Despite being soft in the head, octopuses are so intelligent that they can exercise self-restraint, or get bored. Studies of transparent octopus embryos are helping scientists to understand nature’s basic recipe for high intelligence.
OCTOPUS BOOK OF RECORDS:
MOST TOXIC
A blue-ringed octopus ‘bite’ is fatal. The bite includes the neurotoxin tetrodotoxin, 1200 times stronger than cyanide and causing paralysis. They are shy, non-aggressive creatures that preferer to hide, but may ‘bite’ if they are handled.
Octopuses can find their way through mazes and learn from others’ mistakes. They can also have self-control: experiments have shown that even a hungry octopus can restrain itself from eating a king prawn right in front of it if it knows that it will get a better treat – a common ditch shrimp – if it can wait two minutes. The ability to understand that
