Octopus Camouflage Video
plays again backwards and in slow motion so you can see it better
Octopus Escapes Through One Inch Hole (Video)
Octopuses can
squeeze through what appear to be impossibly small holes and cracks—but
just how small?
Giant Octopus Battles Shark
(Video)
Watch footage of an octopus's fight with a spiny dogfish shark, and
discover the culprit behind one aquarium's unusual murder mystery.
Walking Octopus
(Video) Two species
of tropical octopus have evolved a neat trick to avoid predators - they
lift up six of their arms and walk backward on the other two.When
walking, these octopuses use the outer halves of their two back arms
like tank treads, alternately laying down a sucker edge & rolling it
along the ground.
All About Octopi
(Video) Discovery Channels' interesting
video
Octopus Opening a
Container to Get a Crab (Video) octopus opens a plastic container from a candy machine
An
octopus has eight arms called tentacles. Each tentacle has 240 suction
cups on it. If you multiply 8 times 240, you get 1,920 suction cups!
Octopi
like to eat shellfish, especially crabs. When an octopus sees something
it likes to eat, it reaches out with a long rubbery arm and grabs it.
The suction cups help it get a good grip. Then it carries the prey to
its mouth.
Sometimes
the octopus can be injured by another animal. If it loses an arm,
another one will grow back! Starfish can do this too. It is called
regeneration.
The
tentacles also come in handy when the octopus wants to creep along the
ocean floor among the rocks and plants. The suction cups help it grip
the rocks and pull itself along.
An
octopus's mouth is underneath its head, in between the tentacles.
Just
inside the opening there is a beak, like a parrot's beak. It is very
hard and very sharp. Because octopi like to eat things with shells, like
crabs, lobsters and clams, it needs a very sharp beak to break open
their shells.
Then
the octopus poisons its prey to paralyze it.
The
tale of the octopus mothers is very beautiful and very sad. After
mating, a female octopus will look for a cave or a dark, protected area
to lay her eggs. She lays more than 100,000 eggs! The tiny eggs have a
little stem on them, and the octopus mommy attaches all the eggs
together, sort of like a bunch of grapes. Then she hangs them from the
roof of the cave. They are so pretty hanging down all around her.
The
octopus mother does not leave her eggs for any reason. She must protect
the eggs from fish and other predators who would like to eat them. She
does not even go out to look for food, so she becomes very weak from
hunger. The eggs hatch in one to two months.
Here
is the sad part: When the baby octopuses are born, the mother octopus
dies. The thousands of baby octopi are on their own.
Octopi
can change colors anytime they want! They change colors to hide from
their enemies and they can change colors when they're angry or happy.
Octopi
are really intelligent. Scientists have studied them in laboratories,
and the octopi can figure out mazes and puzzles!
Octopi
don't like to fight. They use an ink-like liquid to trick an enemy. The
inky blob looks like the octopus, and the enemy attacks it. Then the
octopus quickly swims away.
An
octopus doesn't like to live in a messy home. It uses its siphon to
squirt all the shells and debris out of its home after it is finished
eating.
The above
facts are from
http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/encanto/octopus/tentacles.htm
Adopt-A-Giant-Octopus
Why not adopt this wild and wonderful
giant from the deep for yourself or for a special someone? An Adopt a
Giant Octopus package would make an especially wonderful educational
gift for a child. Your adopt contribution will support exhibit
improvement, medical care, and food not only for the giant octopus but
also for the 2,000 other animals that reside at the National Zoo and its
Conservation and Research Center at Front Royal, Virginia.
