Are You Smarter Than An Octopus Problem Solving

Are You Smarter Than An Octopus? Problem Solving Ability of Octopus vulgaris Lamarck (Mollusca, Cephalopoda) Gabriele Petty Marine Animal Behavior 7/18/19

Introduction v. Experimental Procedure v. Methods v. Results & Figures v. Discussion v. Conclusion

Experimental Procedure v Animals tested 2 x a day (mornings and afternoons) v Started by using glass jars filled with seawater, live crab, and closed by a red plastic plug, upright. v Cataloged the attacking positions

Methods v 20 Octopus vulgaris (Male and Female) were acquired from Bay of Naples in Italy v Four tanks with running seawater, as much natural light as possible v Physiochemical seawater levels checked randomly to insure that its within the limits of the natural bay area v Trials were video recorded

Results v In 88% of the trials, the octopuses had the same response as soon as the jar hit the water. v In 12% of the trials, the animals did not attack at all v 18 behavioral approaches were documented during the trials v Over several months 19 animals solved the puzzles and 1 did not even attempt to try (male)

FIGURES

Discussion v Are Octopuses intelligent enough to problem solve in order to receive their prey v Placement of the jar was a problem the researchers ran into. Presence of people or large water disturbances could skew the learning behavior of the octopuses (Fiorito et al. 1990). v Four clusters: Obtaining food, Recognition, Exploration, and Attacking v. The percentage of unsuccessful attacks decrease over time v The curiosity and exploratory behavior does not decrease over time v Performance time decreased over time

Conclusion ◦ Octopus vulgaris did complete the mazes: except for the 1 male ◦ However, whether an octopus learns by trial and error or stimulus response is still unknown

Video ◦ https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=9 ku. Aiu. Xez. IU

Literature Cited v Fiorito, G. et al. (1990). Problem Solving Ability of Octopus vulgaris Lamarck (Mollusca, Cephalopoda). Napoli Italy; Academic Press, Inc. Retrieved from https: //pdf. sciencedirectassets. com