page_title: Octopus
section_title: Intelligence
hierarchical_section_title: Octopus / Behaviour and ecology / Intelligence
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Oktopus öffnet eine Dose mit Schraubverschluss. "Haus der Natur", Salzburg., Österreich English: Octopus opening a container with a screw cap. Photographed at "Haus der Natur", Salzburg, Austria
context_page_description: The octopus is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda. Around 300 species are recognised, and the order is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids. Like other cephalopods, the octopus is bilaterally symmetric with two eyes and a beak, with its mouth at the center point of the eight limbs. The soft body can rapidly alter its shape, enabling octopuses to squeeze through small gaps. They trail their eight appendages behind them as they swim. The siphon is used both for respiration and for locomotion, by expelling a jet of water. Octopuses have a complex nervous system and excellent sight, and are among the most intelligent and behaviourally diverse of all invertebrates.
  Octopuses inhabit various regions of the ocean, including coral reefs, pelagic waters, and the seabed; some live in the intertidal zone and others at abyssal depths. Most species grow quickly, mature early, and are short-lived.
context_section_description: Octopuses are highly intelligent; the extent of their intelligence and learning capability are not well defined. Maze and problem-solving experiments have shown evidence of a memory system that can store both short- and long-term memory. It is not known precisely what contribution learning makes to adult octopus behaviour. Young octopuses learn nothing from their parents, as adults provide no parental care beyond tending to their eggs until the young octopuses hatch.
  In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practise observational learning, although the validity of these findings is contested. Octopuses have also been observed in what has been described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs. The veined octopus collects discarded coconut shells, then uses them to build a shelter, an example of tool use.
caption: Octopus opening a container by unscrewing its cap
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