The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness

by Sy Montgomery

The giant Pacific octopus is one of the fastest-growing animals on the planet. Hatching from an egg the size of a grain of rice, one can grow both longer and heavier than a man in three years.

White is the color of a relaxed octopus; in cuttlefish, close relatives of octopus, females turn white when they encounter a fellow female, someone whom they need not fight or flee.

Octopuses can taste with their entire bodies, but this sense is most exquisitely developed in their suckers.

an octopus is put together completely differently, with three hearts, a brain that wraps around its throat, and a covering of slime instead of hair. Even their blood is a different color from ours; it’s blue, because copper, not iron, carries its oxygen.

Three fifths of octopuses’ neurons are not in the brain but in the arms.

Feelings of awe are known to expand the human experience of time availability. So does “flow,” the state of being fully immersed in focus, involvement, and enjoyment. Meditation and prayer, too, alter time perception.

Octopuses live fast and die young: Giant Pacific octopuses are probably among the longest-lived of the species, and they usually live only about three or four years.

Hatching from an egg the size of a grain of rice weighing three-tenths of a gram, a baby giant Pacific octopus doubles its weight every eight days until it reaches about 44 pounds, then doubles its weight every four months until maturity.

Eight octopuses in separate three-by-two-by-two-foot tanks at the Seattle Aquarium’s holding area were presented with empty Extra Strength Tylenol pill bottles. (Roland found octopuses can open the childproof caps, an achievement that eludes many PhDs.)

“It fit all the criteria for play behavior,” Roland told me. “Only intelligent animals play,” he stressed. “Birds like crows and parrots; primates like monkeys and chimps; dogs and humans.”

A giant Pacific octopus who turns red is generally excited; a white one is relaxed. An octopus presented with a difficult puzzle for the first time often undergoes several rapid changes in color, like a person who frowns, bites his lip, and furrows his brow when trying to solve a problem.

The ability to ascribe thoughts to others, thoughts that might differ from our own, is a sophisticated cognitive skill, known as “theory of mind.” Once it was thought to be unique to humans.