How smart is an octopus anyhow?

[Catherine]

It seems that an octopus  can escape from anywhere. I found an article about a recent famous escape.
The question is. If an octopus can pull off an escape like that, is it too intelligent to be caged.


http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=2&at=dt0

The writer doesn't really think they show intelligence because they do not do things the way we do. One could make a case that not doing what we do is actually a sign of how smart they are.

They don't just escape, they also take things apart. I love these creatures. They are actually pranksters.
http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=2&at=dt0

We really underestimate octopuses. We have no idea how to measure their intelligence.

[Tobi]

Clever Octopus!
I wonder sometimes about humans' inability to admit animals' intelligence. Is it because humans are arrogant? Or brainwashed by old texts written hundreds of years ago which claim we are superior? Or is it because it is convenient -as many people like to eat them?

[Catherine]

I forgot that people eat octopus. I grew up on the prairies so we never ate things like that.

I wonder about people and their attitude towards animal intelligence. There is a lot of evidence that many animals are very intelligent. We know that even though we really don't have any good methods of testing animal intelligence.

How do you measure octopus intelligence. Our standard intelligence tests don't work for all humans. They presuppose a certain cultural background and dexterity. So the numbers are not meaningful in most cases.
Clearly an octopus is clever if he can sneak out and feed and then go back to his own tank. There are lots of people who are not that clever.

We can't test animal intelligence because animals are not interested in a lot of what we do. Dogs are the only creatures that take us seriously. Cats certainly don't.

[Tobi]

(04-21-2016, 02:17 PM)Catherine Wrote: I forgot that people eat octopus. I grew up on the prairies so we never ate things like that.

I wonder about people and their attitude towards animal intelligence. There is a lot of evidence that many animals are very intelligent. We know that even though we really don't have any good methods of testing animal intelligence.

How do you measure octopus intelligence. Our standard intelligence tests don't work for all humans. They presuppose a certain cultural background and dexterity. So the numbers are not meaningful in most cases.
Clearly an octopus is clever if he can sneak out and feed and then go back to his own tank. There are lots of people who are not that clever.

We can't test animal intelligence because animals are not interested in a lot of what we do. Dogs are the only creatures that take us seriously. Cats certainly don't.

Yes I think that they are not 'on the same wavelength' mentally, as we are, that's all. They are on their OWN wavelength which is often different to ours. So yes it can be hard to measure animal intelligence, using our own frameworks for measurement.

And much of the time they are aware and responding to stimuli which are off our radar.

By the way, there are supposed to be IQ tests for dogs. I found one once, and tested Misty. She did not pass! I thought that was especially funny actually as she showed great intelligence throughout her life with me. There were even instances of her responding to complicated unusual phrases I said to her, and that funny little humorous wag, yawn-and-squeak thing she did when (in a dry way, without laughing) I said, "You think this is nuts don't you?"...or some other slightly funny things. She understood, and knew what was going on very well indeed.

While watching the wild birds in my garden, I have seen them behave with great intelligence.

Cats are not thick either. But they ignore us most of the time, and have a wash instead. They have seen bigger and better things it seems!

[Catherine]

Animals are living a totally different agenda. They have no interest is much of our nonsense. When we go to test their intelligence we are using a different language and we get poor results. The lack of intelligence is ours.

Misty was too intelligent to bother with the kind of tests they use to measure dog's intelligence.

We have no idea what we are doing when we test whales. They are way more intelligent than we even guess at. They quite possibly have language. 

Definitely dogs understand human language. Cats know lots of words, when it suits them to know them. The guinea pigs know a lot of words. I have to use special names for their meals so they don't start calling for food every time I cook my own food.