We don’t know if androids dream of electric sheep, but whatever octopuses dream of must be something adventurous because they change color a lot while they’re sleeping. And while the octopus in the below video may or may not actually be dreaming according to the professor in clip, we’d still like to think that it is. Every octopus dreams of something, right? Even if it’s just escape from its tank.
We’ve seen a lot of octopus videos capable of obliterating minds and conceptions of what earthly creatures can do over the past few years, including this clip of a little octo-soldier creating armor out of seashells, or this clip of a baby octopus testing its camouflage reflex the second it’s able to move after hatching. But this dreaming octopus video, which comes via Digg, probably takes the cake for most mysterious.
The mystery here doesn’t really revolve around the octopus changing color, however; instead, it revolves around whether or not the octopus is actually dreaming. Yes, the octopus is asleep, and yes, it’s changing its body’s colors in a surreal, mesmerizing way, but do these color changes reflect whatever’s going on in the sleeping octopus’s brain? Apparently, it’s not possible to say.
For those who watched this clip and are desperate for more octopus magic in their lives, we’d like to point you in the direction of the show Octopus: Making Contact on PBS. The show, from which this clip comes, will follow “an Alaskan professor as he raises and studies a… octopus in his home, making remarkable discoveries about its extraordinary intelligence, personality and skills.” Although that begs the question: How will the octopus use said intelligence, personality, and skills to manipulate the people around it? It is already the star of its own TV show, after all.
What do you think of this octopus changing colors while it sleeps? Do you think this wiggly aquatic alien is really dreaming? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Images: PBS