An Arm That Can Taste

Reach out and touch something, and you feel its shape and texture. An octopus reaching out does something stranger: it tastes what it touches, instantly, through hundreds of suckers lining each arm.

Ispruži ruku i dodirni nešto, i osjetit ćeš oblik i teksturu. Hobotnica koja ispruži krak radi nešto čudnije: ono što dodirne istog trena i kuša, kroz stotine sisaljki na svakom kraku.

Scientists recently discovered that octopus suckers contain special receptors unlike anything found in other animals, built to sense chemicals that do not dissolve in water. This lets an octopus slide an arm into a dark crack in the rocks and immediately know what is hiding there, food, danger, or nothing at all, without needing to see it or pull it out first.

Znanstvenici su nedavno otkrili da sisaljke hobotnice sadrže posebne receptore kakvi ne postoje ni kod jedne druge životinje, građene da osjete tvari koje se ne otapaju u vodi. To hobotnici omogućuje da krak zavuče u mračnu pukotinu u stijeni i odmah zna što se ondje krije, hrana, opasnost ili baš ništa, a da to ne mora vidjeti ni izvući van.

It is a completely different way of experiencing the world, touch and taste combined into a single sense, spread across eight independent arms. For an octopus hunting in total darkness, that combination might be more useful than eyes ever could be.

To je posve drukčiji način doživljavanja svijeta, dodir i okus spojeni u jedno osjetilo, rašireno preko osam neovisnih krakova. Hobotnici koja lovi u potpunom mraku ta bi kombinacija mogla biti korisnija nego što bi oči ikad mogle biti.