Why Octopuses are Basically Aliens
- Oct 20, 2025
- 3 min read
They're not from another planet... or are they?
Octopuses are so bizarrely intelligent they’re often described as the closest thing to an alien here on Earth. If you created an intelligent species from scratch — with zero reference to mammals, birds or anything else on Earth — you might end up with something like an octopus.
They have blue blood.
Three hearts.
Brains in their arms.
And an intelligence that feels… otherworldly.
No wonder some scientists jokingly call them the “aliens of Earth.”
Here’s why the octopus defies nearly every rule in the animal kingdom.
1. Their Biology Is Wildly Unique
These crafty cephalopods have three hearts, blue blood and nervous systems unlike any other as over two-thirds of an octopus’s neurons aren’t in its brain but spread through its eight arms!
Three hearts: Two pump blood to the gills, one to the body.
Blue blood: Their blood uses copper (not iron) to carry oxygen — perfect for cold, low-oxygen water.
No bones: Just a beak, allowing them to squeeze through openings the size of a coin.
Regeneration: Lose an arm? No problem. They grow a new one.
Basically, they're shape-shifting, deep-sea escape artists.
2. Their Intelligence Is Off the Charts
Octopuses are super intelligent and they have shown:
They can use tools (like coconut shells for shelter)
Problem-solving and puzzle-cracking skills
They have short- and long-term memory
Play behavior (blowing water jets at toys or lights)
Individual personalities
Yes, you read that right, Octopuses can solve puzzles, open jars, use tools and even escape aquarium tanks by launching midnight great escapes through small openings.
The great Houdini of the ocean, some Octopuses have even escaped aquariums, crawled across floors and climbed into other tanks to snack on neighboring fish — then returned as if nothing happened.
Honestly...that really happened!
3. They Have Distributed Intelligence
Most animals keep their neurons in their brain. But Octopuses? They have around two-thirds of their neurons in their arms. This means each arm can partially “think” on its own, which is wild!
Each arm can:
Taste
Touch
Move independently
Respond to stimuli without brain input
It’s like having eight semi-autonomous brains working with (and sometimes without) central command.
4. Their DNA Is... Strange
When researchers sequenced the octopus genome in 2015, they were stunned to find that
Octopuses have:
Over 33,000 protein-coding genes (more than humans)
Highly complex gene regulatory systems
The ability to edit their own RNA, something humans don’t typically do
Their cognition evolved entirely separately from ours – their last common ancestor with humans was hundreds of millions of years ago – so encountering an octopus is like meeting an alien mind in the ocean.
It is this DNA oddity that led one group of scientists to suggest (in Scientist humour) that Octopus intelligence may have arisen from “an alien source.”
Of course they are not extraterrestrial... or are they?? :)
One thing is for sure, evolution took a very un-Earthly turn when it came to them.
🧠 Genius Drop
Octopuses aren't aliens... probably...
But they are reminders that alien intelligence doesn’t have to come from outer space!
Octopus can evolve in our oceans — with soft bodies, shapeshifting limbs and a mind that challenges everything we think we know about consciousness.
The fact that something so strange can exist right here on Earth might be the most strannge and alien thing of all!
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