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Tippi from Africa: What does the jungle girl who grew up with tigers and elephants look like today? 10/10/2022 What does the jungle girl who grew up with tigers and elephants look like today? Tippi was nicknamed "the real Mowgli" - this is the amazing story of the little girl who spent her first 10 years in the African steppes with elephants, tigers and lions Tippi Degre had a very unusual childhood (to say the least) and this can be seen as she sits next to an adult tiger and looks completely relaxed. Tippi is the daughter of French photographers Sylvie Robert and Alain Degré, and she spent the first ten years of her life traveling around Africa, with her parents documenting her experiences. She was nicknamed the real Mowgli, and now after 10 years, an updated copy of her picture book, Tippi: My Book of Africa, is being released again, giving a glimpse into the extraordinary first decade of her life. According to the mother, Sylvia, "It was magical to live in the wild with this girl, who was very lucky: it was just the three of us there in the savannah with the animals and very few people. The animals around her were really her friends and she used a lot of imagination to live in these conditions and communicate with them." (@tippi.okanti_official) When she was ten, her parents returned to France and enrolled Tippi in a state public school. According to them, she did not integrate well into Western life as they expected and at a certain point, after feeling that she did not have much in common with the other children, her parents decided to transfer her to a home schooling format. Despite this, she attended university and completed a degree in cinema. Today (2022) she is 32 years old and runs the children's film festival for the environment in Paris - and constantly visits Namibia. Here: https://newsrnd.com/news/2022-10-10-what-does-the-jungle-girl-who-grew-up-with-tigers-and-elephants-look-like-today----walla!-news.H1OzaZzQi.html VIDEO trailer: https://www.nspirement.com/2021/07/12/tippi-grew-up-with-wild-animals.html Pictures: https://themindcircle.com/tippi-africa/ ..and read on moncarredesable.com: https://moncarredesable.com/qest-devenue-tippi-la-petite-sauvage/ Tippi Degré Tippi Degré was born on June 4, 1990 in Namibia. She is the daughter of Alain Degré and Sylvie Robert, both photographers. She climbed on the backs of elephants, curled up against big cats, played with ostriches and snakes. She made the African savannah her playground and wild animals her companions. In the 1990s, in southern Africa, Tippi Degré lived the childhood of Mowgli, the hero of the Jungle Book. "My first memory of Africa is a perfume and the contact with the skin of an animal", she confirmed during an interview. In 2000, she was ten years old when her photographer parents, Alain Degré and Sylvie Robert, returned to France, their country of origin. For the child, the arrival in France was rough. Tippi attended a public school in Paris, but only stayed there for two years before her parents withdrew her to ensure her education at home. Between the ages of 12 and 13, she presented on television Les Voyages extraordinaires de Tippi, a series of six animal and environmental documentaries set in South Africa, Australia and Canada. Later, she would have participated in the show "Fort Boyard", where she was in charge of the good care of tigers. "Civilized by obligation" Graduating in 2013 from a film school in Lyon, the young woman wants to reconnect with her first love: "I would really like to be able to reconnect with nature and the little girl I was to get back in touch with my inner self." Defending wildlife is also among her priorities. Since 2014, she has directed El Petit FICMA, the children's section of the FICMA festival, the oldest environmental film festival. Now 32, the child of the savannah considers herself "civilized by obligation." I had a very special relationship with animals, which I put on the same level as human beings," she recalls. For ten years, I have been cut off from my roots. In the city, everything seems artificial, there is something that sounds false, unlike life in nature which connects you to the essential and to the intelligence of the universe. I wish with all my heart to find this original purity.

Discovered new blood group, it is called Er 10/10/2022 A new blood group has been identified, it is called Er. According to a study published in the journal "Blood" there are five Er antigens in this group. The blood group can cause the immune cells to attack the mismatched cells, which happens when the blood groups are incompatible. Experts believe this could be very helpful for doctors and nurses when they have difficulty diagnosing their patient. Here: https://newsrnd.com/life/2022-10-10-discovered-new-blood-group--it-is-called-er.SJe_SfiZQj.html

Happy Dog @Happydog___ Yesterday I adopted the oldest, sickest, and sorest shelter dog. I'll never forget his eyes. When I went into the cage he didn't even bother to look, he knew I wouldn't even see him. https://twitter.com/Happydog___/status/1575324758362800128

..and this STORY OF HOPE: Firefighter Saves Child from Rising Waters During Hurricane Ian: ‘Something I’ll Remember for the Rest of My Life’ October 4, 2022 Crews in Florida worked hard to rescue people during Hurricane Ian last week and one St. Augustine firefighter could barely keep count of how many. Hardus Oberholzer told First Coast News he took part in multiple rescues but they just kept racking up, the outlet reported Saturday. More calls came in on Thursday evening as high tide encroached on residents’ driveways and spilled into their houses and there was one instance the father of two children will not soon forget. A photo showed Oberholzer saving a frightened little girl during the worst part of high tide on Thursday. “While these two images perfectly embody the essence of our mission, I have received dozens of first hand accounts of how helpful and present our firefighters have been,” the St. Augustine Fire Department Chief Carlos Aviles wrote in a social media post on Saturday: The child’s family apparently thought they could ride it out but realized they needed help before the high tide approached in the darkness outside that night. “She’ll have a little piece of my heart forever. It’s something in their eyes,” Oberholzer explained. “When they truly are at their worst, we show up and have to be at our best every time. Something I’ll remember for the rest of my life and I hope they do too.” Meanwhile, Aviles heaped praise on the firefighters’ loved ones for supporting them when their community was in such dire need. “I am truly blessed to serve such a dedicated group of professionals,” he wrote. Here: https://resistthemainstream.org/firefighter-saves-child-from-rising-waters-during-hurricane-ian-something-ill-remember-for-the-rest-of-my-life/

..and another STORY OF HOPE: California Firefighters Rescue Blind Dog Trapped in 15-Foot Hole at Construction Site October 1, 2022 Firefighters in southern California rescued a blind dog who fell 15 feet into a hole at a construction site. The dog, named Cesar, was pulled to safety by members of the Pasadena Fire Department technical rescue team, according to officials via KABC. Cesar lived next to the site with his owner and wandered onto the construction site at around 7:00 p.m. on September 20. At some point, while walking around, he fell into a hole that was approximately 15 feet deep and three feet wide. The owner, Mary, was alerted by her other dog’s barking and she realized her 13-year-old blind dog was not in the yard. Mary notified a construction foreman on the site, who called firefighters. They arrived at the scene within ten minutes. Cesar was reportedly scared and crying when officials found him in the dark hole. After approximately 13 minutes of performing the technical rescue, the fire department was able to retrieve the poor pup. Cesar was placed in a harness and was lifted out by a series of ropes and pulleys. Cesar appeared healthy and uninjured and shook the construction dust off his fur before reuniting with his owner. Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustin spoke of the “unique challenges” they faced while saving the dog. “This is a construction zone. Confined space rescues are low-frequency, high-risk. There’s a lot of steps we need to do to make it as safe as possible. For not just the dog but also our rescuers,” Augustin told KABC. But Augustin was delighted that the rescue was performed successfully. “It always makes us feel good. At the end of the day, all of us are pet lovers,” he added. Here: https://resistthemainstream.org/california-firefighters-rescue-blind-dog-trapped-in-15-foot-hole-at-construction-site/

HIPPOCRATES: "The physician treats. But nature heals." "Our Food Should be Our Medicine and Our Medicine Should be Our Food" https://twitter.com/thehealthb0t/status/1579200116170575872

You can't fix your health until you fix your diet. ..and: https://twitter.com/thehealthb0t/status/1579373761656414208

Your MEME Today: How to Re-Grow Your Groceries ROOT-GROW-EAT AGAIN! Here: healthbot @thehealthb0t https://twitter.com/thehealthb0t/status/1579381314628657152

School Bus Drivers Rescue Toddler Abandoned During Car Theft October 8, 2022 When a car was stolen Tuesday in Kentwood, Michigan, with a child inside, two Kelloggsville Public School bus drivers jumped into action. The incident happened early Tuesday near 48th Street and Marlette Avenue when the suspect abandoned the toddler on the side of the road and fled, WZZM reported. As the parents flagged down cars for help, a school employee in a bus stopped to find out what they needed. Dave Skinner quickly dialed 911 and radioed the school to inform colleagues about the situation. Another bus driver nearby saw the child and seated the little one on her own bus. “Bus drivers are pretty attentive to everything that’s going on around them. So, they’re in the neighborhood, they see the kids,” Skinner told the outlet: “They’re the first people they see every day. Most of the drivers know where the stops are, where the kids are at, if somebody’s late at a stop they’re on the radio about anybody having issues. We’re pretty much a close knit community here,” he continued. Thanks to their efforts, it only took ten minutes to reunite the child with the frantic parents. A photo showed Skinner standing near one of the big yellow buses: “It’s a team effort here in the school district. I wouldn’t really consider myself a ‘hero.’ I was at the right place at the right time.” A @kvrocketsps bus driver helped a family get their 2yo back after 👧 was in the back seat of parents car when it was stolen. // @FOX17 pic.twitter.com/eQIH3s63P4 — Lauren Edwards (@LaurenEdwardsTV) October 5, 2022 - in the comments: "He definitely is a Hero!!", "Thank you for your love and kindness" “Kelloggsville would like to thank the quick thinking of our staff. Mr. Dave Skinner and Ms. Sue Workman that were driving the buses, and our Director of Transportation, Kristin Nickelson who was coordinating the radio and the buses during the time,” Superintendent Jim Alston told WZZM after the incident. Here: https://resistthemainstream.org/school-bus-drivers-rescue-toddler-abandoned-during-car-theft/

Antelope Canyon, Arizona: The most photographed Slot Canyon in the World On Nerds Travel here: https://www.nerdstravel.com/antelope-canyon-arizona/

Zhangye Danxia Landform: The Rainbow Mountains of China Read eg. on Random Whispers: https://randomwhispers.com/rainbow-mountains-china/

PDF: Psychological Helplessness and Feeling Undeserving of Love: Windows Into Suffering and Healing - by Peter R. Breggin Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy, Ithaca, New York; Jeanne Stolzer University of Nebraska at Kearney This report explores two closely related concepts: First, that most psychological suffering and personal failure is rooted in underlying feelings of helplessness (psychological helplessness); and second, that this suffering is often fueled by experiences and feelings of being unlovable and especially unworthy or undeserving of love. The scientific and clinical bases of these observations are presented, including their roots in attachment theory and child development, along with practical applications for therapy and life. ... Pages 113 - 132 here: https://breggin.com/admin/fm/source/6905_breggin/studies/Breggin-Stolzer2020_Psychological-Helplessness.pdf "This article only contains general information on the respective health topic and is therefore not intended for self-diagnosis, treatment or medication. In no way does it replace a visit to the doctor."

Fascinating @fasc1nate on twitter Salt mountains in Iran https://twitter.com/fasc1nate/status/1578989371541184514 A mysterious artist has been creating natural stone sculptures high among the hills of England’s Lake District. Read more: https://bit.ly/3hiOEWI https://twitter.com/fasc1nate/status/1579178371623231489 China destroying unfinished high-rises https://twitter.com/i/status/1579157528973234176 Four seasons in the same place taken by Jozef Morgos in Žabokreky, Slovakia. https://twitter.com/fasc1nate/status/1579150949498511361 Amateur photographer Martin Le-may captured this photo of a weasel riding on the back of a green woodpecker in 2015. https://twitter.com/fasc1nate/status/1579139361790390272 A German city has installed a number of sleeping pods for houseless people fitted with thermal insulation. https://twitter.com/fasc1nate/status/1579053795979726848 The rosy maple moth is a small North American moth with unique coloring. Photo: W.Krupsaw Jellyfish don't have hearts, brains, or blood and have been that way for more than 650 million years. Photo: Jeff Hamilton https://twitter.com/fasc1nate/status/1579042976386682880

Foxy mania, sure...so next Fox @hourlyFox https://twitter.com/hourlyFox/status/1578626258505793537 https://twitter.com/hourlyFox/status/1579124540839325696 https://twitter.com/hourlyFox/status/1579109440384471041 https://twitter.com/hourlyFox/status/1579064143411576833 https://twitter.com/hourlyFox/status/1578913149142831104

Tansu YEĞEN @TansuYegen Just stunning https://twitter.com/i/status/1578636860280094720 Was not expecting that https://twitter.com/i/status/1578495162707111936 We all need sometimes a parking space https://twitter.com/i/status/1578636243562164224 Unbelievable instinct (love story..) https://twitter.com/i/status/1578069601484767232 Cuttest reaction ever https://twitter.com/i/status/1577701204993400837

Wild boars!.. If you come across a wild boar while walking in the forest, clap your hands or jump on the nearest tree! If a hog runs into the street, and charge at you: https://twitter.com/i/status/1562883994294751232

John Donne > article on POETRY FOUNDATION: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/john-donne "One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.” John Donne > Quotes Here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/77318.John_Donne “Be thine own palace, or the world's thy jail.” “No man is an island, entire of itself.” “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main." “No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face." “I am two fools, I know, For loving, and for saying so.” “Come live with me, and be my love, And we will some new pleasures prove Of golden sands, and crystal brooks, With silken lines, and silver hooks.” “And to 'scape stormy days, I choose an everlasting night.” “My face in thine eye, thine in mine appeares, And true plaine hearts doe in the faces rest, Where can we finde two better hemispheares Without sharpe North, without declining West? What ever dyes, was not mixt equally; If our two loves be one, or, thou and I Love so alike, that none doe slacken, none can die.” “Death is an ascension to a better library. ” “Death Be Not Proud Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; For those, whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow, Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. ... One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.” ... ...

...then...the 7 of Buitengebieden @buitengebieden - If there's anything that you want... let me know if you need anything else... Little boy Beckley meeting his new family for the first time.. https://twitter.com/i/status/1577771672026943501 Forever friends.. https://twitter.com/i/status/1577779157970329689 In a world where you can be anything, be kind.. https://twitter.com/i/status/1577891100819431424 When dreams come true.. https://twitter.com/i/status/1577901031429742593 Two-year-old playing fetch with neighbor’s dog.. https://twitter.com/i/status/1578125597116694552 Dogs are the best.. https://twitter.com/i/status/1578437538166906883 And at the end I wish you to Living the best life.. https://twitter.com/i/status/1577790560282316801

Fox @hourlyFox then... foxes! https://twitter.com/hourlyFox/status/1577871297090134022 https://twitter.com/hourlyFox/status/1577946824740114432 https://twitter.com/hourlyFox/status/1578429967200813056

Deer slab: our favorite places to observe (and hear) this autumn spectacle 9/24/2022 Here is a parenthesis that smells like autumn, dead leaves and wet humus. With a bonus, a sylvan symphony where the king of the forests leads the dance. The deer slab period has begun. Hurry, don't miss his concerts! From Chantilly to Sologne, from Chambord to... It only lasts a few weeks and has nature lovers racing from mid-September to celebrate that wild autumn symphony that is the slab. This is the period when the great stags launch their hoarse bellows which can be heard from very far away. These calls from the forest have several purposes and reflect the behavior of the males (dominant or pretenders) towards the does and their rivals. From dusk to dawn or even during the day, the slab will allow the dominant males to control and mate with the females of their herd, gathered at the beginning of autumn as if by magic, while summer saw these animals go their separate ways. The females and their fawns in small groups and the males more solitary. While defending their herd from the inclinations of other deer who have reached maturity and are very impatient, the dominant males assert their superiority. Adrenaline in their veins, panting nervously and sometimes with their tongues hanging out, they seem exhausted from always having to resist or impose on suitors. They can then go from the phase of intimidation to direct combat where the woods will collide in the silence of the clearings... This is the moment when everyone is pitted against each other in epic struggles. These are generally harmless, even if they are grueling for the kings of our forests. This period is the most sought after to hear or observe these splendid animals. Reserved only for initiates a few years ago, the deer slab now attracts a lot of people. Countless formulas have emerged, from simple evening outings to stays with conferences, exhibitions, walks, even bivouacs and observations in the forests. All under the sign of this noble animal. Enough to meet a real need to immerse yourself in nature and enjoy these great moments of autumn forest life. ... More: https://newsrnd.com/news/2022-09-24-deer-slab--our-favorite-places-to-observe-(and-hear)-this-autumn-spectacle.rJHrvW2bj.html

I recently experienced a trauma in one of my ears...then this is only a few days old: one equal music is heard in this ear, but in fact it comes directly from the brain. One equal music without beginning or end, infinite as it seems, always the same melody, the same choirs... Some times a day, in the night more rarely. I think it's the sign for me of the eternity approaching... yes every day we all approach one equal eternity.

INFINITY: the question cosmology can't answer The mind-boggling mystery of infinity 23rd September 2022 by Peter Cameron | Award-winning Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Queen Mary, University of London, Cameron has an Erdös number of 1. Infinity is back. Or rather, it never (ever, ever…) went away. While mathematicians have a good sense of the infinite as a concept, cosmologists and physicists are finding it much more difficult to make sense of the infinite in nature, writes Peter Cameron. Each of us has to face a moment, often fairly early in our life, when we realize that a loved one, formerly a fixture in our life, was not infinite, but has left us, and that someday we too will have to leave this place. This experience, probably as much as the experience of looking at the stars and wondering how far they go on, shapes our views of infinity. And we urgently want answers to our questions. This has been so since the time, two and a half millennia ago, when Malunkyaputta put his doubts to the Buddha and demanded answers: among them he wanted to know if the world is finite or infinite, and if it is eternal or not. Recently we have heard again John Donne's words promising us that eternity consists of "no noise nor silence, but one equal music; no ends or beginnings, but one equal eternity." Hard to imagine, and surely one equal music would soon become intolerable! There are many approaches to infinity through the twin pillars of science and religion, but I will just restrict my attention here to the views of mathematicians and physicists. Aristotle was one of the most influential Greek philosophers. He believed that we could consider "potential infinity" (we can count objects without knowing how many more are coming) but that a "completed infinity" is taboo. For mathematicians, infinity was off-limits for two millennia after Aristotle's ban. Galileo tried to tackle the problem, noting that an infinite set could be matched up with a part of itself, but in the end drew back. It was left to Cantor in the nineteenth century to show us the way to think about infinity, which is accepted by most mathematicians now. There are infinitely many counting numbers; any number you write down is a negligible step along the way to infinity. So Cantor's idea was to imagine we have a package containing all these numbers; put a label on it saying "The natural numbers", and treat the package as a single entity. If you want to study individual numbers, you can break open the package and take them out to look at them. Now you can take any collection of these packages, and bundle them up to form another single entity. Thus, set theory is born. Cantor investigated ways of measuring these sets, and today set theory is the commonest foundation for mathematics, though other foundations have been proposed. ___ If you toss a coin 100 times, it is not impossible (just very unlikely) that it will come down tails each time. But, if you could imagine tossing a coin infinitely often, then the chance of not getting heads and tails equally often is zero ___ One of Cantor's discoveries is that there is no largest infinite set: given any set you can always find a larger one. The smallest infinite set is the set of natural numbers. What comes next is a puzzle which can't be resolved at present. It may be the real (decimal) numbers, or maybe not. Our current foundations are not strong enough, and building larger telescopes will not help with this question. Perhaps in the future we will adopt new foundations for mathematics which will resolve the question. But for now, since mathematics is a mental construction, we can decide whether the universe we are playing in satisfies the "continuum hypothesis" or not. These questions keep set theorists awake at night; but most mathematicians work near the bottom of this dizzying hierarchy, with small infinities. For example, Euclid proved that the prime numbers "go on for ever". (Aristotle would say, "Whatever prime you find, I can find a larger one"; Cantor would simply say "The set of prime numbers is infinite." Mathematicians (including this year's Fields Medallist James Maynard from Oxford) seem to be closing in on the Twin Primes Conjecture. Twin primes are pairs of prime numbers, such as 3 and 5, or 71 and 73, differing by just 2; the conjecture, unproved as yet, asserts that there are infinitely many of them. But these are the infinities of the natural numbers, the smallest infinity. [SUGGESTED READING: Physics alone can't answer the big questions - by SabineHossenfelder] While Kronecker (a fierce opponent of Cantor's ideas) thought in the nineteenth century that "God created the natural numbers; the rest is the work of man", we can now build the natural numbers using the tools of set theory, starting from nothing (more precisely the empty set). Mathematicians know, however, that there is a huge gap between the finite and the infinite. If you toss a coin 100 times, it is not impossible (just very unlikely) that it will come down tails each time. But, if you could imagine tossing a coin infinitely often, then the chance of not getting heads and tails equally often is zero. Of course, you could never actually perform this experiment; but mathematics is a conceptual science, and we are happy to accept this statement on the basis of a rigorous proof. Infinity in physics and cosmology has not been resolved so satisfactorily. The two great twentieth-century theories of physics, general relativity (the theory of the very large) and quantum mechanics (the theory of the very small) have resisted attempts to unite them. The one thing most physicists can agree on is that the universe came into being a finite time ago (about 13.7 billion years) -- large, but not infinite. ___ They deny that the infinitely small can exist in the universe, but prescribe a minimum possible scale, essentially the so-called Planck scale ___ The James Webb Space Telescope has just begun showing us unprecedented details in the universe. As well as nearby objects, it sees the furthest objects ever observed. Because light travels at a finite speed, these are also the oldest objects observed, having been formed close to the beginning of the Universe. The finite speed of light also puts limits on what we can see; if an object is so far away that its light could not reach us if it travelled for the whole age of the universe, then we are unaware of its existence. So Malunkyaputta's question about whether the universe is finite or infinite is moot. But is it eternal or not? That is a real question, and is so far undecided. Attempts to reconcile relativity and quantum theory have been made. The ones currently most promising adopt a very radical attitude to infinity. They deny that the infinitely small can exist in the universe, but prescribe a minimum possible scale, essentially the so-called Planck scale. ... Read more: https://iai.tv/articles/how-infinity-threatens-cosmology-peter-cameron-auid-2246

Why CUTTLEFISH Are Smarter Than We Thought by James DOUBEK A cuttlefish swims in an aquarium at the Scientific Center of Kuwait in 2016. Cuttlefish showed impressive self-control in an adaptation of the classic "marshmallow test." Yasser Al-Zayyat/AFP via Getty Images By being able to wait for better food, cuttlefish — the squishy sea creatures similar to octopuses and squids — showed self-control that's linked to the higher intelligence of primates. It was part of an experiment by Alex Schnell from the University of Cambridge and colleagues. "What surprised me the most was that the level of self-control shown by our cuttlefish was quite advanced," she tells Lulu Garcia-Navarro on Weekend Edition. The experiment was essentially a take on the classic "marshmallow" experiment from the 1960s. In that experiment, young children were presented with one marshmallow and told that if they can resist eating it, unsupervised, for several minutes, they will get two marshmallows. But if they eat it that's all they get. The conventional wisdom has been that children who are able to delay gratification do better on tests and are more successful later in life. (There are of course many caveats when talking about the human experiments.) To adapt the experiment for cuttlefish, the researchers first figured out the cuttlefish's favorite food: live grass shrimp; and their second-favorite food: a piece of king prawn. Instead of choosing one or two marshmallows, the cuttlefish had to choose either their favorite food or second-favorite food. "Each of the food items were placed in clear chambers within their tank," Schnell says. "One chamber would open immediately, whereas the other chamber would only open after a delay." It "essentially tested whether they could resist the temptation of their second preference food item and wait for their preferred food item." The cuttlefish learned to wait. "Animals like rats, chickens and pigeons, they find it difficult to resist temptation and have relatively lower levels of self-control, only waiting for several seconds," Schnell says. "Whereas animals such as chimpanzees, crows and parrots, they show more advanced self-control and they can wait up to several minutes. And the cuttlefish in our study waited up to between 50 to 130 seconds." Animals that are able to exert self-control in this way have advantages. For example, animals can hide food to eat later, but they have to resist the urge to eat now. The researchers say the experiment is the first evidence so far of this type of cognitive ability in an invertebrate. In cuttlefish, Schnell thinks the delayed gratification relates to their lifestyle. They are masters of camouflage; they are able to blend into their environment and can stay perfectly still for long periods of time to avoid predators. Then they forage for food in brief outings. "Individuals who wait for better-quality prey could forage more efficiently at the same time as limiting their exposure to predators," Schnell writes. But to take things a step further, the researchers did a second experiment. They put colored markers into the tank and taught the cuttlefish to associate a certain color marker with food, by dropping food when the cuttlefish went to the marker. Then they swapped the colors. The second experiment was to test the animals' "learning performance." The cuttlefish that were quicker to learn to associate and reassociate the markers with food were considered better learners. They found the cuttlefish that were able to delay gratification the most also happened to be the ones that were better at learning. It's the "first demonstration of a link between self-control and learning performance outside of the primate lineage," Schnell writes. Finding these similarities between cuttlefish and primates "is an important piece of the evolutionary puzzle," she adds. Hence, the squishy cuttlefish is leading scientists a step closer to understanding more about the origins of intelligence. Here: https://www.npr.org/2021/03/07/974465853/why-cuttlefish-are-smarter-than-we-thought

Suckers for learning: why OCTOPUSES are so intelligent Pinterest Our last common ancestor with the octopus existed more than 500 million years ago. So why is it that they seem to show such peculiar similarities with humans, while at the same time appearing so alien? Perhaps because despite their tentacles covered with suckers and their lack of bones, their eyes, brains and even their curiosity remind us our own thirst for knowledge. In ethology, the study of behaviour, we explore this intelligence, which we classify as individual “cognitive abilities”. These are the mechanisms through which information from the environment is perceived, processed, transformed, remembered and used to take decisions and act. From a behavioural point of view, the flexibility with which an animal can adapt itself and adjust its behaviour to novel situations is a good indicator of its cognitive abilities. Numerous studies indicate the octopuses possess great flexibility in their behaviours, whether they express them in their natural environment or inside a tank in a laboratory. Armed and dangerous So what makes octopuses so smart? Let’s focus first on their defence mechanisms. Faced with multiple predators – including fish, birds and whales – octopuses are masters of camouflage. They can imitate their environment by modifying the colour and even the texture of their skin. Without a shell, octopuses are vulnerable, and always try to remain hidden in a shelter such as a cavity or the space beneath a rock. Some species maintain their shelter by removing sand and adding pebbles and shells. Some prefer to wrap themselves in shells and pebbles, while others transport their shelter in their arms. This is the case for the coconut octopus, which, true to its name, has been observed carrying coconut shells around to hide within in case of danger. Octopuses are also formidable predators themselves, and their attack mechanisms are suited to the wide variety of prey they consume, including seashells, crustaceans, fish and even other cephalopods. They can use their vision and camouflage skills to hunt, and their arms to explore, touch and taste their environment to seize every bit of food within reach. The octopus is a thoughtful hunter. It can cooperate with other species such as groupers to hunt hidden prey. It can learn to avoid crabs bearing poisonous anemones or find a way to cautiously attack them while avoiding being stung. Octopuses use different techniques to consume seashells and molluscs, either pulling apart the shell by force and placing a small stone inside to keep it open, or drilling into the shell to inject a paralysing toxin which will make the prey open up. This toxin is injected into a very precise muscle under the shell, and octopuses learn and remember the drilling site of each seashell they consume. Boneless, not brainless We can test the cognitive abilities of octopuses in the lab. In our EthoS laboratory, we are currently working on the memory and future planning abilities of the common octopus. They are complex animals to study, because of their astonishing abilities. Their incredible strength allows them to easily destroy our lab tools: be careful with underwater cameras, they can open the waterproof box to drown them! And because octopuses are boneless, they can easily escape their tanks through the smallest of openings. They are also extremely curious and will spend their time catching hands, nets or any other object introduced to their tank. From there, it is up to them to decide when to release their catch. The opening of jars, while impressive and often used to illustrate octopus intelligence, is not their most remarkable ability. This is mostly a matter of dexterity and gripping, and octopuses are quite slow when executing this task: even when over-trained, an octopus always takes more than a minute to open a jar. A better example of their impressive intelligence is their ability to manipulate an L-shaped object so it can pass through a small square opening in a wall. Octopuses also excel in discriminative learning: confronted with two objects, they learn to attack one of them in exchange for a reward, basing their choice on characteristics such as colour, shape, texture or taste, and they can retain this information for several months. They can also generalise, a complex thought process in which they need to spontaneously apply a previously learned rule to new objects. For example, octopuses who have previously learnt to attack a real ball can go on to attack a virtual ball on a screen. Octopuses can also use conditional discrimination, that is, they can modify their choice depending on the context. For example, they can learn to attack an object only in the presence of bubbles. They can also use spatial learning, and find an hidden shelter by remembering its position, or use visual cues to know how to orient their arm inside an opaque T-shaped apparatus. Last but not least, octopuses can learn by watching other octopuses carry out tasks, such as choosing one specific object over another. This is surprising, because they are mainly solitary creatures. Grade: sea minus Octopuses meet every criteria for the definition of intelligence: they show a great flexibility in obtaining information (using several senses and learning socially), in processing it (through discriminative and conditional learning), in storing it (through long-term memory) and in applying it toward both predators and prey. Despite their obvious abilities, octopuses are oddly erratic in their responses, especially in visual discrimination tasks, in which they carry out the correct response around 80% of the time, while other animals succeed almost perfectly. And do not be mistaken: octopuses may be clever, but in the classroom of cephalopods they would be the bright but unruly pupil, and the cuttlefish would be top of the class. The humble cuttlefish is less familiar, but is the subject of numerous research projects worldwide. Less disruptive than octopuses, they possess exceptional learning abilities, can pick up complex rules in no time and apply them perfectly. Here, with VIDEO: https://theconversation.com/suckers-for-learning-why-octopuses-are-so-intelligent-162122