Octopus mothers slam themselves against rocks and eat their own arms before their eggs hatch. Scientists have discovered what ...

Most complex organisms have a permanent hole for excreting waste. (Though there are exceptions, like the warty comb jelly, which forms an anus only when nature calls.) In bipeds and quadrupeds, the ...

Octopuses are perhaps the most unusual creatures to have ever inhabited the ocean. Their soft body, eight arms, and high ...

This octopus can brood its eggs for nearly four years without eating. Here’s how this biological extreme has reshaped how ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. GrrlScientist writes about evolution, ecology, behavior and health. You might not realize this, but quickly changing colors, as ...

Most carnivores have teeth to grasp and eat prey, so marine animals with teeth are not uncommon. Sharks, dolphins, eels, whales, many fish species, and marine mammals like seals and sea lions have ...

Scientists have spent years trying to work out if octopuses, whose brains have some remarkable similarities to our own, have dreams. A recent study even purported that the eight-armed cephalopods can ...

Consider the octopus. Smart and sophisticated, it has a brain larger than that of any other invertebrate. With 500 million or so neurons, its nervous system is more typical of animals with a backbone.

Blending in with your surroundings is a crucial (and fascinating) skill in the animal kingdom, which is why many animals can change colors on demand. Chameleons, seahorses, and octopuses can all do it ...