The Animal Blog

By now most of you have seen this video, but I though I'd put it on here anyway for posterity.

This clip captures the incredible camflauge ability of the octopus.

If the comments on Digg are to be believed (and I have no question as to the absolute accuracy of digg postings), this octopus is an Indonesian Mimic Octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus)

From its wikipedia article, this species of octopus will average about 2 feet in length and its natural colors are brown with white spots. The mimic octopus has the ability to not only camoflauge itself, but to mimic the movements of other underwater creatures such as sea snakes, flounder, lionfish, and flatfish.

There are a few more mimic octopus videos to be found at this site:
http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/comments/indo_malayan_mimic_octopus/

And more info and photos can be found from this National Geographic article:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/09/0920_octopusmimic.html

Here is a frightening video of a man encountering a very angry octopus:

This man is lucky to be alive.

• Dog eats more than $800 in cash (11 Alive)
  http://www.11alive.com/news/watercooler/article_weird.aspx?storyid=100319
  "The dog owner taped together the remnants she recovered, and swapped the mangled bills for more than $700 bucks worth of fresh currency at a local bank.
  
  Hulleman is hanging on to half a one hundred dollar bill, in hopes she will recover the other portion. She is less optimistic that Pepper Ann will turn over a new leaf."
• Octopus unearths 900-year-old hidden treasure (Daily Mail)
  http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=09c295a5-7993-411b-8b0f-d26bab793e4d
  "It is a story that combines all the great mysteries and exciting discoveries of the sea – an octopus hauled onto a fishing boat with valuable ancient pottery attached to its suckers."
• Snake in a box (9 News)
  http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=09c295a5-7993-411b-8b0f-d26bab793e4d
  "Our goal: to show you just how dangerous these animals are. One of the many lessons we learned from our snake in the box."
• Woman's pet snake missing near Memphis golf course (WMCTV)
  http://www.wmctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6837886
  "A pet named Fluffy is loose near a golf course in Memphis."