3/21/2003: Octopus opens jar

[lumberjim]

Originally Posted by Shawnee123

There's not really a box there, he's just a really good octopus mime.

I think that goes without saying

[dar512]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

I think that goes without saying

And yet here you are saying it.

[lumberjim]

i did not

[dar512]

Did too.

[classicman]

Big Octopus Squeezes Into Tiny Box

Biologist Calls Food Locked Away 'Enrichment Activity'

Posted: 6:16 am EST March 6, 2009
BOSTON -- An octopus at the New England Aquarium surprised staff and visitors Thursday by squeezing its 7-foot-long, 30-pound body into a 14-inch square acrylic box.

The octopus, named Truman, squeezed into the box in pursuit of food. Biologist Bill Murphy told TV station WMUR that he had placed a couple of crabs inside a 6-inch square cube and locked it, and then placed that cube inside the 14-inch box with a different latch. The feeding method is a puzzle designed to entertain and enrich octopi, which exhibit an interest in such puzzles.

"I start the octopus off with the small box, and once he has mastered that lock, I switch to another box, and once he has mastered each individual box, I put a box inside a box to keep him active and challenged," Murphy said.

Murphy said Truman usually leaves the boxes alone until the aquarium closes because octopi are typically nocturnal. Truman normally opens each lock individually, but this time, he was apparently too impatient.

[Word quickly spread among Aquarium staff and guests as a crowd gathered for the thirty minute spectacle.]
New England Aquarium
Word quickly spread among Aquarium staff and guests as a crowd gathered for the thirty minute spectacle.
Murphy said the octopus squeezed his legs and large head through a 2-inch hole in the exterior box. The only hard part on an octopus is its small beak, so it can squeeze into tight spaces.

A crowd gathered around the tank to watch as word spread of Truman's feat.

Once inside the 14-inch box, Truman tried to undo the latch on the smaller box. But he wasn't able to manage it after 30 minutes and eventually emerged, leg by leg, from the box.

Officials said this was the first time such behavior had been witnessed and photographed at the aquarium.

[Trilby]

Truman is a quitter.

[Cloud]

This is a 2003 thread. Now, there's YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocWF6d0nelY

[spudcon]

Originally Posted by classicman

Big Octopus Squeezes Into Tiny Box

Nothing like squeezing into a tight box.

[xoxoxoBruce]

And staying there a half hour.

[dar512]

Tool Use Found in Octopuses

[xoxoxoBruce]

heh heh, thanks dar. I saw that story last night, but was too tired to look for this thread.

[lumberjim]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

boredom bump

12years ago Thursday. 12 years. 12!

Seems like longer

[xoxoxoBruce]

That's because you've lived several, what most people would consider full lives, since then.

[glatt]

12 years is a long time.

I was doing a training just a moment ago, and my boss introduced me and said I had been here for 25 years. It's true, I started as a temp here 25 years ago. I've been an employee for 'only' 24.5 years. But I've done work here for 25 years. Makes me feel freaking old. I've got a meeting scheduled Wednesday with a retirement planner the HR department is bringing in. That makes me feel even older. I've been just vaguely thinking of retirement as this thing that will happen in the distant future, and I don't need to think of it at all, but it's coming sooner than I think.

[xoxoxoBruce]

My Boeing boss mailed me my 25 year pin, I didn't wait for the presentation.