The first incidence of tool use by an octopus shocks scientists
The use of tools was once thought to be the sole domain of humans.
But the list of tool-users in the animal world has grown to include a host of other animals, such as Fongoli-savanna chimpanzees in Senegal who use sharpened spears to hunt, wild western gorillas who use sticks to measure water depth, woodpecker finches who use cactus spines to extract grubs from trees, bottlenose dolphins who use marine sponges to protect their snouts from abrasions when foraging for food on the ocean floor, sea otters who use rocks to retrieve abalone shells and elephants who fill drinking holes with chewed tree bark to prevent water evaporation.
Now, an octopus has joined the ranks of these smart tool-users.
According to a BBC story, several wild veined octopuses (Amphioctopus marginatus) were filmed in Indonesian waters picking up halved coconut shells, transporting them some distance and then using them as shelters.
The British and Australian researchers have published their findings in the journal Current Biology.
It is the first documented case of an invertebrate using a tool, and adds credence to the long-standing belief that the octopus is the most intelligent of all the invertebrates.
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