Tool Using Octopus

12/21/2009

We used to believe that humans were unique among life forms in our use of tools. Then scientists observed tool use in chimpanzees and we lost our claim to the title of exclusive tool user on the planet. Now we recognize a whole list of animals that use tools in some fashion, from sea otters that crack open shellfish with rocks, to dolphins that wrap their beaks in sea sponges to prevent abrasions, to a whole variety of tool-using birds (one example of which I previously blogged about right here).

All of the known tool users have one thing in common: a backbone. Until now, that is. Researchers have recently reported a fascinating example of an invertebrate with the ability to use tools. Veined octopuses will use coconut shells they find in the water to fashion a sort of armor to protect against predators. It's a far more sophisticated use of the coconut shells than simply hiding under them, which many other creatures might do but doesn't count as tool use since it's random. Instead, the veined octopus will deliberately collect and transport coconut shells for later use, even though during the process of collecting they are potentially more exposed to predators.

It's pretty amazing that an animal that's related to snails has enough smarts to figure something like this out, but of all invertebrates, it doesn't come as a surprise to me that it would be an octopus to do it--they've proven their smarts before.

VIDEO: Watch a veined octopus in action.