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Female Octopuses Throw Things at Male Harassers - Smithsonian
Scientists have discovered that female octopuses will "throw" objects at males when feeling harassed. When an annoying male enters the scene, a female octopus will gather projectiles like shells or silt using her tentacles before launching the debris with a siphon of water. Though researchers have witnessed octopuses use this throwing technique in den building, this is the first time it’s been documented as a targeted attack on another octopus, according to a new paper published on the pre-print server bioRxiv that has not yet been peer reviewed.
In 2015, biologist Peter Godfrey-Smith of the University of Sydney and his colleagues were studying a group of common Sydney octopuses of the Australian coast, in an octopus-rich area called Jervis Bay. The team observed the octopuses launch objects and sediment several body lengths away. Though scientists call the behavior "throwing," the cephalopods usually situation an object in their tentacles and propel it with a jet of water.
Scientists have discovered that female octopuses will "throw" objects at males when feeling harassed. When an annoying male enters the scene, a female octopus will gather projectiles like shells or silt using her tentacles before launching the debris with a siphon of water. Though researchers have witnessed octopuses use this throwing technique in den building, this is the first time it’s been documented as a targeted attack on another octopus, according to a new paper published on the pre-print server bioRxiv that has not yet been peer reviewed.
In 2015, biologist Peter Godfrey-Smith of the University of Sydney and his colleagues were studying a group of common Sydney octopuses of the Australian coast, in an octopus-rich area called Jervis Bay. The team observed the octopuses launch objects and sediment several body lengths away. Though scientists call the behavior "throwing," the cephalopods usually situation an object in their tentacles and propel it with a jet of water.