Sleeping beauty

More about Sleeping beauty

I recently watched a National Geographic show in which biologists filmed a day octopus (they named her Scarlet) for months. A day octopus is a miraculous animal that can change its appearance in less than a second to mimic their surroundings or continually change color, pattern, and textural shape to confuse a predator. The biologists were able to film Scarlet sleeping and at one point she went into REM sleep, during which varying colors and patterns swept over her skin as she slept. The biologists believe this was evidence she was dreaming: possibly reviewing and processing what she had learned during that day just as we often do in our dreams. Day octopuses are short lived animals, but they spend their entire lifetime investigating, experimenting, and learning. They are capable of strategizing new hunting techniques, developing various options for confusing predators, and repurposing external objects to fit their needs. They have curiosity and exhibit lightning fast problem solving. What a marvel of evolution.