Making an Ethogram for Octopuses: A Personal Story

Abstract

Making an ethogram, a repertoire of the behavior of a species or several related ones, is obviously an important foundation for any theoretical studies of their behavior. In addition, it is useful for conservation, and evolution, and as a basis for good care in captivity. But such a thorough description is neither easy nor quick. This account takes the reader on the author’s journey through lab and field work on seven species and to the struggle to publish results that make up an ethogram of octopuses in the family Octopodidae.