Multiple Choice, Single Answer (Reading) — practice #rmcsa-004

Octopuses possess one of the most unusual nervous systems in the animal kingdom. Roughly two-thirds of their neurons are located not in the central brain but distributed throughout their eight arms. This arrangement allows each arm to taste, touch, and react to its surroundings with a degree of independence, even solving simple tasks without direct instruction from the brain. Such distributed control may explain how octopuses coordinate their famously flexible limbs while hunting or squeezing through narrow gaps. Researchers studying these creatures have observed individuals using tools, opening jars, and recognising familiar handlers. Because their intelligence evolved along a completely separate path from that of mammals, octopuses offer scientists a rare opportunity to study how complex problem-solving can arise in a body plan utterly different from our own.