love is fucking dead. valentines day used to mean something
So for people who don’t know, Seattle Aquarium has a breeding program to try and help save the endangered Pacific Giant Octopus.
They take wild octos every year and put them in a conjoined tank that is separated only by a plexi glass wall full of holes big enough for them to put arms through but small enough that their beaks can’t fit through. Each octopus is given food, healthcare, and enrichment, and the opportunity to get to know each other.
As Valentine’s Day approaches the marine biologists that specialize in octos make assessments of their interactions and judge if the two are compatible for mating or if they are still aggressive toward each other.
If the octopuses have been witnessed being friendly and seem interested, the gate is lifted and they have their day of romance.
But octopuses engage in cannibalism in the wild and any smaller octopus is wary of getting eastern by a larger one… So yeah, if they haven’t been friendly the possibility of cannibalism is very high. And as a program designed to help save the species they aren’t going to risk it. So the octopuses are released (not together) back into the wild and the Aquarium sets about finding a new pair to play match-maker with.
As someone who walked by this aquarium to work for almost a decade, I can attest to how huge a Thing this is around here. We’re always sad when the octopus sex show gets cancelled.
Thank you for the explanation of the conservation program.
[ID: a screenshot of a news headline posted on 2/12/2016. It reads “Attention: the public octopus sex act has been cancelled.” In smaller text the sub-header reads “Seattle Aquarium cancels annual Valentine’s Day mating ritual, fearing cephalopods might turn to cannibalism.” /end ID]
„We’re always sad when an octopus sex show gets cancelled.”
