(ORDO NEWS) — Jervis Bay, Australia may be home to some of the world‘s most capricious octopuses.
Wild gloomy octopuses (Octopus tetricus) in this area often throw silt, shells and algae into the water with their hands, creating a jet of water from a siphon under the web of their hands.
This throwing behavior is sometimes directed at other people, with the material often finding its target.
Throws with great power behind them were commonly associated with color-changing octopuses that became darker, indicative of aggression.
Octopuses are quite anti-social from the start, hunting alone and even eating each other occasionally.
While they use their hands to their full potential using them to mimic algae when capturing prey or to manipulate objects for cover purposeful throwing has only been seen in a few species in the animal kingdom, including dolphins and chimpanzees.
After reviewing 24 hours of footage from 2015 and 2016, the team recorded 102 octopus releases. A throw was considered a hit if another octopus interrupted the movement of the thrown objects.
Behavior has been observed in which the octopus collected materials with its hands, held them with its hands and webs, and then used a siphon to push the material through the water.
Due to the change in the position of the siphon, the throwing behavior was seen as intentional.
“Wild octopuses throw various kinds of materials through the water with jet ‘throws’, and these throws sometimes hit other octopuses.
There is some evidence that some of these throws that hit others are targeted and play a social role,” the studies say.
The blows in many cases were accompanied by manifestations of mild aggression, such as probing the hands and grabbing.
The victim of the blow was observed to change their behavior, either by crouching or by changing their movements.
The team didn’t see any retaliation when the octopus threw something at the original thrower, and they didn’t see a successful strike escalate into a full fight.
Although the octopuses threw shells while cleaning their den, these throws were observed to have significantly less power than throws that were made in an interactive setting with another octopus.
Interactive throws occurred in about half of the recorded throws, and 66 percent of the throws were made by female octopuses.
Darker colors in octopuses are more often associated with aggression, and dark-colored individuals are more likely to throw with more force and hit another octopus.
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