Octopus Intelligence: The Complex Nervous System
As you might expect based on its skills in camouflage and avoiding predators, the octopus possesses a well-developed nervous system as well as complex sensory organs. Its eyes, for example, are similar to ours and possess an iris, pupil, lens and retina. The octopus is excellent at spotting prey and reaching to just the right spot to snag it.
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Octopus eyes are so advanced that camera manufacturers have used their eyes as a model to improve the camera lens. Until recently, because of the curve of a camera's lens, the picture often blurred at the edges. To correct this, nicer camera models often contained up to eight lenses, which was both bulky and expensive. Yet by copying the structure of an octopus eye, which has several thin layers of multiple densities to bend and focus light, camera manufacturers were able to create a camera lens that can now produce a clear picture -- and the camera is cheaper to produce as well as smaller) [source: Helm].
In addition, an o ctopus's brain is proportionally as large as some birds' and mammals' brains. It displays a high level of organization in order to do things like coordinate all of the chromataphores' color changes. The brain is only part of the story though. Three-fifths of the octopus's nerves are distributed throughout its eight arms [source: Mather].
Octopus arms are incredibly strong and flexible. Made almost entirely of muscle, the arms possess the strength to wrestle sharks and to break through Plexiglas. And without those pesky bones and joints (like ours) to limit movement, the arms have an almost infinite range of motion. And yet the octopus can even mimic a human arm by making its arms semi-rigid and bending them in precise places.
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Close-up of octopus arm and suckers
In addition, recent research suggests those arms may have minds of their own. Studies indicate that octopus arms each have their own independent nervous system [source: Mayell]. It turns out the brain may simply delegate orders, while the arm is responsible for deciding exactly how to execute the order. Essentially this means that the brain can give a quick assignment to the arm and then not have to think about it anymore. Scientists tested this by severing the nerves in the arms from other nerves in the body and brain and then tickling the arms. Amazingly, the arms responded to the tickling just as they would in a healthy octopus [source: Pickrell].
