In the dark of night, a canny octopus escaped from his tank, gobbled up fish from a neighbouring tank, and returned - as though nothing was out of the ordinary. Another octopus, scientists report, escaped, wandered across the laboratory floor, and slithered down a drainpipe that, fortunately for him, led directly to the sea. Octopuses have learnt to squirt jets of water at tank bulbs, short-circuiting tank power supplies, and are also known to squirt water at keepers they don’t like. The octopus knows when it is in captivity and behaves accordingly - in other words, badly.
Scientists point to these behaviours, interestingly, as indicative of the octopus’s big, complex brain. Recalcitrant behaviour, stealing, escaping, adventuring from one shelter to another - these are signs of its special intelligence.
Interestingly,…
