Hobotnica koja je otključala bravu

Dvije tisuće šesnaeste godine, mali akvarij na Novom Zelandu imao je problem. Jedna od njihovih hobotnica, po imenu Inky, nestala je iz svog spremnika. Nije bilo razbijenog stakla. Nijedan alarm nije se oglasio. Osoblje je stiglo ujutro, a Inky je jednostavno nestao.

In 2016, a small aquarium in New Zealand had a problem. One of their octopuses, called Inky, had disappeared from his tank. There was no broken glass. No alarms had gone off. The staff arrived in the morning, and Inky was simply gone.

Nakon što su pretražili prostoriju, konačno su pronašli odgovor. Inky je tijekom noći gurnuo poklopac svog spremnika i otvorio ga. Zatim je odvukao tijelo preko poda do male odvodne cijevi koja je vodila prema oceanu. Provukao se u cijev, otklizao kroz osam stopa metala, i izašao u moru. Do jutra je bio slobodan.

After looking around the room, they finally found the answer. Inky had pushed open the top of his tank during the night. He had then dragged his body across the floor to a small drain pipe that led out to the ocean. He squeezed inside the pipe, slid through eight feet of metal, and came out in the sea. By morning, he was free.

Ono što je nevjerojatno nije samo to što je Inky učinio, nego i što to znači. Hobotnice su jedne od najpametnijih životinja na Zemlji. Imaju oko petsto milijuna neurona, slično kao mozak psa. Većina tih neurona nije u glavi, nego raspoređena po krakovima. Svaki krak gotovo da može razmišljati sam za sebe.

What is incredible is not just what Inky did, but what it means. Octopuses are some of the smartest animals on Earth. They have about 500 million neurons, similar to the brain of a dog. Most of those neurons are not in the head but spread through their arms. Each arm can almost think for itself.

U laboratorijima diljem svijeta, hobotnice su naučile otvarati staklenke okretanjem poklopca. Mogu riješiti zagonetke da bi došle do komadića raka skrivenog u kutiji. Neke su zapamtile lica pojedinih znanstvenika i poprskale vodom one koji im se nisu sviđali.

In labs around the world, octopuses have learned to open jars by turning the lid. They can solve puzzles to reach a piece of crab inside a box. Some have remembered the faces of specific researchers and squirted water at the ones they did not like.

Znanstvenici još uvijek ne razumiju u potpunosti kako funkcionira inteligencija hobotnica. Razvila se odvojeno od naše, prije više od petsto milijuna godina. To je, na neki način, najbliže što imamo susretu s izvanzemaljskim umom na ovom planetu.

Scientists still do not fully understand how octopus intelligence works. It evolved separately from ours, more than 500 million years ago. It is, in a way, the closest thing we have to meeting an alien mind on this planet.

Inky više nikada nije viđen. Akvarij ga je zamijenio, ali novi spremnik napravili su mnogo teže za bijeg.

Inky was never seen again. The aquarium replaced him, but they made the new tank much harder to escape from.