[enntwo]

Very cool, but I have to question one statement from the article.

"""The coconut-carrying behavior makes the veined octopus the newest member of the elite club of tool-using animals—and the first member without a backbone, researchers say."""

What about hermit crabs, trap door spiders, and those crabs that build refuse that they find on their shells as camo?

In each of these cases the organism is using an external object(s) as a form of shelter/protection/camo, in the same way the octopus is. While we are more accustomed to them as they are common, there seems to be very few differences in behavior. We are simply seeing the first generation of a new trait amongst some octopi. Of course any new trait, especially one as nifty as this is cool, it seems like a stretch to call them the first invertibrate tool-user.

[johnyzee]

I believe the stated difference is that, contrary to e.g. the hermit crab, the octopus found the tool in one place, then took it somewhere else (to the other coconut half) in order to use it, exhibiting a planning capability beyond just taking advantage of the immediate surroundings.

It does seem a rather arbitrary criterion (trap door spiders seem to plan rather well too) but that is the reasoning they stated.

[dunstad]

All hermit crabs use shells, all trapdoor spiders lay traps. I'm assuming that's the main difference between them and this octopus.