If these things are so rare, why aren't they on the endangered species list?

Question

Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus? This is the first I've heard of them, but I'm from the East Coast:

http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/...
http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/sighting...

They look pretty cool.

http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

Answer 1

They were once common. In the 1920s, the Pacific Tree octopus was the mascot for Olympia's semi-pro baseball team, commonly known to the locals as the "Phiting Cephs." I have one of the old banners in a storage chest at my parents' house in Sacramento.

They were hunted nearly to extinction in the 1940s when it was discovered that their skins could be sewn together and used as flotation buoys for anti-submarine nets at strategic harbor entrances, although they were later replaced with glass buoys.

Thanks to conservation efforts they have made a slight comeback in some of the more heavily wooded areas of the Northwest, but their habitat is rapidly being destroyed.

You can still book Tree Octopus tours out of Olympia. The best time to go is late April, as it is their mating season, and the males are in full-on display mode.

Answer 2

I lived in The Great Pacific Nortrhwest all my life & I can tell you that the Big Foot population survives on the Tree Octopus. Anyone from here could confirm this for you.

Answer 3

It was a test given to the most internet literate 7th graders in a school to see if they could identify a hoax website. And even after the administrators told them it was all something they made up, the kids still insisted that the tree octopus was real and endangered. After all, it was on the internet so it must be true. PS Thanks for the link. I hadn't actually seen the website.

Answer 4

i dont know, maybe they are just rare to see, but they are plentiful and live way down deep or someting, rare probably in this case just means you dont see them a lot, or there is a threatened species list maybe its on that

Answer 5

no some things like people are meant to die off.