The octopus is indeed one of the Earth's strangest children.

Eight arms, each with enough brain tissue of its own to act independently.

Intelligence to solve puzzles, escape traps, and to think ahead.

Is it any wonder that a subculture of the internet insists that the octopus can only be

explained as a literal alien visitor to Earth?

Is it true?

We're going to find out right now on Skeptoid.

You're listening to Skeptoid.

I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com, the octopus from outer space.

Maybe you've heard about it or maybe you haven't, but a number of scientific

papers have been published, asserting that the DNA of Octopi is reportedly literally

alien in origin.

This would explain their extraordinary intelligence, including their alleged

ability to perform eight tasks simultaneously.

It would also explain the alleged claim that their genetic code is far more complex

than other species on Earth, including us poor dumb humans.

Octopi are super cool.

There is no doubt of that, and they have abilities that we can't even imagine what

with their eight manipulators, their superior eyes, and their astonishing ability to change

color almost instantly to blend in with their background, including details like textures

and patterns.

So what's the deal with this evidently science-based claim that they have alien DNA, and is it actually

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