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You are here: Home / Animals / How Else Does an Octopus Defend Itself From Other Animals Besides Shooting Ink at Predators?

How Else Does an Octopus Defend Itself From Other Animals Besides Shooting Ink at Predators?

February 22, 2020 by Karen Hill

If shooting ink isn’t enough defense to scare off a predator, an octopus can go on the offensive with its tentacles and a beak-like mouth.

octopus in the ocean

An octopus’s main defense is to hide by camouflaging itself and avoid being detected as an octopus.

Octopuses are also venomous, but only the small blue-ringed octopuses are lethal to humans.

Although it has no teeth, an octopus can take a also chunk out of you when it bites, and most have poisonous saliva that can immobilize or even kill larger animals.

Its beak, similar in shape to a parrot’s beak, is the only hard part of their body.

In a battle between a shark and an octopus of the same size, bet on the octopus. It’ll win almost every time.

Octopuses also have 3 hearts.

Related Facts

  • How does an Octopus Use Ink to Defend Itself Against Predators when Threatened and is it Poisonous?
  • Does an octopus’s ink serve any purpose besides darkening the water for camouflage from predators?
  • Is the Plural for the Singular Octopus Octopi or Octopuses, and Which is more Correct in English?
  • Do Octopuses Attack Divers?
  • Where do Germs, Bacteria, and Viruses come from and How do they make us sick?
  • Where does the word “ink” (encaustic) come from and What does ink mean?

Filed Under: Animals

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « How often have People been Attacked by Octopuses and How Dangerous or Poisonous are they?
Next Post: Is the Giant Squid Bigger than an Octopus and How Big is the Second Biggest Cephalopod in the World? »

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