Forget “Planet of the Apes.” It should be “Planet of the Octopi,” as seen in the footage below:
The eight-armed mollusk is placed into a plastic jar and the lid screwed on. The octopus then uses its arms and suction cups to remove the lid.
However, the animal doesn’t leave its enclosure, and likely sees it as protection.
Apparently, this is common:
But wait, there’s more:
In 2014, as Scientific American noted, an octopus set “a record for jar opening.”
“The treat-in-a-jar trick has long been a favorite activity to give octopuses in aquariums. Just like humans, octopuses get faster at these manipulation tasks with practice. And one octopus in New Zealand might just have broken the jar-opening speed record, using his many suckers to twist off a cap and grab his meaty prize—all in under a minute, the Marlborough Express reported today,” the report said.
And it’s been noted that octopi are smart relative to other animals.
“The two of you look at each other. This one is small, about the size of a tennis ball. You reach forward a hand and stretch out one finger, and one octopus arm slowly uncoils and comes out to touch you. The suckers grab your skin, and the hold is disconcertingly tight. Having attached the suckers, it tugs your finger, pulling you gently in. . . . Behind the arm, large round eyes watch you the whole time,” wrote Callum Roberts, who is a professor of marine conservation at the University of York in Britain and the author of “The Ocean of Life: The Fate of Man and the Sea.”
