Cephalopod 2: electric boogaloo. By great demand I bring another cephalopod. This time, octopus! One of my favorite creatures, period. These little ones are incredibly intelligent; I actually stopped eating them because of this, even though takoyaki is delicious. Theres a famous octopus, Otto, who has been known to shoot water at lights to turn them off, juggle hermit crabs, and rearrange his tank to his liking.

I firmly believe theyre only held back by two things: one is being very solitary, with most species living in their own den their whole lives. However, they can be social and communicate with others by changing colors on their skin. There was even a documentary I watched where someone swam to the same octopus every day, and even though Im sure it was dramatized and cherry picked, there seemed to be real trust built between them. The other is their incredibly short life spans with most living only 1-1.5 years. Partly this is because when females give birth, they will neglect themselves, protecting the eggs until they hatch and perishing soon after.