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A Longitudinal Assessment Of Temperament In Octopus Bimaculoides, David Loyd Sinn

Dissertations and Theses

Cephalopods, including Octopus spp., are highly intelligent molluscs that play major roles in many marine food webs, both as top-level feeders (Ambrose, 1984) as well as by constituting a major source of protein for the animals above them (Lang, Hochberg, Ambrose, & Engle, 1997). They also are fascinating organisms for behavioral studies, with elaborate repertoires of behavior based on plasticity and learning (Wells, 1962a; 1962b; 1978) which in complexity rivals that of the vertebrates. The study of individual differences in behavior is a facet of behavioral research that has recently gained attention in the literature (Gosling & John, 1999). Traditionally, …