What The Media Got Wrong About Octopus Cities
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DownloadHave you ever read an awesome science fact,
only to do a little bit of digging and learn the source blew things
way out of proportion?
I’m gonna let you behind the SciShow scenes for a bit.
Our script editors are always on the hunt for weird and complex science stuff.
Last year, one of them was reading a book about beavers,
and 150-odd pages in, the author suddenly mentioned
there’s a type of octopus off the coast of Australia that, quote,
“builds the equivalent of a walled medieval city.”
Which if true, would probably make for a good SciShow episode.
As you may suspect, that quote turned out
to be a gross mischaracterization of reality.
And this book is not the only source to have gotten a bit…
let’s say overenthusiastic…
about what scientists actually uncovered.
But our script editor was undeterred by this setback.
And with a little more research,
it was clear that these structures are still super weird,
and reveal just how complex the octopus lifestyle can be.
So let’s break down what’s really going down in these octopus cities.
[ INTRO MUSIC ]
As much as we’d love to animate an octopus gripping medieval tools
with their many tentacles, and shouting things like "forsooth!"
and "the devil take thee!",
the real animals behind these not-actually-cities look like this:
This is Octopus tetricus.
Also known as the gloomy octopus,
because its large, sad eyes give it a sort of emo vibe.
Until recently,
scientists thought it was a solitary creature,
preferring to hang out in its bedroom alone listening
to My Chemical Romance and nessa barrett until three in the morning.
But then, they started discovering sites where gloomy octopuses gather.
And for context, all of this is taking place in Jervis Bay,
which is about a two-hour drive south of Sydney, Australia.
The first site was discovered back in 2009,
and researchers nicknamed it Octopolis.
It’s centered around a 30-centimeter long Unidentified Sunken Object…
that’s definitely something humans made, but that’s pretty much all we can say about it.
And that’s okay,
because the real star of the show is the horde of scallop shells
and other debris that the octopuses have collected around it,
and used to construct their dens.
Then in 2016, divers found Octlantis,
a second site just a few hundred meters away from Octopolis.
Here, gloomy octopuses have surrounded three patches of rock
with similar piles of debris,
including human things like beer bottles and lead fishing lures.
The fact that Octlantis wasn’t seeded
by a human-made structure is actually pretty important
from the science side of things.
Because It shows Octopolis wasn’t an unnatural fluke
that only happened because of some accidental outside human influence.
At both of these sites,
researchers have observed groups of 2 to 15 octopuses
engaging in behaviors like mating,
poking each other with their tentacles,
and kicking other octopuses out of their homes.
A paper from 2022 also reported
that these gloomy octopuses “throw” things.
And sometimes,
it kind of looked like it was on purpose.
“Throw” isn’t exactly the right word, though.
It’s kind of more like directed squirting.
Still, not a very nice neighborly thing to do
Ultimately, there’s not much about these two sites that screams “city”.
But the names Octopolis and Octlantis
sure sound like large metropolitan areas populated
by sentient cephalopods you’d find in a scifi novel.
The experts who came up with these nicknames
didn’t use them in their research papers,
but they’re eye-catching.
And the SciShow team is well aware
of how important it is to make a title eye-catching…
Some of the media coverage about Octopolis and Octlantis
only featured the word “city” in the title,
then switched to a less suggestive term like “structure”
for the rest of the article.
But let’s all be honest with ourselves,
how often do we only read the headline, and then keep on scrolling?
There may have also been some confusion generated
by a term the researchers used in their work:
ecological engineering.
To a non-specialist, it might sound like large construction projects.
If we’re sticking to the non-human sort,
maybe something like a beaver dam.
But it actually has a much broader definition
that includes any type of environmental modification by a living thing.
The press release announcing the discovery of Octlantis quoted a researcher
who referred to the octopuses as “true environmental engineers”.
And a few sources seem to have extrapolated from this jargon,
and claimed the octopuses also built fences and created art.
And of course, there were those medieval walled cities
that got our script editor’s hopes up…
But before we get into what is inarguably the coolest science story of all time,
we’ve got to keep the lights on, so here’s an ad
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So putting the media frenzy aside,
here’s what scientists have really said about Octopolis and Octlantis.
The two sites do reveal the gloomy octopus
is way more social than scientists once believed,
and they add to a growing body of evidence that octopuses in general
are more social than we thought.
That’s a valuable discovery in its own right.
And now that we know these sites exist,
they’ll help researchers study octopus behavior,
and fill the gaps in our knowledge base
about these weird and wonderful creatures.
Which leads me to one major outstanding question:
Did the residents of Octopolis and Octlantis
make a conscious decision to build their communities?
Scallops are part of the gloomy octopus’s diet,
and waiting to snack until you’re back inside your den
is safer than out in the middle of nowhere.
So it makes sense that discarded shells would be found
around a gloomy octopus’s home in large numbers.
The residents of Octopolis and Octlantis
seem to be deliberately choosing to build their dens
in piles of scallop shells.
But the sites themselves might have begun as happy accidents.
The experts behind the Octlantis discovery hypothesize
that the first octopus probably built a den in the area
because some shells were already present,
and made for a better building material than sediment.
This may have created a positive feedback process
where the octopus brought ever more prey back to its den
and unintentionally provided more building material
as it haphazardly tossed out the trash.
Another octopus may have eventually moved into the area
to take advantage of that trash,
started doing its own local snacking,
and so on and so forth.
Suddenly, you’ve got a bunch of octopus neighbors
adapting to deal with each other’s presence.
Now, this hypothesis doesn’t mean there’s no intention
behind what these octopuses are doing.
Some have been observed using inedible objects
like sponges to create a hatch at the opening of their dens.
They’ve also been observed cleaning their dens,
using jets of water to get rid of unwanted stuff
like broken shells, algae, and silt.
But if you want an octopus city,
you’re gonna need more than a bunch of individual octopuses
intentionally making and managing their own homes in the same general area.
Sure, it might be a little bit too much to ask for an octopus shopping mall or art museum.
But scientists haven’t observed any evidence of cooperative construction,
or sense of sustained community.
So the main takeaway from Octopolis and Octlantis
isn’t “Oh my gosh the octopuses are building cities!,”
It’s more like “Oh my gosh the octopuses aren’t
automatically a bunch of asocial loners after all.”
And they are building cool stuff
These sites show that normally solitary octopuses are highly adaptive socially,
and willing to congregate if the environment supports it.
But there are still plenty of unanswered questions.
Scientists still aren’t sure what the costs and benefits are
of living a solitary life versus a communal life.
For example, aggressive behavior in these communal locations has costs.
It uses energy and it may increase the risk of becoming food for a predator.
So scientists will have to do more research
before they will understand why the residents of Octopolis and Octlantis
are choosing to stick around for however long they do.
But in the meantime, we’re excited to see how Octopolis and Octlantis continue to thrive
And if there’s any updates, we’ll be sure to let you know
Because after all, there might be a third
or a fourth Octopus City somewhere out there
[ OUTRO MUSIC ]
Key Vocabulary (50)
toward
"Go to school."
belonging
"Cup of tea."
also
"You and me."
inside
"In the house."
specific
"That book."
A third-person singular pronoun used to refer to an object, animal, or situation that has already been mentioned or is clear from context. It is also frequently used as a dummy subject to talk about time, weather, or distance.
Used to show who is intended to have or use something, or to explain the purpose or reason for an action. It is also frequently used to indicate a specific duration of time.
A preposition used to indicate that something is in a position above and supported by a surface. It is also used to indicate a specific day or date, or to show that a device is functioning.
A preposition used to indicate that people or things are together, in the same place, or performing an action together. It can also describe the instrument used to perform an action or a characteristic that someone or something has.
A conjunction used to compare two things that are equal in some way. It is most commonly used in the pattern 'as + adjective/adverb + as' to show similarity.
Used to refer to the person or people that the speaker is addressing. It is the second-person pronoun used for both singular and plural subjects and objects.
Used to identify a specific person, thing, or idea that is physically close to the speaker or has just been mentioned. It can also refer to the present time or a situation that is currently happening.
A coordinating conjunction used to connect two statements that contrast with each other. It is used to introduce an added statement that is different from what has already been mentioned.
A preposition used to show the method or means of doing something, or to identify the person or thing that performs an action. It frequently appears in passive sentences to indicate the agent or before modes of transport.
Used to indicate the starting point, source, or origin of something. It can describe a physical location, a point in time, or the person who sent or gave an item.
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