Clever, curious and hard to keep in
Octopuses open jars, carry their own shelters, impersonate other animals and get out of tanks. Here’s what the evidence says.
Problem solvers
Octopuses can untie knots, open jars and get into toddler-proof cases, and they are expert escape artists. Smithsonian Ocean: Octopuses, squids and relatives Britannica says the common octopus is thought to be the most intelligent of all invertebrates. Britannica: Octopus
In a 2011 experiment, octopuses learned to steer a single arm through a maze to food, using their eyes: proof the central brain can take charge of an arm. Natural History Museum, London: Octopuses keep surprising us
Personalities
There is growing evidence that octopuses have personalities: one may be shy, another curious and playful, another cranky. Smithsonian Ocean: Octopuses, squids and relatives There is evidence that octopuses can recognise individual people, and have favourites. National Aquarium: Otherworldly octopuses
The great escape
In 2016 an octopus called Inky escaped from the National Aquarium of New Zealand in Napier. His tank lid had been left slightly open; he slid across the floor and down a 15 cm drain pipe that led to the sea. BBC News: Octopus makes great escape from New Zealand aquarium Inky was a male common New Zealand octopus, and he made his escape during the night. National Geographic: Inky’s daring escape
Coconut carriers
Veined octopuses in Indonesia collect coconut-shell halves, stack them, carry them across the seafloor on stiffened arms and later hide inside: one of the first reports of tool use by an invertebrate. ScienceDaily, reporting Finn, Tregenza & Norman 2009, Current Biology
The mimic
The mimic octopus can impersonate a banded sole (a poisonous flatfish), a lionfish and a banded sea snake, changing its shape, texture and movement to match. American Museum of Natural History: The talented mimic octopus To play a sea snake, the mimic octopus hides six arms and stretches the other two out in opposite directions. American Museum of Natural History: The talented mimic octopus
The mimic octopus was discovered in 1998. It was the first animal known to switch between impersonating several different animals. American Museum of Natural History: The talented mimic octopus · checked 28 Oct 2026 The mimic octopus has its own copycat: the harlequin jawfish hides among its arms, matching their stripes. American Museum of Natural History: The talented mimic octopus
Octopus cities
Most octopuses live alone, but gloomy octopuses gather in underwater ‘cities’ researchers nicknamed Octopolis and Octlantis. Smithsonian Ocean: Octopuses, squids and relatives Most octopuses spend most of their time on the ocean floor, and most live alone in a den. Smithsonian Ocean: Octopuses, squids and relatives
Arms with minds of their own
Each of an octopus’s eight arms has its own ‘mini brain’, and each arm can taste, touch and move without direction from the centre. Natural History Museum, London: Octopuses keep surprising us Octopus arms are so independent that, in one experiment, arms cut from a dead animal still jerked and curled up when pinched. Smithsonian Magazine: Ten wild facts about octopuses
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