Book 11, Question 47
Why Do Octopuses Taste with Their Arms?
Octopuses taste with their arms because their suckers have taste sensors! Each sucker has taste and touch sensors. So when an arm touches something, it can taste it at the same time.
More fun facts
- Each sucker on an octopus arm may have 10,000 neurons for taste and touch.
- Scientists found a special type of nerve cell in octopus suckers that lets them taste whatever they touch.
- An octopus arm can taste, touch and move without help from the brain.
- Tasting by touch is useful because many chemicals do not spread well in seawater.
- Octopus suckers latch on tightly and taste at the same time.
Sources: Scientific American, Smithsonian Magazine, Science News Explores
Questions kids ask
Does an octopus taste like we do?
Not quite. Its suckers sense chemicals by touch, a bit different from a tongue.