8th October: World Octopus Day

On October 8th, World Octopus Day celebrates one of the earth’s oldest creatures. The animal is best known for its eight legs and ink-squirting abilities.  World Octopus Day celebrates its diversity, conservation, and biology. They chose the eighth day of the month to show appreciation for animals with eight appendages.

Octopuses are worthy of appreciation for a number of reasons. First of all, they are one of earth’s great survivors. Indeed, despite their relatively short lifespan, octopus fossils date back more than 300 million years, meaning that they pre-date even dinosaurs. They are also highly intelligent, with around 500 million neurons located in their brains and arms, allowing them to bypass their instincts, learn lessons and solve problems.

They mainly eat mollusks, crustaceans, and even smaller species of octopus. Some species of octopus lives in every ocean in the world and along every coast of the U.S. The female octopus lays up to 400,000 eggs. Large octopus only live up to 5 years