This octopus can use its suckered arms to open a glass jar fi lled with seafood snacks.


From Long Ago Another octopus worth meeting lived long ago. At the Natural History Museum in London, Jakob Vinther points to a block of gray stone. He is an expert on fossils at the University of Bristol, in England. T e stone has the imprint of


an octopus. T e arms are loosely grouped together. Each is marked with rows of circles. “T ose,” he says, “are the suckers.” T is fossil is rare. Animals with soſt bodies generally leave no trace. T is fossil is about 90 million years old. It's one of the oldest-known octopuses.


Eight is Great


In some ways, octopuses seem like alien creatures. T ey have three hearts and b ue blo


d blue blood. T eir eight arms are lined with hundreds of suckers. T ey can easily move objects. T ey can unscrew lids from jars.


. T eir eig t a s a Octopuses are invertebrates.T ey


have no bones. T e only hard parts of their bodies are a parrot-like beak and cartilage that protects their brains. Having no bones makes it easy for them to vanish through tiny cracks.


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