foxnews.com— Marine biologists studying wild octopuses have found a kinky and violent society of jealous murders, gender subterfuge and once-in-a-lifetime sex.
Apr 2, 2008View in Crawl 4
Octopi cannot lie or cheat in a way that is humanly perceptible. In order to establish that something is a lie or deception, you need to be able to communicate with the creature. So far, we have not established meaningful dialog with any members of the animal kingdom. Therefore, we can't determine that an octopus lied to another octopus any more than we can discern their political and religious views.I wish so many articles would stop anthropomorphizing animals.
Old news... Cephalapods are up there in terms of intelligence and communication with dolphins, whales, apes, monkeys, and us... By the way...cuttlefish are way cooler than octipii. This study is actually a carbon copy of a study performed on cuttlefish over a year ago.
I don't think they mentioned it in the article, but the non-sneaker males are larger and bullying each other physically to garner the female's attention. The smaller 'sneaker' male can't compete in this way, so he swims by while disguised as a female to get close. It's hypothesized by the scientists performing the study that the female chooses this male because he displays intelligence and cunning that will give her offspring a better chance of survival. It's not just some 'article' sensationalizing and anthromorphizing... It's the most logical and valid hypothesis, and it's worth reporting on. I wish so many tunnel-vision-slashdot-clone nerds would stop being so anti-anthromorph.
paraxApr 3, 2008
Octopi cannot lie or cheat in a way that is humanly perceptible. In order to establish that something is a lie or deception, you need to be able to communicate with the creature. So far, we have not established meaningful dialog with any members of the animal kingdom. Therefore, we can't determine that an octopus lied to another octopus any more than we can discern their political and religious views.I wish so many articles would stop anthropomorphizing animals.
Closed AccountApr 3, 2008
Old news... Cephalapods are up there in terms of intelligence and communication with dolphins, whales, apes, monkeys, and us... By the way...cuttlefish are way cooler than octipii. This study is actually a carbon copy of a study performed on cuttlefish over a year ago.
Closed AccountApr 3, 2008
I don't think they mentioned it in the article, but the non-sneaker males are larger and bullying each other physically to garner the female's attention. The smaller 'sneaker' male can't compete in this way, so he swims by while disguised as a female to get close. It's hypothesized by the scientists performing the study that the female chooses this male because he displays intelligence and cunning that will give her offspring a better chance of survival. It's not just some 'article' sensationalizing and anthromorphizing... It's the most logical and valid hypothesis, and it's worth reporting on. I wish so many tunnel-vision-slashdot-clone nerds would stop being so anti-anthromorph.
generalkickassApr 3, 2008
Hehehe....reminds me of the Todd.
thecaterpillarApr 3, 2008
kind of like humans
jonsblckhwkApr 3, 2008
Fox news woudl be out of business if it weren't for sex.
Closed AccountApr 3, 2008
not neat!
bat_21Apr 3, 2008
BEGIN THE CLAW-PLAUGH!