By: Ethan & Connie Cao

Have you ever heard of animals throwing things at each other?! If you haven’t, now you have. Animals throwing things at each other is super surprising, especially in this case, when the perpetrators are some of the smartest animals doing so, the octopus.

Back in 2015, in Jervis Bay, Australia, Dr. Peter Godfrey-Smith and his team of researchers were curious to learn more about how mollusks interact with each other. Jervis Bay attracts many octopuses because they have a lot of treasure and rare materials that the animals like to play with. The scientists placed cameras in two areas with large octopus populations to observe their behavior. The cameras caught octopi throwing trash at each other. It is said that female octopuses were more likely to throw objects than males. Their discovery was made in 2020.

The scientists suspect that the octopuses attack each other for personal protection and to tell them to get out of their personal bubblese. “Most throws do not hit others,” said Dr. Godfrey-Smith. “Only a minority of cases appear to be targeted. A lot of the targeted throws are more like an attempt to establish some ‘personal space.’ But this is speculation. It’s tough to know what their goals might be.”

It is very rare to find animals throwing stuff at each other. It is even rare to see smart animals, like octopuses throw things at each other. At the perfect time, a team of scientists was able to catch a photo and video of octopuses throwing debris at each other.