The more factual information I gather about animals, the shorter my “what I will eat” list becomes.<\/p>\n
I once ate cuttlefish. In Padua. But after reading this Times piece about cuttlefish behavior,<\/a> I won’t do that again, not even in Padua.<\/p>\n Here’s what I mean:<\/p>\n Captive cuttlefish require entertainment when they eat. Dinner and a show \u2014 if they can\u2019t get live prey, then they need some dancing from a dead shrimp on a stick in their tank.<\/em><\/p>\n 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.<\/em><\/p>\n As soon as a person walks into the room, \u201cthey all swim to the front of the tank saying, give me food!\u201d said Trevor Wardill, a biologist at the University of Minnesota who studies cuttlefish vision.<\/em><\/p>\n You may get a squirt of water from a cuttlefish\u2019s siphon if you don\u2019t 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. It\u2019s the kind of behavior that researchers who\u2019ve worked with cuttlefish sometimes remark on: The critters have character.<\/em><\/p>\n And are not too patient.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The more factual information I gather about animals, the shorter my “what I will eat” list becomes. I once ate cuttlefish. In Padua. But after reading this Times piece about cuttlefish behavior, I won’t do that again, not even in … Continue reading