St. Luke’s Students Think Like An Octopus

St. Luke’s Marine Science classes successfully conceived, launched and completed Project Octopus (aka Proctopus). Our goal was to invent, design, and build enrichment devices for the giant Pacific octopus at Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk. Wild octopods are highly intelligent invertebrates. There are more nerves in each of their eight arms than there are in their brains, which essentially means each arm has a mind of its own. Consequently, captive octopods in aquariums get bored easily and need enrichment devices.

The project began when Marine Science students visited the octopus named Tater at the aquarium and studied her reclusive and shy behavior. Classes worked closely with St. Luke’s designLab Director Michael Mitchell in our incredible designLab space to develop puzzle boxes that would be used to feed, challenge, entertain, and draw Tater out of her aquatic den.

From inception to prototype to finished project, the Marine Science students thought like an octopus building six unique puzzle devices. Unfortunately, Tater unexpectedly died and Proctopus was temporarily on hold. Thankfully, the aquarium acquired a new octopus. The students excitedly made final adjustments to their devices and returned to the aquarium. The results were nothing short of incredible. The new, unnamed, female octopus explored each device with intrigue and curiosity. Each device will surely provide months of learning, enrichment, and entertainment for both the giant Pacific octopus and The Maritime Aquarium.

View a video of Project Octopus in action for the first time at the aquarium. You can also see the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk Marine Science Class Field Trip photo gallery.