

Octopuses Carry Coconuts as Instant Shelters - kqr2
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/12/091214-octopus-carries-coconuts-coconut-carrying.html

======
johnyzee
There was a story not long ago about an octopus in a German aquarium.
Apparently, the museum noticed that a particular lamp was always broken. With
the help of surveillance, they discovered that every night, an octopus in a
nearby tank would climb his tank to an elevated position and shortcircuit the
lamp by spitting water on it. The lamp had been disturbing the squid's sleep,
causing it to take active measures.

They display extraordinary intelligence for such a 'different' creature. As
far as I know their nearest related species is the spider, which also displays
a very high degree of aptitude for its kind.

Edit: Here's the story:
[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3328...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3328480/Otto-
the-octopus-wrecks-havoc.html)

~~~
StrawberryFrog
_As far as I know their nearest related species is the spider_

A cephalopod's ( <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalopod> ) closest relative
is an arachnid? I don't think so.

~~~
johnyzee
Wikipedia has taken all the fun out of arguing :). Thanks for the correction.

------
bmalicoat
Octopuses (or my preferred octopodes :) are so amazing. I never get tired of
watching videos of them mimic (see prawn's comment), escape from boxes (
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-azBDt0kik> ), and camouflage themselves (
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NQUqR_YpsA> ). Can't wait until I can buy
clothes with chromatophores.

------
willwagner
For a while, I was really into fishkeeping and really wanted to get an octopus
as a pet. They are supposedly really smart and quickly learn new tasks (like
the opening of a jar).

The problem with having them in a small tank is that they are amazing escape
artists and can slip through the smallest of holes. Also as a downer, they
typically live only 12-18mos and they can't be bred in captivity, so I
eventually gave up the idea.

------
viraptor
Ah... so that's how coconuts migrate. There is no string, or birds.

------
Alex3917
National Geographic video of an octopus eating a shark:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9A-oxUMAy8>

~~~
dunstad
A song inspired by that video (or possibly a similar one):
<http://www.jonathancoulton.com/2007/06/07/im-back-2/>

------
tdm911
Whilst this is amazing to watch, I have to admit I didn't even know that
Octopuses could walk around on their tentacles like they do in the video.

~~~
prawn
Indonesian Mimic Octopus (mimics lion fish, sea snake, flounder)
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8oQBYw6xxc>

Octopus as a coconut rolling on ocean floor
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wgla5smg64>

Opening a jar <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocWF6d0nelY>

------
enntwo
Very cool, but I have to question one statement from the article.

"""The coconut-carrying behavior makes the veined octopus the newest member of
the elite club of tool-using animals—and the first member without a backbone,
researchers say."""

What about hermit crabs, trap door spiders, and those crabs that build refuse
that they find on their shells as camo?

In each of these cases the organism is using an external object(s) as a form
of shelter/protection/camo, in the same way the octopus is. While we are more
accustomed to them as they are common, there seems to be very few differences
in behavior. We are simply seeing the first generation of a new trait amongst
some octopi. Of course any new trait, especially one as nifty as this is cool,
it seems like a stretch to call them the first invertibrate tool-user.

~~~
johnyzee
I believe the stated difference is that, contrary to e.g. the hermit crab, the
octopus found the tool in one place, then took it somewhere else (to the other
coconut half) in order to use it, exhibiting a planning capability beyond just
taking advantage of the immediate surroundings.

It does seem a rather arbitrary criterion (trap door spiders seem to plan
rather well too) but that is the reasoning they stated.

------
eam
What intrigues me the most is how a sea creature like the octopus can take
advantage of an element that's not even from its domain.

~~~
bmalicoat
I think these octopuses are found in relatively shallow waters so coconuts
washing out to this area from beaches is not entirely uncommon.

------
antirez
First time I see an Hacker Octopus.

------
nalbyuites
I first saw this in Robert Full's TED talk.
[http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/robert_full_on_animal_mov...](http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/robert_full_on_animal_movement.html)

------
araneae
Repeat, sort of: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=994797>

------
leej
how does it understand coconut shell does protect him?

------
gfodor
Some hack. (I'm guessing that's the joke here?)

------
bediger
An English Octopus or an African Octopus?

------
horseass
If i remember, they used to have shells in their evolutionary history (like
the nautilus).

