Regarding octopus, Penguins of Madagascar is right about 7 things and 4 things wrong

Operation Penguin in Madagascar is hilarious, and how does the science about the arch-villain Dave, the octopus, manifest itself in the movie? Let's find out which is true or not!

Images courtesy of DreamWorks

Very few movies choose an octopus as a (talking) character. (They only occasionally become the protagonists of the game.) So if you don't mind me leading you around the animated world. Then look at what Hollywood says about this enigmatic, often misunderstood animal, right and wrong.

Today's example: Penguins of Madagascar (DreamWorks Cartoon, 2014). The film's main villain is an ordinary octopus vulgaris named Dave (it's voiced by John Malkovich, so how could I ignore it?). What will this cephalopod comic character teach us and those potential audiences? As a talking comedic animated character, this movie has surprised me a lot, because in fact the movie got it right on a lot of octopus. Here are the top seven details about the correct octopus:

Camouflage: This octopus named Dave usually disguises itself as another animal. In the real world, the mimetic octopus (Thaumoctopusmimicus) bends its body and even swims like an inedible plant or animal. Other species of octopus camouflage with carefully evolved colors and textures to avoid predators and hunt. Of course, the movie exaggerates this feature. Let Dave disguise himself as Dr. Octavius Brine, a human scientist. The film's screenwriter gave him such a sea-like pseudonym (although a helpful reader in the IMDB.com pointed out a flaw in the plot: "When Dave disguises himself as a human, even if it doesn't speak English, humans can understand what he means." "This may be true – but it may also ignore the feasibility of masquerading as a human)

Trick: The plot begins with an offended octopus (who has been robbed of scenery by cute penguins in zoos and aquariums) reminiscing about the days when it could attract audiences by opening cans and performing acrobatics. While we don't know how much the self-esteem of the caged octopus depends on the number of spectators, we do know that octopuses are very good at solving puzzles, such as opening cans. In fact, this stimulation has now become a way for this intelligent creature to kill time in its cage.

Defense: On the basis of its intelligence, the octopus has a number of other means of defense, including ink. But octopuses can also add some mucus to the ink they secrete (which is not that scientific term) to hinder their attackers' eyes and scales. In the early confrontation with dave the octopus, it was this weapon that used it to defeat the enemy.

Escape: During a battle, the penguins managed to capture Dave. But, as many octopus researchers and farmers have told you, getting caught can be a hoax. In the movie, in a short time after the octopus is caught, it shrinks its body and escapes using a drain pipe. Those who try to catch and hold octopuses will find that their prisoners will disappear if they forget to plug even the smallest crack or hole. This brings us to the next fact:

Flexibility: Muscle pressure regulation is a more technical expression of it. In the movie, Dave the octopus easily squeezes its head over the railing of the cage (for real-life octopuses, the head usually refers to the cover above). In reality, the octopus's ability to squeeze itself through the smallest opening is also one of the reasons why it is extremely difficult to be shut down.

Land Walking: We may be inclined to think that octopuses are primarily swimming. (And in a lot of YouTube videos where octopuses scare divers, they do look like they're swimming.) But deep-sea octopuses (as we know most species) tend to move around by "walking." Probably because most of the scenes in the film are on land. Dave the Octopus spends most of its time moving around with its arms. Of course, as the film shows, animals accustomed to an environment in which buoyancy and gravity are approximately equal do not walk very gracefully.

Clam Juice: Usually the octopus does not have access to the commercial boxed clam juice that the octopus Dave smoked in the movie. But they do smoke clams. Bivalves are the traditional food of octopuses. In order to eat this unpalatable food and other foods with hard shells, they can use their teeth and tongues to pierce a hole in the shell and inject paralyzed clams so that they cannot close the double-shelled venom. And inside the shell began to digest the clam meat. This allows the octopus to suck the clam juice directly without a straw.

However, it should also be pointed out that there are naturally some details in this film that need to be corrected. Like what:

Teeth: The toothless smile of this octopus is a pleasing idea of the creators. Naturally, octopuses have shell tips rather than teeth.

Arm: Just as the plural form "octopi" is used to represent the absence. The appendages called "tentacles" that have been holding octopuses also seem to be immutable. In fact, however, they are arms. Squids have tentacles to help them get food, but they also have only two tentacles, the others are also arms. Octopuses don't have tentacles.

Teamwork: All the big villains have a bunch of minions. And Dave the Octopus had his loyal cephalopod men carry out its orders. However, octopuses are not actually good at teamwork, but are better at killing each other. Some online websites refer to the cephalopods in the movie as squids. Usually, squids are better at socializing than octopuses. But that doesn't mean they can be combative either (cephalopods' lack of teamwork may be the only reason they can't replace humans in power, and robots are better off learning to work in teams).

Fraternity: Although Octopus Dave (or Dr. Brine) claims to be NPR pledge drives. There is currently no scientific data to show that real-life octopuses have a habit of donating.

In short, for a movie that aims to entertain the next generation while having some highlights to attract the previous generation to accompany the viewing. Penguins of Madagascar do a great job of using real octopus biology. It would be better if one day cephalopods no longer represent the typical eccentric, eerie villain.

In Octopus! The Most Mysterious Creatures in the Oceans you can learn more about the actual or fictional world of octopuses. It is now published in paperback! Nothing can say happy holidays like a cephalopod.