the crow making and using tools?

That was amazing too.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8023295.stm

[SpiralHawk]

9. I'd like to be, under the sea...

[Lochloosa]

10. Video here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DoWdHOtlrk

[merh]

11. I used to scuba

One time I was diving the jetties and before I went under I noticed a fisherman standing on the rocks casting his line. He didn't seem to be having much luck and he wasn't very happy.

Once under I saw an octopus sitting across from where the fisherman stood. He would grab the fisherman's line with one tentacle and would steal his bait with the other, then he would release the line. There was no tugging or fight for the bait, it just seemed rather methodical and simple.

The fisherman never did figure it out.