Octo School. Librarian and teacher Melody Drawbond welcomed back her students to octopus-themed spaces at Everton Schools, “a little bitty school,” in Everton, Missouri, this fall. She reports the kids relished the new decor “but I think they enjoyed talking about octopuses more!”
Across the pond, Sy was talking about Octos on BBC 4:
Tentacular: The Wonderful World of the Octopus
Cornish fishermen this summer have had their usual catch of lobster and crab replaced by voracious octopus. Restaurant menus have had to be wiped and rewritten across the south-west, but what else has changed? Tom Heap and Helen Czerski ask why octopus have such a hold on our imagination and the science world, why the octopus has moved north and what its journey can tell us about the changing oceans.
Joining Tom and Helen are the writer Sy Montgomery, marine biologist Dr Keith Hiscock MBE and octopus neuroscientist Dr Amy Courtney of the Marine Biological Association. Listen here.
And you can read an excerpt from Sy’s new book about the giant oceanic Manta:
The Secret Lives of Oceanic Manta Rays. Once you meet one, your life will never be the same. Read it at Pioneer Works Broadcast.
Lastly, Christopher Hogwood showed up in this interview from 2007 on To The Best of Our Knowledge. This is a superb, tightly edited show from Wisconsin Public Radio. It’s off the air, but their many shows are archived online. About the show:
“Christopher Hogwood was not your ordinary household pet. For one thing, he weighed 700 pounds. And he loved to drink beer. Christopher was a very large pig with a heart of gold. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the story of how Christopher Hogwood became the best-loved pig in southern New Hampshire. We’ll also talk with Dave Foreman – once the most notorious environmental activist in America. He has a new project: re-wilding North America. ” And the ever-amazing dog trainer Patricia McConnell teaches an old dog new tricks. It’s what she does. Listen here.