Consider supporting our work by becoming a member for as little as $5 a month.Follow us on Twitter to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders.Like us on Facebook to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders.Atlas Obscura and our trusted partners use technology such as cookies on our website to personalise ads, support social media features, and analyse our traffic. Scientists have filmed the octopus collecting and assembling coconut shells for shelter.

"Take a deep breath and watch footage of the octopus in its entirety below:

(upbeat music) But it needs to find something else to complete the set. Beyond the fact that it’s hilarious to watch the octopuses slithering across the ocean floor dragging halved coconut shells and even assembling two of them to make a creative hiding spot …

"An octopus without shells can swim away much faster by jet propulsion," he said. This usually results in the diver having to play a game of tug of war to get the camera back.

First class!Siladen Resort & Spa actively seeks guests feedback and strive to act on them. "We were blown away," said biologist Mark Norman of discovering the octopus behavior off The coconut-carrying behavior makes the veined octopus the newest member of the elite club of tool-using animals—and the first member without a backbone, researchers say. To learn more or withdraw consent, please visit our

Just like all other octopus species, the coconut octopus has a venomous bite, and one bite will quickly paralyse its prey. Please click below to consent to the use of this technology while browsing our site.

This gives the coconut octopus almost a parachute like appearance.The octopus would pick up, and carry around empty coconut shells to use as a mobile home. It frequently buries itself in the sand with only its eyes uncovered. As the video above shows, this fuchsia-veined cephalopod squeezes each of its six-inch-long tentacles around its three-inch body, forming a tight ball that fits snugly inside two halves of a coconut shell.

Indeed, the coconut octopus is known to collect coconut shells or sea shells on the sea bed and uses the pieces to protect itself. Using shells and objects found on the ocean floor for protection is quite common among octopuses (although scientists have long whether the animals are using them as tools).

The octopus would prefer the coconut shells, but if they weren’t available, they would instead opt for empty clam shells, however they also noticed they were very picky about which shells they would take.Since then, the more common name of ‘coconut octopus’ was adopted, and we think it is far more appropriate, don’t you?As you can probably imagine, it isn’t easy for a small octopus to walk around the seabed while carrying two half shells that are bigger than itself.The two marine biologists who were studying them at the time noticed that the octopus were almost sitting on the shells and supporting them with two arms on either side.

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Being a member of the Amphioctopus genus, the Mototi octopus looks a lot like its relative, the Coconut Octopus, as far as its shape and body size are concerned.Its small size, as well as its aptitude for hiding, are the main reasons why this octopus has not been noticed until recently. Julian Finn, a researcher from the Victoria Museum in Australia, who was among the first scientists to have witnessed this behavior first hand, was so impressed by what he observed - it "I almost drowned laughing when I saw this the first time," Finn told the BBC.

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Management and staff go the extra mile. Coconut Octopus Walking with a Shell Occurred on December 10, 2019 / Lembeh, IndonesiaInfo from Licensor: Found this amazing octopus on the sand during a dive at Lembeh, in Indonesia, it was funny because the octopus used a shell for hiding and also for walking on the sand, after posting a video on my Facebook, I decided to share it with ViralHog. This octopus species typically grows up to six inches long, including the length of its tentacles, making the empty cocoons of halved coconuts and sea shells the perfect hiding spot.