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A review by deltheclown
The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery
Did not finish book. Stopped at 25%.
the first chapter is a strong exploration into the
inspiration that animals give us (not into consciousness, as the title suggests). after the first chapter, it rapidly goes downhill. the author spends a large part of the beginning of the book talking about how octopuses NEED enrichment to
survive in captivity. she goes into extreme detail about the ways aquarists + scientists provide it, even mentioning that there's a volunteer at the aquarium
whose WHOLE JOB is designing toys for the octopus there. she then completely glazes over the fact that the non-display octopuses at that aquarium are kept in "tanks or
barrels that were completely barren - no hiding places or rocks or sand or tank mates" (pg. 44). the octopus
that the 3rd chapter is about, Kali, is kept in an empty 55-gallon drum!
how can someone who claims to love these creatures so much endorse these practices? refuse to condemn them? ESPECIALLY when she is writing about information that proves the unethical nature of the tanks - she KNOWS how shitty it is to do that!
i stopped reading when she PRAISED that aquarium for their naturalistic tanks. it's great that they have naturalistic display tanks - but does that not matter for the
animals not on display? are they not deserving a natural environment? why does the display animal have someone whose whole job is encouraging play, when the non-display animals are kept in drums and completely bare tanks?
does the author ACTUALLY love these animals? Or does she just love what they do for her?
inspiration that animals give us (not into consciousness, as the title suggests). after the first chapter, it rapidly goes downhill. the author spends a large part of the beginning of the book talking about how octopuses NEED enrichment to
survive in captivity. she goes into extreme detail about the ways aquarists + scientists provide it, even mentioning that there's a volunteer at the aquarium
whose WHOLE JOB is designing toys for the octopus there. she then completely glazes over the fact that the non-display octopuses at that aquarium are kept in "tanks or
barrels that were completely barren - no hiding places or rocks or sand or tank mates" (pg. 44). the octopus
that the 3rd chapter is about, Kali, is kept in an empty 55-gallon drum!
how can someone who claims to love these creatures so much endorse these practices? refuse to condemn them? ESPECIALLY when she is writing about information that proves the unethical nature of the tanks - she KNOWS how shitty it is to do that!
i stopped reading when she PRAISED that aquarium for their naturalistic tanks. it's great that they have naturalistic display tanks - but does that not matter for the
animals not on display? are they not deserving a natural environment? why does the display animal have someone whose whole job is encouraging play, when the non-display animals are kept in drums and completely bare tanks?
does the author ACTUALLY love these animals? Or does she just love what they do for her?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty
describes extremely poor treatment of octopuses while completely disregarding exactly how horrible it is