Joel Kontinen
The more we get to know about the animal kingdom, the more amazing it turns out to be. A recent article in Nature news described the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) as a marvel:
“To researchers who study how living things move, the octopus is an eight-legged marvel, managing its array of undulating appendages by means of a relatively simple nervous system. Some studies have suggested that each of the octopus’s tentacles has a 'mind' of its own, without rigid central coordination by the animal’s brain.”
There’s more:
“Now neuroscientist Guy Levy and his colleagues at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem report that the animals can rotate their bodies independently of their direction of movement, reorienting them while continuing to crawl in a straight line. And, unlike species that use their limbs to move forward or sideways relative to their body's orientation, octopuses tend to slither around in all directions.”
The researchers were surprised. So was the article writer. The octopus’ co-ordination is amazing, and so is animal intelligence in general.
It might be good to remember that intelligence is an immaterial trait and cannot be explained away by Darwinian storytelling. Intelligent solutions require an intelligent designer.
Source:
Shen, Helen. 2013. Worm-like movements propel octopus ballet. Nature news (15 November).
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