Smart octopus
We have watched a cartoon octopus named Oswald carrying tools. But octopuses in real life too are smart like Oswald. That is what scientists say!
Australian scientists have discovered an octopus in Indonesia that collects coconut shells for shelter - unusually sophisticated behaviour that the researchers believe is the first evidence of tool use in an invertebrate animal.
The scientists filmed the veined octopus, Amphioctopus marginatus, selecting halved coconut shells from the sea floor, emptying them out, carrying them under their bodies up to 65 feet (20 meters), and assembling two shells together to make a spherical hiding spot.
Image: In this Dec 10, 2009 photo taken near Indonesia and released by Museum Victoria, a veined octopus, Amphioctopus marginatus crawls along the ocean floor holding one half of a coconut shell. (Photograph copyright AP)
Text: AP
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