Octopuses share genes with humans due to convergent evolution, study says

The new discovery can ‘improve our knowledge on the evolution of intelligence’, says one scientist

Scientists have found genes which may help with cognitive abilities in octopuses. (Getty)

Humans and octopuses share the same “jumping genes” – believed to be associated with learning, memory and other cognitive abilities –a study has suggested.

Graziano Fiorito, research director at the Department of Biology and Evolution of Marine Organisms at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn institute, Italy, part of an international team of more than 20 scientists and researchers, said he hopes the study will “improve our knowledge on the evolution of intelligence.”

The ‘jumping genes’ were present in two species, the Octopus vulgaris or the common octopus, and the Octopus bimaculoides, otherwise known as the Californian octopus.