ABSTRACT

The evolution of different models of intelligence interests many of us who look beyond the planet to the stars. But when we think of a model for this product, we find ourselves stuck with our mammal and bird relatives as the route to human intelligence. We don’t have to look far for a different model, though. In the ocean, and not at all related to humans, are the cephalopod mollusks—the octopuses, cuttlefish and squid. Octopuses in particular have developed intelligence and used learning to solve many problems. What environmental and life history forces might push them to use cognitive strategies? They do not have the long lifespan, dependent stage of development and pervasive social grouping of ‘higher’ vertebrates. Only a variable environment with lots of potential predators and prey shapes them. This presentation will show the assets of big brains, lens eyes and flexible movement systems that the octopus brings to learning. We will see examples of how they use spatial memory to find food and home, and flexible steps to manipulate it, and how octopuses use a sequence of antipredator behaviors to fool and scare potential menaces. These match several categories of cognitive abilities seen in other highly intelligent animals, and give us the opportunity to test our assumptions against the evidence of intelligence in a ‘non-terrestrial’ model of this ability.

About the Speaker:

Jennifer Mather grew up in Victoria, Canada. As a child she spent her spare time on the sea or the seashore and from this developed a fascination with sea animals. She collected sea shells and determined that she would study molluscs, but also was interested in how the whole animal worked together. As an undergraduate she took a course in animal behavior and determined this would be her future focus. Since octopuses and squid had the most complex and interesting behavior of molluscs, that was where she focused. She took a Master’s degree in Biology from Florida State University and a doctorate from Brandeis University, combining two points of view in the same area. After five years as a University Research Fellow at University of Western Ontario, she settled in Lethbridge 31 years ago. She worked for many years on laboratory-based research with Roland Anderson of the Seattle Aquarium, but really loves field research ‘where the animals live’. This has included such pleasant locations as Bermuda, Hawaii, the island of Bonaire in the Caribbean and Moorea in the South Pacific. Her research has included such topics as personality, both in octopuses and cuttlefish, play in octopuses, skin display ‘language’ systems in Caribbean reef squid. Finally, she expressed the idea that octopuses have advanced cognition and consciousness, are capable of planning, imagination and suffering and can be used as an alternate model to vertebrates for the development of these capacities.