Name: 八爪魚聰明得令人髮指。 (Octopuses Are Ridiculously Smart)
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T07:48:01.000Z
Duration: 4 min 26 s
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關係子句

Did you hear about the octopus that slipped
out of its tank, into a drainpipe, and made

Or what about the cephalopod that figured
out how to open those child-proof pill bottles?

Which, let's be honest, even adult humans
have trouble with those sometimes.

But when we talk about the intelligence of
other animals, we tend to fall into the trap

of comparing them to humans -- testing for
everything from the size of their brains,

to qualities like emotions or learning abilities.

But octopuses are very different from people,
I don't know if you've noticed.

On the evolutionary tree, they are a long
way off from us.

And they're probably way more complex than
we might realize or understand.

And so are the brains of other animals we
consider intelligent, like dogs, dolphins,

Octopuses have central brains in their heads,
as well, and we have some anatomical similarities.

For example, their brains generate similar
electrical patterns as vertebrates, and they

seem to have specialized brain areas for things
like learning and memory storage.

They also seem to have a dominant, or preferred,
eye -- which is an example of lateralization,

similar to the way people are right- and left-handed.

But the weird thing is: about two-thirds of
their neurons are in their arms.

Each arm literally has a mind of its own -- to
do its own problem solving and act independently,

while the other arms are doing something completely
different.

In a 2013 research study, scientists isolated
arms from dead octopuses in order to test

And they found the isolated arms recoil from
being pinched, or from touching tap water

This suggests that they might have some kind
of nociceptors -- or special neurons that

sense danger and pain, like ones that make
us pull our hand back when touching a hot

But -- unlike in humans -- their arms can
respond to these kind of stimuli without being

Other experiments have found that the severed
arms wriggle around, and even grab onto food.

So, anatomically, octopuses are some pretty
cool invertebrates.

Octopuses have been observed using tools -- like
picking up two coconut halves to use as a

mobile home -- and manipulating objects in
a way that looks a lot like playing.

One 1993 study published in the Journal of
Comparative Psychology even suggested that

octopuses seem to display distinct personalities
-- reacting to food and threats in individual,

One octopus might be consistently curious
and daring, while another is careful and shy.

Another study, in 2001, seemed to show that
young octopuses changed their behavior over

the course of weeks, becoming more alert to
danger and learning from their environment.

So octopuses do seem to have some sort of
advanced cognition -- learning and changing

Even though we might see a lot of ourselves
in the behavior of octopuses, we certainly

Our vertebrate evolutionary branch split from
the mollusks about 1.2 billion years ago,

so human and octopus intelligence evolved
completely separately.

Scientists have lots of different theories
to try and explain how humans evolved intelligence

-- and one of them relates to our social lifestyle.

Basically, forming long-lasting relationships
could've meant better survival.

But octopuses don't have that specific evolutionary
pressure -- they only live for a couple of

So, how did these creatures evolve their intelligence
and central brain -- while other mollusks,

Well, it might have something to do with the
most obvious thing that separates an octopus

At some point in their evolution, the octopus's
ancestors probably traded the safety of a

Suddenly, they could move around and forage
for food, using a variety of hunting skills.

But they also had to to worry about becoming
dinner -- which led to all kinds of strategies

to avoid being eaten: like hiding, camouflage,
tool use, and speed.

And all that self-preservation requires some
sort of intelligence.

The smarter octopuses would've had a better
chance of survival.

Octopuses might not look like us, move like
us, live like us, or probably even think like

But they have somehow evolved intelligence
in ways we're only beginning to understand.

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