Photo by Bachrach44, CC0
octopedarian
Pronounced /ok-tə-pə-DARE-ee-ən/ · noun
Someone who has decided that an animal this remarkable doesn't belong on their plate.
Octopedarians eat whatever they want and leave octopus off the menu, because once you learn what octopuses can do, it's hard to see them the same way.
Ate octopus before?
So did plenty of us.
Welcome to your Born-Again Octopedarian era. Changing your mind after learning something new is worth celebrating.
Bucky saysGood choice. 🐙
The intelligence
Octopuses have been studied in labs and oceans for decades. Here's some of what scientists have found, with every claim linked to its source.
Giant Pacific octopuses treated a person who fed them differently from a person who poked them with a bristly stick, even when both wore identical uniforms. They remember how you treated them.
Bucky says We remember who's nice. Just saying.
Source Anderson et al., 2010(opens in a new tab)Octopuses learned to avoid a place where they had been hurt and to prefer one where they were given pain relief. Researchers say this suggests pain they actually feel, not just a reflex.
Bucky says It hurts us too.
Source Crook, 2021(opens in a new tab)Source Birch et al., 2021(opens in a new tab)An octopus mother guards her eggs until they hatch, eating little or nothing, and most mothers die after that one brood. One deep-sea mother was watched guarding hers for 53 months, the longest brooding period known for any animal.
Bucky says Call your mom.
Source Robison et al., 2014(opens in a new tab)Researchers who watched octopuses over time found clear, lasting differences between individuals. Some were bold, some shy, some always busy. Every octopus has a personality of its own.
Bucky says I'm the charming one.
Source Mather et al., 1993(opens in a new tab)Octopuses have been seen jetting water at a floating bottle again and again, pushing it around their tank and catching it on the return. It meets the scientific criteria for play.
Bucky says Work hard, play harder.
Source Mather et al., 1999(opens in a new tab)Source Kuba et al., 2006(opens in a new tab)When octopuses sleep, they slip into an active stage where their skin flickers through the same patterns they show when awake, and their brain activity looks like waking. Scientists have compared it to REM sleep, when people dream.
Bucky says Last night I dreamt about a really good rock.
Source Pophale et al., 2023(opens in a new tab)Source Medeiros et al., 2021(opens in a new tab)In lab studies, octopuses have learned to open closed jars to reach food inside, getting faster with practice, and to work out how to pull a puzzle box through a small opening.
Bucky says Childproof? Sure. Octopus-proof? Debatable.
Source Fiorito et al., 1990(opens in a new tab)Source Richter et al., 2016(opens in a new tab)Veined octopuses gather discarded coconut shell halves, carry them across the seafloor, and assemble them into a shelter when they need one.
Bucky says Packing for a trip, octopus-style.
Source Finn et al., 2009(opens in a new tab)“Still thinking about eating us?
Keep scrolling.”
Bucky
Photo by Diego Delso, delso.photo, CC BY-SA 4.0
Why octopus
In 2021, a team at the London School of Economics reviewed more than 300 scientific studies and concluded there is strong evidence that octopuses and other cephalopods are sentient. The UK then recognized them as sentient beings in law.
Source Birch et al., 2021(opens in a new tab)Source legislation.gov.uk, 2022(opens in a new tab)We're not asking you to change everything. Just one thing, for one remarkable animal.
They're remarkable. That's the point. →What you get
Free to join. No spam, no guilt. Here's what lands in your hands the moment you take the pledge.
Your membership card
Every member gets their own eight-digit number. It starts with an 8 and ends with an 8, of course. Download your card, share it, or keep it on your phone.
Bucky sticker pack
Phone wallpapers
Eight arms to earn
From your first recruit to Bucky's Inner Circle. Watch Bucky light up as you go.
Share cards
Your recruiting link
Everyone who joins through it counts toward your impact, and Bucky tells you when they do.
Takes about 20 seconds. Free, always.
The pledge
Just leave octopus off the menu.
Your card, number, stickers, wallpapers and recruiting link, ready in about 20 seconds. Free, always.
I'm in.
Restaurants
Find restaurants with no octopus on the menu, cheer on the partners who took it off, and tell us where you spot it. Every listing is backed by a menu our team checked.
Explore restaurants →Join the movement.
Become an Octopedarian