How smart Octopus is?

How smart Octopus is?

The octopus, which is also called "DEVILFISH," is a predatory mollusc with a pouch-shaped body and eight powerful arms with two rows of suction discs on each. It also has an ink sac, which it uses to darken the water when it senses danger. Octopuses are related to squids, cuttlefish, nautiloid, and other molluscs such as snails, mussels and clams. They can creep over hard surfaces using their arms; when they travel through water they move by jet propulsion, taking in water and ejecting it forcibly through a funnel as their muscular mantle contracts. They vary in size from a few centimetres to the giant octopus of the Pacific Ocean which can grow to over 10 m. Some species are edible, including the ink!

The intelligence of an invertebrate is hard to measure in human terms, but there is a wide consensus among scientists that the octopus, with its large and complex nervous system, is the smartest of the invertebrates. 

They base this conclusion on things like studies of its varied approaches to tasks in its environment, like breaking open and feeding upon shellfish; on observational studies that have found it to participate in activities that very much resemble play; and on a widely publicized study that seemed to find that the octopus could learn by watching others. 

In a series of experiments at the Seattle Aquarium, the Pacific octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, was tested on the strategies chosen to open a variety of shellfish and some empty shells, glued shut, which the subjects quickly learned to ignore. In other studies, some members of the same species were found to "play," using their water jets to propel a floating bottle around a tank. 

In a 1992 study in Italy, Dr. Graziano Fiorito and Dr. Pietro Scotto found that when specimens of the common octopus, Octopus vulgaris, were rewarded with food for grabbing red balls rather than white balls, and punished with a mild shock when they chose the white balls, "untrained" octopuses that were allowed to observe them would then imitate their choices. 

This study has met with skepticism from some critics, who say that the experiment was poorly designed in several aspects and that the observing octopuses may simply have latched on to the more familiar color of ball, without considering the consequences of the choice.

Source: (Museos Científicos Coruñeses) www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8cf7tPoN5o

An octopus has three hearts, nine brains, and blue blood. एक ऑक्टोपस में तीन दिल, नौ दिमाग, और नीले रक्त होते हैं। Two hearts pump blood to the gills, while a third circulates it to the rest of the body. दो दिल गिलों को रक्त पंप करते हैं, जबकि एक तिहाई इसे शरीर के बाकी हिस्सों में फैलता है। The nervous system includes a central brain and a large ganglion at the base of each arm which controls movement. तंत्रिका तंत्र में प्रत्येक मस्तिष्क के आधार पर एक केंद्रीय मस्तिष्क और एक बड़ा गैंग्लियन शामिल होता है जो आंदोलन को नियंत्रित करता है। Their blood contains the copper-rich protein hemocyanin, which is more efficient than hemoglobin for oxygen transport at very low temperatures and low oxygen concentrations. उनके रक्त में तांबा समृद्ध प्रोटीन हेमोसाइनिन होता है, जो बहुत कम तापमान और कम ऑक्सीजन सांद्रता पर ऑक्सीजन परिवहन के लिए हीमोग्लोबिन से अधिक कुशल होता है। A 50-pound octopus can squeeze through a hole only 2 inches in diameter. If their beak fits, they can get through. एक 50 पौंड ऑक्टोपस व्यास में केवल 2 इंच छेद के माध्यम से निचोड़ कर सकते हैं। अगर उनकी चोंच फिट बैठती है, तो वे मिल सकते हैं।

In a nutshell Octopus is an invertebrate animal. Octopuses are highly intelligent, probably more intelligent than any other order of invertebrates. The exact extent of their intelligence and learning capability is much debated among biologists but maze and problem-solving experiments have shown that they do have both short- and long-term memory. Though their short lifespans limit the amount they can ultimately learn.

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