Playmate of the Week: Mr Potato Head

tags: behavior, environmental enrichment, giant Pacific octopus, Octopus dofleini, cephalopod, animal intelligence

Who would have thought that Mr Potato Head would turn out to be such a charmer? Certainly not I, but this morning, I unexpectedly ran across a news story about a giant Pacific octopus, Octopus dofleini, that lives in an aquarium in the UK. Like most highly-intelligent captive animals, this octopus, Louis, gets easily bored, so his keepers deal with that problem by providing him with "environmental enrichment". In short, they hide seafood inside a variety of objects to keep him occupied.

As any pet owner or zoo keeper can tell you, environmental enrichment, which is sometimes referred to as behavioral enrichment, is the practice of giving captive animals a variety of objects to interact with. Toys, if you will.

The purpose of environmental enrichment is to improve an animal's quality of life by keeping them from becoming hopelessly bored. These objects stimulate physical and mental activity and natural behaviors, so destructive or repetitive behaviors, such as feather picking or cage pacing, are reduced or prevented. Environmental enrichment benefits a variety of animals, ranging from pet cats and dogs to elephants and primates and birds, especially parrots. But what about octopus? Do octopus play with toys?

Well, yes, they do, according to Jennifer Mather, a psychologist and octopus expert at Canada's University of Lethbridge. But one doesn't need to be an octopus expert to realize that the charming and suave Mr Potato Head (right) would be strong candidate for a favorite toy.

"Its bright colors, strange shape and moveable parts make it fascinating for Louis," observed Matt Slater at Newquay's Blue Reef Aquarium in Cornwall, Great Britain.

"The secret space within Mr Potato Head allows us to hide tasty treats like fresh crab inside and that perhaps more than anything has resulted in him becoming such a hit."

Further searching on the internet reveals that Louis's attraction to Mr Potato Head is not unique in the octopus world. A year and a half ago, another story was published about Shania (below), a young female giant Pacific octopus who lives at the National Aquarium in Washington DC. Shania apparently enjoys snuggling with her Mr Potato Head even more than eating, although she also enjoys holding hands with her (human) keeper and personal enrichment tutor, Rick Quintero.

Giant Pacific octopuses are the largest octopus species. For example, Louis, who is 18 months old, measures about 1.8 meters (6 feet) across. Giant Pacific octopus are also the most intelligent members of the cephalopod family.

"Louis is well known for his curiosity and intelligence," agrees Slater.

To keep octopus occupied each day, keepers put fresh crab, shrimp or fish meat inside all sorts of objects from hamster balls, glass jars with screw-top lids, to rubber toys and even fishing floats to challenge their intelligent charges.

"We've devised a series of puzzles, games and toys to ensure he's getting the mental stimulation he needs, but Mr Potato Head is definitely his favorite at the moment."

Streaming video of another octopus playing with an assortment of toys;

Sources

BBCNews (quotes)

MetroNews (quotes, Louis image)

WaPo (quotes, Shania image)