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HOW many legs does an octopus have? The answer should be easy. But not anymore. For new research suggests they are not really eight-legged denizens of the deep, as popularly assumed; instead they use their front limbs more like arms — and can even tackle a Rubik’s Cube. Octopuses use their back two limbs largely for propulsion and use the front six for a variety of tasks, with the front two doing most of the exploratory work, said Alex Gerard, the curator of the Sea Life centre in Brighton on the southern English coast. Some 16 Sea Life centre aquariums across Europe in Britain, Germany, Belgium, Finland, Ireland and the Netherlands studied their Giant Pacific, Common and Lesser Octopuses in coordinated tests. "We’ve found that in all the tests, they do tend to favour particular limbs, which tends to give them a legs and arms sort of layout," Gerard said. "Their front two tentacles will be used for a lot of exploratory work and then the ones immediately behind them will then be used also if further investigation is needed. "Then the further back you go, the more the limbs are used for propulsion and movement. "From what we’ve seen, all the limbs basically have the same capabilities. But they seem to favour this system and it works well for them. "With live prey, it does help them when sneaking up, with the front limbs ready to pounce and using the back ones for propulsion," he explained. "They have that facility, unlike humans where if we tried to grab our food with our feet we might fail miserably." — AFP
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