todropscience: “ The heartwarming moment when two waved albatross (Phoebastria irrorata) lovers recognise each other and reunite after much time apart. This albatross is unique in being the largest bird in the Galapagos Islands, and the only...
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todropscience: “ The heartwarming moment when two waved albatross (Phoebastria irrorata) lovers recognise each other and reunite after much time apart. This albatross is unique in being the largest bird in the Galapagos Islands, and the only...
Zoom Info
todropscience: “ The heartwarming moment when two waved albatross (Phoebastria irrorata) lovers recognise each other and reunite after much time apart. This albatross is unique in being the largest bird in the Galapagos Islands, and the only...
Zoom Info
todropscience: “ The heartwarming moment when two waved albatross (Phoebastria irrorata) lovers recognise each other and reunite after much time apart. This albatross is unique in being the largest bird in the Galapagos Islands, and the only...
Zoom Info

todropscience:

The heartwarming moment when two waved albatross (Phoebastria irrorata) lovers recognise each other and reunite after much time apart.

This albatross is unique in being the largest bird in the Galapagos Islands, and the only albatross species found entirely within the tropics. Waved albatross mate for life; a relationship that starts with an elaborate courtship ritual. This routine is a precise sequence of moves, which includes rapidly circling and bowing their bills, clacking their beaks together and raising their bills skyward whilst letting out a “whoo-ooo” call.

Presumably monogamy evolved in situations where young have a much better chance of surviving if both parents cooperate in rearing them. Nonetheless, the amount of time and energy invested by monogamous male parents varies greatly. By the way, 90 percent of all bird species are monogamous.

nekolekemelle: “ Been reading a really epic book called ‘The Soul of an Octopus’ by Sy Montgomery. Such an amazing read if you love animals, or aquatic creatures like me, or just want an interesting anecdotal read for the trains. Heres a shot from...
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nekolekemelle:

Been reading a really epic book called ‘The Soul of an Octopus’ by Sy Montgomery. Such an amazing read if you love animals, or aquatic creatures like me, or just want an interesting anecdotal read for the trains. Heres a shot from the Bermuda aquarium of an Octopus who’s name I did not catch… #thesoulofanoctopus #aquaticlife #octopus #bermuda #symontgomery (at Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo)

How octopuses distinguish colors (or do they?)

0ct0pus:

The question of how octopuses can match their surroundings while not being able to see colours is one hell of a puzzle. Christopher Stubbs may finally have found the answer: chromatic aberration.

image

Maybe octopuses do see colour – not from light hitting special retinal “photoreceptors” but thanks to chromatic aberration, where different colours of light focus at different distances behind a lens.

Eyes of cephalopods are quite unlike anything seen on land: U- and W-shaped pupils backed by a lens that moves back and forth, like a camera, rather than fattening or thinning like ours. But they also have only one photoreceptor, unlike our red, green and blue ones.

Stubbs idea is the following: by adjusting the focal point of their eyes, like a photographer adjusts a lens, cephalopods might be able to detect different wavelengths – or colours – of light. This is called chromatic aberration.

image

To test his idea, Stubbs created a computer model of how the animals’ eyes work and see if chromatic aberration was possible.

He found not only could a shifting lens do the trick, but the cephalopods’ quirky pupils only served to maximise the effect. As Stubbs says, these creatures might exploit a ubiquitous source of image degradation in animal eyes, turning a bug into a feature.

The unusual pupils of cephalopods (from the top, a cuttlefish, squid and octopus) allow light into the eye from many directions, which spreads out the colors and [certainly] allows the creatures to determine color, even though they are technically colorblind.

As the lens moved forwards and backwards, the different wavelengths focusing on the retina at different times built up a colour picture.

It is not a proof, but the idea is definitely worth investigating !

Text from this article. For more in-depth information, I suggest weird pupils let octopuses see their colorful gardens.