There is a very strange kind of creature on the earth. They are invertebrate molluscs, their bodies are highly moldable, and they also grow 8 legs. Yes, it is an octopus. According to research, each tentacle of the octopus is lined with suckers. The function of these suckers is not only to generate suction. Recent studies have found that these suckers may also be distributed with cells that can process touch and taste signals. In other words, the octopus's "hand" is also its "mouth."

This new discovery was reported by the British "New Scientist" weekly on October 29. Researchers from Harvard University conducted in-depth research on octopuses and found that octopuses can use their tentacles to taste food. Then make a decision whether to eat it or not. Researcher Nicolas Borono said that this skill of the octopus makes up for its original shortcomings of "blind" hunting, because when hunting, it often directly puts its tentacles deep into caves or crevices without considering the risks.

So why do octopus tentacles have the ability to sense touch and taste? How did the researchers make this discovery?

What kind of creature is an octopus?

First of all, we need to understand something about octopus. Although most people have heard of this mollusk, many people do not know that octopus also has a scientific name of "octopus". The so-called true octopus refers to Just a regular octopus. Octopus is a temperate mollusc, and the water temperature in which it exists is generally not lower than 7 degrees Celsius. It also has certain requirements for salinity. Too low salinity can also cause the death of octopuses. This is why octopuses often appear in the ocean. reason.

One behavior of the octopus that still puzzles many scientists is that it likes to get into all kinds of vessels. Regardless of whether the container is a cube or a sphere, as long as it is empty, the octopus will find a way to get in after discovering such a container. Someone once salvaged a container in the English Channel that was only 4 centimeters in diameter but had a capacity of 9 liters. Upon closer inspection, they discovered that there was an octopus in it with a body length of more than 30 centimeters.

This is enough to show how much the octopus likes utensils and how strong its body shaping is.

What kind of experiments did the researchers do?

In this discovery, researcher Borono and his colleagues used microscopes to observe the two-spotted octopus in the Gulf of California, USA. By observing the sucker part of the two-spotted octopus, they found that there are many different types of cells in it. To test what role these cells could play, the researchers tested the sucker cells by measuring their electrical activity and found that some cells acted as touch receptors and some as taste receptors.

In this regard, Borono believes that different types of receptors can react with different compounds in the water. For example, some receptors can react to water-soluble compounds, while some receptors can react to compounds that are poorly soluble in water. . The existence of these two types of cell receptors allows the octopus's tentacles to sense the smell of prey without touching the prey, and can also directly distinguish the smell when it comes into contact with the prey.

This discovery made us realize that there are so many secrets in the tentacles of the octopus. It is no wonder that this animal is considered one of the smartest animals in the ocean. It turns out that it has so many skills. body.

It turns out that the intelligence of octopuses cannot be underestimated

Biologist Jim Cosgrove once published an article in the French "Magazine Figaro" saying that humans and octopuses are the most important people on earth. The two most different creatures are mainly reflected in their physical appearance. But in terms of vision and nervous system, octopuses are comparable to humans. Research has found that octopuses have very well-developed eyes and at least 500 million neurons in their brains. What's even more incredible is that the octopus has three hearts and two memory systems, one of which is on its tentacles.

A researcher once designed an experiment to test the intelligence of octopuses. He poured water into a glass container and put a lobster in. The mouth of the bottle was blocked with a cork. Then an octopus was placed next to the glass container. It first circled the glass bottle a few times, then seemed to find the existence of the cork, and then tried to open the cork with its tentacles. In the end, the octopus succeeded and ate the lobster in the glass bottle. This experiment tells us that the intelligence of octopuses is underestimated.