Did a Cuttlefish Write This? | The New York Times

A Common Cuttlefish. Credit: Freepik

MBL is a pinnacle of cuttlefish research and expertise as indicated by this article, which quotes MBL scientists Roger Hanlon and Bret Grasse, Whitman scientist Trevor Wardill, and 2018 Grass Fellows Alex Schnell and Tessa Montague.

Captive cuttlefish require entertainment when they eat. Dinner and a show ה if they canיt get live prey, then they need some dancing from a dead shrimp on a stick in their tank.

When the food looks alive, the little cephalopods, which look like iridescent footballs with eight short arms and two tentacles, are more likely to eat it. Because a person standing before them has to jiggle it, the animals start to recognize that mealtime and a looming human-shaped outline go together.

As soon as a person walks into the room, לthey all swim to the front of the tank saying, give me food!ם said Trevor Wardill, a biologist at the University of Minnesota who studies cuttlefish vision.

You may get a squirt of water from a cuttlefishיs siphon if you donיt feed them, though. Alexandra Schnell, a comparative psychologist at the University of Cambridge, recalled some who sprayed her if she was even a little slow with the treats. Itיs the kind of behavior that researchers whoיve worked with cuttlefish sometimes remark on: The critters have character. 

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