Octopuses and humans descended from the same primitive worm-like animal that lived 518 million years ago, and this could be why the eight-limbed creatures are highly intelligent.
The creature, known as Facivermis yunnanicus, is the earliest known example of animals evolving to lose body parts it no longer needed and was minimally intelligent.
A new study led by Max Delbruck Centre, Berlin found octopuses’ brains are similar to humans because the marine animal has a variety of gene regulators called microRNAs (miRNAs) in their neural tissue comparable to the number in vertebrates.
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