Narratively speaking, motherhood may seem to be the climax of the female octopus’s life, the grand finale. It is the last thing she does before she dies. Male octopuses die soon after mating—sex a climax in every sense of the word—but female octopuses live long enough to brood the eggs. It is an extension of life, but also of labor. This arrangement, evolutionarily speaking, seems to me a raw deal.
