11/11/13 22:10
I've watched parts of this old
Nova special on Cuttlefish before, but finally watched the whole thing.
First, wow, mind blown. Definitely will have a different perspective the next time I eat cuttlefish! (They are indeed delicious). For one thing, I didn’t realize their camouflage abilities were so developed.
I am absolutely thankful not to be a sea dwelling species. It must really suck to have to be on the lookout for predators from all directions all the time.
To a small crab, a cuttlefish must be far more horrifying than the Cthulhu. It's like a 3rd generation stealth bomber against a WW2 tank.
Just from an engineering standpoint, it's so marvelous: Jet propulsion, active camouflage, ballast system, projectile grabbers, ink cloud. Imagine how awesome it would be if humans had even one of those abilities.
They definitely seem really smart to me. Keeping in mind they only live to be 2 years old. I shudder to think what would happen if they one day mutated to have a longer life-span, and thus enable increased intelligence. They would seriously take over the world.
Related: Nature.