TOEFL Listening

🎧 Listening Transcript

Listen to part of a lecture in a biology class. Professor: Today we're going to talk about a remarkable adaptation in the animal kingdom: camouflage. But we're not just talking about color changes, like a chameleon. Some animals, like the octopus, can change not only their color but also their texture to blend into their surroundings. For example, the mimic octopus can imitate the appearance and movement of dangerous sea creatures, such as lionfish or sea snakes, to scare off predators. This is called 'mimicry,' and it's more complex than simple camouflage because it involves both visual and behavioral imitation. Interestingly, recent studies suggest that octopuses can make these decisions rapidly, almost as if they're thinking ahead. However, unlike vertebrates, octopuses have most of their neurons in their arms, not in their central brain. This decentralized nervous system allows each arm to act somewhat independently, which may help with quick camouflage responses. So, while we often think of intelligence as centralized, the octopus shows us a different model of cognition.