We’ve all had nightmares before. Everybody knows the experience of waking up in the middle of the night because of a particularly scary dream. But a new video has surfaced, and it may show that octopuses and other animals have nightmares too.
Costello is an octopus held in captivity at Rockefeller University in New York for scientific research purposes. On a typical day, Costello was sleeping peacefully when he entered a relatively more active sleep stage. Costello began exhibiting actions typical to waking octopuses – Costello’s skin began changing colors and textures.
Things suddenly became more mysterious after Costello began to spin around in circles and release the ink. Eric Angel Ramos, a marine scientist, noticed something odd: Costello was now choking a pipe in a death grip. Suddenly, a thought struck the researchers: What if Costello was having a nightmare?
Ramos quickly identified Costello’s actions as those an octopus exhibits when it is in a fight, so it would make sense that Costello was having a nightmare and was defending himself in it. However, he was quick to admit that these actions may not have resulted from a bad dream.
Marcelo O. Magnasco, another researcher and a colleague of Ramos, noted that “This is one isolated instance on an animal that had its own peculiarities,” he explained. Another scientist and researcher pointed out that Costello also had stomach parasites, and lost parts of his limbs before being captured. Magnasco confirms that this may be the case, observing that the convulsions may have been due to parasites reaching his nervous system, or cramps caused by the stomach issues.
Of course, many other scientists have also been skeptical of the conclusion, which is not peer-reviewed and is therefore not high-quality work. Another marine behavior biologist at the University of Naples Federico II, said that more research into octopuses’ sleeping behaviors is needed to prove the existence of “nightmares.”
Despite this skepticism, even critics agree that the idea of dreaming and nightmares in octopuses is a compelling idea. Ramos is far from the first to suggest that octopuses may display these behaviors.
Kuba and his colleagues have researched the question of whether octopuses can dream. He recently recorded electrical signals from an octopus’ brain, or, in other words, spied on an octopus’ brain while it sleeps. This practice could help researchers finally determine if octopuses have nightmares.
And as for Costello? The octopus died about six weeks after his longest episode of nightmarish dreaming. However, the investigation Costello sparked will live on for quite a while longer.
Costello is an octopus held in captivity at Rockefeller University in New York for scientific research purposes. On a typical day, Costello was sleeping peacefully when he entered a relatively more active sleep stage. Costello began exhibiting actions typical to waking octopuses – Costello’s skin began changing colors and textures.
Things suddenly became more mysterious after Costello began to spin around in circles and release the ink. Eric Angel Ramos, a marine scientist, noticed something odd: Costello was now choking a pipe in a death grip. Suddenly, a thought struck the researchers: What if Costello was having a nightmare?
Ramos quickly identified Costello’s actions as those an octopus exhibits when it is in a fight, so it would make sense that Costello was having a nightmare and was defending himself in it. However, he was quick to admit that these actions may not have resulted from a bad dream.
Marcelo O. Magnasco, another researcher and a colleague of Ramos, noted that “This is one isolated instance on an animal that had its own peculiarities,” he explained. Another scientist and researcher pointed out that Costello also had stomach parasites, and lost parts of his limbs before being captured. Magnasco confirms that this may be the case, observing that the convulsions may have been due to parasites reaching his nervous system, or cramps caused by the stomach issues.
Of course, many other scientists have also been skeptical of the conclusion, which is not peer-reviewed and is therefore not high-quality work. Another marine behavior biologist at the University of Naples Federico II, said that more research into octopuses’ sleeping behaviors is needed to prove the existence of “nightmares.”
Despite this skepticism, even critics agree that the idea of dreaming and nightmares in octopuses is a compelling idea. Ramos is far from the first to suggest that octopuses may display these behaviors.
Kuba and his colleagues have researched the question of whether octopuses can dream. He recently recorded electrical signals from an octopus’ brain, or, in other words, spied on an octopus’ brain while it sleeps. This practice could help researchers finally determine if octopuses have nightmares.
And as for Costello? The octopus died about six weeks after his longest episode of nightmarish dreaming. However, the investigation Costello sparked will live on for quite a while longer.
