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bioRxiv
BIORXIV
bioRxiv
2692-8205
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

10.1101/2024.08.23.609397
preprint
1
Article
Playtime for Cephalopods: Understanding the Significance of Play Behavior in Octopus bimaculoides
Jarmoluk Katarina http://orcid.org/0009-0001-9081-8839

Pelled Galit http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2692-2882

26 8 2024
2024.08.23.609397https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.
http://biorxiv.org/lookup/doi/10.1101/2024.08.23.609397
nihpp-2024.08.23.609397.pdf
Abstract

Play is considered to be an essential part of development that supports learning, memory, and the development of flexible behavioral strategies. An increasing amount of non-mammalian species have been discovered to engage in play behavior, but there has been little research into play behavior in cephalopods specifically. Here we studied play behavior of wild-caught, laboratory-housed California Two-Spot Octopuses, Octopus bimaculoides . The behavior observed in these animals is consistent with established criteria of play behavior in animals. The evidence of play in O. bimaculoides provides further insight into the evolutionary development of play behavior as a whole, the characteristics of play in an under-studied species, and also has the potential to be used as a factor in determining the welfare state of octopuses to improve their management in captivity.
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