Friday, April 13, 2007

Through the Eye of An Octopus

Through the Eye of an Octopus | Mind & Brain | DISCOVER Magazine

10.01.2003

Through the Eye of an Octopus

An exploration of the brainpower of a lowly mollusk

by Eric Scigliano, Photography by Jennifer Tzar

When biologist Roland Anderson of the Seattle Aquarium pulled back the tank's lid, I wasn't sure whether it was to let me get a look at Steve or to let Steve get a look at me. Clearly, Steve was looking—his big hooded eye followed me, and a single five-foot-long arm reached out to the hand I held above the water's surface. The arm inched up past my wrist to my shoulder, its suckers momentarily attaching and releasing like cold kisses. I couldn't help feeling as if I was being tasted, and I was, by tens of thousands of chemoreceptors. And I couldn't help feeling as if I were being studied, that a measuring intelligence lay behind that intent eye and exploring arm. (article continues....)

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