OCTOPI
Reading edition
Schneider, Uexküll and Kollman all testify that the Octopus possesses at least a rudimentary intelligence. Romanes agrees with these authorities in attributing to this Mollusk “unmistakable evidences of consciousness and intelligence.”[10]
“That Loligo (Octopus) and related higher Cephalopods have an extreme agility, resourcefulness, and caution is already fully recognized by naturalists, though abundant observations and experiments are still much needed,” says Prof. John Muirhead Macfarland, in his “The Course and Causes of Evolution” (1917).
A young Octopus in the Naples aquarium was seen by Schneider to attack a Hermit-crab living within a shell upon which were several Sea-anemones. Upon approaching the Crab the Octopus was stung by the Anemones and quickly retreated. Thereafter it avoided contact with the Crab. It had learned by experience that Anemone-protected Hermit-crabs are “good things to let alone.” In the course of time, however, Octopi learn to extract the Crabs from their shells without being stung by the nettling cells of the Anemones. They also learn to capture large Crabs and Lobsters without getting pinched.