[Moontanman]

Did a giant octopus really make art? I have kept many and they do indeed seem to be obsessed with objects and their placement in the shelters they build but could it have been art?


http://www.world-sci...010_ichthyosaur

[Turtle]

Moontanman, on 10 October 2011 - 08:40 AM, said:

Did a giant octopus really make art? I have kept many and they do indeed seem to be obsessed with objects and their placement in the shelters they build but could it have been art?

Did a sea monster make an artwork… out of bones?



it's possible, but other simpler explanations suffice. sediment sorting by earthquake(s) and/or current(s) comes to mind.
my hypothesis: the bone weakens the sheer strength of the surrounding sediment* and so the bone(s) can move. in moving, they (in the case of the the fossils in the photo, vertabrae) assume a common orientation because of the common shape. continuing to move individually, they come together with one another to form groups. then groups move, or not, to form larger groups, or not. movement stops when the driving force stops and eventually enough new sediment covers the formation of bones to lock them in place.

*Contourites @ googlebooks

Michele Rebesco, Angelo Camerlenghi said:

...Organic matter, if above 2% of the total sediment volume, also affects sediment strength negatively.
In addition, the rate at which the stress is applied is one of the most important factors that influence sheer strength. Rapid loading will reduce the effective strees within the sediment and reduce resistance to shear. Permeability, grain size and structural arrangement of the grains affect the ability of the sediment to dissipate excess pore pressure. of considerable importance is also the stress history of the sediment, because sediments that have been previously under high load (overconsolidated, e.g. sediments below an erosional unconformaty) tend to resist to[sic] failure better than identical sediments under a state of normal consolidation. ...

[Moontanman]

Probably correct turtle, but the idea of this creature, no companions (octopus are solitary) totally alone with her thoughts, trying to understand the world, no one to communicate these thoughts so she creates an image of herself to satisfy some urge she cannot show any other way...

Speculative but interesting....