Octopus – The California Two-spot Octopus at the R.E.E.F. center seems like an interesting animal to work with. Octopi are said to be the smartest of all invertebrates. I have been thinking of collaborating with it and see if I can understand his sense of instinct. Maybe it’s not even using instinct but rather a form of problem solving. Octopi are also said to be intelligent enough to have personalities and change their color accordingly. So I want to interact with it and not just see how it feels but see if I can understand how it is feeling. The one complicated part of working with this octopus is that it is in the R.E.E.F. which means I have to work around their schedule to be able to collaborate with the octopus. And even at that point it will be complicated to try to get a lot of research done in those few selected hours. It may be affected by the time of day that I am coming in along with the R.E.E.F.’s schedule. But maybe I can use that to see the octopus’ sense of memory
Cat – Recently, there has been a huge white cat (not a fat one, an actual big cat, it looks like a mini puma) that comes into the backyard and hunts for mice in the vines. This cat doesn’t look like it’s a completely stray, nor does it have a collar. It lies on the grass facing the vines and waits until he hears the mice skittering through them then hunts them down. It is interesting to see the way the cat completely overpowers its prey but doesn’t kill it immediately. It bit the mouse just hard enough to barely injure it, tired the mouse out, and then carried it off in its mouth. Not sure if it even ate the mouse, it could have just buried it. I need to meet this cat and maybe I can see where it lives and find out why its so hungry it comes over to our yard to catch food.
Ferret – My cousins back at home have a ferret and it’s really intelligent. It can navigate through obstacles or even use some sense of problem solving to find an easier path. This trait definitely shows when hiding their treats in pretty hard to find areas of the house. I can play with it and see if we could create a game between us. To see if the ferret can understand the rules by me teaching it the cause and effect tricks. The only downside to collaborating with a ferret is that they smell and like to make the house smell like them.
Turtle – There is a little turtle in the Storke Plaza pool and I first interacted with it one day when I sat there and drew. As I was drawing, the turtle continued to get closer and closer. It was interesting to see how the fish would rarely interact with the turtle but the turtle was looking up at me. It almost seemed like it was waiting for me to tell it something. It was a very collaborative moment. I want to see if I can make more of those moments happen between me and that turtle. Maybe just sit there and draw and see if what I draw makes the turtle react differently. Maybe its mind waves can intersect with mine and we could make some kind of mental collaboration.
Birds – The birds that have in a nest in our backyard have a very large vocabulary of chirps. I want to record their conversations and use what I hear and see if I can label each chirp. From there I was thinking I could use Fruity Loops (beat sampling program) and assign each chirp a sound. From there I can see if there is a pattern to their chirps that we don’t fully understand. If I can understand their pattern then I could see if I would be able to start a digital conversation with them and see if it is the actual chirps that count or if it is the pattern of chirping that the birds listen for. If possible, maybe I can emulate the chirps and see if I can communicate with a song made from their chirps.
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