Thanks, buddy/Later, gator

February 28, 2018 3:42 PM

Rescued octopuses have been known to thank their benefactors. But stuck gophers and drowned prairie dogs just scamper away.
posted by Johnny Wallflower (21 comments total)

Let's turn this thread in to a collection of the best animal rescue videos CMON FOLKS THE WORLD NEED THIS.
posted by saladin at 4:22 PM on February 28, 2018 [6 favorites]

Hmm, I was 'probably more curiosity than thanks' but then I remembered that octopuses recognize individuals and hold grudges, so maybe!
posted by tavella at 4:22 PM on February 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

Octopi and crows will take over the world eventually. They can't do a worse job than humans.
posted by mermayd at 5:38 PM on February 28, 2018 [4 favorites]

(Supposedly it's octopuses or octopodes, not octopi, but I learned that from Stephen Fry so it's up to you to determine if he's correct or not.)
posted by elsietheeel at 5:45 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

Sometimes an octopus just wants some scritches and head butts, just like my kitty.
posted by briank at 5:51 PM on February 28, 2018 [5 favorites]

FUCK IT ALL RIGHT I'LL START THIS ONE WAS BANANAS
posted by saladin at 6:00 PM on February 28, 2018 [8 favorites]

The octopus nervous system is more distributed than ours, and the main thing holding them back from building an advanced civilization seems to be their short life span (~6 months for most species iirc.) So probably what will happen is that we'll design technology to link octopus brains together since they're basically designed for it, the new hyperintelligent cephalopod hivemind will abscond back to sea with its neural interface to recruit more nodes, and we'll be conquered by an immortal cyborg alien overlord from our own planet. Could be worse!
posted by contraption at 6:02 PM on February 28, 2018 [15 favorites]

Did anyone else notice the face on the octopus, as if in their, intuitive, gelatinous, shapeshifting way, they imitate the forward consciousness of the creature near them?
posted by Oyéah at 9:27 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

It occurs to me that the drowned prairie dog had an experience not unlike what purported alien abductees recount.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:35 PM on February 28, 2018 [5 favorites]

This raven obviously wants help with the porcupine quills in his head, but, on the other hand, CAW!
posted by dazed_one at 1:57 AM on March 1, 2018 [6 favorites]

The octopuses are very beautiful and good and also polite, thank you for this important post.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 5:49 AM on March 1, 2018 [8 favorites]

Baby fox freed from tin can.
posted by slkinsey at 6:51 AM on March 1, 2018 [3 favorites]

Awww, that's adorable. Did the guy pick up the can, tho?
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:35 AM on March 1, 2018

Deer hung up on fence
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:38 AM on March 1, 2018

Baby chimp, rescued from poachers, being flown out in a small plane (Twitter, sorry)
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:18 AM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Giant Manta Ray Tangled In Fishing Line Asks Divers For Help
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:58 AM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

I both hate and love baby chimp rescue videos. Hate, because their orphaning is a product of such cruelty, and love because the rescuers always seem to hold them. I'm sure it would be easier to transport a traumatized chimpanzee in a crate, but they'll always take the extra effort and risk to hold them like their mothers would.
posted by tavella at 12:36 PM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Hell yeah, now we're cooking. I assume y'all have seen this one of a baby elephant being rescued from a pit?
posted by saladin at 1:11 PM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

And for baby chimp rescues, there's the story of Farah, who wouldn't let humans touch him, but he finally got to meet the other young chimps at the sanctuary, and there was so much hugging!
posted by tavella at 1:15 PM on March 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Contraption wrote:

> The octopus nervous system is more distributed than ours, and the main thing holding them back from building an advanced civilization seems to be their short life span

I think the main reason intelligent marine species (octopuses, dolphins, whales, ...) haven't developed more advanced civilization is that they seem to have limited ability to record knowledge and pass it from one generation to the next.

I always wanted to make a networked "audio wiki" for dolphins to provide a durable knowledge store for them. Not sure how to do that for octopuses though...
posted by sarah_pdx at 3:25 AM on March 2, 2018

I'm thinking some kind of high speed chromatophore-impulse encoding, tied to a visual display at first and then a direct neural-electrode linkage once the syntax of the language is figured out. Let's get on this, it's past time for us monkeys to pass the torch.
posted by contraption at 5:16 PM on March 2, 2018 [1 favorite]