How smart are these animals

[bugman]

I know this is not quite a fish but just how smart are those things under the water.

ABC News

Octopus learns to open shrimp jars:

An octopus in a German zoo has learned to open jars of shrimps by watching zoo attendants perform the act underwater.

Frida, a five-month-old female octopus, opens the jars by pressing her body on the lid and grasping the sides with the suckers on her eight tentacles. With a succession of body twists, she unscrews the lid.

The head of the Hellabrunn Zoo's aquarium, Frank Mueller, said: "Depending on how tight the lid is, it takes her anything from 10 seconds to an hour to get it off."

Frida opens shrimp jars before the public at feeding time twice a week.

Mr Mueller says he taught Frida the trick after he remembered seeing octopuses showing remarkable dexterity off the coast of Morocco, where he went diving when he was younger. Frida was imported from Morocco.

"We just did it in the tank a few times and eventually she cottoned on," he said. "You won't see any other marine creatures do this. She's been at it about a month now."

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Wonder if I could train one to take the top off a stubbie for me ;)

Bugman

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

if Freda the octopus can open a brand new jar of jam by herself then she certainly would prove to be a unique female on this planet.

I have read about the intelligence of #octopuses. They are one of the few invertebrates to show genuine problem solving skills (the ability to adapt previous "knowledge" to new situations. My greatest fear is if Freda & her cousins in the giant squid family spot the bungs on my boat !!!

chris

[bugman]

Chris,

I remember a great story the ABC covered once of an Octopus which lived in a marine research lab in a big tank all by itself.

There were other tanks in the room which contained fish which the scientists felt were disappearing.

They set up cameras during the night when they weren't there and caught the Octopus on film.

It was sliding out the top of its tank - down the frame - across the floor and into the big tank of fish. It would then have a feed and climb its way back out and into its own tank.

How bloody smart is that!!

Bugman

[Jack_Lives_Here]

I remember that story too.
I know it's pretty spooky coming face to face with one when diving. I'll never put my hand into a crevice again without looking with the torch first. Stained the water i did.

[mackmauler]

Smart enough to take flathead lures, thats how smart ::) smart enough to shoot ink at the boat, and smart enough to know what happens when the ink actually gets on the boat...not quiet, they never learn either ;D

[NQCairns]

My greatest fear is if Freda & her cousins in the giant squid family spot the bungs on my boat !!!

Mate just get one of those new reverse threaded bungs. that will confuse em at least long enough to get away. http://www.ausfish.com.au/chat/images/smilies/cwm16.gif.
http://www.ausfish.com.au/chat/images/smilies/cwm35.gifWhat direction does the prop nut loosen!!!!

[mick]

if you put an octopus on a choping board an stick a knike though its head and into the board (pinning it there) it will cut it self in half as it crawls away.