Here's a phenomenon that'll stick in your memory like an octopus sticks to a … coconut shell:

scienceblogs / CC
Click here for video

With the recent discovery that the veined octopus sometimes carries around a coconut shell to use as impromptu shelter, this eight-legged wonder is now the first known tool-using animal without a backbone. According to the biologists who made the discovery, the use of tools to build shelter is such a complicated skill that even some of smartest animals, like chimpanzees, can't do it. (Um, the only self-enclosing "skill" I have is my sofa-cushion fort-building ability, which hasn't been tapped since 1994—so who knows if it's still even in me.)

Octopi are brilliant animals with sensitive short-term and long-term memories and a complex brain, so it's no surprise that their capabilities are extensive and intricate—from mastering mazes to distinguishing between different shapes. And their intelligence runs in their extended cephalopod family. Squids send messages via dermal patterns of light and color, so think twice before you eat calamari again—those are fried little Einsteins on your plate! If scientists have only just now discovered the tool-using skills of octopi, imagine all of the other talents these mollusk marvels and their relatives have got up their tentacles.

Written by Logan Scherer

ace-clipart / CC

Bugs are fascinating, and if anyone tries to tell you different, have them check out this article, which offers proof that many insects are tiny geniuses who are capable of counting, categorizing objects, and recognizing human faces. Recent studies show that even though their brains are oh-so-teeny-tiny, ants, bees, and other braniac bugs are brilliant creatures. There is overwhelming evidence that brain size has no effect on intelligence and that in many cases a bigger brain is not a smarter brain.

One study shows that honeybees, whose behavioral abilities rival that of some vertebrates, can determine whether or not shapes are symmetrical, can classify objects according to sameness and difference, and will stop flying after passing a predetermined number of landmarks.

I bet if you tried you could think of a few humans who struggle with those three tasks. I've been known to have a little trouble with that last one, myself.

So the next time you see one of these clever critters, keep in mind their ingenious minds, and let them live their complex, profound lives. We've got just the thing to help you.

Written by Logan Scherer