Intelligent Octopus

The octopus is a cephalopod and an intelligent animal. It has a soft body and can move through small openings. It has eight arms. Interestingly, two-third of its neurons are present in their arms. So, their arms can think themselves and act. Theresa Hague, from the St George’s University of London has demonstrated that isolated arms of octopus can show reflex responses. She has showed how the isolated arms of octopus respond to pinching and application of acetic acid or tap water. This proves that the octopus has advanced nervous system.  

The octopuses can recognize individual humans. It is another example of their cognitive abilities. Roland C Anderson and his team of researchers has revealed the recognition-ability of the octopuses. In their experiment, one person fed the octopuses with herring twice a day for five days. Another person touched the same octopuses with a bristly stick for 30 seconds. After the test period, when the octopuses saw the first person, they moved towards him and reached their arm(s) towards him. In contrast, when the octopuses saw the second person, they moved away from him.

Escape Artists

The octopuses are great escape artists. There are lot of incidents of the octopuses escaped from the aquariums. Remarkably, they escaped during no humans around. They are well aware of their captivity environment. They are easily adaptable to their environment. Anyhow, no one likes to live in captivities. Because of their soft body, they can squeeze through small holes or pipes. 

Octopus escaping through 1 inch diameter hole 

In the sea, they can release dark ink in order to escape from the predators. They have ink sacs between their gills. They release ink from the ink sacs like smoke screen. Their ink contains melanin and tyrosinase. Tyrosinase is an enzyme that maintain the melanin production. Tyrosinase can irritate eyes of the predators.

Octopus Ink

The octopuses are brilliant in handling tough situations. If they are kept inside a closed jar, they can unscrew the lid and come out. 

Camouflage

They are master of camouflage. To prevent from their predators, the octopuses change their skin color, pattern and texture. Their skin has special cells called chromatophores. The Chromatophores contain pigments and ability to reflect lights. The octopuses can change to colors that matches their environment including sea bed and rocks.

Octopus camouflage 

There is an amazing octopus species called ‘mimic octopus’ (Thaumoctopus mimicus). It can change shape like sea creatures such as flounder, lionfish and sea snake. They are observed to mimic around 15 sea creatures. 

The octopuses are one of the highly intelligent animals in the planet. They can adapt, learn and survive. But, they have short life expectancy. They live for six months to five years depend on the species.