Octopus intelligence put to test in new Australian research

SYDNEY, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- A team of researchers from the University of Queensland (UQ) has published a research that sheds new light on the unique brainpower of octopuses.

Contributing author on the study published in the Current Biology journal, Dr. Wen-Sung Chung from UQ's Queensland Brain Institute told Xinhua on Monday that it was the first time observed intelligence in different octopus species had been compared with their brain structure.

Previously, knowledge about octopuses' brains and behaviour was mostly based on studies of one particular species found in Europe.

Chung said the research investigated four species, including one deep-sea octopus, one solitary nocturnal species and two different reef dwellers active during daylight.

By using advanced MRI scans, they were able to show how brain development was linked to the octopuses' adaptation to their environment, predators, and other life forms.

Species that inhabited in shallower waters and more complex environments showed more complex brain structures with more folds, while species in less threatening, deep-sea environments had less complex, smoother brains.

"In vertebrae we had never before seen these folds in their brains...Folding increases the surface area and also increases the volume, this indicates they might have more advanced capability to process, or in memory, or learning," said Chung.

One such complex behaviour Chung and the team linked to increased brain capacity was "collaborative hunting".

"The ability to receive and respond to gestures between different species as part of collaborative hunting demonstrates that octopus species have complex cognitive abilities."

Team leader, UQ's Professor Justin Marshall, said the initial discovery would lay the groundwork for future understanding of just how smart these animals are.

Chung said he hoped it would trigger new approaches to the study of octopuses.

"This first paper is like a beginning, because it is the first time we have discovered so many unknowns."