Octopus collects coconut shells, makes a house, stuns scientists

In video released by Museum Victoria, an octopus digs a coconut shell out of the sandy ocean floor, wraps its tentacles around the large circular shell, then trundles away with it to build a dome-like house to hide in.

For the first time ever, Australian scientists have discovered astonishing evidence of an inveterbrate animal using a tool. The honor goes to the famously eight-limbed cephalopod of the species Amphioctopus marginatus, reports the Associated Press.

"I was gobsmacked," scientist Julian Finn, a research biologist at Museum Victoria in Melbourne, tells the Associated Press. "I mean, I've seen a lot of octopuses hiding in shells, but I've never seen one that grabs it up and jogs across the sea floor. I was trying hard not to laugh."

"It's that collecting it to use it later that is unusual," explains Finn.