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If an intelligent marine species like the octopus evolved to live on land, what is the likelihood it would develop technology?
Alex McDowell
London, UK
It probably would. Octopuses can already use tools.
To develop technology, dexterity is needed to manipulate objects. For this, humans have hands that were originally for tree climbing. Octopuses have tentacles that could serve the same purpose as our hands.
The first octopus-like species that evolved to live on land would be sluggish, because octopus bodies aren’t really suited to being out of the water (though octopuses sometimes crawl onto land to move between rock…
