Puesto que los pulpos son animales de una gran inteligencia, sería natural que en cautividad se les proporcionara algunos juguetes para disminuir su stress. Este artículo habla de las experiencias documentadas sobre los pulpos y los juguetes.
Evaluating Toys for Octopuses
Roland C. Anderson
Octopuses would seem to be good candidates for environmental enrichment. They are the most intelligent invertebrate, being able to learn to negotiate simple mazes, open jars, engage in play behavior and exhibit individual personalities (Mather and Anderson, 2000). Although aspects of octopus enrichment have been documented (Wood and Wood, 1999; Rehling, 2000; Anderson and Wood, 2000), it remains unknown how beneficial octopus enrichment is to the animals since there is yet no way of measuring it (Anderson and Wood, 2000). Rehling (2000) noticed increased activity in octopuses with enrichment but Anderson and Wood (2000) point out that increased activity could be a sign of disturbance or perseveration (Shepherson, 1998). Boal et al. (2000) have shown that enrichment benefits the learning and memory in cuttlefish (Sepia sp.).
Since octopuses have demonstrated play behavior (Mather and Anderson, 1999), allowing them access to "toys" has been one aspect of their enrichment (Anderson, 2003). Mark Rehling at the Cleveland Zoo has kept a notebook of enrichment items used on octopuses (including toys) as reported by public aquariums keeping octopuses. The toys appear to have several aspects in common. First, they allow exploration of the toy, which is a preliminary to play behavior (Mather and Anderson, 1999). Secondly they contain parts moveable by the octopus's arms and suckers (Anderson, 2003). Thirdly, some of the toys had parts with direct connections to other moveable parts via levers, gears, or linkages (Anderson, 2003). But it remains unknown what types of toys give the best exploration/play experience. The purpose of this study was to find what makes a good octopus toy based on octopus handling times. Finding a good octopus toy would allow better enrichment for captive animals and hence better health (Shepherdson, 1998).
El artículo entero se encuentra en The Cephalopod Page
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