A person wishing to know what it would be like to encounter extraterrestrial intelligence could do much worse that meet an octopus. The eight-legged cephalopods are among the most intelligent creatures on earth, and yet theirs is an intelligence so different from ours. Whenever I encounter an octopus, I'm struck by how they manage to be so similar and yet so different from us at the same time.
Biologist David Scheel had spent much of his earlier career studying mammals on the plains of East Africa, so transitioning to the study of the what is probably the world's most charismatic invertebrates in the icy waters of Alaska is quite a change. Scheel brought an informed outsider vantage point to his study of these creatures, providing a lot of interesting insights into the challenges and rewards of studying these often-cryptic animals. His resultant book, Many Things Under a Rock, takes its name from an indigenous Alaskan name for the giant Pacific octopus, the species that the book is primarily focused on.
As the title implies, there is a heavy indigenous influence to Scheel's book, which I very much enjoyed. I suppose I tended to think of most underwater creatures as existing almost on a separate plan of existence from humans, at least until people began venturing under the surface with SCUBA gear and what not (ignoring the fact that octopus can leave the water, something the vast majority of fish and other marine creatures can't do). The truth is that people have a millennia-long association with octopuses, both as sources of wonder and fear (Scheel has a chapter devoted to the cryptozoology of octopuses), but, more practically, as a source of food. Likewise, I suppose on some level I knew that octopuses were animals of the northern oceans, but I never had really thought of them as Alaskan wildlife before.
In this exploration of octopus behavior and anatomy - how social are they? how do they use tools? how do they reproduce? - Scheel spends much of this time diving among them in waters around the world. He also features captive octopuses in his work, and even maintains a small aquarium at his university to allow his students to have hands-on experience with the creatures. The Seattle Aquarium and Alaska SeaLife Center are also highlighted here. Sometimes Scheel's work even comes home with him, and he describes an octopus that takes up residence in the fish tank in his living room. These stories are particularly enjoyable, because, with more prolonged, regular encounters with the same animals, we really get to see their personalities - from affectionate to mischievous - shine through.
Octopuses are easily among the most popular of aquarium animals, and their eight-legged grip on pop culture and science have been evident for many years. At a superficial level, it seems like many folks just think of them as scary sea monsters. It's easy to see how they could be considered frightening, being so eerily different from us, and yet so recognizable. Beyond that first impression, however, there is a creature that is so remarkably intelligent, sensitive, and charismatic as to install enchant any human lucky enough to have met them.
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