If we all saw the octopus, with its unique intelligence, in a way that Stephen Spielberg’s ET was portrayed, we wouldn’t want to freeze it to death, cook it, and eat it. Would we want to do that with Steven Spielberg’s ET?
The octopus is as alien as ET and worth studying, not cooking.
Pigs are also very intelligent. No sausages?
Not for us. No pork at all.
I’ve weaned myself off all meats except chicken and fish, both of which I want to exclude from my diet as well, eventually.
I’m fish only and very little of that. I love animals too much to be eating them. Just a personal choice.
I forgot to mention that we eat the occasional chicken. Hope this doesn’t upset members in the chicken thread. I’m afraid my dogs are rather partial to chicken too. I do feel guilt with every bite.
Seriousy?
Chickens are very partial to chickens too! See what they do with a carcass!!
"Seriousy?’
Er, yes, but maybe you can tell me what use is Russia? What has it contributed in the past century, apart from its role in defeating Nazi Germany (with whom it had initially been allied).
I buy free range pork. Can’t find it in the supermarket now we’ve lost our Waitrose. It requires a trip to the farm shop.
Free range pigs are also very intelligent.
I see them enjoying natural behaviour on the farm. I see lambs in the fields. I decided long ago I would eat them along with free range chickens and beef cattle. In restaurants menu choices can be a problem. I refuse to eat octopus however unfair it is on other animals. I tried vegetarianism for a couple of months - couldn’t hack it. I suppose I’ve found my limits.
But not my four cats! Can’t resolve that issue!!!
In support of the topic, though not lacking in spirit, I see that while the world is watching Wagner non-events, Ukrainian troops are quietly using superior tactics and engineering innovative means to plough on and regain their land from Russian invaders
I feel sure that Putin’s tactic is to drag his invasion on until the world loses interest and support for Ukraine dwindles. У жодному разі!
I’ve been listening to the audiobook version of Other Minds: The Octopus and the Evolution of Intelligent Life. Author Peter Godfrey-Smith. Narrator Peter Noble.
The author diverts from the octopus, in this 28-minute extract, to an expressive description, of the giant cuttlefish, which for me is a little symphony of words, not what you might expect from a philosopher of science. Wish all my teachers at school had been as quietly evocative, especially in geography, history, chemistry and calculus!
The author is also a scuba diver, and while observing the colour changes in several cuttlefish, he designated two of them as Matisse & Kandinsky.
Not that I would have known of these artists at school - don’t recall our art master ever mentioning their names!
I didn’t know they could swim let alone mutate… 
Kandinsky has written about ‘on swimming to survive’, and Matisse produced a piece of art called The Swimming Pool. As close as they’ll get, I guess.
I’ve now changed ‘identified’ to ‘designated’.
We now have loads of crayfish in the pond, the new sport for our cats is catching them and leaving the remains for us, they are generous to a fault 
If they are the non-native invading crayfish that are killing the native ones they your cats are to be commended!
Totally french not American crayfish 