octupus climbing tree?

Question

for class where we create an animal that has evovled from another animal i am doing an octupus that lives in a rainforest and climbs trees. what would it skin look like? Also how would it reproduce?THanks

Answer 1

I think they would develop hard shells like cuttlefish to protect their bodies. In the present, some octopuses and other cephalopods can change their skin colour, and this would probably remain in your arboreal octopi since it would be awesome for camouflage. The little thorns/hooks in the middle of their suckers would be longer so they can grab on to rough tree bark and prey animals.

Real octopuses lay their eggs in bunches that look like bunches of grapes but instead of hanging them inside caves underwater, the tree octopuses would hang them in moist hollows in trees.

This sounds like an awesome project by the way.

Answer 2

A really large mollusk that lives out of water would probably be covered with a tough kind of slime that doesn't wipe off easily. This would be necessary to keep it from drying out. I've seen large slugs that have a much tougher slime than the small ones. Or maybe it would even grow a shell to protect its head from drying out.
Probably the female will find a hole somewhere to live in, at least when she's breeding. It will be in a damp place, maybe a hole in a tree. I'm sure the rain forest will provide many such refuges for her. She will mate with the male (he will hand her a packet of sperm, which she will keep in her body until her eggs are mature). Then she will fertilize them and lay the eggs in her hole, covered with the slime, and protect them until they hatch. Or she may carry the eggs within or on her body until they hatch, to ensure that they stay moist and the correct temperature and don't get eaten. Or, she might even keep the eggs covered with a little water, recalling their aquatic origins. Then the little octopodes will crawl off and catch bugs and slugs to eat.

Answer 3

hmmm.... I'm envisioning green scales to protect and blend in- leave the suckers to help climb with. They reproduce by laying eggs now, so why not continue? The eggs could have evolved a shell or could still require to be laid in water- like a frog- to allow a metamorphasis of the young to adult- possibly the formation of lungs and the protective scales?

Answer 4

It would be cool if it ate little monkeys...hiding in a tree with its legs dangling waiting for a monkey to swing by....hehehe