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The octopus is without a doubt one of the most fascinating marine animals around. The complex physical characteristics, the great intelligence that it has or its reproduction are some of the themes that have aroused the most interest in scientists around the world, which led to the elaboration of several studies.
All these details served as inspiration to write this PeritoAnimal article, in which we have compiled a total of 20 fun facts about octopuses based on scientific studies. Find out more about this wonderful animal below.
The amazing intelligence of octopuses
- The octopus, despite not being particularly long-lived and expressing a solitary lifestyle, is able to learn and behave in its species by itself.
- These are very intelligent animals, capable of solving complex problems, discriminating through classical conditioning and learning using observation.
- They are also able to learn through operant conditioning. It has been shown that learning can be worked out with them using positive rewards and negative consequences.
- Their cognitive ability was demonstrated by carrying out various behaviors depending on the stimulus present, depending on their survival.
- They are able to transport materials to build their own refuges, although they have difficulty moving and may temporarily jeopardize their survival. In this way, they have the opportunity to survive longer.
- Octopuses apply significantly different pressure when they are willing to manipulate different tools, prey or, conversely, when they act defensively against predators. It has been shown that they retain prey, as in the case of fish, much more intensely than the tools they might use for their protection.
- They recognize and differentiate their own amputated tentacles from other members of their own species. According to one of the studies consulted, 94% of the octopuses did not eat their own tentacles, only transporting them to their refuge with its beak.
- Octopuses can mimic species in their environment that are poisonous as a means of survival. This is possible due to its capacity for long-term memory, learning and defensive reflex memory, present in any animal.
- It has presynaptic serotonin facilitation, a neurotransmitter substance that influences the mood, emotions and depressive states in a wide range of animals. It is for this reason that "The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness" includes the octopus as an animal that is aware of itself.
- The organization of the motor behavior of the octopus and its intelligent behavior was fundamental for the construction of large-capacity robots, mainly due to its complex biological system.
Physical characteristics of octopuses
- Octopuses can walk, swim and cling to any surface thanks to their powerful and strong suction cups. For this I need to three hearts, one that works exclusively in your head and two that pump blood to the rest of your body.
- The octopus cannot entangle itself due to a substance on its skin that prevents it.
- You can change its physical appearance, as chameleons do, as well as its texture, depending on the environment or predators present.
- Is able to regenerate your tentacles if these are amputated.
- The octopus' arms are extremely flexible and have a multitude of movements. To ensure its correct control, it moves through stereotyped patterns that reduce its freedom and allow greater control of the body.
- Their eyesight is colorblind, meaning they have difficulty discriminating red, green and sometimes blue hues.
- The octopuses have around 500,000,000 neurons, the same as having a dog and six times more than a mouse.
- Each tentacle of the octopus has around 40 million chemical receptors, therefore, it is considered that each one, individually, is a great sensory organ.
- Lacking bones, the octopus uses muscles as the main structure of the body, through their rigidity and contractions. It's a motor control strategy.
- There is a relationship between the octopus brain's olfactory receptors and its reproductive system. They are able to identify the chemical elements of other octopuses that float in water, including through their suction cups.
Bibliography
Nir Nesher, Guy Levy, Frank W. Grasso, Binyamin Hochner "Self-Recognition Mechanism between Skin and Suckers Prevents Octopus Arms from Interfering with Each Other" CellPress May 15, 2014
Scott L. Hooper "Motor Control: The Importance of Stiffness" CellPress Nov 10, 2016
Caroline B. Albertin, Oleg Simakov, Therese Mitros, Z. Yan Wang, Judit R. Pungor, Eric Edsinger-Gonzales, Sydney Brenner, Clifton W. Ragsdale, Daniel S. Rokhsar "The octopus genome and the evolution of cephalopod neural and morphological novelties" Nature 524 Aug 13, 2015
Binyamin Hochner "An Embodied View of Octopus Neurobiology" CellPress Oct 1, 2012
Ilaria Zarrella, Giovanna Ponte, Elena Baldascino and Graziano Fiorito "Learning and memory in Octopus vulgaris: a case of biological plasticity" Current Opinion in Neurobiology, sciencedirect, 2015-12-01
Julian K. Finn, Tom Tregenza, Mark D. Norman "Defensive tool use in a coconut-carrying octopus" CellPress Oct 10, 2009