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How big is the biggest octopus? Are they wise?
Do you know the biggest octopus?

Octopus has about 65,438+000 suckers of different sizes on each wrist, which can hold cats tightly, so it is considered as their most terrible weapon. In legend, octopus is often depicted as a fierce sea monster.

At present, the largest octopus known is the common Pacific octopus, and divers are keen to fight these large animals. 1 On February 8th, 973, Hagen, a diver, caught1octopus by wrestling with one hand in the Xiahood Canal18.3m depth in Washington. Its wrist radius is 7.8 meters and it weighs 53.6 kilograms. Another report said: "1896, 1 1 In June, a pile of marine animal remains weighing about 6-7 tons was found on the coast of Augustine, Florida, USA. It was not until 1970 that this pile of debris was confirmed to be the remains of a large octopus after testing by the National Museum of America in Washington. It is estimated that the wrist and foot can open up to 6 1 meter. "

Octopus is invertebrate, mollusk, cephalopod and octopus.

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Scientists have found that octopus is surprisingly clever and "too clever"

Author: Zhu Xiang

Will octopus's own rule come?

Octopus walks upright when it escapes, which changes the traditional concept of human beings.

Octopus has stronger thinking ability than ordinary animals.

On the earth where we live, there are about 6.5438+0 million kinds of animals. Like human beings, they follow the principle of "natural selection, survival of the fittest". In order to avoid enemies and protect their survival and species reproduction, some animals will dress up their shapes as lifelike as objects in the external environment.

Octopus is an expert in this field. In order to avoid being killed by predators, octopus not only uses the well-known mimicry camouflage technology and "wrist guard" technology, but also recently, American scientists have discovered an "intelligent" octopus in the Indian Ocean, which can walk on two feet and escape. This discovery was published in the new authoritative academic journal Science.

It can imitate sea snakes, lionfish and coral, and can walk on two feet.

Mimicry refers to a way for animals to change their "dress up" according to their surrounding environment to escape natural enemies or catch prey. In nature, the mimicry ability of animals can be described as varied. There is a very strange bird in the jungle of Africa. Its mimicry ability is amazing. When it landed on the branch, it spread its wings and looked like five beautiful petals. Its head is a bright stamen. This clever disguise can not only deceive the attack of the giant eagle, but also easily catch the stupid bug that was cheated to "collect honey". However, compared with the "master camouflage" octopus, the mimicry of this bird seems to be slightly inferior.

Octopus can not only spray ink six times in a row, but also change its color and structure like the most flexible chameleon, becoming like a stone covered with algae, and then suddenly pouncing on its prey, which has no time to realize what happened. Octopus can use its flexible wrist to crawl between rocks, cracks and seabed, sometimes disguised as a pile of coral, and sometimes disguised as a pile of shiny gravel. Mark Norman of the University of Melbourne in Australia found an octopus in the estuary waters near Sulawesi Island in Indonesia in 1998. It can quickly imitate into poisonous creatures such as sea snakes, lionfish and jellyfish to avoid attacks.

Scientists are surprised to find that octopus in marine life can move on foot in the sea.

Christine Huffard of the University of California, Berkeley and her research team published a paper in the recent Science magazine, pointing out that they accidentally found some octopus walking on the seabed in the Indian Ocean. They had two feet.

In the tropical waters of Indonesia, an octopus named Maginettes was photographed. It's about the size of an apple. When faced with danger or encountering divers, this octopus will bend and fold six of its eight claws upward to make a coconut shell, while the remaining two claws will stand on the bottom of the sea and secretly move backwards, striding backwards to escape like a moving coconut. The posture is funny. Another octopus, Akulitus, is as big as a walnut. It can also walk on two feet, but the other six feet extend outward to simulate the appearance of seaweed.

When analyzing why they choose the "bipedal" walking mode and why they imitate coconuts, the research team found that the speed of walking with two brachiopods is far faster than that with eight brachiopods, and the fastest speed of the former is about 0. 14 meters per second. In an interview with Nature magazine, Failde pointed out that the imitation of octopus Maguinetes as coconuts may be related to the rich coconuts falling from the nearby seabed.

Octopus has three hearts and two memory systems, and there are 500 million neurons in the brain.

At first, Huffard was shocked when observing the "bipedal walking" of octopus, because so far, they haven't found any underwater creatures that walk with "bipedal walking".

Moreover, in the animal kingdom, scientific theory holds that only two structures can promote biped movement, one is a species with hard bones and freely retractable skeletal muscles, and the other is a joint that coordinates their limb movements and makes them walk.

Obviously, the octopus's wrist has no joints, no bones or skeletal muscles, but it did it. Biologists believe that this kind of brachiopod activity of octopus is very unique, and its camouflage "skill" really needs a little "brain". However, octopus has only a few nerves from its wrist to its brain. How can it stretch freely and pose many unexpected postures such as coconut and seaweed?

Jim cosgrove, an expert who has been engaged in octopus research for many years, pointed out that octopus has "conceptual thinking" and can solve complex problems by itself. It is this ability that gives it the ability to walk on two feet. Jim cosgrove wrote in the French magazine le Figaro that octopus is one of the most different creatures that have ever appeared on earth. Octopus has developed eyes, which is the only similarity between it and humans. It is very different from humans in other aspects: octopus has three hearts and two memory systems (one is the brain memory system, and the other is directly connected with the sucker). Octopus has 500 million neurons and some very sensitive chemical and tactile receptors in its brain. This unique neural structure makes it have more thinking ability than ordinary animals.

Scientists have found that octopus can solve complex problems by itself and has so-called "conceptual intelligence". copy

Scientists once did an experiment on octopus: scientists put a glass bottle with lobster in water, but the bottle mouth was blocked with a cork. After circling the bottle several times, the octopus entangled it with its tentacles, then fiddled with the cork from all angles with its tentacles, and finally pulled it out successfully, thus having a full meal. According to the research, this experiment shows that octopus can solve complex problems by itself, that is, it has so-called "conceptual intelligence" After further research, scientists also found that octopus has lived alone since birth. Small octopus can learn the skills it should have in a short time, and unlike most animals, small octopus's learning is not based on the teaching of its elders. Although their parents inherited some abilities from them, the small octopus developed its own ability to solve new problems by learning to hunt, disguise and find a better place to live alone.

Too "smart" octopus has also aroused the anxiety of scientists.

He Failde said: "This discovery greatly enriches human understanding of octopus behavior and is also very enlightening, because it proves that it is entirely possible for octopus to walk in other ways, or there are other animals that can walk on two feet on the seabed." In addition, understanding how octopus controls and coordinates the other eight soft brachiopods will help engineers to design more flexible mechanical arms or brainless robots.

However, the octopus that seems to be too "smart" also makes some scientists feel uneasy. Thousands of years have passed, and the octopus family has become more and more intelligent. Some octopus can secrete a super toxin that can kill people, and some octopus (such as deep-sea octopus) turn their sucker into a luminous organ to attract prey. ...

Jules verne once dreamed that a giant octopus named Oak Topsy ruled the waters along the North Pacific from California to Japan. In the American blockbuster "The Matrix", there is a scene that you may remember. When Zion's soldiers returned to the spaceship, they were attacked by a group of intelligent octopus. Their "wrists" are both ruthless and accurate, and they are extremely lethal. Perhaps Hollywood screenwriters have also seen the special potential of octopus, so it is no wonder that some people predict that the latent octopus is waiting for its own rule.

Article source: Beijing Science and Technology News

Original paper source: huffard C., BoneKaf. &; FullR。 Science (2005), 307. 1927