Built For Squeezing And Survival

Carol 0:04

Imagine crawling on the seafloor because swimming takes so much energy, one of your heart stops beating while you swim. Imagine being able to squeeze through an opening barely larger than your own eyeball. It's hard to find a tank to hold an octopus. If the beak fits, the octopus knows the entire body well. An octopus has blue blood. Why? Their blood uses copper containing hemosyan instead of iron containing hemoglobin to carry oxygen, which works great in cold water. You won't have a bone to pick with an octopus because they are soft all over except for a sharp parrot-like beak. No bones at all. To be clear, octopuses, that's right, not octopi, have eight arms and they are not referred to as tentacles. They are covered in suction cups, but that's not the most extraordinary thing about octopuses. I shared last week that if a predator was trying to end an octopus, the octopus would remove its own arm and let it swim away, creating a diversion while the octopus escaped. And the octopus is so brilliantly created it can grow its arm back. There are other superpowers with octopuses.

Nine Brains And Problem Solving

Carol 1:29

We find it difficult to comprehend the alien intelligence so different from our own, but in many ways surpasses us an ability science can talk about but not fully explain. The suction cups on each of the eight arms have taste buds. Every time the octopus touches anything, the arms independently taste by touch whatever they want to without the big brain instructing them to. And if that's not wild enough, each arm has about two-thirds of an octopus's neurons, and their arms perform remarkably decentralized processing. That's why you'll sometimes hear it said that an octopus essentially has nine brains, one central brain, and eight extraordinarily independent neurocontrol systems in its arms. That's one reason they seem almost alien in their intelligence when each arm can independently make decisions. Another superpower is that they are extraordinarily clever. They can solve hard puzzles, open jars from within the jar, and they have foresight. They will find coconut shells in the water and drag them whatever distance it takes to the place they want protection. When threatened, they can pull the two halves together and hide inside. They are builders of dome houses for themselves. Millions of years ago, octopuses, which are officially in the soft-bodied mullocks family, think snails, at some point discarded their protective shell for freedom. As a cephalopod, the octopus relies on a muscular hydrostrat system to keep themselves together, so to speak. It's comparable to the human tongue or an elephant's trunk that maintains its shape and moves using internal fluid pressure without skeletal support. Octopuses have been studied for years. They could in fact be the most intelligent, ancient alien who has ever lived in our waters. There is so much to learn from them about their curiosity, their intelligence, and more surprising powers await our discovery.

Colorblind Vision And Living Camouflage

Carol 3:53

The most fascinating thing to me is their skin. But I must mention their vision first because it's not what you think. Their eyes are rectangular slits that resemble dumbbells. They do not have the cones we have to see in color. So basically, the octopus is colorblind. Now hold on to that thought. They have special skin cells called chromatophys that let them change color, change their texture to match rocks or sand or anything in their environment in less than a second. In other words, they can camouflage faster than you can blink. And although they are technically colorblind, researchers have proposed that their unusual pupils may act somewhat like prisms which scatter light and split it into its color components. Now let's get techie. When an octopus changes the depth of its eyeballs, they can focus on different wavelengths of light on the retina individually. Whoa, that's just wild. These cells are small pigment-containing cells controlled by an array of nerves and muscles. These elastic sacs of color can be stretched or tightened. When relaxed, the octopus looks white. When muscles around the sac tighten, the sac is pulled open, showing color, which can be black, brown, orange, red, or yellow. What if all you had to do was flex your muscles and instantly you're wearing a whole new outfit? Once again, scientists can observe, attempt to explain, but how does a colorblind octopus manage to break out into incredible color changes? Simply put, they can see with their skin. Yep. Octopuses have proteins called opsins that are light sensitive, which can see changes in light. An octopus in its den would only have to stick an arm out to determine if it's day or night. Their eyes focus like a camera, with the lens moving in and out, unlike our own, which uses muscles to squeeze the lens to focus. Summing up vision, they can see practically 360 degrees around themselves. So no sneaking up on an octopus. Since octopuses have been observed out of water hunting for crabs, how do they breathe? Here's another superpower. In certain circumstances, 40% of their oxygen intake can come through their skin. Let's get into another fascinating fact about an octopus.

Venom And Masterful Disguises

Carol 6:44

Although all octopuses are venomous, it's the blue-ringed octopus, which contains tetradotoxin, which is TTX, easier to say, which is capable of killing humans. Ocean Conservancy confirms TTX is roughly a thousand times more toxic than cyanide, and that respiratory paralysis is a lethal danger. Importantly, there is no known antidote, but immediate artificial respiration can save a victim by keeping them alive until the toxin wears off. There's the mimic octopus who can become almost any underwater object like a rock, this is known as masquerade, to outwit potential threats. They are masters of disguise, even able to look exactly like the venomous lionfish who can inject toxins through their spines so predators avoid them. Then there's the day octopus, who can blend into any pattern no matter how complex. A study done in 1997 by Forsythe and Hanlon found that in just one hour, the day octopus changed its appearance roughly three times a minute. That's averaging 177 times per hour. Breathtaking speed. Then there's the algae octopus trick. They live in seagrass bed and algae patches, and they can perfectly match moving vegetation to play hide and seek from predators. I dislike calling any octopus a common octopus because there's nothing common about them to me. They can tuck their body into a ball, if you will, and take on the disguise of a moving rock, in quotes, walking on two back legs on tiptoe, occasionally pausing to resemble how a rock would behave.

Predators Prey And Hunting Tools

Carol 8:46

Who eats octopus? Who are their predators? Large fish, sharks, eels, marine mammals like dolphins, seals, seabirds, and then there are humans. What do octopuses eat? Crabs, lobsters, shrimp, and small fish and more. Their saliva paralyzes their prey. Their beak can tear meat and their digestive enzymes can break down hard shells from the inside. You now know octopuses are adaptable, shape-shifting survivalists whose intelligence physically and mentally has evolved them into the problem-solving hunters and builders who can trick predators into believing they are undesirable or something predators would avoid.

Inky’s Aquarium Breakout

Carol 9:35

This is where the story of an octopus named Inky will impress you. One night at the National Aquarium of New Zealand, a covert operation took place. A young octopus named Inky decided he had had enough being confined in a tank under glass. He discovered the lid of the enclosure had been slightly left ajar. He saw an opportunity. He squeezed through the small gap, held on to the outside glass with his suckers to climb down to the floor. A dry floor was probably like dragging himself across sandpaper, and he avoided obstacles along the way. He ultimately found a drain pipe that led to the ocean. It was a hallmark moment of his daring escape. Not only did it take a great deal of physical agility, but a remarkable example of problem solving abilities and again more superpowers of intelligence which we could only speculate on currently. Octopuses, unlike other animals, marine and land, evolved complex behaviors which never relied on social connections or family. They were and always have been responding to constant threats from the changing and dangerous environments they live in. They don't form social bonds as we understand them. They even have problems recognizing their own kind or easily distinguishing between sexes. They have one interaction and it's their last. The female literally starves to death while guarding her eggs. Once the hatchlings arrive, mom is either dead or near death, and it would appear this is the way of not accidentally eating her children. The male mate doesn't live long after mating, so it's not that mom and dad passed anything down to their children. Can you wrap your head around the innate intelligence, the otherworldly ability to know what to do in order to survive, whether it's hunting, hiding from predators, and in general making decisions that keep them alive? Wow! The foresight it takes to plan to build a protective dome home, to adjust to whatever threat appears in numerous ways, and to reason, imagine, and have expectations is an incredible evolution. Inky, considering the numerous complex things he did to escape, and then to find an outlet to the ocean is beyond at this moment our human understanding. In my second episode, when I showed how animals comprise a large part of our daily lives, even subconsciously, I'll share that I picked the Roku TV Hulu combo of being underwater with an octopus image on the right side of the screen.

Octopuses In Stories And Myth

Carol 12:39

Most of the movies I've seen that are scary involve giant squid, and none would make you feel warm and fuzzy about a giant squid or giant octopuses. However, Netflix produced a heartwarming film based on a book entitled Remarkably Bright Creatures, which centers on a widow who forms an unlikely friendship with a clever captive giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus, had to find one where an octopus wasn't portrayed as a monster. There's a quote that says, Don't judge by appearances. A rich heart may be under a poor coat. With an octopus, a brilliant, creative creature is apparently too easy to mock its appearance, but now you know better. Our ancestors revered ostopuses across global maritime cultures as a divine creator, a powerful undersea guardian, and a symbol of profound transformation and abundance. In Polynesia and Hawaiian mythology, the octopus held a high spiritual status. There's an Hawaiian creation chant that describes the octopus as an alien survivor from a previous ruined universe. It was viewed as an ancient, solitary witness to the dawn of our current world. The ancient Greeks revered the octopus for its matus, a specific type of admirable fluid intelligence combining wisdom, camouflage, and survival cunning. In traditional Japanese culture, the octopus occupied a unique supernatural space. Samurai protection. Because of its strength, flexibility, and inescapable grip, Japanese armorers crafted large gold gilded octopus figures to mount directly onto the helmets of the samurai as a symbol of battlefield dominance.

Human Lessons From Octopus Wisdom

Carol 14:52

So how are we interconnected to an octopus? We can resonate with deep intuition, psychological perception, tactical flexibility, as in choosing the right approach depending on who may be trying to cause us harm. In spiritual traditions, the octopus is a symbol of deep subconsciousness, adaptability, and hidden knowledge. Because an octopus can feel and think simultaneously through touch, it reminds us to use our brains and our hearts to make decisions. An octopus is itself a master of camouflage. For us, perhaps the lesson is almost the reverse. Learn to recognize what may be hidden beneath appearances. Learning to spot deception through observation and experience is a plus in our relationships or doing business with others. An octopus adapts instantly to its environment. Perhaps this suggests we alter our tone, our delivery style, even our vocabulary to match the individuals we interact with to make them feel comfortable. They are problem solvers, and for us this suggests when we give advice that we provide a well-thought-out approach to strategically solve problems. This means offering creative, out-of-the-box solutions to people needing our help, including ourselves. Then there's the implication from cloudy inking, that sometimes information needs to be withheld until timing is safe and useful, or when someone else is invading your boundaries. This correlates to allowing yourself to be detached in your observations. Combine your deep emotional fluid intelligence with cold observational logic to make decisions that are good for yourself and others too. Octopuses come fully armed to protect themselves, and yet at the same time, they could give you high fives eight times. So they can remind you to arm yourself with humor, and I hope you are becoming a sucker for ocean life like the octopus.

Closing And Next Week’s Sharks

Carol 17:16

I'm Carol Butler. This has been Animals Sacred Wisdom. Thank you for listening. I hope you follow and share with like-minded people. Join me next week when we explore sharks, which have existed on Earth over 400 million years. Yes, that means they were older than trees. They would be a dentist's dream client because they lose and replace more than 30,000 teeth over their lifetime. And as always, listen, reflect, connect.