They don't live long enough, sadly. If they did, they could easily be the dominant species. Many octopus species have been shown to have the intelligence of a 7 year old. Besides the fact that it's a form of intelligence that evolved completely separate from ours (our last common ancestors didn't have a brain), octopi only live about 3-4 years. Think about that for a moment.

[–] GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca 10 points 6 months ago

Many octopus species have been shown to have the intelligence of a 7 year old

So about as smart of some former presidents. Awesome!

Besides the fact that it’s a form of intelligence that evolved completely separate from ours

Precisely what I was thinking about when I said that in jest. But seriously, they are incredible creatures!

[–] gian@lemmy.grys.it 9 points 6 months ago

They don’t live long enough, sadly. If they did, they could easily be the dominant species.

The problem is not how long they live but that they don't take care of the offspring, so every octopus need to learn everything from scratch again.