Killer Shark Action Video Inside!

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

I'd love to see the rasterization and frame buffer arrangement on that one.
I mean, how active are they in producing the camouflage image, and how detailed control do they have.
Have anyone here seen any tests with putting octopi, cameleons, or any other color changing creatures in artificial environments to see how good they are to adapt?
Like checkerboards or other test patterns.

Totally active. They can change shape, colour and texture pretty instantaneously at will. They have instant control of the millions chomataphores in their skin, and use it not only for camoflage, but also to show emotional states, eg mating, driving off competing males from females, etc.

A chameleon takes a few minutes to change to an approximate colour of it's surroundings. An octopus can change texture and colours in a second to pretty exactly match it's surroundings. One of the reasons they are clever, curious animals with the largest body-brain ratio is that they need it to control all the nerves that control this whole mechanism.

It's interesting when you consider the theory that humans got clever because they needed a big brain to deal with language. Octopi got clever because they needed a big brain to deal with their colour and texture changing abilities (as well as all the suckers and arms).

 

[KimB]

Any particular reason why?

The Humboldt Squid is just plain vicious. Here's a quote:

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/Invertebrates/Facts/cephalopods/FactSheets/Humboldtsquid.cfm

Prey
Schools of squid surface at night to hunt lanternfish, shrimp, mollusks, and other cephalopods. They are also known to cannibalize other jumbo squid that have been maimed or captured in nets. The squid use the sharp, barbed suckers on their feeding tentacles to pierce the flesh of prey and drag it to their mouths where a fierce, baseball-sized beak tears it to shreds.

Jumbo squid are notoriously aggressive and have earned the nickname diablos rojos, or “red devilsâ€￾ from Mexican shrimpers, who fish them in the off-season. Fishermen exploit the Humboldts' affinity for lanternfish by using lights as fishing lures. The squid may attack divers when threatened and will continue to put up a fight even after they've been caught, blasting their captors with water and ink.

I've seen videos of these guys, and they are powerful creatures.

 

[Killer-Kris]

I've seen videos of these guys, and they are powerful creatures.

You forgot this part...

can reach up to six feet and weigh as much as 100 pounds.

 

[Dresden]

The common house cat.

http://www.geocities.com/the_srco/Fluffy_article.html


Sharks kill for food. When they aren't hungry they don't kill.

Cats kill for the fun of it.

Hah! No way! But when you think about it, it does make sense. Outside of claiming it's instinctual, what IS the reason for cats slaying ANYTHING for that matter? So far, my cat has presented me with a plethora of mice she's slain, the worst case was when she dropped one in the pant leg of one of my work pants.

 

[KimB]

Hah! No way! But when you think about it, it does make sense. Outside of claiming it's instinctual, what IS the reason for cats slaying ANYTHING for that matter? So far, my cat has presented me with a plethora of mice she's slain, the worst case was when she dropped one in the pant leg of one of my work pants.

Awww, now, that's just how she tells you she loves you. You'll hurt her feelings if you don't eat up!

 

[Powderkeg]

Hah! No way! But when you think about it, it does make sense. Outside of claiming it's instinctual, what IS the reason for cats slaying ANYTHING for that matter? So far, my cat has presented me with a plethora of mice she's slain, the worst case was when she dropped one in the pant leg of one of my work pants.

There was another study which I am having trouble locating which included all kinds of animals, and not just birds killed by housecats. With insects included they came to the conclusion that the average outdoor housecat makes about 30 kills per night.

 

[mcsven]

I think an Orca might well be the ultimate killer. They're even known to take out Great Whites.

 

[KimB]

I think an Orca might well be the ultimate killer. They're even known to take out Great Whites.

Heh, cool, they've been known to help whalers kill baleen's? Amazing...

 

[Frank]

Btw, Do you guys think that octopus poisoned the shark, or simply drowned it? If a shark cannot swim, it doesn't get oxygen from the water, I believe.

 

[KimB]

Btw, Do you guys think that octopus poisoned the shark, or simply drowned it? If a shark cannot swim, it doesn't get oxygen from the water, I believe.

Well, that's been found not to be true. They can indeed pump water past their gills.

Personally, I think the octopus shredded the shark with its parrot-like beak.

 

[scooby_dooby]

Hehe, you watched the video, right? That octopus made really short work of that shark. Just goes to show that raw power isn't all there is to being able to kill well.

Ya that 3-4 foot shark probably had alot of 'raw power'

What is that, a nurse shark?? They're pretty much harmless.

 

[Dresden]

Awww, now, that's just how she tells you she loves you. You'll hurt her feelings if you don't eat up!

What makes you think I didn't already do that

There was another study which I am having trouble locating which included all kinds of animals, and not just birds killed by housecats. With insects included they came to the conclusion that the average outdoor housecat makes about 30 kills per night.

Holy crap! Cat's are sociopaths! I wonder what posseses them to inherently have an insatiable killing streak?

 

[KimB]

You know what? Maybe this is why my Mom's cats never seem to eat much of the food she lays out for them.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Man is the ultimate killer. We may not kill as many per person as some other creature, but I am sure we are the only one that has wiped out many other species completely.

 

[KimB]

Man is the ultimate killer. We may not kill as many per person as some other creature, but I am sure we are the only one that has wiped out many other species completely.

Well, we mostly do that through habitat destruction, which hardly has the same visceral quality as a predator killing its prey.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Ok, but we also kill for fun/pleasure along with bragging and putting trophies of the things we killed on walls etc. We also constantly think of new ways of killing things in large numbers from insects to ppl along with improving the killing efficiency of them. We also will\have torture(d) our prey far more.
While most extinction is from habitat destruction we still have killed species from hunting as well as not stopping when we know it will wipe them out. Unfortuately there is no check like on nature with our mass slaugter.

 

[KimB]

Still doesn't have the same visceral quality. And many species will destroy other species if brought out of their natural habitat.