Cephalopods have long been acknowledged as highly intelligent beings. For instance, in 2016, an octopus named Inky managed to escape into the sea from New Zealand’s National Aquarium via a drainage pipe. Furthermore, researchers at Dartmouth College discovered that these creatures can utilize mirrors to locate food that is not directly visible to them. Previously, such a capability had only been observed in mammals and certain bird species.
The subjects of a recent experiment were three California two-spotted octopuses. Initially, they were accustomed to a mirror, and subsequently trained to find prey with its assistance. The octopuses were placed in a starting enclosure and shown a virtual image of a crab in a mirror, projected from behind, to the left, or to the right of the animal. The test subjects received a live crab as a reward only when the octopus turned 180 degrees and moved towards the location of the projected image.
The octopuses successfully completed the task approximately 73% of the time. During the training period, they began to act faster and gained a better understanding of where to search for food. Scientists concluded that octopuses might possess an internal representation of space – a kind of mental map of their territory – enabling them to hunt more effectively in challenging environments like coral reefs.
Experts point out that octopuses are evolutionarily very distant from humans, with our last common ancestor dating back 350-500 million years. Specialists believe that similar cognitive abilities may have developed independently in different species, but further research is necessary to confirm this hypothesis.
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