Mary Bates, PhD

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Octopuses Signal Each Other with Body Posture and Color Changes

Photo: Matthias Liffers, via Flickr. Distributed under a CC BY 2.0 license. Octopuses are mainly solitary, except during mating. It was generally believed that octopuses, unlike their squid and cuttlefish cousins, don't communicate with one another using their amazing quick-change skin. Rather than signaling with their skin color and texture, octopuses were thought to camouflage themselves with it.But new research suggests at least one kind of octopus signals with changes in body posture and color whether it wants to fight or flee a rival octopus. It's the first demonstration that fighting octopuses broadcast their intentions to one another.Read the whole story at Nat Geo Weird & Wild: Fighting Octopuses Video is First to Show How They "Talk."