A proposal to farm three-thousand tonnes of octopus for export in the Canary Islands has researchers and scientists alarmed.
According to papers obtained by campaign group Eurogroup for Animals there'll be around 1 million octopus in around one-thousand communal tanks - averaging 10 to 15 octopuses per cubic metre.
But more and more evidence points to the intelligence of these animals.
Their brain extends the full length of their body, down their tentacles, they're playful and are intelligent enough to feel bored. Peter Ulric Tse is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in the department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where he runs an octopus cognition lab.
By studying octopus smarts, he hopes to learn more about our own cognition and consciousness, including our perception of how quickly, or slowly time passes, and the neuroscience behind our understanding of free will.
