ABOVE: A cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis)
ALEX SCHNELL
Entering the marine lab each morning to do her experiments, Alex Schnell was frequently doused with water by one of her cuttlefish subjects—a behavior that the University of Cambridge comparative psychologist interpreted as acting out. Come dinnertime, when she didn’t run experiments, the cheeky cephalopod never squirted, Schnell noticed. “This selective squirting made me start questioning whether the cuttlefish had simply learned to associate my morning visits with something bad happening or whether there was an element of self-control or planning involved.”
Schnell and her colleagues designed an experiment to test whether cuttlefish could plan ahead, specifically, by resisting the temptation of a tasty treat in exchange for an even tastier one. In a study published March 3 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the team found that the invertebrates delayed gratification for up to two minutes or more, a feat on par ...
