Octopus Experiments with Picture Clues - VIEWER REQUEST

Can an octopus understand what is behind a wall or door based solely on a photograph? This is the request that was sent in for today's video.
The setup was simple. Place the octopus in the middle chamber. Have two openings. One side has a photo of prey while the other has a photo of a predator. The opening is placed strategically on the wall in order to provide a big enough blind spot. This will prevent the octopus from seeing the crabs on the other side and force him to take the photos into consideration when making his choice.
We spent a few days showing our octopus pictures of crabs on both ends of the experiment tank. Every time he crossed over to other side, he found a crab. The next step was to show the octopus a photo of a crab on one side and a photo of a shark on the other side. If our octopus learned anything, he should cross over to the side with the photo of the crab. Round 1 was successful. After only a couple of minutes, Albert, our octopus, chose the correct side.
Round two was similar. There was a photo of a crab and a photo of a moray eel. Once again, after about 5 minutes, our octopus chose correctly and went through the door with the crab. This round was also successful.
In the third and final round, we used a photo of a moray eel and a photo of a shark hoping that our octopus would not pass through either door. Both these animals are known to prey on octopuses. After much thought, our octopus chose to walk into the side with the moray eel. This eel is known to snack on octopus every chance they get but there are many instances where the octopus comes out victorious. Could this have played a role in his decision making? He did appear to climb higher up in the tank in the final round. Was he trying to get a better look?
We'll definitely be revisiting this one in the future and would love to hear your thoughts on how we can run this same experiment with less variables. After this experiment, and the results we got during the giant maze video, it is becoming more and more evident that they are influenced by photos. Very interesting indeed!
Thanks again for all your requests!

[@ravenmorrigana1093]

Studying the body language is amazing. He very clearly reacts to what he's seeing. I was amazed how quickly he went after the crabs the first time. Those exploratory tentacles trying to judge how best to get through the wall while he kept his prey in sight showed how focused he was. Judging by the body language and speed of going after the crab, I would guess eels pose a greater threat than sharks. And with the eel, he hid himself more before going after the crab. Like he kept expecting the eel to strike. Also, his color looks a lot more camouflage for the eel than when he saw the shark. What was truly fascinating was his behavior with two predators. He must clearly have smelled/tasted/sensed (however they hunt when not using eyes) the crabs, because he made no effort to retreat when surrounded. While he was trying to make himself blend in and not be seen, he didn't appear to actually be hiding from them. Although the caption says "walked into danger", I strongly feel that he took so long to study the pictures and determined they weren't a real threat. Not that he disregarded them completely. He does "avoid" the eel's mouth as if it could suddenly be real. I guess some instincts are hard to override.

[@introspectiver1787]

Even at the end when he eventually headed into "danger" I suspect (given how long he took to decide) he had come to the realisation that there would be no danger.

[@geraint8989]

Albert sits there thinking "what is the game the outside-water creatures want me to play this time before they give me tasty snack?"

[@Segadelic1010]

Albert is such a handsome boy

[@amanishajay914]

His name is Albert...common like Hank

[@aynrandish9106]

These creatures are so intelligent I never tire of watching them.

[@Missfoxtooyou]

Omg the speed up footage made me laugh so hard. 😂😂😂😂 I thought it was really excited at first.

[@NewMessage]

He may not know art, but he knows what he likes!

[@JamesMichael333]

Octopus are amazing. The fact that he took all that extra time to decide with pictures of predators on both sides is INCREDIBLE all on it’s own!

[@jennyaldrich7456]

Awe I think he was afraid of the shark pic. I love octopus they are very intelligent. And beautiful too.

[@techgirl517]

I love the eyes from those octopus... So smart and intelligent... Octopuses are fantastic 🐙🥰

[@toddlevine9377]

If you love octopuses and haven’t already seen it, watch “My Octopus Teacher”. A wonderful film! You’ll be mesmerized by it! Cheers! 👍👍

[@techgirl517]

@@toddlevine9377 i saw it... Wonderful 🥰

[@toddlevine9377]

@@techgirl517 I had a feeling that you might have being that you love these amazing creatures. I saw the movie and was spellbound. They are truly fascinating, their talents and abilities are astonishing! Cheers!! 😎

[@brandonporter6223]

I never knew just how intelligent these creatures are until watching a documentary recently. I feel really bad having eaten one in the past. I definitely will never be eating octopus again, anything this intelligent shouldn't be served as food.

[@jeandiatasmith4512]

I'd say Albert spent some time considering the lesser of two evils. He can take on an eel and escape so went that way instead of the shark. If he did go in the shark side, and you didn't show us, then maybe he figured out the game completely and knew there were no predators at all.

[@Jen39x]

Wow I’m impressed and that he finally braved the pictures may have been from determining he did “smell” crab but didn’t smell predators. Assuming he does know what an eel sharing tank is like.

[@lilitharam44]

Aww, such cute, smart, little aliens! Yay Albert!

[@unrellated]

Here's an idea. Octopus reacts to cartoon.

[@marounazou8198]

What an interesting request! Well done Jonas Kirk👏👏👏 And a cool setup as well!

[@josephfranzen5626]

This is phenomenal! Such amazing footage!

[@angeliner59]

I loved how he was cautious in the beginning and afterwards seem to fly through the holes. A very good experiment!

[@7tkjuj]

I believe by now Albert is smart enough to have done plotting his plan of taking over the world while patiently waiting for the golden opportunity of his final escape

[@GutsyMacGamer]

Octopusses are actually pretty amazing and cute creatures!

[@jeepfvr]

The fast-forward 🤣

[@heather9857]

Albert, I'm with you. If I was hungry I'd pick the eel over the shark too.

[@originalismisacrock166]

Your eel and shark pictures had dark backgrounds, while the crab picture had a light background. Given the actual prize (a crab to eat) was found in a chamber with a white floor, could Albert have been going toward the reward, and avoiding the "not" reward. Might be worthwhile to rerun the experiment varying the photo background (or eliminating the background altogether. I would also like to see "food" versus a favorite "toy" (which does not contain food) - which one would he choose? (Of course, you might have to run this experiment to figure out which is the favorite toy ....)

[@DeniseHedberg66]

Wow!! Very smart!

[@Skeenum1]

Test his strength.. put weights in the water

[@pglen6042]

Hated seeing him so frightened of the eel and shark.

[@brianegendorf2023]

It was interesting to see an octopus make a potentially life or death decision. Also, I thought it was pretty funny that when you sped up the kotaro music, it became blue grass music..

[@nickroyds417]

Must be such a cool job doing this :)

[@TheArtisticBiker]

It seems like this would have been better served if there had been nothing, or a larger picture of the predator in the side with the predator photo. That would have gone toward further experiments with pictogram language. But not if the predator pictures hold no actual meaning.

[@Mango037]

He figured that there seems to be hiding spots in the eels section where he has a greater advantage of surviving 😂 vs the shark in the open sea at the end, smart cookie🎉

[@madmigraineur3815]

The last room is the most amazing to me, and possibly shows that octopi are more like us than we imagined! In one type of human psychology experiment, people are left alone in a featureless room with nothing but a button that administers mild shocks to the person. Based on the number of people that shocked themselves at least once, the experiment consistently shows that most people would rather feel pain (sit there and shock themselves) than feel bored! And this octopus was smart. They chose the eel, where they might have a chance, instead of the shark. Perhaps he smelled the crab and was willing to risk it- who knows? But this is definitely my favorite study.

[@richardtodd6843]

Albert eventually walks into potential danger, but not until he gives himself a lot of time to smell it.

[@mercedesmarton3768]

4:48 "Don't mind me if I nope out of here.

[@dylantrinder1571]

Albert may have walked into danger in the last test, however, it was probably the least dangerous predator, and he spent a long time to make the most sensible decision.

[@bionic-tale4313]

I guess the octopus is viewing the pictures?

[@rights_vs_wrong1956]

This result really surprised me. I am left wondering if it was actually the predator pictures that mattered or a pavlovian response to the particular crab picture. Like this picture means theres food here.. It would be interesting to try this again but with different crab pictures each time.

[@debrataylor1813]

To identify by a photo I would think is pretty up there in higher learning. You didn’t mention but I wonder, after he chose the crab window did he then try the dangerous window or completely ignore it after he got his prize? Another thing I wonder is was he born in the wild and he have the opportunity to learn danger vs safe? Or is it some how one of those natural ingrained factors Mother Nature seems to endow to the wild creatures? If he’d never faced danger, as in the wild, how would he know a shark and eel wouldn’t be wise to investigate?

[@LudwigtheMothman]

That is interesting.

[@sarosch]

Interesting that on the last time, he put his tentacles thru first, tentatively, toward the moray eel, then followed by eyes and body. Albert must know it’s wiser to lose a tentacle than your breathing apparatus! It took him a while to reach that conclusion, it appeared…. 🐙⁉️

[@marshawargo7238]

I thought he looked stressed out! 😢

[@bsoliman]

Best channel🐙

[@patty7791]

Wonderful editing…big grin.. Thank you so much for educating me on the intelligence and beauty of octopuses! Never used to care seeing octopus as food source. Now? Like eating a kitten!

[@catch_fishingTV]

Octopus daily life

[@mookyo9602]

Have you seen the video of the girl holding a octopus!! Only after to find out that it was a blue ring octopus!!! I was so jealous up to that point...I think she was in Hawaii....peace to all you octopus lovers🐙✌

[@tinaowens3772]

No blue ring octopuses in Hawaii.

[@dmap9342]

A blue ring octopus can kill you, they're highly venomous, if it was a blue ring octopus she's lucky to be alive.

[@guitarhaven6807]

A nice experiment though flawed as an octopus has at least 500 million neurons that can enable them with exquisite taste and sight capabilities. Therefore, how does one know that the octopus in question could not simply smell out its preferred food "while" associating the picture to its food. The first experiment should be prior to this experiment is " what is the maximal distance the octopus can "smell" its food?" Once this is answered then the experiment could be adjusted so that the octopus is unable to taste the desired food and thus will solely rely on the picture to make a decision to enter each chamber. Just thoughts.

[@jessicaphoenix8841]

Reckon he just got bored in that last setup :P

[@pglen6042]

or whatever that violent reaction was.

[@Morristown337]

Did Albert survive the eel?

[@chaliceflower]

Music reference, please? Thanks. Remarkable video!

[@lemeow332]

Not sure if just camera angles, but it looked like Albert's eye facing the greater danger, predator vs prey, then shark vs eel, seemed at least twice as dilated.

[@Teezythadon]

They do have a dominant eye just like we have a dominant hand!

[@shopshop144]

Was the octopus equally hungry in all of the tests? How about their sense of smell or hearing? In some ways these tests didn't have enough controls to show much of anything.

[@techgirl517]

Ehy octolab tv, any chance to see some video with a caribbean reef octopus? They are considered the most intelligent of octopuses and are incredibly beautiful 🥰

[@mothball5425]

I'd like to see if they can be trained to change a specific colour or pattern for food.

[@TsarumanTheWhite]

What kind of octopus species is this?

[@phi-ws8mz]

Not a good experiment. The octopus learned to represent the crab picture with food. The other pictures did not represent food, hence the octopus didn’t engage. If the octopus truly understand the shark and eel it would have gone in a defensive posture and changed color.

[@erikjarandson5458]

If that was correct, it wouldn't associate anything with the shark and eel pictures. In that case, why didn't it explore both directions, when those were the only pictures? After all, the strongest association is that the experiment tank means snacks. You're right that they should've had a control for it, though, by running the experiment with neutral pictures, as well. However, to be strictly scientific, even that wouldn't be enough; we'd also need them to run the experiment hundreds of times, with dozens of octopuses.

[@MG-tb2il]

👍

[@redshoesgirl]

did he ever actually eat the crab?

[@joshuamcgrath5978]

Could you teach him to read? I really want an octopus😅, you could add the word underneath the picture and eventually remove the picture?i Might be going mad🤣

[@hexasquid]

can you actually teach him simple tricks?

[@bitcheslovecannons5073]

You can actually teach an octopus to perform some fairly complex tasks.

[@bradyking9778]

Give him two halves of a coconut with the white stuff taken out

[@idakhan8891]

How they poop 💩🚽 please make a video 🎥♏🅰🎋📧🙏💕

[@stephensmith2531]

Why would you stress him out for so long with a predator on both sides for so long!!!??? And you started with a crab!!!??? And he never reached or got a crab!!!!!! Wtf?

[@sueg2658]

I believe he got both crabs, but they didn’t show him eating as it takes a while. I could be wrong, but that was my take.

[@pelida77]

My thoughts: He can't even tell there really isn't an eel or a shark. If someone tells me - Watch Out, there's probably a Shark on your pool - Why? - Well, because there's a Danger Shark Sign over there. I'll still swim. That is until the moment I actually see the thing

[@nataliegoesagain]

You taught them not to trust you. I didn't like this.

[@ThePrufessa]

Hey! My name is Albert!