Humans and octopuses share the same ancestor

Both are descendants of a worm-like creature that lived 518 million years ago, and this explains the high intelligence of octopuses.

The creature known as Facivermis yunnanicus is the earliest known example of an animal that evolved to lose body parts they no longer needed and had a sufficiently developed intelligence.

A new study by the Max Delbrück Center in Berlin has shown that octopus brains are similar to humans because marine animals have a multitude of regulatory genes called microRNAs in their nervous tissue, the number of which is comparable to that of vertebrates. The findings suggest that miRNAs, a type of RNA gene, play a fundamental role in the development of a complex brain.

And this is “what connects us to the octopus,” said study co-author Professor Nikolaus Rajewski.

Octopuses are famous for their intelligence. They can use tools, carry coconut shells for cover, stack rocks to protect their lairs, and use a jellyfish’s tentacle for defense.

Researchers have long studied their intelligence by watching them learn to solve puzzles and open screw-top jars.

Recently, they were even filmed on video: octopuses threw stones and shells at each other.

Octopuses belong to a group known as cephalopods, which also includes squid and cuttlefish. The study analyzed 18 different tissue samples from dead octopuses and identified 42 new miRNA families, mostly in the brain.

Lead author of the study Dr. Grigory Zolotarov: “This is the third largest expansion of miRNA families in the animal kingdom and the largest outside of vertebrates.

To give you an idea of ​​the scale, oysters, which are also molluscs, have acquired only five new microRNA families since the last common ancestors with octopuses, while octopuses have already acquired 90.”

Oysters are unknown for their intelligence, added Rajewski, whose octopus craze began years ago while visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California.

Octopuses are unique in that they have both a central brain and a peripheral nervous system that can act independently.

If they lose a tentacle, they are still sensitive to touch and can still move. Octopuses are the only ones to have developed such complex brain functions because they purposefully use their “hands” as tools to open shells or as weapons to spit at predators. They are also very curious and remember a lot, get to know people, and they like some more than others. It is believed that they even dream, because during sleep they change their color and skin structure.

Christina DENISYUK.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

Photo: SWS