CEPHALOPODS OLDER THAN DINOSAURS?
If you've been hanging around this website long enough, you know that I love animals and am fascinated with animal intelligence: crows, African gray parrots, dogs, cats, lions, wolves, and... well... octopuses being among my favorites. I am fascinated by the octopus and squid, in fact, by all cephalopods. Not to coin a pun, I'm a sucker for stories involving octopuses or cephalopods in general. You know when you stare into those strange rectangular irises of an octopus' eye that what is staring back at you is intelligent, and observing you carefully. Octopus have been demonstrated to learn from each other simply by watching each other solve problems. They are wonderfully strange creatures, and recent research suggests that in addition to their keen intelligence, they have an emotional life.
But I was not prepared for this one, which comes courtesy of "B"; the cephalopod may be as older, if not older, than dinosaurs:
Octopuses were around before dinosaurs, fossil find suggests
The excitement concerns an over-looked fossil:
Scientists have found the oldest known ancestor of octopuses – an approximately 330m-year-old fossil unearthed in Montana.
The researchers concluded the ancient creature lived millions of years earlier than previously believed, meaning that octopuses originated before the era of dinosaurs.
The 4.7-inch (12-cm) fossil has 10 limbs – modern octopuses have eight – each with two rows of suckers. It probably lived in a shallow, tropical ocean bay.
“It’s very rare to find soft tissue fossils, except in a few places,” said Mike Vecchione, a Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History zoologist who was not involved in the study. “This is a very exciting finding. It pushes back the ancestry much farther than previously known.”
That little discovery, if true, would mean re-writing the place of the cephalopod in evolutionary history. We're looking at a very old creature, and I still like the idea that some have proposed that it is such a strange creature that it may have been seeded on this planet long ago, and actually originated somewhere else.
But there's more:
For decades, the fossil sat overlooked in a drawer while scientists studied fossil sharks and other finds from the site. But then palaeontologists noticed the 10 tiny limbs encased in limestone.
The creature, a vampyropod, was likely the ancestor of both modern octopuses and vampire squid, a confusingly named marine critter that’s much closer to an octopus than a squid.
Previously, the “oldest known definitive” vampyropod was from around 240m years ago, the authors said.
The scientists named the fossil Syllipsimopodi bideni, after President Joe Biden.
Whether or not having an ancient octopus – or vampire squid – bearing your name is actually a compliment, the scientists say they intended admiration for the president’s science and research priorities.
Syllipsimodi bideni, huh?
Believe it or not, I like that, but not because the name of the species commemorates "admiration for the president's science and research policies". I have no admiration for the man whatsoever. Zero, zilch, nadda. And that's saying something, because in exceedingly rare moments I could even say nice things about Mr. Clinton, or Mr. Obama, or even the Bush famdamnly. But in this case, like the former White House physician Ronnie Jackson, I think the guy is nuts. Crazy. Whacko. Looney Tunes.
So why do I like the name for the fossil?
Simple: the ink-sack, which immediately reminded me of William F. Buckley's comment about Eleanor Roosevelt, which I happily apply in my mind to the current grifter-in-chief, that wherever he goes upon his flower-strewn march through history, he spreads the same squid-like ink of confusion. Tentacles in everything, messes everywhere, but lacking his relative's intelligence.
As for the octopus, we don't hold your history or current distant relatives against you...
See you on the flip side...
4 Comments
Help the Community Grow
Please understand a donation is a gift and does not confer membership or license to audiobooks. To become a paid member, visit member registration.
I like the notion of a cephalopod being named after Biden.
Cephalo = head and poda = foot seems to refer to the fact that the
man has his foot stuck in his mouth on a quotidian basis.
This reminds me of ol’ HP’s “Call of Cthulu” with the octopus from outer space theme. It was a bridge to the “Old Ones” and lived in a labrynth of a city at the bottom of the ocean repleat with “non-Euclidian geometry.” Jason Covalito wrote a short book, “The Cult of Alien Gods: H.P. Lovecraft and Extraterrestrial Pop Culture” on the possible origins of Lovecraft’s famous story in a little known tribe of Polynesians who had a similair legend. Ever the doubting Thomas and “debunker” he does not believe H.P. knew about them… or did he? Lovecraft had access to wonderful old tomes and an occult library in his younger years while still a member of the upper crust (now like to be known as “elites.”)
This was also my first thought. haha Too bad they didn’t name it after HPL. Syllipsimodi Lovcrafteni. That‘d been nice.
One of the best alien films of all time (if not the best) was Arrival.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543164/
The aliens it features are cephalopods with seven limbs. The plot is exquisite and extremely clever.
It is well worth watching the film again, or for the first time is you have not seen the film. The ending is especially relevant and apt for the times we live in now. There is a clear message that the number 12 and The Twelve (Tablets of Destiny???) are key.
Joseph will know the underlying meaning of 12 / Twelve and I would kindly ask and urge him to write an article after watching the film.
Squids and reptiles are demons beneath the road, that infiltrate mind of fallen men, who have strayed away, and become devoured by idolatry.
GENESIS PROLOGUE IN POETRY
I walk clouds, speak stars, and flow river streams.
Nameless, I wear no uniform, and respond to no label.
Pilots are created, in the image of my compass.
I am Elohim-Yahweh, beyond time and space.
It is interesting in the SyFy channel adaption of the graphic novel series Resident Alien they make these Cephalopods distant relatives of the alien and on the series, they came to Earth 700 million years ago. As for naming this supposed ancestor after Biden, I find that an insult to all octopuses and squids.
“Syllipsimodi bideni” or “Let’s Go Brandon”? I’ll go with the latter but I’m sure the first one is an anagram for “Biden Syphilis Brain” or something like that.
Man has been know to have some rather insensitive eating habits, like eating live monkey brains. Real or legend?
The road of the future may be paved w/good intentions, but the “smart” diners along those highways and byways; may have Great re-set menus of dystopian appetites, fueled by New World Order slavery and the cheap value of all life. Torture the data, and it will confess to anything[or, eat anything?]
Even today, octopus farms are springing up a good investments of the future.
“… such intelligent ‘sentient’ creatures[their words certainly inspire a gnostic mindset] – considered to be able to feel pain and emotions – should never be commercially reared for food”.
https://bbc.com/news/science-environment-59667645
so how could an animal with a short lifespan with no parenting become inteeligent?
“Unencumbered by a shell, cephalopods became flexible in both body and mind, according to Amodio and his colleagues. They could move faster, expand into new habitats, insinuate their arms into crevices in search of prey. This allowed them to feed on many more kinds of food, requiring more complex foraging techniques,” Amodio says. “We think this is one of the key challenges that pushed them to become smarter. Losing their shells also made the cephalopods exquisitely vulnerable.”
from
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/why-did-octopuses-become-smart/593155/
The most amazing documentary I’ve even seen, during a recent (short) Netflix subscription, was “My Octopus Friend” – worth signing up for since I don’t think it’s running anywhere else. It’s about a surprising and unexpected year of an octopus and the film maker. It will reorder your thinking. Not exaggerating.
It was ‘My Octopus Teacher’ and while visually great, made the serious error of ascribing human emotions and motivations to an animal on no evidenciary basis whatsoever – the crime on anthropomorphism.
The crime OF – not ‘on’ – typo – sorry.
I disagree … it was the response the behavior elicited in the filmmaker – the surprise of the octopus going from shy to making a connection. It was really no less than relationships between people and cats or dogs. The octopus’s behavior surprised the filmmaker from its ability to regenerate, learn creative means of self protection, and the only real possibility for imposing human emotions is that the filmmaker couldn’t figure out what the octopus was doing towards the end, but it was obviously curious or playing with the fish because it clearly was not hunting. The end was emotionally draining for the filmmaker because he didn’t expect the connection to occur – at first he only saw it as some sea creature.
Sorry – the title is “My Octopus Teacher” … lol … really worth seeking out.
Dear Joseph, you touch upon the philosophical question that is on a lot of your readers minds. Are Primates only in pole position here on Planet Earth, but other Animal Families are ahead of us elsewhere in the Universe?
Likewise, did Dinosaurs evolve elsewhere on other planets into bipod walking intelligent beings? Saurians?
It would be a fascinating topic for you to cover further.
Are you suggesting, that Boris Johnson ought to be kept in a zoo, as a knuckle-dragger?
There could be regression, a freak of nature, that contradicts Darwinist evolution!
Jesuit superstructures – as forced union of states – are tentacle umbrellas of organized crime bureaucracy.
The freemasonic organism keeps every limb working towards same communist agenda, creating empires of control.
Submission to such a beast, Moloch, was called worship of Baalim, and feminist Stockholm syndrome was called Ashtaroth, by Samuel.
Assyro-Babylonian octopus seeks to devour Scythian horse with eight legs. BBC Wildlife:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/pih0162nwhdrpd1/blue-banshee.jpg
CURSE OF ILLYRIA
Downside of feminist drinking party,
in Shakespearean industry,
is when girl mousy
sniffs mummy,
and turns into blue banshee.