Why Octopii are great critters.

Post by **weemadando** » 2003-02-25 04:26am

http://abc.net.au/news/justin/nat/newsn ... 003-80.htm

This and all the other research and observations regarding octopii problem solving makes me think that we should "uplift" octopii, not chimps and dolphins like that fool Brin thinks.

Raxmei · Post by **Raxmei** » 2003-02-25 04:51am

They certainly do look promising. I see a bit of an obstacle in that we know even less about cephalopod intelligence than we do of mammalian. It would make sense to start with the animals we best understand (chimps, then dolphins) and leave the octopus for when we feel more confident.

And a grammar note:
The plural of octopus is not octopii. Not even close. A Latin noun of the second declension changes the ending to -i in the plural, not -ii as has been here written. Thus viri, not virii and radii, not radiii. This would make the problem a trivial extra letter but for one minor detail. Octopus in not a normal Latin second declension noun. The word comes from the Greek oktopous. If you wanted to use the classic plural of the word, it would be octopodes. If you wanted to use the English plural, on the other hand, it is just octopuses.

Post by **weemadando** » 2003-02-25 05:09am

Raxmei wrote:They certainly do look promising. I see a bit of an obstacle in that we know even less about cephalopod intelligence than we do of mammalian. It would make sense to start with the animals we best understand (chimps, then dolphins) and leave the octopus for when we feel more confident.

And a grammar note:
The plural of octopus is not octopii. Not even close. A Latin noun of the second declension changes the ending to -i in the plural, not -ii as has been here written. Thus viri, not virii and radii, not radiii. This would make the problem a trivial extra letter but for one minor detail. Octopus in not a normal Latin second declension noun. The word comes from the Greek oktopous. If you wanted to use the classic plural of the word, it would be octopodes. If you wanted to use the English plural, on the other hand, it is just octopuses.

Nitpicker.

And I've personally found octopuses/pii/pi/podes to be really funky critters. I played with one for about 10 minutes while diving once. Curious things and REALLY intelligent.

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2003-02-25 06:54am

One of the animals I take care of for work is a local species of Octopus, we have two of them but the one I like is pretty big. Bastards can stick to almost anything and the only way to keep them in a tank is to put astroturf along every "escape route". Astroturf is the only substance the octopus can't stick to.

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-02-25 10:51am

There's a reason Cthulhu has a squid for a head.

Cosmic Average · Post by **Cosmic Average** » 2003-02-25 01:34pm

Whenever I click the link, I receive this message:

The page or file you've requested, "http://abc.net.au/news/justin/nat/newsn ... 003-80.htm" doesn't seem to exist on this server.

You may have followed an incorrect link, typed the address incorrectly, or the page may have moved.

Post by **Kuja** » 2003-02-25 01:37pm

Yes, they're intelligent. It's really too bad that they have a lifespan of only a few years.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-02-25 02:17pm

I wonder what the giant ones are like. I always wanted a pet octobpus though, funky guys.

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2003-02-25 02:39pm

The one @ Birch Aquarium in San Diego is pretty big, bastards about the size of a large dog counting the tentacles.