STUDY DISCOVERS THAT FEMALE OCTOPUSES THROWS DEBRIS AT MALES WHEN FEELING HARASSED

Scientists have recently discovered an interesting fact about female octopuses. Female octopuses do not like to be disturbed and when they feel harassed by males, females will deliberately hurl shells and other debris at them. “A new study suggests octopuses intentionally ‘throw’ shells and silt at each other, the first time such behaviour has been reported.”

The study was conducted by a team at the University of Sydney. In order to study the behaviour the team used footage taken of a large consortium of wild gloomy octopuses at “Octopolis” in Jervis Bay, New South Wales. After closely analysing the results, the team noticed this very interesting turn of events. 

While not all the cases were female versus male, a large percentage of this specific behaviour was observed being propagated by females.

“The team, led by Peter Godfrey-Smith at the University of Sydney, analysed underwater footage of Sydney octopuses interacting at a site in Jervis Bay dubbed ‘Octopolis’. They found found 66% of throws were performed by females, often at males that are harassing them.”