© Eduardo Sampaio
Strategic thinking, group leadership and planning is normally associated with a high level of intelligence and cognitive awareness of others in the group so the group can work efficiently to achieve a given objective.
So it will come as a surprise to those who cite these human abilities as evidence of human exceptionalism pointing to special creation as a species materially different o other species, that octopuses have been shown to exhibit the same skills when leading inter-species hunting groups consisting of themselves and one or more species of fish who collectively find hidden prey species which the octopus can flush out.
Unlike humans, however, leadership power in octopuses does not lead to despotism, as it often does with humans and octopuses show flexibility of roles, sometime letting one of the fish lead the group. However, there is evidence that octopuses control the dynamics within the group and enforce social hierarchies.
Unlike with human-led multi-species hunting groups which may include dogs and horses, where it is invariably a human who leads the group and who determines how the prey is shared if at all, with octopus-led groups, the octopus needs the cognitive skills and social awareness to understand the group dynamics and social structure across several species, but the prey is consumed by whoever catches it with no attempt to impose a precedence by the leader.
The objective is to capture the prey, not massage the ego of the leader.
These group hunting strategies allow goatfish to forage more effectively, taking advantage of teamwork to find hidden prey and exploit food resources in their habitats.
