The Jar

On the second morning, Chiara brought a glass jar to Pasta's tank. The jar had a screw lid. Inside the jar was a single live crab.

Drugog jutra, Chiara je donijela staklenku do Pastaovog akvarija. Staklenka je imala poklopac na navoj. Unutra je bio jedan živi rak.

Chiara held the jar above the water for a moment. Pasta watched. The octopus had been sitting in the same corner for forty minutes. Now her eye sharpened. One arm uncurled from the coil and stretched along the side of the tank.

Chiara je na trenutak držala staklenku iznad vode. Pasta je promatrala. Hobotnica je sjedila u istom kutu već četrdeset minuta. Sada joj se oko izoštrilo. Jedna krak se odmotala iz zavojnice i protegnula duž strane akvarija.

Chiara dropped the jar into the water. It sank slowly. Pasta did not lunge. Octopuses, Chiara had told Polly, are not generally lungers. They are observers first.

Chiara je ispustila staklenku u vodu. Polako je tonula. Pasta nije skočila. Hobotnice, rekla je Chiara Polly, obično nisu skakači. Prvo su promatrači.

Polly perched on the tank rim with her glasses tilted at the water. She could see the crab inside the jar, scuttling against the glass. Pasta moved one arm out and touched the jar. Her skin was suckered all the way to the tip of that arm. The suckers had perhaps two hundred sensory cells each. "More than your tongue," Chiara said quietly. "An octopus arm tastes everything it touches."

Polly je sjedila na rubu akvarija s naočalama nagnutim prema vodi. Mogla je vidjeti raka unutar staklenke, kako se kreće uz staklo. Pasta je ispružila jedan krak i dotaknula staklenku. Njena koža je bila prekrivena pipcima sve do vrha tog kraka. Pipci su možda imali po dvjesto osjetilnih stanica svaki. "Više nego tvoj jezik," tiho je rekla Chiara. "Krak hobotnice osjeća okus svega što dotakne."

Pasta gathered the jar with a second arm. The two arms turned it, slowly. Polly could see the third arm coming around the back of the jar now, exploring the lid.

Pasta je obuhvatila staklenku drugim krakom. Dva kraka su je polako okretala. Polly je sada mogla vidjeti treći krak kako dolazi oko stražnje strane staklenke, istražujući poklopac.

This is a well-documented behaviour. Octopuses have been opening screw-top jars in research labs since the 1950s. Some can do it in less than a minute. The first time a new octopus encounters a jar, it usually takes ten or fifteen minutes of exploration. They are not solving the problem the way a human would. They are not thinking in steps. They are letting the suckers feel the threads and then turning the lid the way the threads pull.

Ovo je dobro dokumentirano ponašanje. Hobotnice otvaraju staklenke s navojem u istraživačkim laboratorijima još od 1950-ih. Neke to mogu učiniti za manje od minute. Prvi put kada nova hobotnica naiđe na staklenku, obično joj treba deset ili petnaest minuta istraživanja. Ne rješavaju problem na način na koji bi to učinio čovjek. Ne razmišljaju u koracima. Pustit će pipce da osjete navoje i zatim okrenuti poklopac onako kako ih navoji povuku.

Pasta turned the lid one half-rotation. Then another. The lid popped free. The crab inside, sensing the change in water pressure, scrambled out of the jar and into the open water.

Pasta je okrenula poklopac za pola okreta. Zatim još jedan. Poklopac je iskočio. Rak unutra, osjetivši promjenu tlaka vode, izletio je iz staklenke u otvorenu vodu.

It did not get far. Pasta's fourth arm was already curled at the jar's mouth. The crab vanished into a soft white opening that Polly realised, after a moment, was the octopus's beak. The crab made a small click. Then nothing.

Nije daleko stigao. Četvrti krak Paste već je bio savijen na otvoru staklenke. Rak je nestao u mekom bijelom otvoru koji je Polly shvatila, nakon trenutka, da je kljun hobotnice. Rak je napravio mali klik. Zatim ništa.

The jar sank empty to the bottom of the tank.

Staklenka je prazna potonula na dno akvarija.

Chiara wrote something on a clipboard. "Three minutes forty-two seconds," she said. "She is getting fast. The first time we gave her a jar, it took her eleven minutes."

Chiara je nešto zapisala na ploču. "Tri minute i četrdeset dvije sekunde," rekla je. "Postaje brza. Prvi put kad smo joj dali staklenku, trebalo joj je jedanaest minuta."

Polly tilted her red head at Pasta. The octopus was already returning to the coil of pipe. Her arms wrapped themselves around herself. Her eye, for one long moment, met Polly's. Then it closed slowly.

Polly je nagnula svoju crvenu glavu prema Pasti. Hobotnica se već vraćala u zavojnicu cijevi. Njeni kraci su se omotali oko nje same. Njeno oko, na jedan dugi trenutak, susrelo se s Pollyinim. Zatim se polako zatvorilo.

It is hard to overstate how strange an octopus is, Chiara said, gathering her things. They are mollusks. They are more closely related to a snail than to anything with a backbone. They have three hearts. Their blood is blue, because it carries oxygen using copper instead of iron. They live, in the wild, only about three to five years. Pasta was already two. She had perhaps two years of life left, no matter how good she got at the jar.

Teško je prenaglasiti koliko je hobotnica čudna, rekla je Chiara, skupljajući svoje stvari. One su mekušci. Povezanije su s pužem nego s bilo čim što ima kralježnicu. Imaju tri srca. Njihova krv je plava, jer prenosi kisik koristeći bakar umjesto željeza. U divljini žive samo oko tri do pet godina. Pasta je već imala dvije. Imala je možda još dvije godine života, bez obzira koliko dobra postala u otvaranju staklenki.

In that time, Chiara had said, she would learn everything she would ever know.

U tom vremenu, rekla je Chiara, naučit će sve što će ikada znati.