Smarter Than a Fish: teacher key

Giant Pacific Octopuses, grade 9 edition, written for 9th grade. How smart is a giant Pacific octopus? Read about a 2010 study that tested whether octopuses know people apart, and about brains, tools and what scientists cannot yet say.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. How many giant Pacific octopuses were in the 2010 study?
   • Two
   • Eight (answer)
   • Eighty
2. What did one of the two people do in the study?
   • Fed them (answer)
   • Painted them
   • Moved their den
3. What does the Natural History Museum say about brain-to-body ratio?
   • It is the smallest of any animal
   • It is the largest of any invertebrate (answer)
   • It is the same as a mammal's
4. Which animal has over 500 million neurons, similar in number to a dog?
   • The giant Pacific octopus only
   • The common octopus (answer)
   • The veined octopus
5. Reference guides give three different depths. What does that show?
   • How deep they live is not settled (answer)
   • They never leave the surface
   • They live at exactly 750 meters
6. What does temperaments mean in: individuals have different temperaments?
   • Different personalities (answer)
   • Different depths
   • Different colors

Words

• neurons: nerve cells
• temperaments: personality styles
• chromatophores: color cells
• plankton: drifting life