The Amazing Octopus Scientists believe the octopus is one of the smartest creatures. One of the reasons is it has demonstrated uncanny abilities for a non-human. It has shown it can plan, make deductive reasoning and be very stealthy. One of the events an octopus was responsible for was an escape from an aquarium. As people came and went the octopus was planning its escape. You might think how could an octopus escape from a water based prison over dry land, and I wouldn’t blame you, it seems impossible. The creature patiently examined his surroundings and noticed there was a pipe on the other side of the room where its tank was. It waited until the place was closed for the night and crawled out of its tank over to the pipe. I don’t know if it somehow figured out the pipe was connected to the ocean or not, but I wouldn’t be surprised. It entered the pipe and made its way to freedom. It was also helpful to the creature that an octopus can get into very small spaces. There are those who believe they are alien creatures. Recently a fossilized octopus was found which predated dinosaurs by 70 million years. This proves they have had quite a bit of time for their brains to evolve. These intelligent animals are facing a problem, their vision is dependent on them getting enough oxygen out of the water and the oxygen levels are going down. Different experiments on the creatures have proved this. It has been shown that an octopus can recognize people. We don’t really know the limits of their intelligence. There is a theory by a few people the octopus is as intelligent as we are. I have to doubt this but I certainly could be wrong. Scientists have found the creatures communicate with each other by posture and changing colors. What scientists found was the octopus frequently communicates with other ones, it is not just an infrequent event. If they are moving toward each other and both show dark colors there will probably be a problem between them and maybe a fight. They usually won’t fight if one of them then displays a light color. One lengthy video which was made showed an octopus being watched for about two and one half days, and in this time, it had communicated with many others of its kind. It turns out the octopus is a very social creature but not all the time as in the case of a female taking care of its young which is mostly a solitary event, at least with some species. There are differences in the different types. Some are taking a big chance when they mate. The chance is the female might decide to eat them and she is much bigger. It is much easier for others. As I demonstrated above, the octopus can walk on dry land. This event is not often seen because the octopus is nocturnal and this behavior usually happens at night. Several years ago, some people went to a beach in Wales and were stunned at what they saw. A group of the creatures were walking on the beach. That must have been a sight to behold. Some were found dead, while others which were still alive were rescued. It is believe they got disoriented by a storm. Periodically, some scientists come out with an opinion the octopus is alien to this planet. What they are saying is they believe it arrived here in some form and developed into what it is now. It could have been on a meteorite or asteroid, or even in the form of DNA. Of course, there are other scientists who believe the building blocks of life on this planet all came from outer space which would mean if they are correct, we all came from somewhere else. Do the creatures dream. There are some who think they have found the proof. One of them was being watched by a scientist in an aquarium. As he filmed the creature it began to change colors and when through some that are considered to mean the creature was in danger. All this happened while the animal slept. It was believed the octopus was having a nightmare. The octopus is very adaptable. It will carry shells as it ambles over the ocean floor and if trouble heads its way, it recedes into the shells for protection. Some people have been amazed because they have seen them carrying empty bottles and such and using them for protection by being able to duck into them. Sometime some have been seen throwing things at each other. Some even rip the tentacles off the Portuguese man of war and use them as weapons because they contain deadly venom. It shows how clever the animals are and the fact they can recognize and use a weapon. Scientists have even officially recognized these animals have a consciousness. They didn’t say it was the same as a human one, but one never the less. Some of the things they have accomplished best our young humans. For example, they have opened childproof containers. They also learn by watching as demonstrated by the one that escaped the aquarium. They can also recognize symbols. Its brain is spread out, not all of it is in the head. Some of it is in the arms. It is quite an unusual situation. One of the things they can do blows the mind of scientists because it is so incredible. They can perform RNA editing. This means they can make changes to their genes. Scientists speculate on the effect of this on the animal. It would probably be very useful if we humans could do this. We might be able to fight off all disease for example. It is very hard for animals to attack an octopus because of their arms which contain all those suckers. Even when the animal is dead, they continue to hold on. If the animal manages to get a tentacle into the throat of a predator, it can choke it to death. This is why you will see seals throwing octopuses against rocks and such, to not only kill them, but to tenderize them. We could certainly learn a lot from them. If we could figure out how to make military uniforms change camouflage in an instant depending on the background of the soldier, it would be quite helpful. The octopus is one of the most amazing creatures not only in the ocean, but also on our planet.
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