Aussie Scientists Find Coconut-Carrying Octopus

An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from an AP report: "Australian scientists have discovered an octopus in Indonesia that collects coconut shells for shelter — unusually sophisticated behavior that the researchers believe is the first evidence of tool use in an invertebrate animal. The scientists filmed the veined octopus, Amphioctopus marginatus, selecting halved coconut shells from the sea floor, emptying them out, carrying them under their bodies up to 65 feet (20 meters), and assembling two shells together to make a spherical hiding spot. ... 'I was gobsmacked,' said Finn, a research biologist at the museum who specializes in cephalopods. 'I mean, I've seen a lot of octopuses hiding in shells, but I've never seen one that grabs it up and jogs across the sea floor. I was trying hard not to laugh.'"

Intelligent

[Das Auge]

I thought it was understood that octopi have primate-level intelligence. Why is this so surprising?

Look at it walk!

[DesScorp]

That is so weird. You don't associate walking with an octopus, but that's exactly what it did... tuck the shell under it's body, and then scamper across the seabed using its tentacles like legs.

Octopus & the Goldfish

[Mr_Blank]

This reminds me of the story I have been telling for years whenever someone asks me why I do not eat Octopus.

From Snopes [snopes.com]

A while back I heard a story that went like this: in a certain aquarium, fish kept disappearing from one of the tanks late at night. Baffled, the staff put up cameras to find out what was going on, and discovered that an octopus was climbing out of its tank, eating the fish, then crawling back to its own tank.

Though the story is not verified, directly, there is consensus that the story is possible and is even likely to have occurred.

Re:Intelligent

[Anonymous Coward]

I knew it was understood that they were extremely smart for invertebrates, but consensus that they were primate-level (rather than a few outliers suggesting that) is news to me.

Why it's surprising was described in the summary: "first evidence of tool use in an invertebrate animal"

Re:Hermit Crab?

[jgrahn]

Either that or it's pretending it's a nautilus. Octopi are relatives (same class, Cephalopoda) of nautiluses, which are the only extant cephalopods with an external shell...that's secreted by the animal and not made of coconut.

I think GP's point was that the Hermit Crab *does* find an unused shell of suitable shape and size and carry it around, so what's new?

I don't quite understand why the octopus story is a big deal ... if its behavior is based on instinct rather than rational thinking, it only proves octopi are not dumber than craps, and we knew that already.

Re:Octopus & the Goldfish

[myowntrueself]

I don't understand. What does that story have to do with your willingness to eat octopus?

Some people believe that eating sentient beings is wrong.

I'm not vegetarian, but I draw the line at eating sentients.

Re:Octopus & the Goldfish

[stockard]

There was an incident where an octopus didn't like a light shining on him [telegraph.co.uk], and started shorting it out by climbing out of the tank and squirting it with water. I definitely wouldn't be surprised if one figured out how to get a little extra food.