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The Clever Octopus

7th grade reading

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The Clever Octopus

If you wanted to design an intelligent animal from scratch, you probably would not start with a creature that has no bones, three hearts and blue blood. Yet the octopus is one of the most remarkable problem-solvers in the animal kingdom. In laboratories, octopuses have learned to unscrew jar lids to reach crabs inside. Some have escaped from their tanks at night, crept across the floor to a neighbouring tank to eat the fish, and then returned home before morning. In the wild, veined octopuses have been filmed collecting coconut shells, carrying them across the seabed and assembling them into a portable shelter – one of the few known examples of tool use by an invertebrate. What makes this intelligence so surprising is how different the octopus brain is from ours. About two-thirds of its roughly 500 million nerve cells are not in its head at all but in its eight arms. Each arm can taste, touch and even make simple decisions on its own. Scientists are still debating what it might feel like to be an animal whose thinking is spread throughout its body. The octopus's cleverness may be linked to its lifestyle. Without a shell for protection, it must outwit predators by hiding, changing colour in a fraction of a second, or squeezing through gaps no bigger than its beak. Survival depends on flexible thinking. Strangely, most octopuses live only one or two years. They have no parents to teach them and usually die soon after laying eggs. Every skill they show, they must largely work out for themselves.

1
Question 1
Read "The Clever Octopus". Why does the writer open by describing the octopus's bones, hearts and blood?
- A. to show how unexpected its intelligence is
- B. to argue that octopuses are dangerous
- C. to compare octopuses with fish
- D. to explain how octopuses breathe
2
Question 2
Read "The Clever Octopus". Which detail best supports the idea that octopuses use tools?
- A. Veined octopuses carry coconut shells to build a shelter.
- B. Octopuses have three hearts.
- C. Octopuses live for one or two years.
- D. Each arm can taste.
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Question 3
Read "The Clever Octopus". Where are most of an octopus's nerve cells?
- A. in its head
- B. in its beak
- C. in its three hearts
- D. in its arms
4
Question 4
Read "The Clever Octopus". What is the relationship between paragraph 4 and the rest of the text?
- A. It introduces a counterargument.
- B. It suggests a cause for the octopus's intelligence.
- C. It tells a story about a single octopus.
- D. It describes how to keep an octopus.
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Question 5
Read "The Clever Octopus". What does the final paragraph suggest about octopus intelligence?
- A. It is especially impressive because octopuses learn without being taught.
- B. Octopuses are not really intelligent.
- C. Octopuses learn everything from their parents.
- D. Octopuses live longer than most animals.
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Question 6
Read "The Clever Octopus". Which choice best states the central idea of the text?
- A. Octopuses should not be kept in laboratories.
- B. The octopus is a highly intelligent animal whose mind works very differently from ours.
- C. Octopuses escape from tanks at night.
- D. Coconut shells make good shelters.

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Answer key: The Clever Octopus

1. A. to show how unexpected its intelligence is
- The writer's choices show their purpose.
- It sets up the surprise: an unlikely creature is a remarkable problem-solver.
- So the answer is: to show how unexpected its intelligence is
2. A. Veined octopuses carry coconut shells to build a shelter.
- The best evidence directly supports the claim.
- Collecting and assembling shells as shelter is tool use.
- So the answer is: Veined octopuses carry coconut shells to build a shelter.
3. D. in its arms
- The answer is stated directly in the text.
- Two-thirds are 'in its eight arms'.
- So the answer is: in its arms
4. B. It suggests a cause for the octopus's intelligence.
- Text structure is how a writer organises ideas.
- It says cleverness 'may be linked to its lifestyle' and explains why.
- So the answer is: It suggests a cause for the octopus's intelligence.
5. A. It is especially impressive because octopuses learn without being taught.
- An inference combines clues in the text with what you know.
- They have no parents to teach them and must work out skills themselves.
- So the answer is: It is especially impressive because octopuses learn without being taught.
6. B. The octopus is a highly intelligent animal whose mind works very differently from ours.
- The main idea covers the whole text; details only cover a part.
- The text describes octopus problem-solving and its unusual brain.
- So the answer is: The octopus is a highly intelligent animal whose mind works very differently from ours.