No longer will the octopus -- related to the lowly snail -- be dismissed as a dunce.
For the first time ever, Australian scientists have discovered astonishing evidence of an inveterbrate animal using a tool. The honor goes to the famously eight-limbed cephalopod of the species Amphioctopus marginatus, reports the Associated Press.
"I was gobsmacked," scientist Julian Finn, a research biologist at Museum Victoria in Melbourne, tells the AP. "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."
In video released by Musuem Victoria (which you can view, below), an octopus digs a coconut shell out of the sandy ocean floor, wraps its tentacles around the large circular shell, then trundles away with it to build a dome-like house to hide in.
"It's that collecting it to use it later that is unusual," explains Finn.
Comments
Video doesn't work!
No surprise here! Octopi, the larger squid etc. are already known to be among the most intelligent animals in the sea, especially impressive since they are invertebrates.
Hermit crabs do much the same thing - they "borrow" something else's shell to live in.
shushack dumdd
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