« Takeout Menu Organizer | Home | “Really Cool” Waterproof Keyboard »
Octopuses Get Rubik’s Cubes
By nikkita | July 8, 2008
Us humans favor one of our arms over the other. Springfield wouldn’t have the Leftorium if we didn’t. Now researchers want to see if the same goes for the more favored of the 8-legged creatures, the octopus (sorry, spider). At the Weymouth Sea Life Centre, researchers are giving octopuses Rubik’s cubes to see if they prefer using one tentacle over the other 7.
“Uniquely, octopuses have more than half their nerves in their arms and have been shown to partially think with their arms,” says Claire Little, of the Weymouth Sea Life Centre. “Many animals have been shown to favour a certain arm so we will see if octopuses can be added to that list.”
According to Little, the findings could help make life in captivity more pleasant for these intelligent, (and occasionally shark eating), animals. “They are very susceptible to stress, so if they do have a favourite side to be fed on, it could reduce risk to them,” she says.
Read more about these totally tubular octopuses and their radical toys here.
Topics: Life, Toys | No Comments »
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.