Can Octopuses Recognise People? | Octopus In My House | BBC Earth
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Published 2021-10-02
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The Octopus In My House
A professor develops an extraordinary relationship with an octopus when he invites it to live in his home. The octopus, called Heidi, unravels puzzles, recognises individual humans and even watches TV with the family. The episode also shows remarkable behaviour from around the world - from the day octopus, which can change colour and texture in a split second, to the coconut octopus, which carries around its own coconut shell to hide in. But most fascinating of all is seeing how Professor David Scheel and his daughter Laurel bond with an animal that has nine brains, three hearts and blue blood running through its veins.
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All Comments (21)
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You know what, they should probably make a mobile aquarium that an octopus can drive by itself around the house. Roaming around like a cat or whatever.
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I would like to see how an octopus would react to a mirror. Self-awareness is often one of the most telling factors in an animal's ability for sentience.
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"She jets at you." "RELEASE ME BACK INTO THE OCEAN, HUMAN."
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I've seen people with Koi ponds that pet their fish and feed them by hand so I believe all animals big and small will have some ability to remember good and bad and therefore if someone treats them bad or good they remember it and where it came from.
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If we opened our eyes, we would be surprised at how much the animals can understand.
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They should do the same human recognization study with identical twins in the same dress, they may be even more observant than we know
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I lived on an island, La Madd, IT. I found some tidal pools, one which had an octopus in it. This octopus and I had played for nearly an hour! It was so fun!! I went back and played with her several times. One of the best years of my life!
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Someday we might even come to realize that keeping such an intelligent animal enclosed in such a boring environment is probably driving it insane.
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This same guy explained in another clip that octopus can taste the difference between people. Did he really expect a mask to do anything when he's still sticking his hand in the water and making contact with the octopus? He'd need some type of sterile glove with no traces of his own skin oil/scent/etc on it in order for this to even remotely have a chance of working.
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The octopus weighing segment with mask was fascinating. I would propose that despite perhaps not being able to recognize facial features, the octopus may be able to taste your pheromone or other biochemistry profile on your skin with its tentacles. I'm not a scientist and this is just an idea. I love your video.
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Such a small place, a cage, for such an amazing animal
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It's sad that they don't live that long. Just imagine how much more smart they would be, if they lived longer...
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An octopus that's neighbors with people that sometimes antagonize them? It's the real-life Squidward!
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Although I'm so incredibly envious of your interactions with Heidi, it is my hope that one day you will release her so that she can swim and forage as she was intended to bc they are so amazingly intelligent and require more stimulus than you can offer her in a captive setting...
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Perhaps gloves might also help in addition to the mask. Since they "taste" with their arms, she might see through your disguise if she touches you.
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Such enormously fascinating animals. I would so love to meet one in the wild and communicate with it. There is surely a lot we can learn from them.
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How many tickles does it take to make an Octopus laugh? Ten tickles.
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It is truly sad that octopus have a relatively short life span. For such an intelligent creature.
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1) Changing into a creepy mask that looks like it's from Halloween surely can't help when doing something the octopus doesn't like. 2) That tank is too small. Imagine if you had to stay in ONE room and only one room which you can never leave. People go nuts if just confined to their home, let along just one small room. No wonder Heidi spits water at them.
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Probably just wanting to get out of that small tank, you are holding her in.
