Those born in the 1980s should still have an impression of Paul the Octopus from more than ten years ago. It is said that this German octopus can accurately predict the results of football teams. Therefore, from 2008 to 2010, it was quite famous.

In fact, for many years, people have been amazed by the high intelligence of octopuses-studies say that their intelligence reaches the level of children aged six or seven.

（ Paul the octopus, died of natural causes in 2010)

At the same time, because the octopus has a unique shape that is completely different from that of ocean fish, it has also historically become a figure that can be revealed in the legends of the Nordic region. A huge sea monster that capsized a ship.

There are still many opinions that even believe that octopuses are alien species. So, how did the octopus itself evolve?

(Octopus Paul’s prediction back then)

High IQ comes from jumping genes

As invertebrates with complex brains, over the years It has always been the subject of attention and research in the biological community. A 2022 study showed that the cognitive complexity and neural structure of the octopus brain appear to be molecularly similar to the human brain.

Similar characteristics were discovered by biologists at the beginning of the 21st century when they were sequencing human genes. Genes in the human body, transposon sequences, make up at least 45% of the genome. These DNA sequences are called "jumping genes."

The biggest feature is that it can be "copied and pasted" and can be moved at various locations in the genome. This way, genetic sequences can be easily copied and mixed.

New research has found that this type of gene is not only found in the human brain, but also has a similar mechanism in genes in the octopus brain. According to scientific researchers, only octopuses possessing transposon mechanism genes will have intelligence that exceeds that of other animals.

From a human perspective, this type of genome is active in the hippocampus area of ​​the brain, which is an important learning and cognitive structure in humans. The existence of transposon genomes is closely related to memory and cognition. are closely related.

Now, biologists have also discovered this type of genome in the octopus brain. This thus indicates that the octopus's ability to possess cognition and super memory should be the result of their function.

And biologists further found that compared with components in the human brain, this type of substance seems to be more active in the octopus brain, and is not limited to the specific function of copying and pasting.

The area of ​​learning in the human brain is the hippocampus, and a similar area in the octopus brain is the vertical lobe. Biologists believe that all octopus learning and cognition are structured in this area.

It is worth mentioning that when biologist Giovanna Ponte, one of the researchers, observed under a microscope, she directly discovered the strong activity signal emitted by this type of material. The researcher jumped onto his chair with excitement.

In the view of biologists, the similarity between octopuses and humans is a form of convergent evolution. Similar similarities can actually exist in two completely different species, but they are They develop independently during evolution.

For example, human consciousness can only exist in the brain, but the consciousness of an octopus can actually exist on every tentacle.

Each tentacle has its own consciousness

Previous research found that the octopus’s brain cells range from 100 million to 500 million, although the specific number is still controversial. However, biologists are unanimous in their opinions on its distribution area.

Unlike other creatures whose brain cells are concentrated in the brain, about half of the octopus’s brain cells are distributed on its tentacles. In contrast, we humans have more than 85 billion neurons, all distributed within the skull.

The octopus itself has a unique tactile system. It has about 40 million tactile receptors throughout its body, many of which are distributed on the edge of the suction cup.

When humans touch external physical objects with their hands or bodies, they can only feel the existence of the physical objects. The octopus uses its tentacles to touch surrounding objects. Not only can it sense its existence, but its tactile system also has the ability to taste and smell. That is to say, the octopus only needs to "touch" an object with its tentacles to know what it tastes like.

This is a bit like our human tongue, except that the octopus's "tongues" grow on the outside and there are several of them. This super-sensitive tactile system even has consciousness and thinking, and the consciousness of each tentacle of the octopus seems to be independent.

Biologists discovered in experiments that each tentacle of the octopus can perform different reactions. For example, one tentacle can grab something it likes, and its other tentacle can push away something it doesn't like.

These different tentacles seem to be acting on their own and have their own consciousness. However, for an octopus as an organic whole, it does not worry about these tentacles acting randomly.

During the activity, the tentacles can avoid the suckers at will, indicating that the octopus will not make a mess because of its suckers.

But equally, if an octopus is interested in eating another octopus, its tentacles will not avoid the other's suckers.

Even if one of the octopus's tentacles is cut off, the octopus can easily tell whether the broken tentacle belongs to itself or another octopus.

In addition, octopuses can avoid tentacles, and when eating the same kind, they can catch other tentacles regardless of the rules of avoidance, which shows that octopuses have self-awareness.

In this way, the octopus can sense different things through its tentacles, and each tentacle can do its own thing. In normal times, octopuses can obtain various information about the external world through different tentacles. And once an emergency occurs, all its tentacles seem to follow the unified instructions of the brain and take action.

Just like the human nervous system, there is a similar pattern, which is to give the body the ability to act on its own when necessary. For example, if you use fire to burn someone's fingers, even if you don't let him see or even feel that the fire is approaching him, as soon as the fire touches his hand, his hand will instinctively retract.

This is the nervous system at work. The octopus's tentacles seem to be more complicated than the rules of humans. Compared with the limbs under the control of the human nervous system, which can only avoid damage like a conditioned reflex, the octopus's tentacles can also follow the body, easily perform various complex camouflages, and integrate themselves into the surrounding environment.

In addition to its powerful tentacles, the octopus also has great visual abilities, and it can easily remember real objects at a glance, which shows that its cognitive and memory abilities are first-rate.

Can remember a person for several months

An octopus named Truman lived in the aquarium, during which a female college student volunteer often came to work in the aquarium. Truman loved playing pranks on the female student.

Whenever the female student came near the water tank, Truman used a siphon that extended into the tank to spray water at her. So over and over again, often.

Later, the female students stopped going to the aquarium for several months, and Truman did not spray water on anyone else. Later, when the female student came to the aquarium again, she saw Truman for the first time and was sprayed all over by him again.

This shows that Truman not only remembered this girl, but also retained his memory even after several months. However, the strange thing is not the length of memory, but why octopuses have super long memories despite their short life span.

Other animals such as elephants have a lifespan of several decades just like humans, so having super memory is nothing.

However, the lifespan of an octopus is only a few years. For example, Paul the octopus who was able to predict the winning or losing of the football team more than ten years ago died in 2010. Short lifespan and long-term memory are what surprise biologists.

Has personality and learning ability

The octopus's super learning ability is commendable. It can even learn and use various tools easily. It is often seen in the wild that octopuses use stones as gates to block the entrance to their homes.

Some people have even discovered that octopuses use various objects as cover. An empty coconut shell, for example, can be turned into a perfect shelter.

As for octopuses raised in captivity, their personalities are even more different. He likes to play pranks, and he is also interactive and even aggressive.

Even an octopus can observe the performance of its own kind, and then learn and remember a certain ability. This ability still exists even if it has been a long time.

Because of the above characteristics, many people think that fortunately the octopus has a short lifespan, otherwise it would definitely be the overlord of the ocean.

It is precisely this point that still makes people feel puzzled. After all, the octopus is an invertebrate, and it is not a primate. The intelligence and consciousness it displays seem completely inconsistent with its body structure.

So to this day, related research and inferences have never stopped on how the octopus's high IQ evolved.

It’s all a survival strategy

As an invertebrate, the octopus has both natural enemies and competitors with body structures completely different from its own. Especially with a large number of competitors, if you want to compete with them for food, the octopus must perform better.

Research has found that in ancient times, whether it was octopus or other fish, their common natural enemy was ichthyosaurs. When faced with a life-or-death decision, octopuses also have a tendency to go to shallow sea areas and even land ashore during their evolution.

However, in the later evolution, the octopus did not choose to leave the sea water, but chose to move and survive in the deep sea. Later, the octopus's living area could be in both shallow sea and deep sea.

If this inference is correct, if octopuses in ancient times really evolved on land, they might be able to form intelligent animals that are completely different from humans.

Obviously, the evolution of the octopus has been in the sea, and it did not finally reach the stage of landing. So in the end it was primates that gradually became the masters of the world during evolution.

As for the octopus, although it has become more and more intelligent during evolution, it is still suppressed by water and our human ancestors. In the end, its superpowers, which are different from other animals, can only be expressed simply in survival.

Conclusion

Although evolution is very long, selection in evolution occurs all the time. The various abilities possessed by octopuses are both the product of evolution and self-selection forced by the environment.

Therefore, through the evolution of octopuses, we can see the difficulties that human ancestors have gone through along the way. After all, even a small move can interfere with the final direction of evolution.

If our ancestors had not been lucky or made a wrong choice, we might now be locked in an aquarium and become the ornaments of some kind of intelligent creatures.