A fascinating new study has shown that the octopus is radically different from any other invertebrate -- and it explains why this creature is capable of these amazing abilities.
We recently reported on a new study from researchers who have sequenced the genome of the octopus and found that the creature is very different from any other invertebrate — but you may be surprised at just how different this creature is in real life from anything else.
The team of researchers published the study in the journal Nature that describes their research into the California two-spot octopus and the finding that the octopus has bizarre genetics that has resulted in it being the first intelligent creature on the planet when it developed 500 million years ago — but just how different really is the octopus from the natural world, and can it be seen outside of genetics?
It’s easy to see that the octopus is a different creature altogether just by looking at it. Its large head and eight arms fixed with suction cups and beak for tearing apart prey is very different from anything else in the ocean, except for other cephalopods like squid and cuttlefish.
But perhaps even more fascinating about the creature is its incredible intelligence. It may be the most intelligent invertebrate on the planet, although biologists aren’t quite sure exactly how intelligent.
But the animal has displayed clear abilities at navigating mazes and solving problems that indicates it possesses a memory system — not just for short-term memory, but long-term memory as well.
It may be an evolutionary necessity because young octopuses don’t apepar to learn anything from their parents as they have little contact, forcing such creatures to learn on their own.
Part of its unique attributes is its very complex nervous system, and only part of it is localized within the brain itself, with two-thirds of it found in the nerve cords of its arms.
The arms of the octopus are quite a marvel themselves, capable of very complex reflex actions that appear to make them functionally autonomous, at least to a limited extent.
The octopus has used tools int he past, with four specimens of octopus having been witnessed to get discarded coconut shells and then turn them into a shelter.
Octopuses are considered so intelligent that some countries ban them as experimental animals without anesthesia.
