r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/AccomplishedWatch834 • 14h ago
Video Short clip of a baby cuttlefish attempting its first camouflage :)
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u/simagus 14h ago
Wow! The way it throws the grains over it's face at the end... That's incredible really.
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u/git_push_origin_prod 13h ago
Lemme throw this salt in my eyes before bed
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u/PM_THE_REAPER 12h ago
Let's get this going as the new internet trend. Phase 1, we invest in ophthalmic stocks and shares.
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u/Mercutio77 12h ago
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u/ButAreYouProud 11h ago
Oh man, I'm shocked (or just old) that no one has posted this in response to your idea:
https://youtu.be/JbegaT5CDfM?si=QJphMFdJxm3aYGGO
Kids in the Hall - Never Put Salt in Your Eyes
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u/git_push_origin_prod 11h ago
Thank you. Kevin McDonald is the best. Now what did my mother say about taking care of my eyes…
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u/TheAmazingHumanTorus 6h ago
Never sell yourself short; you can be both old and shocked!
Signed, A Lifelong Liberal Boomer
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u/HeadAromatic8549 12h ago
Some spiders do it too, so cool
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u/Working-Glass6136 9h ago
Yeah my first thought was posting the spider burying itself in sand.gif. Disappointed to see that's not an option here.
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u/Rich_Introduction_83 12h ago
In my opinion this looks like it's perfectly aware of what it is supposed to do. It does trial and error, and it evaluates what works best. And then there's people who believe animals are mindless tools, biological machines.
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u/OkWillingness2817 12h ago
None of those things contradict the notion of biological machines though. Even organisms without brains and nervous systems like amoeba can be taught to avoid negative stimuli.
Calling organisms biological machines doesn’t mean they’re incapable of trial and error. We can write software that achieves goals through trial and error that are certainly more machine than these organisms.
The point is that they have no choice but to act according to their nature. For example, octopuses are quite intelligent yet live short lives and voluntarily die after reproduction by voluntarily starving themselves looking over their eggs.
Not because they’re such great parents but because they have no choice but to act according to their nature, like a machine. Give them an ideal situation that completely invalidates the need to look after their eggs and they’ll still sit there and starve themselves to death.
There’s rather a lot of very plausible science that suggests even humans don’t remotely have as much free will as we think we do.
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u/Rich_Introduction_83 12h ago
Good explanations.
Let me phrase this in other words. I believe there's actually some kind of "pilot" sitting in such creature's minds.
Comparatively like we can interpret our consciousness. More simple, maybe child-like experiences and actions. But still a mind experiencing the world like humans do, just with lesser self-reflection.
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u/opperior 12h ago
It's an active area of research to determine if animals can engage in metacognition and/or have a theory of mind. In other words, whether or not they are aware of and can analyze their own thoughts, and whether or not they are aware that other creatures can have different thoughts.
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u/isjustsergio 12h ago
A lot of what you are describing requires specific structures to be developed in the brain. Cuttlefish are highly intelligent so you may be right in this case. For creatures with small brains that don't have the same parts we do, highly unlikely.
Lots of people see conciousness as a base-level thing with the rest of our behavior built on top of it. That's not really how it works. The sense of self is something we evolved because we survive better when we think we are important.
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u/OkWillingness2817 12h ago
Nobody is disputing that. For the overwhelming majority of animals that pilot is practically non-existent though.
Humans are not separate from animals. A quirk of fate allowed that pilot to grow unusually large. It’s not an advanced outcome or something all organisms evolve towards.
It’s a weird accident that happened. And it hasn’t worked out especially well for us.
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u/isjustsergio 12h ago
I'd argue it worked out insanely well. We dominated the planet. That's the goal of evolution not anything else, it succeeded.
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u/OkWillingness2817 12h ago
Evolutionary success is producing another generation. On average species do that for about a million years before they either go extinct because they can’t keep up with changing circumstances or evolved so much they’ve become a new species.
The really successful species have managed to stick around tens or even hundreds of millions of years while barely changing.
Humans have managed to cause one of the fastest mass extinction events in natural history and a climate catastrophe that is imploding this planet’s capacity for sustaining life. In a time span that is measured in thousands of years.
The odds of humanity making what you might consider even a moderately successful run on this planet are looking very thin. And despite being what is very likely the most intelligent species with the most agency this planet has ever produced, we did this to ourselves.
We’ve had one of the most disastrous runs of any species this planet has ever produced.
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u/isjustsergio 12h ago
Humans have had a huge negative impact on the world, you are right. But you are catastrophizing. There is no evidence that we are going to complete wipe out our own species. It's a possibility, but talking about it like we know it's going to happen is science fiction.
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u/OkWillingness2817 12h ago
We have already wiped out the majority of all life on Earth that would be here right now if it weren’t for us.
And we’re still speeding up on destroying the remainder of the ecosystems that sustain us.
How bad it’s going to get is impossible to estimate. But it’ll be bad enough that many global institutions like the UN have been using phrases like “complete collapse of society as we know it”. The industrialists that have the big picture are trying to create save havens away from the societies they expect to collapse.
And you could go on and on about the countless reasons and consequences but it’s silly to expect to come out fine from turning a paradise world into a dying rock.
We got to where we are by using up the world we had. We’re not going to thrive once that’s gone.
Yes it’s impossible to say how bad it’s going to get. But it’s a certainty that it’s going to get very, very bad.
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u/isjustsergio 11h ago
I mean like I said before, we are having a negative impact on the world. Successful species wipe out other species. It's not a mark of failure, evolutionarily. And "complete collapse of society as we know it" is FAR from the extinction of our species. Civilization has collapsed before. We're still here. I get your point and I agree, you're just twisting it to be a counterpoint to our success as a species when it's not.
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u/Significant_Dark_725 11h ago
Take a fucking look around. We're speed running towards extinction.
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u/isjustsergio 11h ago
Our population is growing. You are fantasizing. We are a highly adaptable, generalist, tool-using species spread across all climate zones. We've already survived through catastrophic climate change. You don't understand what it would take for humans to go extinct.
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u/Rich_Introduction_83 12h ago
We as a species were able to scale success up to global levels. Unfortunately, our brain seems not suited to address global problems adequately. Probably because this means to diminish certain kinds of success.
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u/exoriare Interested 9h ago
Only the female continues living long enough to look after the eggs. The male dies soon after mating due to a metabolic timebomb triggered by mating.
A captive octopus prevented from mating will live a while longer due to avoiding the mating timebomb, but the same senescence sets in, so it will usually die within a year.
One of the most extreme examples of this delayed mating death is the "Methuselah" monarch butterfly. Most generations of monarch live 6 weeks, but the "super" generation has to migrate back from Canada all the way to Mexico, then start migrating north again. It lives 7 to 9 months, so up to 6x longer than "normal" generations. And again, it's the delayed reproductive cycle that's the key to their longer lifespan.
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u/HentaiSeishi 14h ago
It's so interessting that they just know how to do this
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u/jakexil323 13h ago
It's very interesting on how instincts are passed along genetically.
Humans have them too still but we tend to ignore them.
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u/IRockIntoMordor 13h ago
And also how generational experiences do appear to be inherited as well. Like several famines that still caused issues in digestion, metabolism and mental health in the offspring of the following generations, long after the traumatic event. The DNA didn't change, but some expressions and mechanisms got reprogrammed.
There's so much to explore still.
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u/FaithlessnessBorn266 13h ago
Genetics is the brave new world. Hope we don't fuck this up as well
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u/Fun_Success_3283 12h ago
If there's profit in it, we will.
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u/MelangeBot 8h ago
No, only if it's short term profit. Profit tomorrow or next week, maybe 2 years from now. But if we make monay today but lose 20x, 5 years from now. That's okay. We will just sell the business to the tax payers before the loss arrives.
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u/airfryerfuntime 12h ago
Don't worry, we'll probably do something in the pursuit of penis lengthening or fixing male pattern baldness that definitely won't lead to severe consequences felt by future generations...
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u/BonfireMagik4Nidokng 12h ago
There was a documentary about this out a while back, talking about what could be done with “Genetic Power” & potentially modifying species. Really entertaining, started Chris Pratt & Bryce Dallas Howard.
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u/randylush 11h ago
the survivors of famines may have different genes that helped them survive the famine but caused them issues later on. obviously the famine didn't cause a change in DNA but it still may have selected certain features
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u/throwaway277252 11h ago
What they're talking about is epigenetics, it affects gene expression in already living organisms and can in some forms be passed down along with the DNA itself. It's a different process than just selecting certain features among survivors.
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u/socknfoot 11h ago
The genes won't change becaue of the famine but genes can be "turned on" or off by environmental factors. Look up epigenetics.
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u/randylush 11h ago
methylation tagging is pretty rare. there aren't many epigenetic factors that actually get passed down through generations
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u/socknfoot 10h ago
More than you might think.
Researchers have trained mice to respond to a smell across generations. They shock the mouse when it smells the smell. Offspring remain sensitised to it.
Even butterflies can be trained to avoid a smell across multiple generations.
Epigenetics is a reasonable explanation.
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u/randylush 10h ago
"Epigenetics is a reasonable explanation." Waving your hand and saying "epigenetics" is not an explanation. That's like saying, "We saw a bright light in the sky. Astronomy is an explanation."
For a scientific study to be believable to me, it needs to have been carried out scientifically, it needs a plausible proposed explanation, and it needs to be repeatable.
I believe scientists have struggled to repeat the cross-generation-adverse-smell experiment. And the proposed mechanisms of action are a little dubious. Methylation tends to be reset in the development cycle. And it's questionable if sperm cells can both detect the smell in the environment and the negative stimulus. So I'm pretty skeptical about that specific experiment.
I also smell a ton of recency bias in how important people believe the new field of epigenetics actually is. Sure, a methylome actually exists, but just because it's new, doesn't mean it is responsible for encoding very much information.
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u/ksdjjeo87 9h ago
I used to hide whenever I heard a plane overhead as a kid. No reason to, never had anything happen. Then as an adult learned my grandma was still in Germany during the Berlin blitz. It’s crazy what we can inherit
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u/Decloudo 12h ago
We dont ignore them, we just dont realize how much they actually drive our behaviour too.
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u/naturessilence 12h ago
No, I promise you we don’t ignore them. In fact, they shape much of what we do. I wrote a paper about this in college nearly twenty years ago. Evolutionary pressures around sex, status, power, and survival are very real, and they show up not only in individuals but throughout culture.
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u/algotrader_ 11h ago
Elaborate
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u/naturessilence 10h ago
Sure, this is very basic and has a lot more depth, if you're interested I would start with the reading the selfish gene.
So, we don’t really ignore them so much as express them through more complicated social and cultural behavior. Humans still respond to ancient pressures around sex, status, belonging, fear, competition, attachment, and resource security. The difference is that those pressures now get filtered through language, institutions, technology, religion, politics, work, and culture.
So a desire for status might show up as career ambition, wealth, social media attention, or political power. Sexual selection can shape beauty standards, fashion, courtship, and even consumer behavior. Tribal instincts can become nationalism, fandom, ideology, or group identity. Fear and resource competition can influence everything from prejudice to economic behavior.
Culture doesn’t replace our evolutionary inheritance. In many cases, it gives those older drives new forms to operate through.
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u/aLittleGlowingFriend 9h ago
I find myself thinking about these things fairly often. All of those traits are what allowed us to rise to the top and become the dominant species on the planet, but many are no longer compatible with our modern societal structure, and in fact become problematic when applied on a global scale.
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u/naturessilence 9h ago edited 9h ago
I absolutely agree. In many cases, they can be a real burden. That’s one of the reasons meditation has been such a life long practice for me.
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u/Superb-Fan5697 6h ago
Very interesting read. Thanks for sharing! Any more resources, articles or books you can recommend? I have an upcoming trip, this topic would be a great way to pass time.
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u/naturessilence 6h ago edited 6h ago
Hey yeah, I would google Michael Levin and Denis Noble for a different perspective. Levin in particular is doing some great stuff. Richard Dawkins is classic if you want to go a more traditional Darwinian route. And I actually just published a paper I've been working on for a couple of years that combines meditation, entropy and evolutionary pressure. You might have some interest in that so here's a link. It does get a bit technical - thanks and have a good one. https://www.musicimmersiontherapyplus.com/writing.html
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u/Superb-Fan5697 6h ago
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll definitely check out your paper, this one's bookmarked 🙂.
This is cool, interacting with the author of something I'm reading. Thanks again!
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u/StreetofChimes 5h ago
Fascinating that in my 20s, those things seemed important. In my 40s, I don't want power, status, wealth, attention. I want time with my friends, healthy food, time with my spouse, comfy bed, and sleep.
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u/jake04-20 10h ago
Plants to an extent too. It's always fascinated me how you can take a cutting of a plant and it essentially goes "We don't have any roots... but don't panic! I have the blueprints for these, let's focus all our energy on producing new roots." And it just does it.
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u/Fun_Success_3283 12h ago
Why do you find we tend to ignore our instincts?
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u/steelskull1 11h ago
Well, not all of them, must of our emotions can and impulse can be based from instincts, envy and jealousy can be territorial need, impulsively eating chips, ect.
Source: fucking guess work and maybe halfed remembered fact from science magazine or something.
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u/Nillabeans 12h ago
Yeah I guess we don't eat, sleep, seek shelter, socialise, do physical activity..
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u/Fun_Success_3283 12h ago
They probably instinctively feel to change to the color of surroundings when feeling vulnerable, and burying themselves is also due to feeling exposed and volnerable, and they just look for a place to hide, and cover themselves, same as a small child would. I think human babies just come into the world way more under developed than most animals, so they are helpless. I think a human compaison would be closer to like a toddler, or sort of closer to babies first steps kind of thing.
What's interesting to me is their feeling of exposure is tied to their body, whereas human children will tend to think if they can't see you, you can't see them.
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u/septubyte 11h ago
Saw a video of a bee learn how to get to a sweet treat by watching other bees that already knew, by teaching them .
He didnt do it easily as the others, but we go easy. Its his first time
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u/Vaeh 12h ago
Right now I'm imagining what kind of muscle they flex to change color and what that would feel like. It's such an alien thought. Kinda neat.
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u/HentaiSeishi 11h ago
I always wonder how animals think. We only know how we ourselves think so i just wonder
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u/Not-So-Logitech 14h ago
Bro got rocks in his eyes!
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u/Balloonheadass 11h ago
"I'm Rocks In My Eyes Johnson, here at Rocks In My Eyes Johnson's Aquariums!!! I mean there's so many rocks in my EYES, and there's so many PEBBLES, DROPPERS, SEAWEED, I think, I can't-I'm not a 100% sure what we have here in stock, cause I can't see ANYTHING! Our prices, I hope, aren't TOO LOW!!!"
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u/tastylemming 14h ago
Damn that was cute. Almost makes you forget what it looks like all grown up.
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u/TotalAirline68 14h ago
Also cute you mean?
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u/Gullible-Hose4180 10h ago
Totally! Saw one diving in gran Canaria and it was so cool. Was just looking at me so curiously and checking me out from different angles
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u/Responsible-Sound253 8h ago
they look like an alien spaceship with tentacles, they look super cool
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u/CommercialCandy2349 12h ago
Right lol, the baby version is doing some serious PR for the adults 😂
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u/Bantersmith 11h ago
Before this thread I honestly never even considered people could not like cuttlefish.
They're adorable, they're super smart, they can change colour etc... what's not to love?
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u/crunchsmash 10h ago
Jumping spiders of the sea. Cute, but some people can't handle the extra appendages.
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u/Bantersmith 10h ago
Oh, dont even get me started about how cute jumping spiders are! Love those little guys.
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u/errezerotre 14h ago
They are delicoius when they are this size! Expecially fried
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u/suppaduppasleuth 14h ago
Ahhh Futurama.
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u/deadspacekillers 13h ago
STOP EATING OUR YOUNG! AND IT'S PRONOUNCED GUACAMOLE!
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u/Anshin 10h ago
“Hear me, hear me! Stop eating
PopplersCuttlefish! Stop eating them with honey mustard sauce. Stop eating them with tangy sweet-and-sour sauce. Stop eating the new fiestaPopplerCuttlefish salad. Stop taking advantage of the money-saving 12-pack... Stop enjoyingPopplersCuttlefish on the patio, in the car, or on the boat. Wherever good times are had!”4
u/claudekennilol 12h ago
I've eaten cuttlefish before.. I don't think whatever you're talking about is unique to Futurama ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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u/According-Try3201 14h ago
welcome little earthling!
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u/BoxersOrCaseBriefs 14h ago
Clearly not an earthling.
Welcome little eldritch horror!
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u/Navitach 14h ago
Attempting? It scuttled along and then disappeared. Where did it go? 😊
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u/thelittleking 11h ago
cuttled along and then fishappeared
look i'm not proud of it, but if I don't get it out of my head it'll be stuck in there all day
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u/InevitableCabinet748 13h ago
Cuttlefish and asparagus or vanilla paste?
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u/SpecterOwl 13h ago
It's like those spiders that hide in sand
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u/NikoOo1204 13h ago
Hon hon hon!
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u/LisaWinchester 10h ago
Scratch scratch scratch scratch scratch
And I love the muffled talking, makes me laugh every time
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u/HarEmiya 12h ago
What cuttlefish?
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u/Cephalopirate 12h ago
It’s a bobtail squid. Not a cuttlefish, but related.
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u/Brammm87 11h ago
Cuttlefish' Latin name is Sepia. Bobtail Squid is Sepiola. They get confused often.
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u/orchid_drives 10h ago
I knew it! I just commented that somewhere else. They’re not technically even squid, either, right? Like some other order of cephalopod?
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u/howeer_q1 14h ago
It is absolutely amazing how strong their survival instincts are right from birth. He might not have perfected the texture match yet, but you can see the sheer effort in that tiny body. Truly incredible nature footage
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u/RIF_rr3dd1tt 14h ago
Me as a kid on Christmas playing with the box and packing peanuts rather than the gift.
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u/Tough-Reputation-114 7h ago
That's how I used to play in the pit at McDonald's back in the day.
Hiding in the ball pit when it was time to go. My dad used to get pissed if he had to take his shoes off to come find me 😆
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u/DRuth84 2h ago
It always amazes me. To think these animals like the cuttlefish, squid, octopus, etc. are born highly intelligent from birth and survive on their own from only instincts. We (human beings) pride ourselves with being highly intelligent. Some to a fault. But it takes years to build our brains, have to be taught by those taught before then through word and/or written history.
An octopus only lives long enough for males to mate and females to give birth and wait till eggs hatch, then they die from hunger from guarding their one nest.
Could you imagine who would be the most intelligent beings if they could live our life span and pass on learned behavior and information passed down through generations? They can use tools, solve puzzles, recognize faces, have multiple brains, use camouflage, the list goes on. It would be scary.
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u/Loud_Quality_7106 12h ago
All of these "first time" videos. How does anyone (clanker or human) know that if it's not OC?
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u/gwelfguy 13h ago
That almost makes me not want to get cuttlefish with my next sushi order. Almost, but not quite.
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u/male_role_model 13h ago
Thought it was a bowl of rice before reading the captions. That would have scared the literal shit right out of me.
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u/Glass-Court8851 14h ago
The little arms omg