Posted on Wednesday, 16th December 2009 by Interloper
Two scientists from the Melbourne Museum have reported the first evidence that invertebrates are capable of using tools, when they witnessed the attractively named “veined octopus” gather coconut shells in order to later employ them as body armour.
The uncanny denziens of the deep not only selected coconut shells that would protect its soft body, but also stored and transported them for future use.
The doctors involved in the research spent over 500 hours observing veined octopuses off the Indonesian coast.
Originally the species is believed to have made similar use of clam shells, but have adapted to using coconuts in response to the increasing numbers of them that are discarded by the coastal humans.
So now invertebrates have armour? We’re rapidly losing our advantage.
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