🐙 Octopuses!

What you’ll learn

1. Eight Arms That ThinkUnderstand that octopuses have neurons spread into their arms and are among the smartest sea animals.An octopus has most of its thinking cells spread into its eight arms, so each arm can taste, touch, and reach on its own. Rows of suckers grip and even taste. Octopuses are among the ocean's smartest animals, solving puzzles and opening jars.
2. Instant Color ChangeLearn how octopuses change color instantly for camouflage and communication.Octopuses have millions of tiny color bags in their skin that let them change color in less than a second. They also change skin texture to hide, making them camouflage champions. Amazingly, many are colorblind, and scientists think they may sense color with their skin.
3. Escape ArtistsUnderstand how boneless bodies, ink clouds, and jet propulsion make octopuses master escapers.With no bones, an octopus can squeeze through any gap its beak fits through. A real octopus named Inky famously escaped his tank down a drainpipe to the sea. Octopuses also shoot ink clouds and jet away with water to escape predators.
4. Three Hearts and Blue BloodLearn about the octopus's three hearts, blue copper-based blood, and unusual body.An octopus has three hearts: two pump blood to the gills and one to the rest of the body. Its blood is blue because it uses copper instead of iron, which works well in cold ocean water. With no bones and a brain spread into its arms, the octopus body is truly one of a kind.
5. Octopuses Use ToolsUnderstand that octopuses use tools and build shelters, showing real planning and intelligence.The coconut octopus carries empty shells to hide inside like armor, which takes real planning. Other octopuses build dens from rocks and shells and even play with objects for fun. Tool use and play put octopuses in a small, very clever club of animals.
6. Octopus or Squid?Learn the differences between octopuses and their squid cousins.Octopuses and squids are cousins called cephalopods, both smart, color-changing, and inky. But an octopus has eight arms and a round body and lives near the sea floor, while a squid has eight arms plus two tentacles, a torpedo body with fins, and zooms in the open sea.

Questions this course answers

Grounded in trusted sources

• Monterey Bay Aquarium
• Smithsonian Ocean (National Museum of Natural History)
• National Geographic
• NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

Every Wunder lesson is built from real, reputable sources — never invented.

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