9 Reasons Why Octopuses Are the Smartest, Pettiest Animals

9 Reasons Why Octopuses Are the Smartest, Pettiest Animals

You ever felt like punching a fish for no reason? Yeah, octopuses, too.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.
Start Slideshow
A common octopus.
A common octopus.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Consider the octopus. With eight arms, elliptical pupils, color- and texture-changing skin, and a scary beak, it is a creature that seems conjured from the most Boschian of realities.

Advertisement

But the cephalopod is quite real. There are around 300 species of octopus, which inhabit saltwater, from tide pools to the abyssal depths of the ocean.

Research on octopuses in recent years has yielded marvelous insights about the animals’ habits and, in more speculative findings, their minds. Here are some of the most interesting discoveries about octopus intelligence and behavior—including many examples of them being downright rude.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

2 / 11

Octopuses are antisocial and punch fish

Octopuses are antisocial and punch fish

An octopus walloping a passing fish.
Gif: E. Sampaio et al., 2020/Gizmodo

In research published in 2021, octopuses were observed punching fish during collaborative feeding sessions. In some cases, the punches were to “prevent exploitation and ensure collaboration,” according to the researchers. In other words, keeping the peace.

Advertisement

But in other situations, it seemed that the octopuses punched the fish for no other reason than to punch them. Octopuses are famously antisocial animals and are solitary even when it comes to their own species.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

3 / 11

If you give an octopus a... molly

If you give an octopus a... molly

A blue-ringed octopus doing its warning display.
A blue-ringed octopus doing its warning display.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

That’s right. In 2018, a group of researchers gave octopuses MDMA, popularly known as molly or ecstasy. Octopuses are typically asocial creatures, so the scientists wanted to see how a drug that affects serotonin levels (and induces extraversion in people) would impact the octopuses.

Advertisement

As it turned out, the normally solitary octopuses spent time with one another after sitting in an MDMA bath, even going as far as touching each other with their arms in an exploratory (as opposed to confrontational) way. Whether this says more about octopuses or the power of MDMA is perhaps for you to decide, but still! It’s cool that octopuses can play nice, sometimes.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

4 / 11

They throw shells at each other

They throw shells at each other

Octopuses playing not-so-nice.
Gif: Godfrey-Smith et al., PLOS ONE 2022

Look, the main thing you need to know about octopuses is that they are smart and cranky. Last year, scientists described seeing octopuses gathering silt and shells off the seafloor in Jervis Bay, Australia, and flinging them at their peers.

Advertisement

The researchers believe the throws must serve a social purpose. But to my untrained eye, this looks pretty antisocial.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

5 / 11

Octopuses can taste with their arms

Octopuses can taste with their arms

A California two-spot octopus (not the spot, below the animal's eye.)
A California two-spot octopus (not the spot, below the animal’s eye.)
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

California two-spot octopuses react differently when touching prey (tasty morsels) than when they touch less-appetizing items (ordinary objects like a coffee mug), according to research published in 2020.

Advertisement

Octopus arms have chemotactile receptors, sensory cells that the researchers believe give the animals their impressive touch ability—a touch so sensitive that, in an octopus’s nervous system, it’s interpreted much like taste is to humans.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

6 / 11

They have ‘jumping genes,’ like humans

They have ‘jumping genes,’ like humans

A common octopus.
A common octopus.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

A study published last year found that octopuses carry transposons, or “jumping genes,” that can jump around to different parts of an organism’s genome. According to LiveScience, some jumping genes in humankind are associated with learning and memory formation.

Advertisement

Turns out octopuses carry the same kind of jumping gene. By combining these findings with more observations of octopus brain activity, we may improve our understanding of the animals’ intelligence.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

7 / 11

They dream in gifs

They dream in gifs

A female giant Pacific octopus with her egg strings.
A female giant Pacific octopus with her egg strings.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Research published in 2021 tracked octopuses’ sleep schedules. The scientists found that the animals had sleep states similar to REM states in humans, when we dream.

Advertisement

If the animals are dreaming, though, the researchers don’t think they have dreams as complex or lengthy as our own. “It should be more like small video clips, or even gifs,” one researcher told Gizmodo. As new approaches to studying octopus minds come to bear, we may get a better understanding of how they think.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

8 / 11

Octopuses use tools

Octopuses use tools

Coconut-carrying octopus

The eight-armed mollusks are among the few animals known to use tools to further their goals. In the octopus’s case, the animals were observed using coconut shells as a shelter.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

9 / 11

Octopuses Biohack

Octopuses Biohack

A California two spot octopus (Octopus bimaculoides).
A California two spot octopus (Octopus bimaculoides).
Photo: Tom Kleindinst (Other)

In June 2023, researchers announced that at least some species of octopus actually edit their RNA to deal with colder water temperatures. The team’s findings, which were published in Cell, posit that California two-spot octopuses—which cannot generate their own body heat—tweak their genetics such that they’re able to deal with temperature shifts in their environment.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

10 / 11

More to come?

More to come?

A day octopus sleeping while its brain activity is recorded.
A day octopus sleeping while its brain activity is recorded.
Photo: Michael Kuba

In February 2023, researchers announced that they had managed to record brain activity in freely moving octopuses for the first time. The scientists implanted electrodes and a data logger into day octopuses (Octopus cyanea).

Advertisement

Brain activity patterns recorded in the research have not yet been tied to specific behaviors, but if the practice sticks, it may provide more information about the inner workings of the octopus, and specifically how their brain activity corresponds to their movements.

There are ethical questions here, as is the case whenever devices are inserted into animals that cannot express consent. But inserting devices into the animals for science is arguably better than frying and eating them (and persuasively so, in the opinion of this writer).

Advertisement