3 incredible secrets about the intelligence of octopuses

Octopuses are amazing animals, yet they are little known to the general public. We especially know that they have the ability to change color, or hide under water, but above all they have a very amazing intelligence. In this article, we will return to three recent discoveries concerning these creatures.

Octopuses build underwater cities

Scientists have discovered, off the coast of Australia, entire towns built by octopuses. This is a surprise because we imagined that these animals were above all solitary.

Concretely, they used rocky outcrops as well as piles of shells to carve out this habitat, the first example of which was spotted in 2009. This site called Octopolis was observed using GoPro cameras and shows how unsurprising these creatures are to us.

Octopus loves to play

Game is not within the reach of all animals, but researchers have found that octopuses love to have fun and sometimes even ignore food. For example, Jennifer Mather, a psychologist who has spent many years studying them, put a simple bottle of cereal into the water where the octopuses were.

Then I discovered that one of the octopuses pushed a jet of water towards the bottle to make it move in the sink. Then another one entered the game and they repeated it twenty times, as children do. In short, the octopuses were able to interact with their environment and try to escape their boredom for a moment.

Octopuses use tools

This again is a great proof of intelligence. the site From A to Z He mentions the example of these octopuses that have been spotted on the ocean floor carrying halves of coconuts. When the animal senses danger, it brings the two halves together and goes inside to turn the wall into a protective tank.

These creatures have been observed moving around holding coconut shells that have turned into real protective shields.

If you want to know more about the intelligence of octopuses, we can only recommend a Netflix documentary, Octopus wisdomA man sheds light on his encounter and relationship with this animal on the coast of South Africa. Brilliant in every way, this film logically won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2021.