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murphy
3rd-January-2006, 06:06 PM
Whilst browsing the bbc website, I came across a list of 100 things we've learnt over the last year including at number 36....

The average employee spends 14 working days a year on personal e-mails, phone calls and web browsing, outside official breaks, according to employment analysts Captor.

Double that when on the forum surely??? :rofl:

I also particularly liked....

When faced with danger, the octopus can wrap six of its legs around its head to disguise itself as a fallen coconut shell and escape by walking backwards on the other two legs, scientists discovered.
and
One in six children think that broccoli is a baby tree.

Someone has a fantastic job finding these things out! :cheers:

Happy New Year!
Murphy

Barry Shnikov
5th-January-2006, 01:44 AM
When faced with danger, the octopus can wrap six of its legs around its head to disguise itself as a fallen coconut shell and escape by walking backwards on the other two legs, scientists discovered.

What was the date on the page you looked up? How is the octopus respiring while it prances around pretending to be a fallen coconut? And just who or what is supposed to be fooled by its resemblance to a coconut shell? Robinson Crusoe?

If it's underwater (as I understand it, the octopus' usual habitat) how come the octopus (or anything that preys on it down there) knows what a coconut shell looks like - since coconuts are well known to float, thus enabling the species to cross the seas to colonise all tropical lands?

Somebody's 'avin a larf, shirley?

Any other interesting stuff amongst the 100 things?

philsmove
5th-January-2006, 08:33 AM
What was the date on the page you looked up? ?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4566526.stm

Barry Shnikov
5th-January-2006, 11:27 AM
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4566526.stm

Thanks for the ref. Looked it up - most suspicious that there is no 'More details' hyperlink - don't believe the story till I see the original story. Sounds like a student prank to me - 'let's see if we can get some total rubbish published in a national newspaper'.

How do they know it's trying to look like a coconut? Perhaps it thinks that if it can't see, it can't be seen so it's covering its eyes?

LMC
5th-January-2006, 04:02 PM
That's because it's science, which is hard

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/mg18624936.200.html

I can't help wondering how they know that the octopus is visualising itself as a coconut though. And if it's unaware it's a coconut then is it a true disguise or should the mechanism be more properly described as camoflage?

"Self-awareness of octopi - discuss" (I bet that their god is the FSM)

Barry Shnikov
5th-January-2006, 04:08 PM
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/mg18624936.200.html

I can't help wondering how they know that the octopus is visualising itself as a coconut though. And if it's unaware it's a coconut then is it a true disguise or should the mechanism be more properly described as camoflage?:rolleyes:
"Self-awareness of octopi - discuss" (I bet that their god is the FSM)

Thanks for the citation, thought not being registered I only saw a few lines of the report. Octopuses walk; I have no problem believing that; but I still find it hard to believe that there are enough coconut shells on the sea bottom to make it evolutionarily advantageous for any animal to mimic them.

LMC
5th-January-2006, 04:17 PM
This one is slightly clearer - http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7194

i.e. it's only one species of octopus that does this - not all octopi everywhere as excitingly implied by the BBC's increasingly dumbed-down-calculated-to-tug-your-emotions reporting ///stops rant before gets too into it

I should imagine quite a lot of coconuts get washed into the sea from the beaches of Indonesia :)

A simple Google search on "octopus disguise coconut" brings up loads of stuff

Barry Shnikov
5th-January-2006, 04:29 PM
I should imagine quite a lot of coconuts get washed into the sea from the beaches of Indonesia :)


Yes, but they float! They've been washing up on beaches for millennia, which is how the plant has colonised new lands.

At least, I'm pretty sure they float...

LMC
5th-January-2006, 04:46 PM
Right up until they get a hole in 'em :D

Apparently the ickle octopus lives in coconut shells... awwww

Barry Shnikov
5th-January-2006, 09:06 PM
This one is slightly clearer - http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7194


Now am home, have watched the videos. The seaweed one is astonishing!:really: Still not convinced about the coconuts...

El Salsero Gringo
5th-January-2006, 09:50 PM
Now am home, have watched the videos. The seaweed one is astonishing!:really: Still not convinced about the coconuts...S'obvious. It could grip it by the husk....

Stuart M
5th-January-2006, 10:24 PM
S'obvious. It could grip it by the husk....
It took 10 posts from the first mention of coconut to get to here - the RFPs are flagging...

murphy
6th-January-2006, 10:09 AM
Often this octopus uses as shelter empty bivalve shells or coconut shells. Two half coconut shells are kept in contact using the suckers, so strongly that even for a man it is difficult to pull them apart.

:whistle:

P.S. what does RFP stand for? D'oh!

El Salsero Gringo
6th-January-2006, 10:22 AM
I once had a hankering to keep an Octopus as a pet. So I looked up a aquatic pet shop in the Yellow Pages, and asked for some advice. Yes, said the man - you need a large tank, and a cricket bat.

Cricket bat, I asked? Very important, said the man - when you take the octopus out to clean the tank they're very slippery and you're likely to drop them. If they land on the lino, they stick all their legs down and grip the floor with their suckers, and you can't pick them up again.

So what's the bat for, I asked. Well, said the man, all you do then is tap them on the head with it - the octopus goes "ow! that hurt!" and puts all eight limbs on it's head to massage the pain. Then you can pick them up no trouble....