Out of all the creatures that we inhabit this planet alongside, few are as intriguing – or as strange – as the octopus. At a quick glance, the octopus is a very intriguing creature. They are hard to grasp, though, given how different they are from most other lifeforms that we know about. Here, though, are a few intriguing facts about the octopus that lets us know they are very much a lifeform worth taking an interest in.
Octopuses have been around well north of 250 million years
The octopus is not a new creature to this world; we have found fossils in the past that have existed as long as two hundred and ninety million years ago. That is a frankly ridiculous time, and it shows us just how long they have been around. Indeed, one species, the Pohlsepia, is currently on display at Chicago’s Field Museum.
If you find octopuses intriguing, you should go and check this out!
Octopuses are handy with a set of tools
Most other creatures outside of humans find the idea of using tools to be superfluous or even impossible. The octopus, though, can easily use various tools. This puts them at least on the intelligence level of a chimp when it comes to understanding how to use tools that go outside of their biological capacity.
Indeed, scientists say they have seen octopuses in the past using coconut shells as a tool to give them a form of caravan – a mobile home. Cool, is it not?
The arms of an octopus have minds of their own
That might sound strange, but octopuses have minds in their actual arms. The majority of their neurons are in the arms, not the head, so this means that their arms can solve problems that you would expect to come from the mind. It is a reason why their arms are so good at finding things, excavating, and even dealing with predators.
An octopus has a trifecta of hearts
Last but by no means least, did you know that an octopus has not one, not two, but three hearts? That’s right. These immensely unique creatures have three hearts in their bodies. That means that they are incredibly powerful and can move blood beyond their gills using these triple hearts. The octopus’s main heart, though, stops working when they swim. That is why octopuses tend to try and crawl where they can as opposed to swim – it is too tiring.