I’m back on my octopus fascination. It is easy to be fascinated with octopuses. They are the closest thing to aliens that we will ever encounter on Earth.
The author, Sy Montgomery, is a naturalist, documentary scriptwriter, and author of over twenty nature books for both adults and children. This is the first book by her I’ve read, but I’m a fan. In this case, she writes of the octopuses she encounters and interweaves the lives of the humans involved.
Over the course of the book, she spends a lot of time at the New England Aquarium in Boston as their official ‘Octopus Observer,’ and works with the staff, from the executive director to the interns. This is interspersed with a couple of diving trips to observe octopuses in the wild. There are also a lot of references to the Seattle Aquarium, a center for octopus research worldwide.
Montgomery treats the animals and people with equal sympathy and understanding. We discover that all the animals, even those without a brain, have distinct personalities. But octopuses, the main topic of the book, are special.
How special? You probably knew that they have eight arms covered with suckers. But did you know that the suckers are extremely strong? The giant Pacific octopuses we have in Puget Sound, the biggest species in the world, can easily overpower even the largest human. Those suckers can do more than suck. They can taste too. With humans, they can taste the skin and know the substances in our blood. If you change medications, they can tell. If you’re a smoker, they probably won’t like the taste of you.
Once they know (and like) a person, they can be very caring and gentle. If they don’t like you, they will probably squirt a jet of water in your face to let you know.
They are amazing at solving puzzles and at escaping. With no bones in their bodies, they can fit through the tiniest of holes. Making octopus-proof tanks is very difficult for the cleverest humans.
While octopuses are color-blind with their eyes, they can see with their skin. Like I said, they are aliens. Taste with their arms and see with their skin. It gets better.
They have nine brains, one in their head and independent brains in each of their eight arms. I knew that from reading Peter Godfrey-Smith’s Other Minds. With this much brain power, octopuses each have very strong personality traits. They are conscious. They remember people and have favorites. They can plot how to escape their tanks, steal fish in another tank, and sneak back to their tank and act like they are innocent. Octopuses will preemptively murder sharks—not eat them—to eliminate a potential predator.
The brains in each arm can act independently, making them the masters of multi-tasking. They can be touching different things with each arm, processing what they feel and taste, while other arms are hunting or eating. Now for the weirdest part: The arms have separate personalities! Some of the arms may be bolder than others. In one animal, the bolder arms will do the hunting while the more reserved arms will be timid and hang back. Of course, they are all part of the same animal, so there is only so far they can get apart. And the central brain, in the head, has some control over the arms. This sounds like some organizations I’ve been a part of.
Besides the amazing facts about these extraordinary animals, the book is a delight because of the author’s lovely writing style and storytelling ability. It would make a nice read over the holidays.
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