A box full of octopus
(New England Aquarium)
The seven-foot octopus Truman pulled a Houdini today, stuffing himself in an acrylic cube in search of food. The spectacle drew a crowd.
By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff
His name is Truman. But you can just call him Houdini.
Truman, a 7-foot-long, 30-pound octopus at the New England Aquarium squeezed his body into a 14-inch square acrylic box today in pursuit of food, aquarium officials said. The 30-minute performance drew a crowd of staff and guests.
The caretakers for the octopi at the aquarium place food inside locked boxes as an enrichment activity. The idea is that the animals, who are very intelligent, must figure out how to unlatch the boxes and get the food, aquarium officials said in a news release.
Today, biologist Bill Murphy placed a couple of crabs inside a 6-inch-square acrylic cube and latched it, then placed that cube inside a 14-inch cube with a different latch. The cubes were then placed inside Truman's tank.
The idea was for Truman to release the latch on the larger box then release the latch of the smaller one to get his food. And staff expected Truman not to get to work until after the aquarium closed and it was dark, because octopi typically prey on other animals at night.
But Truman was impatient. He got to work right away. And rather than undoing the latch on the larger box, he squeezed his legs and large head through a two-inch hole in the larger box.
"The speculation is that the crabs were active and he got excited ... and decided, Whoa!, there's lunch," said aquarium spokesman Tony LaCasse.
Once inside, he worked for 30 minutes to try to unlatch the smaller box.
Unlike a human magician undoing padlocks underwater while his air runs out, Truman apparently took his time. And when he couldn't get the smaller box open, he simply slithered out again, the aquarium said.
LaCasse said the octopi are known among the staff as "absolutely remarkably intelligent animals" who like to interact with people.
"Believe it or not," he said, "that octopus likes to be petted."
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Grilled octupus....YUMMY!
It is very cool to see stuff like this.
hey, its better than just dropping the crabs in. I love it!!
I can't believe that the octupus could fit through that little hole! I enjoyed reading the interesting story.
Whatever
Better than another Ted Kennedy story.
i guess the staff needs to show they are intelligent and needed...so they seem to have foiled a layoff...you win this round employees...
I stopped eating octopus because it's sad to kill this amazing animal. We can eat ears of corn.
C'mon. Like you wouldn't read a story about Ted Kennedy stuffing himself into a 14 -inch square acrylic box ...
Coooooooool! Octopi freak me out since they're so smart. As long as they're on the other side of the glass, that's cool!
My parents have a Jack Russell Terrier who watches TV very intently. If there is a dog or cat, he goes crazy and brings a toy to the TV and tries to get the dog or cat to play with him. The TV is against an outside wall, and the dog has run out his doggie door to get behind the wall (outside) to see if that is where the dog or cat is. I have NEVER seen a dog watch TV so intently. He even knows the music of the commercial that has the dog or cat, and he starts going crazy and we say, "There's no dog." but one shows up. Isn't this unusual? Also, he does not go crazy if he sees a horse. I don't think he knows what a horse is.
Truman to the rescue! I actual read something that wasn't doom and gloom.
but what about the poor crabs?
we need a state/federal funded agency to ensure that the crabs are subjected to better living conditions!
More stories like this please......
This behavior has been known for millenia :-) Fishermen in the Mediterranean have been catching octopuses by throwing jars into the sea, then pulling them up twelve hours later ... since pottery was first thrown, I think (the pottery doesn't even need to be fired for this to work).
I had heard the Octo was glad to be in the box. he said "that way he didn't have to be outside of the box, where he said he had to "suffer"
Does the eight-legged sufferer have a name. If not, we can call him: "Manny"
With the population crush, Truman could teach us about living in ever smaller efficiency apartments.
"C'mon. Like you wouldn't read a story about Ted Kennedy stuffing himself into a 14 -inch square acrylic box ..."
Line of the day.
Cathy-
I used to have a roommate who had 2 dogs who loved watching VH1 when we all were not home. One day, the power went out and the TV was off. I came home and there they were.. whimpering at the TV. The minute I turned the TV on and tuned it to VH1, they stopped. And yes, you could not fool them with another station, they liked VH1 and were not afraid to let you know it.
As far as the squid. That's pretty interesting that he can squish himself into a hole that small to get at the crabs. Then again, they do not have any bones so its just all tissue.
I think the most important thing we can learn about this is that octopi cannot be trusted. Sure, now we think we're giving them "enrichment activities" but clearly their mental capacity is far greater than we realize. They've opened locked boxes before - that's easy - so now they're pushing their bodies to the limit. They're scheming; testing the system for weakness. You know what's next? Our nasal cavities. And don't think they won't try it. Eventually we'll be forced to come to terms with our cephalopod masters and their subaqueous ways. Next thing you know we'll be using crabs as currency. I WON'T STAND FOR IT! This is AMERICA!
I guess this brings new meaning to the phrase " The Truman Show'!!
Sounds like the Little Mermaid-esque undersea pottery/human artifact collection really isn't that far fetched where cephalopods are concerned. I wonder what other games we can come up with to play with the squishy smartypants :). Or what games they have been playing with us all of this time....
*pets the silly octopus while humming "part of your world"*
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