Saturday 10 October 2020

Eight arms to hold you


What has three hearts, nine brains, eight legs, blue blood and a beak? I feel sure there’s a joke in there somewhere about the royal family and a pet parrot…. but I think you probably know the answer and it lies, not in the soil, but in the sea. 

There is something slightly surreal and beautiful about the octopus and I’ve rather fallen in love with this remarkable creature. Apart from having an overabundance of hearts and brains, octopuses (octopi?) are amongst only 1% of animals which use tools, they are notorious escape artists, they can change colour, texture and shape in an instant, and even regenerate missing arms at will. Once you start reading and learning about them it just gets more and more fantastical.  I've long believed that there's a lot more going on in the animal kingdom than we can even begin to comprehend, no matter how much scientific research takes place.

My affectionate admiration towards them really came to the fore last year after watching, quite by chance, a documentary which focused on the intelligence and behaviour of one particular individual and her extraordinary relationship with humans. In ‘The Octopus In My House’ a professor and his teenage daughter bond with their cephalopod protegée called Heidi. In return, she shows them how she can solve puzzles, distinguish between different people, pass memory tests and use planning strategies. She even watches TV with the family from her huge tank inside the house, moving to the edge to be closer to the screen. I find myself wondering what she’s thinking, but I’m happy just to wonder and not to know. 

There is, inevitably, a darker side to their lives too - and they don't live for very long.  Once a female has laid eggs, it effectively spells the beginning of her end. She stops eating, becomes listless and wastes away - the female octopus in captivity even seems to go on an active suicide mission – she's very unlikely to make it through to see her new young emerge.  Nature being what it is, there's no need for her to do so - they'll fend for themselves, and thus it seems octopuses are never going to have a population problem.

But putting that grimness aside, I’ve discovered a whole new form of therapy to help soothe away some of the worries of life in 2020. The other evening I'd been stupid enough to catch up on the news before I was about to go to bed and I needed something to offset all the doom and gloom...  so I tuned into youtube and watched some octopuses.  Octopuses swimming, octopuses playing, octopuses hiding in shells, octopuses interacting gently with the sweeter variety of human, octopuses solving problems, octopuses shape-shifting: job done.  Kittens, watch out.



The obvious choice? Syd Barrett:  Octopus

21 comments:

  1. I feared this was going to end with Ringo... :)

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  2. We all fall down Youtube rabbit holes, don't we? Whatever gets you thru the night, as John Lennon once said!

    Syd was an inspired choice, but there would have been no shame in going with Ringo's little ditty; an overlooked gem that Abbey Road purists often look down their noses on.

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    1. Youtube rabbit holes indeed - and I did end up watching kittens last night (Maine Coon Cats!), oh what has become of me?
      Octopus's Garden is just one of those songs I may not personally like but I would defend his right to sing it (to paraphrase Voltaire?!)

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  3. A week before lockdown and I'd already begun to lose my sanity.

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    1. How come I missed this?! I have no recollection of reading this, so was probably beginning to lose my sanity too.
      Funnily enough have heard some great Andy Lewis tracks only relatively recently - good stuff.

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  4. You can't go wrong with a bit of Syd.

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    1. No doubt in my mind about this choice!

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  5. Fascinating stuff C - Had no idea they were such intelligent creatures (only having eaten them - sorry!).

    Yes, YouTube rabbit holes. I was looking a cute hamster clips this morning (you know why) and stumbled upon something featuring the 10 cutest baby animals you’re not allowed to own. No. 1 is the duck billed platypus. Who knew?

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    1. Glad I could spread the word about them! If you watch some of those videos - there is a lovely one here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1twqEn8iHsk - I suspect you may never want to eat one again!

      Animals are perfect therapy at the moment - totally get the hamster thing, of course! But duck billed platypus babies are a complete unknown, very intrigued... time for a trip down another rabbithole I think!

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    2. That's a great wee film - The girl definitely bonded with little Egbert. A smart octopus indeed.

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    3. Egbert's a cutie, isn't he?!

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  6. Do you remember that story about Inky the octopus escaping from the National Aquarium in New Zealand a few years ago? Another shining example of their intelligence.

    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/04/160414-inky-octopus-escapes-intelligence/

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    1. Ah, thanks for that Brian - I don't remember hearing about it at the time - that was a fascinating article and indeed their intelligence and character shines through.

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  7. I always thought octopuses... I'm avoiding typing octopi because it seems wrong... were fascinating creatures. I wish comments boxes allowed you to attach pictures as I'd share an octopus sculpture we often visit...

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    1. I just searched for photos of 'octopus sculptures' in your region and found a marvellous, very colourful one in a park by Marialuisa Tadei - maybe that's the one you visit? If so - wonderful!

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    2. Sounds like the one - Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

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  8. I saw that documentary too, fascinating stuff! Great tune too, I worry I don't know enough Syd so this is a welcome boost.

    And Rol, I believe octopi follows the same Partridge-esque rule as the Lexus, so Lexi,octopi....

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    1. Hi Jez, nice to see you here - good documentary, wasn't it ? Let's hear it for more octopuses - erm, I mean, octopi - on TV...

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  9. Another bit of serendipity here this morning!

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