Octopuses may not be aliens, but if they were aliens, nobody would be all that surprised, right? They constantly look like they’re planning something, and they’re so shifty they seem to play with their predators rather than run from them. They can also problem solve in a frighteningly anthropomorphic way, which is evidenced by this clip of one of the wiggly underwater geniuses figuring out how to open a jar.
In the video, we watch as an octopus tackles the problem of pulling a small fish—it looks like a sardine, although the type of fish isn’t specifically noted—out of a bottle. The problem is considered an intelligence test for the octopus, because while it’s able to touch and smell the fish through a small opening at the top of the bottle, it can’t actually consume the fish until the cap of the bottle is unscrewed.
According to Octolab.tv, the organization that posted the above video to YouTube, the octopus was expected to either attempt to retrieve the fish multiple times before giving up, or learn after a few failed attempts that it needed to unscrew the cap. But the octopus, after taking a five-minute break to figure out its jar-opening strategy, went with plan C, which was to simply use brute strength to suck the top of the jar off, offering a hole large enough for it to reach in, wrap its tentacle around the fish, and then pull it out for a tasty snack.
Octolab.tv
This is a surprising solution to this jar-opening problem, although it’s not surprising to watch an octopus do something novel. As Octolab.tv notes in its profile page on YouTube, the octopus is “the most magnificent creature on our planet” and “Every octopus is different and unique.” Although the one thing all octopuses clearly have in common is the ability to freak us the fish out with their otherworldly Mollusca minds.
What do you think of this octopus and its Mission Impossible-level extraction skills? Pop open a jar of your thoughts in the comments below!
Images: Octolab.tv
